Exhibit | June 7, 2011

Philadelphia Museum of Art Exhibits Art on Paper

June 6--Philadelphia, PA. Here and Now: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs by Ten Philadelphia Artists presents a selection of works on paper by ten Philadelphia artists who reflect the remarkable strength and diversity of talent that exists in this city’s cultural community. The artists represented in the exhibition—Astrid Bowlby, Steven and Billy Blaise Dufala (who operate in collaboration), Vincent Feldman, Daniel Heyman, Isaac Tin Wei Lin, Virgil Marti, Joshua Mosley, Serena Perrone, Hannah Price, and Mia Rosenthal—range in age from 25 to 50 and utilize a broad range of pictorial strategies. Several also share an interest in addressing contemporary social and political problems in their work, from the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib to the challenges of everyday life in this city’s neighborhoods. In some cases, such issues are confronted in a direct and unflinching way, while others are addressed with edgy humor or ironically masked by great beauty.

“Philadelphia has a remarkable—and remarkably vibrant—artistic community,” says Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, “and this is something that the Museum should not simply acknowledge, but also celebrate. It makes our city a lively and very special place. What I find especially exciting about this exhibition is the exceptional quality and creativity that shines through in the work of each of these artists.”

The work of sculptor, installation artist, draftsman, and printmaker, Astrid Bowlby (born 1961) refers to accumulation: of pieces of paper, of shapes and patterns, of lines with varying densities. Here and Now will include Round Robin (2004), a suite of six etchings, consisting of whimsical gatherings of flowers. Philadelphia native Vincent David Feldman (born 1966) is Adjunct Assistant Professor at Tyler School of Art’s program in Tokyo, Japan, which is the source of the photographs shown in the exhibition, including the gigantic Reiyukai Shakaden Temple (Tokyo, 1975). The painted photographs of Isaac Tin Wei Lin (born 1976) featured in Here and Now are animated by wild accumulations of calligraphic patterns, musical notations, and cartoon-like elements, creating charged areas in otherwise negative spaces. The youngest of the artists in the exhibition, photographer Hannah Price (born 1986) will show a group of inkjet prints from her ongoing series City of Brotherly Love which documents a particular aspect of her life in Philadelphia, the first large city in which she has ever lived.

Innis Shoemaker, the Museums’s Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, notes: “Some of the artists in this exhibition are also known for their work in other media, such as installation, video, sculpture, or painting. It has been a privilege, though sometimes a challenge, to make a relatively small selection from the remarkable variety of work being produced today by so many talented artists in our city and to give some sense of what’s going on right now.”

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States, showcasing more than 2,000 years of exceptional human creativity in masterpieces of painting, sculpture, works on paper, decorative arts and architectural settings from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. An exciting addition is the newly renovated and expanded Perelman Building, which opened its doors in September 2007 with five new exhibition spaces, a soaring skylit galleria, and a café overlooking a landscaped terrace. The Museum offers a wide variety of enriching activities, including programs for children and families, lectures, concerts and films.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art at (215) 684-7860. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call (215) 763-8100 or visit the Museum's website at www.philamuseum.org.