Summer has started early, judging from the number of group shows already under way in Philadelphia galleries. Nature, rendered in almost every form imaginable, is the chief subject.
Sienna Freeman, Wexler Gallery’s director and an artist herself, is the curator behind Wexler’s “Wild Nature,” a gathering of four artists from across the country and Canada who envision nature through the lens of memory, dreams, and natural-history museum dioramas.
Curiously, while the majority of works are dark or disturbing in character, they are mainly white or pale in color.
Jennifer Trask’s wearable and wall-mounted assemblages of animal bones, found objects, precious metals, and stones give the impression of talismans that draw their magical power from nature; Andy Paiko’s ornate blown-glass bell jars enclosing natural objects — one contains a coyote spine — seem to harness nature’s mysterious forces as well, but also clearly reference the Victorian fascination with collecting.
Read more at:
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20120520_Gallery_review__Here_comes_summer.html
