Less Is a Bore
February 2 - March 1, 2024
319 N. 11th St. Unit 2A Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception: Friday, February 2, 2024
Blah Blah Gallery presents the inaugural juried exhibition Less Is A Bore, opening Friday, February 2, from 6-9 PM at 319 N. 11th Street, 2A.
The 11 artists in Less Is A Bore embrace pattern, color, and texture, exploring the tactile to qualities to craft visually striking compositions. Through intricate details and bold gestures, the works within this exhibition invite viewers to immerse themselves in the impactful world of maximalist expression. This exhibition aims of provide a refreshing departure from the mundane.
Featured Artists:
FLUID REALITIES
Sierra Montoya Barela and Julia Policasto
January 5th - February 2nd, 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 2A Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception: Friday, January 5th, 2024
Blah Blah Gallery presents Fluid Realities, opening Friday, January 5, from 6-9 PM at 319 N. 11th Street, 2A. Fluid Realities brings together the work of Sierra Montoya Barela and Julia Policasto, offering glimpses into imagined realities through introspective still lifes and boundary-defying sculptural objects.
Sierra Montoya Barela's still life paintings transport the viewer to imagined spaces, offering glimpses into fleeting moments laden with symbolic references to her Hispanic heritage and Catholic upbringing. Each painting captures a delicate interplay between ornate tile work, grainy wood, and domestic items such as planters, photo frames, and chairs. The seemingly mundane elements transcend their utilitarian nature, serving as symbolic homages that explore the absence of a subject while imbuing the depicted spaces with a profound sense of weight and reverence. Montoya Barela's meticulous compositions skillfully navigate the intersection of personal history and universal themes, creating evocative narratives that resonate on multiple levels.
Julia Policasto's creations exist as enigmatic objects that transcend the conventional labels of painting or sculpture. Her artistic language merges the two forms and aims to dissolve the distinctions that often constrain each medium. The outcome is a series of objects that function as portals into invented scenarios and scenery. By employing canvas, oil paint, foam, and plaster, Policasto gives permanence to these alternative realities and draws from a reservoir of imagery deeply rooted in visual history and our collective familiarity. The juxtaposition of the plaster frame with the oil painting challenges the purpose and functionality of each element.
Superterestrial Garden
Alaina Kalbfell and carrie R
November 3 - December 1, 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 2A Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception Friday, November 3, 2023
Blah Blah Gallery presents Superterrestrial Garden, opening Friday, November 3, from 6-9 PM at 319 N. 11th Street, 2A. Superterrestrial Garden brings together the work of Alaina Kalbfell and carrie R, two artists whose work transcends traditional boundaries to evoke profound emotions and unveil the enigmatic aspects of human existence.
Alaina Kalbfell’s paintings give birth to surreal, otherworldly figures, faces, and spaces. Her canvas becomes a portal into the depths of identity, emotion, mental health, dreams, and the subconscious. Alaina's unique technique involves staining raw canvas, employing a wet-on-wet process to create ethereal, emotive figures that hover on the cusp between abstraction and figuration. The result is a series of beings both hauntingly unfamiliar and strangely recognizable, offering a glimpse into the profound emotive mysteries that lie within each of us.
Simultaneously within the exhibition, carrie R creates free-standing and wall-based sculptures, adorned with the intricate application of pigment, marker, and oil color. Carrie's work is deeply influenced by psychological fiction and the intimate nuances of domestic surroundings. It unearths the visceral reactions triggered by personal histories, be they freak accidents or solitary moments. The sculptures, often resembling pointed, plant-like, and biomorphic entities, delve into themes of fear, solitude, self-preservation, and beauty. These forms prompt viewers to contemplate the intricate interplay between human emotions and the world that surrounds us, inviting us to explore the exquisite tension between vulnerability and strength, fragility and resilience.
Superterrestrial Garden offers a journey through the profound and mysterious realms of the human experience.
Gestural Connections
Kelly Dzioba and Kat Richards
October 6th, 2023 - November 3rd, 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 2A Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception : October 6th, 2023
Kat Richards’ connection to print media becomes an extension of their queerness, gender, and body. Richards utilizes the printing press as a genderless tool for reproduction, employing shapes and colors as metaphors for an ever-evolving self.
Similarly utilizing her physical artistic process as a connection to self, Kelly Dzioba’s work arises from the desire to find comfort and self-soothing in the obsessive nature of making. Dzioba delves into textiles as a form of process art, weaving together universal elements of textile techniques to create recursive objects. Dzioba’s work playfully teases the boundaries between art and craft, invoking themes of value and consumption, while incorporating camp and visual decadence.
LIKE A DEVOURING FIRE
Gabrielle Dobrzelewski and Lauren Pirie
September 8th - October 1st, 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 2A Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception : September 8th, 2023
Gabrielle Dobrzelewski’s large, red-hued paintings are an exploration of the twists and turns of existence, inviting viewers to join her on her personal transformative journey. Through her work, Dobrzelewski transcends the confines of her own physicality, allowing her inquiries and emotions to resonate beyond her own being; her body emerges as both a central figure and a potent symbol. Nestled within the private corners of her domestic haven, her self-portraits become gateways to vast emotional landscapes, touching upon themes of grief, desire, anxiety, femininity, intimacy, and dreams.
Simultaneously within the exhibition, Lauren Pirie's work offers perspective on the human form as a vessel of emotions, stories, and experiences. Through her soft sculptural creations, Pirie delves into the intricate relationship between bodies and the expressions they convey. The interplay of light and shadow within the soft folds and gentle curves captures the essence of contections that are unseen and unspoken, revealing the nuanced contours of human emotions while casting new dimensions and perspectives onto the form. Pirie’s sculpture “sorites / unbecoming” echoes the universal yearning for connection, highlighting the tension between proximity and separation.
Intricate stories are woven into every fold, curve, and shadow of the work in Like a Devouring Fire, capturing the fleeting nature of emotions as they exist within and beyond the physical constraints of our bodies.
Softly, Interlude
Zeinab Diomande (Z the Rat) and Artise Fletcher
July 7 - August 1, 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 3J Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception : Friday, July 7, 2023
Blah Blah Gallery presents Softly, interlude, opening Friday, July 7th at 319 N. 11th Street, 3J. Softly, interlude brings together the works of Zeinab Diomande (Z the Rat) and Artise Fletcher and to delve into the multifaceted themes of personal identity, leisure, and the sociological significance of hair within Black culture.
Zeinab Diomande's vibrant paintings radiate a powerful embrace of self-existence, defying societal expectations and amplifying the significance of the Black figure in leisure. Through dynamic compositions, high-key colors, and expressive portraiture, Zeinab celebrates the radical act of simply being, rejecting the notion that marginalized voices must constantly prove their worth. Her atmospheric renderings, adorned with highly stylized motifs, transport viewers into a glossy technicolor world. With elements of hyper-pop and grunge styles, whimsically studded makeup, and fabulously saturated protagonists, her art not only mirrors the vivacity of the artist herself but also embodies the youth culture of today. Zeinab's nuanced portrayals allow her characters to revel in their dreamscapes, sparking conversations about the representation of Black women and femmes in spaces that lack diversity.
Similarly addressing themes of representation and experience of black women and femmes, Artise Fletcher's works within the exhibition pay homage to the sociological significance surrounding hair in Black culture. Artise creates a multimedia experience that walks viewers through their personal relationship with hair, via weaving, braids, video, photography, hair as sculpture, and fashion design. Through her photographs and video within the exhibition, Artise explores the intersections of identity, wellness, and sustainability, emphasizing how these elements intertwine with hair as a medium of expression.
Softly, interlude is an invitation to cherish and acknowledge Black women and femmes' resilience, tenderness, and self-expression. The exhibition serves as a reminder of the strength and beauty of embracing one's personal identity.
SEEING RED
Libby Rosa
June 2 - June 30, 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 3J Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception : Friday, June 2, 2023
Blah Blah Gallery is proud to present Seeing Red, a site-specific installation by Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary artist Libby Rosa. The artist's first solo exhibition in Philadelphia features new paintings and sculptures that explore concepts of control and transformation, created from the artist's personal lexicon of symbols, characters, and places that are simultaneously universal and alien.
Rosa's exploration of creation and transformation originated in childhood-one that was colored by her family's frequent relocations-in which the artist embodied the essence of a witch by making magical brews and potions in her backyard. Through the gathering of sticks, plant matter, and other natural materials, that were then mixed and cooked on a make-believe stove, Rosa imagined the metamorphosis of these concoctions into animals, people, and monsters. The artist-as-witch possessed a power as a creator, maker, and controller of her environment-a power that has since transferred over to Rosa's painting, sculpture, and installation practice.
Seeing Red demonstrates Rosa's alchemical ability to morph natural phenomena and color-such as rain and fire; hues of blues and reds-into dynamic personifications of their source elements. The witch's presence is evident throughout Seeing Red in various, transformational forms: the gallery windows are theatrically framed by curtains that appear to be on fire, which is spreading, only to be extinguished by the cool blue floor. The curtains are inexorably held in place by enlarged insect pins made of copper and steel. Near the curtains sits the sculpture "Metamorphosis of Medusa," which depicts a failed attempt at capturing a butterfly by preserving its inverse in stone. Accompanying the witch's presence is an original musical composition created in collaboration with Samuel Garigliano that will be played throughout the course of the exhibition.
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Bio
Libby Rosa (b. 1993, Pittsburgh, PA) is an artist and curator working in Philadelphia, PA. She is the founder of Peep Projects, a project/gallery space in Kensington, Philadelphia. She received her BFA from University of Wisconsin - Madison (2015) and her MFA from Cornell University (2019). She has been featured in David Zwirner’s Platform Gallerist Interview (One Day), New American Paintings (Issue # 41), Maake Magazine (artist-run interview), and Nightblock Magazine (edition # I I ). She participated in a two-person exhibition at SPRING/BREAK Art Show in 2022 and has had solo exhibitions at Bibliowicz Gallery (Ithaca, NY) and Sweet Lorraine Gallery (Brooklyn, NY). She’s been included in group shows at Safe Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Signal Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Marquee Projects (Bellport, NY) and Proto Gallery (Hoboken, NJ). Rosa has attended residencies at Trestle Art Space, ASMBLY Session #1 and VCU (SSP, 2015). Rosa has an upcoming solo exhibition at Blah Blah in Philadelphia, PA in June 2023 and will be attending the Tongue River Artist Residency this summer in Dayton, Wyoming.
morph erotic dream from a magazine
Chloe Luisa Piñero
May 5 - May 28 2023
319 N. 11th St. Unit 3J Philadelphia 19107
Opening Reception : Friday May 5, 2023
Blah Blah Gallery presents Morph Erotic Dream from a Magazine, a solo exhibition by Chloe Luisa Piñero opening Friday May 5th at 319 N. 11th Street, 3J. This exhibition showcases Pinero’s most recent body of work, which explores the female gaze, queer identity, and nostalgia.
Morph Erotic Dream from a Magazine showcases the artwork of Chloe Luisa Piñero, who creates exaggerated and irregular femme figures using found materials such as dollar store beauty supplies, bookmarked Instagram posts, and erotic magazines. By combining traditional figurative painting with sourced materials that reference personal stories from her home of Philadelphia and her family’s home neighborhoods in Puerto Rico, Piñero explores the intersections of identity and representation while using nostalgic imagery to create a push and pull between the past and present.
The exhibition explores the complexities of reality and fantasy, offering a unique perspective on how Piñero, a queer person of mixed ethnic heritage, navigates images that do not fully reflect her identity. Through her paintings and digital collage works, Pinero challenges traditional canons of feminine beauty and representation of women in the media, inviting viewers to consider their own perceptions of reality, beauty, and desire.
Piñero earned a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 2018. She is a recent Spring 2023 Apprentice at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, PA, has participated in the Jasper Studios Artist Residency in Philadelphia, PA, and is a recipient of the 2022 Illuminate the Arts Grant. Chloe has taught in art education and public programming at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and continues to teach in the Philadelphia area.
A COMFORTABLE VIOLENCE
EM REA
KAY SEOHYUNG LEE
MEREDITH SELLERS
March 3rd – April 14th, 2023
Opening Reception : Friday March 3, 2023
A Comfortable Violence showcases paintings and sculptures that create portals into known and unknown worlds built on disarray, the expiration of the American dream, and a need to find logic in chaos. The artists utilize imagery of destruction and violence, while simultaneously evoking a sense of solace through playful colors, subjects, and the meticulous care taken in their artistic processes.
Within the exhibition, visitors are confronted with Kay Seohyung Lee’s Hellscapes series (2020-ongoing)—Bosch inspired landscapes where faceless figures engage in both brutal acts of violence and various states of play. Lee’s use of inviting colors and hidden jaunts welcomes the viewer inside the grotesque world she’s created.
Playing with a similar juxtaposition between horror and easement, Meredith Sellers’ works reference classical paintings and their relationship to windows. Her canvases are sized based on windows from her own home and depict brutal car crashes. These moments of severe violence sit on top of mild pastel backgrounds, pairing violence with attraction.
Lastly, Em Rea’s sculptures are created using abandoned items in their neighborhood, repurposing them with care to compose new devastation. These regenerated pieces not only reference home, and the violence of our present world, but also suggest rebuilding anew through abolition.
A Comfortable Violence asks viewers to address how we desensitize ourselves from the everyday terrors we collectively face in the way we move throughout the world.