Oasis

This morning I found myself spending some time with Miranda and thinking about the change of seasons and exhibitions. (Miranda is the wonderful blog put out by the ICA Philadelphia which is worth perusing if you have the time.) Rachel Pastan, the voice behind Miranda, reflected on the upcoming fall and change of seasons. Which, I hate to get ahead of myself -I can hardly believe it’s August, but it does seem as if summer is ending early. Perhaps due in part to the wicked heat we experienced already this year one feels as though the season is passing. My time at the DCCA will unfortunately be ending soon and this will be the first year of my life that a return to the classroom is not eminent. I’ve found myself with an odd desire to name this blog before I go. As though that will somehow make transitions more palatable. But Miranda is already taken and I find myself a bit jealous, a bit lost.

Things are also in transition here at the DCCA. Obscured by signs reading “Installation in Progress,” Stephen Ruszkowski has been hard at work de-installing NEW the 2010 Members’ Juried Exhibition that has dominated several galleries all summer. And, after a very successful season, Summer Camp has ended as well, returning the volume level to one more typical of an art museum. Both of these things contribute to my increasing sense of nostalgia I suppose. Then I remind myself there will always be something new here to look at and that is what I really love about art, about the DCCA. Even better, I don’t have to wait for it. James Brantley’s work is a recent addition, as is Oasis a collaborative exhibition put on by Delainey Barclay and Jane Quartarone in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery.

The title is very fitting and the work very enticing amid the heat and change. Barclay’s Humidity Garden hits you as soon as you enter the room. The organic palette and simple lines shared by the two create something of a retreat in space. Melting ice is an element of Quartarone’s sculptures that I have yet to see, although I have high hopes I will witness it tonight during Art on the Town. In the meantime a couple of small post-it notes tell the viewer they’re in the presence of a “work in progress.” I’m happy with that.

The summer really never lasts long enough. August is here already which means Art on the Town will be this Friday. With a few exceptions the DCCA will be showcasing an entirely new group of exhibitions from this time last month. James Brantley’s representational cityscapes are on view in the Beckler Family Members’ Gallery. His paintings exude a quiet balance of energy and stillness. In many of the works buildings become landscape, as they seem to recede endlessly into a flattened meeting with the horizon where emotive skies take over. The palette most often reflects dark browns and grays, as well as other darkening hues appropriate for depicting city dwelling. Contrasting color then becomes a welcome relief as well as part of focus of the work. In some, like On the Corner, the sky displays the colors of the changing day, the brief hour or two where it becomes truly captivating. Other skies are calmer and the light comes from within the buildings in a seductive allusion to the seldom-depicted inhabitants. The juxtaposition of land and air creates the atmosphere in these pieces enabling varied sensations about the tranquility of metropolitan living.



James Brantley will be here on Friday for the exhibition opening and will give an informal gallery talk at 6:30. Of course, Art on the Town is always an opportunity to see the artists’ studios here, including Delainey Barclay and Jane Quartarone whose collaborative exhibition, Oasis, is also on view through the end of the month.

There will also be live music with guest musician Shaun Dougherty at 6 pm.
Hope to see you there!