Philadelphia Painters

Exhibition Dates: July 6 - August 17, 2010

Reception: Thursday, July 8, 6 - 8 pm

The Painting Center is pleased to announce Philadelphia Painters curated by Matthew Farina. This regional survey of painting, focusing in and around Philadelphia, showcases some of the areas most promising and accomplished painters. The selections for the exhibit provide an intimate glimpse into a network of painters rarely exhibited together in New York City. Participants include: Paul Behnke, Alana Bograd, Mark Brosseau, Alex Cohen, Tim Conte, Nic Coviello, Mary Beth Chew, James Erikson, Sarah Gamble, Chris Feiro, Hollis Heichemer, Sarah Hunter, Jenny Kanzler, Joseph Lozano, Jon Manteau, Vincent Romaniello, Hiro Sakaguchi, Tremain Smith, Sterling Shaw, Kate Stewart, Sean Taylor, Christopher Tietjen and Mauro Zamora.

Curator Matthew Farina, a former Philadelphian, explains, “…I approached the search for artists in this show with a preference for small intact networks of painters. Since the exhibit is regionally-focused, the familiarity between the participants was something that I decided to embrace. Many of the painters share regular studio visits with each other, two of the artists are married, some were classmates and others work with the same dealer. I am interested in those community relationships and how they are influencing what is created. In comparison to New York City, the smaller pool of artists in Philadelphia encourages the kind of community dialogue that upholds painting as a medium and strengthens the resulting work.”

The artists in Philadelphia Painters have made considerable contributions within and outside of the Philadelphia art community. The show includes recipients of some of the pinnacle achievements for creative Philadelphians including grants from the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and representation in the Fleisher Art Memorial’s Fleisher Challenge Exhibit. Many are graduates of Philadelphia’s most celebrated institutions such as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Tyler School of Art, the University of the Arts and the University of Pennsylvania. Some are represented in major museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.