Having not been to the Philadelphia Art Museum in many years, I was very excited about going to check it out now that I can better appreciate the great works inside. Not really knowing where anything was, we just started walking up the stairs and found ourselves walking through a hallway that led to the American section. I didn't find the paintings in the hallway too captivating to me, personally. However, going farther into the American section proved to be much more interesting.
There were many different directions you could go once inside the American galleries, and we found ourselves in a room with mostly paintings. A fair amount of them were abstract works more-so than easily recognizable portraits or landscapes. I really enjoy abstract work so I spent a good amount of time making my way around the room. I liked the atmosphere the room gave off as well, with the colorful paintings hanging on a white wall. Most of the other rooms in the section were darker and not as catchy.
Of the paintings in the first American gallery i went into, the one I liked the most was a piece by Jackson Pollock. I have always thought his works were very interesting, and this was no exception. The particular work was titled "Male and Female" from 1942-43. I thought it was especially interesting as many of his more well known works such as "Autumn Rhythm No. 30" do not contain solid shapes as this one did. The whole style of the painting to me at least seemed more like a De Kooning, of whom I also really enjoy.
The "Male and Female" painting was definitely highly abstract as far as a connection with the title and the subject would go. There were recognizable features of it though, such as numbers, eyes, and shapes. The description gave more insight to the painting, revealing that the male was the black columnar form on the right, and the female was the figure on the left with catlike eyelashes. The first thought that came to my mind when I saw this piece was that it resembled graffiti. My favorite part about this piece is the mystery the numbers add, and the somewhat recognizable features, which make it more enticing.
As we made it through the rest of the American section, there were many great pieces, however I didn't feel too strongly towards many of them. We then headed upstairs to the European and Asian art section. I made my way through the European section which was filled with Catholic paintings of Christ which were very moving, however i didn't spend too much time there. A dark entranceway caught my eye and I wandered into it and found a room lined with stone carvings and a fountain in the middle. Unfortunately it was too dim to get a good photo with my phone, but it was an awesome atmosphere to be in.
After walking around the Philadelphia Art Museum for a little longer, we decided to head out and look for other places to check out. We got a little mixed up and ended up taking a bus then a cab, and ended up in Old City. As the museum list we received stated, there were many smaller galleries around this area, which was more appealing to me than a large museum. We decided to head towards Gallery Joe, because we thought the name sounded pretty solid.
Unfortunately, when we finally found it, we were about two hours early for the opening time. We couldn't go inside but we got to see some interesting works looking through the windows but couldn't see any names or titles. We decided to keep walking around and ended up stumbling on a gallery not listed on the page. It was called the F.A.N. Gallery on 221 Arch Street, and ended up being a great stop to make as we were greeted by amazing paintings and a friendly gallery owner.
On the first floor, the primary artist on display was a painter by the name of Carlo Russo. His style was completely the opposite of Jackson Pollock's, as Russo's works were incredibly detailed and looked almost like photographs. Many, if not all of the paintings by Carlo Russo were very current, with the date of the one I photographed being 2009. The painting that I took a picture of and also really like was titled "Yarn", and was just one of the many extremely detailed paintings by Russo.
The painting "Yarn" was painted with oil on linen, as I found out after asking the gallery owner. I also found out it was $5000 dollars, which was money I didn't have at the moment. As were all of his exhibited paintings, "Yarn" was a still-life painting of two tangled bundles of yarn hung on a wall next to three post-it notes. The color scheme of the square pieces of paper reminded me of the german flag upside down. The whole piece really looked like a photograph, because there was an incredible amount of detail on every single part, in every single thread. Another piece that I thought was remarkable in its detail was "Nude with Kimono", also oil on linen.
There was an upstairs to the gallery which I wandered up to, and found it filled with paintings and drawings by various other artists. I found one drawing to be really interesting in its composition, especially because I am currently taking a drawing class now. The owner was downstairs with other guests and I couldn't find a name or a title for the work but I at least got a picture. Overall its was a great little gallery, which I personally enjoyed more than the museum because of the more personal touch it gave off. After that we headed down the street so I could get some permanent art of my own.. It was a great day.
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