Never short on inspiration… get ready for a spectacular art-induced overdose as FOUR new shows open August 4, 2017 at Arch Enemy Arts for their exciting first Friday event. Serious side effects may include tingling, increased visual stimulation, feelings of creativity, and an uncontrollable urge to stare.
The lineup for August celebrates David Seidman: The Ghost Girls, Hanna Jaeun: Those Who Gather, Rebecca Yanovskaya: Obsession, and The PRISMA Collective: Achromatic featuring new works emphasizing a monochromatic simplicity in black and white tonal variations.
August First Friday at Arch Enemy Arts
Opening Reception:
Friday, August 4, 2017 | 6-10pm
Exhibition Dates:
August 4-26, 2017
Arch Enemy Arts
109 + 111 Arch Street | Philadelphia, PA 19106
For additional information and available artwork please contact the gallery directly at archenemyarts@gmail.com
David Seidman: The Ghost Girls
For his second Arch Enemy solo exhibition, The Ghost Girls brings together an anthology of female-driven stories from the past 150 years, each one self-contained within a single piece by the Philadelphia-based dark fantasy painter and illustrator. David Seidman’s inspiration for this new collection is slightly different than some of his previous work. While in the past David has drawn inspiration and reference from the truly supernatural, like in his 2016 solo show, Rapture, The Ghost Girls is a collection of strange tales that took place in the real world, from Cora The Medium, to the Fox Sisters and their role in influencing the birth of modern day spiritualism, to the show’s title piece, The Ghost Girl: a true story about a female workforce working in a factory for self-laminating radium based paint. At first, the women relished in the fact that their teeth, lips and even clothes would glow, but the radium was actually slowly poisoning them to the point that their bones would become brittle. These women fought tirelessly in courts against corporations that disregarded employee safety in exchange for better profits, and their efforts continue to protect workers today.
Rebecca Yanovskaya: Obsession
Obsession is the first Arch Enemy feature for Toronto artist and illustrator Rebecca Yanovskaya. Using ballpoint pen and gold leaf, Rebecca’s work and compositions are heavily influenced by neoclassical and pre-Raphaelite arts, often illustrating mythological stories, conflicts with natural forces and aesthetically strong characters for a new collection of epic works in her signature, and easily identifiable style.
Hanna Jaeun: Those Who Gather
Brooklyn-based pop surrealist artist, Hanna Jaeun returns to Arch Enemy with Those Who Gather, the follow up to her 2016 collection, On Borrowed Time. The new body of work follows one single narrative, portraying a tea party rendezvous in the middle of the night, driven by her signature use of animal and animal-human hybrid characters to assist in exploring themes of isolation and a yearning to belong. This particular story takes place in a world within the subconscious with set pieces like the ‘house’ meant to represent the self, and the characters each representing a state of mind, their relationships and interactions influencing the story across the full collection of paintings, like a playful dream.
PRISMA Collective & Arch Enemy Arts Presents: Achromatic
For this year’s theme, each artist created a piece without color, only able to use black and white and shades of gray for a new collection that is powerful in its simplicity. PRISMA founder Kaspian Shore describes the theme for our 2017 exhibition: “Achromatic literally means “free of colour” and is used as a synonym for “black and white”. With this theme, the artists explore various shades of grey, black and white, and neutral tones that make their subjects appear both more simplified and yet more straightforward.”
