'CONCRETE PAVEMENT' Opens Today at Art Amalgamated
By: BWW News Desk May. 07, 2013
The opening reception for a long distance collaboration between artists David Birkin and Jeremy Hutchinson will take place at Art Amalgamated today, May 7th, followed by an unlikely exhibition opening at Eastern State Penitentiary by artist Dave Adler on May 10th.Some Fifty Miles of Concrete Pavement
Opening Reception: Tuesday, May 7th from 6-8pm
Art Amalgamated, 317 Tenth Ave On a day in April, Birkin walks 25 miles northeast across the Mojave Desert. At the same time, Hutchison leaves his studio in east London and walks 25 miles southwest. They fail to meet in the middle. Some Fifty Miles of Concrete Pavement is a collaboration between David Birkin and Jeremy Hutchison. For the period of this project, the two artists worked in geographical isolation: one in the US, the other in the UK. Through sculpture, video, sound, text and photography, the exhibition documents the complications of this virtual exchange, and their repeated efforts to meet -- both physically and ideologically -- and to bridge the ocean between them.
Starting with Eisenhower's 1953 speech "The Chance for Peace," the collaborators soon veered off course, wandering through conversational territories in their effort to find common ground. As such, this new body of work is an attempt at correspondence. It is a monument to the mismatched: a study of conflict from conflicting perspectives, and an exercise in equivalence. It is about proximity and scale, land art and Skype -- it's also about friendship. Visions of a Free World
Opening Reception: Friday, May 10th from 5:30-7:30pm
Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmont Ave, Philadelphia, PA Nearly all prison visitation rooms in the U.S. feature photo backdrops, painted by the inmates themselves, to be used in inmate portraits. The portraits are in most cases sent to family and friends in "the free world." The backdrops, typically painted either on canvas or cinderblock walls, often portray beaches, waterfalls, rainbows, city skylines, and other expansive landscapes. Artist Dave Adler explores what these aesthetic choices say about inmates' portrayals of their experiences in prison and the messages they are sending to those on the outside in the exhibition Visions of a Free World.
Visions of a Free World will be on view at Eastern State Penitentiary, a historic 19th century prison that presents year-long artist residencies.
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