Vox Populi
319 North 11th Street, 3rd Floor
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107

Exhibition Dates: Friday, May 2- June 1
Opening Reception: First Friday, May 2 from 6-11 pm
Gallery Talk: Sunday, June 1 at 3 pm John Caperton, Curator, The Print Center

This month Vox Populi presents exhibitions by trusty Vox Populi members Stefan Abrams, Nick Paparone, and Eva Wylie, with Jack Sloss in the Video Lounge and work by guest artist, Carl Baratta.


Stefan Abrams
Laugh Out Loud

In Stefan Abrams’ newest work you will be invited to decide what is the BEST Super Bowl Ad EVER!!! LOL

Stefan Abrams is an artist and photographer and a 2007 Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Fellow. This will be his fourth solo exhibition at Vox Populi.


Nick Paparone
Cliffs, Bluffs and Steamy Lowlands

Nick Paparone presents his first exhibition at Vox Populi - Cliffs, Bluffs and Steamy Lowlands. The results of data -- experience, observation and experiment -- are explored through the transitional stages of humanity - childhood, puberty and adulthood. Due to the overwhelming universe of information that is shot at us at the rate of a rocket ship, processing it all becomes more and more of an uncontrollable action. The manipulating and organizing of the billions of packets of data generates perspectives and opinions of the world which tend to morph, transform and explode in our brains through out our life span and then some.

Nick Paparone is an artist from Ohio, where he attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati. In 2004 he moved to Philadelphia and co-founded the independent art gallery Black Floor. He has exhibited his work widely.


Eva Wylie
Roaring Tulips

In Eva Wylie’s third exhibition at Vox Populi, she presents Roaring Tulips. The room-sized installation, consisting of a gutted parachute and red velvet backed cutouts, make us keenly aware of the spaces around, inside, and between our bodies. The wavering and dangling shapes of Wylie’s installation stand suspended to create a dialogue between the their physical support and configuration, and the encompassing environment.

Eva Wylie received her MFA from Tyler School of Art in 2003. She was a resident at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2007. In 2006, she received Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant. Her exhibitions include Moore College of Art and Design, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 2007 Fleisher Challenge, and the Philadelphia International Airport.


Guest artist
Carl Baratta
Choke The River With Stone Fingers

Baratta’s narrative systems never settle. If things do not become fixed, they cannot be dismissed or forgotten. Every element is highly charged, active, and alive including dramatic spatial shifts, the violent color pallet, the mismatched characters and the exotic landscape.

Unlike typical narrative paintings, these paintings allow the viewer to browse each painting in any order they want; it is left to them to decide how the different elements connect to make some sort of sense. When each piece is looked at in its entirety, it adds up to a simple conclusion: something is wrong and the clues that are given won’t yield a solution; they only show how far-reaching the wrongness is. As the scene unfolds, this unnerving feeling ensures that each element and its constituent parts add up to a sense of mystery and wonder, keeping the viewer engaged.


In the Video Lounge
Jack Sloss
I & I Improv Impart

Jack Sloss graduated from Tyler School of Art in 1998 where he studied Sculpture and Painting. Afterwards, he moved to Chicago so that his wife could pursue a graduate degree in Photography at UIC. In 2000, Sloss began his studies at UIC and received an MFA in Studio Arts. Sloss returned to Philadelphia in 2005, after spending seven years in Chicago, where he exhibited at, among others, Donald Young Gallery and the Chicago Cultural Center. Sloss’ video works have been shown internationally, including Smart Projects, Amsterdam and Karg Art, Insanbul. Jack Sloss is represented by Fleisher/Ollman gallery where his work, an exhibition entitled, Love Explosion, is currently on view.


At Screening
Semiconductor
Magnetic Movie

The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries. All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, set to recordings of space scientists excitedly describing their visualization techniques. Magnetic Movie delves into Earth’s inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent ‘whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons. Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?

Semiconductor makes moving image works that reveal our physical world in flux; cities in motion, shifting landscapes and systems in chaos. Since 1999, UK artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt have worked with digital animation to transcend the constraints of time, scale and natural forces; they explore the world beyond human experience, questioning our very existence. Their work has been exhibited widely at venues including The Museum of Contemporary Art (Lyon, France), Pacific Film Archive (Berkley), The Venice Biennale and the Ars Electronica festival.