Aggregates, Absurd Infinities and Absent Mindedness at AHN|VHS this Friday, December 4th, 6-10pm

Travis LeRoy Southworth

Aggregates, Absurd Infinities and Absent Mindendness
December 4, 2009 - January 3, 2010
Opening: Friday December 4th, 6-10pm

AHN|VHS is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Travis LeRoy Southworth. Conceptually driven and made from familiar materials, these works, according to Southworth, begin with an interest in "conventional representation" and "move beyond it...to exist in a new geography, one that redefines the distance between ritual and routine, original source and final work."

The exhibition is composed of three bodies of work. A sculpture series created using paper from books and magazines to create spit wads includes "After Boredom: A Literal History of a State of Mind" and then chewed and spat against the cover of it creating a stalactite-like mound. Southworth says of the work "using paper from books and magazines to create spit wads these sculptures engage aspects of boredom related to loss of oneself. I feel art like boredom pulls things out of their usual contexts and can open up different configuration of things, and therefore also a new meaning."

"Aggregates", and "Similar Seemingly Absurd Infinities", are drawings that are collections of fragments and stray marks that are taken from, but show little reference to, original photographs. As elements of these photographs are systematically selected and reconfigured or re-presented, the resulting compositions suggest a nebula or celestial body, "revealing connections between our own physical markings and those of the cosmos." Pointing to his interest in both the absurdity and truth of cosmic connections, the title of "Similar Seemingly Absurd Infinities" is a reference to a section in Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" which describes the problems of absurd infinities that arise in the combing of theories.

Travis LeRoy Southworth received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Southworth's work is in the Drawings Center Viewing Program and he recently finished the Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) 29 program, which concluded with a group exhibition at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. He has been included in a number of group exhibitions including New American Talent 24, Arthouse at the Jones Center in Austin, TX; the Chicago Cultural Center; SCOPE Art Fair in Miami and the center for Curatorial Studies at the Hessel Museum of Art, NY. This upcoming January he will be presenting a window installation at Mixed Greens Gallery in NYC. Southworth lives and works in New York City.

Inquiries to info@ahnvhs.com. More information and images at www.ahnvhs.com and ahnvhs.blogspot.com

Country Instrument at AHN|VHS, Opening Friday, November 6th, 6-10pm

Country Instrument
November 6 - 28, 2009
Opening: Friday, November 6th, 6 - 10pm


AHN|VHS presents new sculpture and works on paper by Eric Veit. This body of work features readymade materials and studio ephemera repositioned and reconsidered outside of their intended states and uses. Placed within the gallery these objects are imbued with a new aura and alternate function. At the center of Veit's installation is his "Country Instrument", a homemade instrument composed of bottle caps which cover a large stick. "The country instrument (is) the object that you just give to the most unskilled person in a group of musicians." Says Veit, "The instrument is an object of very minimal means and serves as a record.."


Eric Veit lives and works in Philadelphia. His work was most recently included in Vox V at Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA. He has also exhibited at Gallery TK in Northhampton, MA, The Harold Johnson Gallery at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and at The Norfolk Gallery at Yale University, Norfolk, CT. Veit received his BA from Hampshire College in 2008, and attended Yale Summer School of Music and Art in 2007. He was awarded the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship from Yale University in 2007.

Inquiries to info@ahnvhs.com. More information and images at www.ahnvhs.com and www.ericveit.com

Arden Bendler Browning "Pattern Language" in artblog's First Friday rundown

In case you missed Libby Rosof's rundown of October's First Friday on artblog, the current gallery show at AHN|VHS, "Pattern Language" by Arden Bendler Browning got a great mention!
The new shows at our neighbors The Fabric Workshop, Vox Populi and Tiger Strikes Asteroid were major hits too.

read all about it here: First Friday layer cake-pix galore



The story is complete with this photo by Libby of one of Arden's drawings.

Contribute to Bookish Project

Bookish is a neat little zine project in the works right now. Copying the format of those funny little Scholastic book catalogs some of us remember from our little-kid days, it'll be a "catalog" of the books everyone in the Philly arts scene is reading now. Submissions are open, and you can submit your entry here: http://bookishproject.com/

According to the website:
"Bookish is a project that documents the literary works being read by those creating, curating and looking at art in Philadelphia... As a catalogue of the readings on your bedside table, Bookish aims to help spark conversation and cross-pollination of literature influencing the community."



Remember, knowledge is totally power.

But really, can I just ask why children are reading "Rock Star Santa"?

Arden Bendler Browning "Pattern Language", Opening Friday October 2nd 6-10pm

AHN|VHS is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new large-scale works by Arden Bendler Browning. The Philadelphia based artist takes her influence from the city's “dichotomous landscape”. Interweaving imagery of architectural decay and rampant flora, her dynamic compositions emulate the violence and euphoria embedded in the city itself. Bold colors and sharp gestural lines whirl together creating a delicate balance of utter chaos and control. Incorporating the physical elements of construction / destruction sites, these epic works are painted and drawn on Tyvek.
Reflecting on the timeless tensions between the built environment and the natural world, these works depict the point of climax in the battle between the two; snapshots of the decisive moment in the most profound conflict, where every line between destruction and creation is blurred.
Bendler Browning says she is attracted to cities for their “density, activity, variety, their layered contradictions... the opposite of the picturesque landscape.” Taking inspiration from her immediate urban environment, Bendler Browning spends much of her time taking countless snapshots of the city, capturing the myriad “visual hypocrisies” discovered along these daily explorations. “A silhouette of a blue tarp can become a vibrant colored square rather than mundane construction material; highlighted chips of wall paint from an upturned building add energy rather than depicting gloom.” There is no assigned protagonist or villain here. By highlighting the contradictions inherent in the urban landscape these works evoke the grace and vulgarity of all things contained therein; man-made or organic, both forces hold the potential for good and evil, and both are simultaneously neither/nor. Bendler Browning's images are a lens through which we may watch this puzzle unfold.

Arden Bendler Browning received her MFA from the Tyler School School of Art in 2003. Her work was featured in the 2009 edition of New American Paintings. Recent solo exhibitions include “Solo Series 2009” at the Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, PA, curated by Sue Spaid, and “Urban Reef” at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, curated by Sean Stoops. Her work has also been included in exhibitions at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, and Fleisher Ollman Gallery.


Inquiries to info@ahnvhs.com. More information and images at www.ahnvhs.com

New Asshole featured in Philadelphia Weekly!

Read the full article and interview of Manya Scheps, editor of New Asshole Magazine here

Studio Visit: Arden Bendler Browning

Arden Bendler Browning, painter extraordinaire and mother of two will be exhibiting her work this coming October at AHN|VHS (stay tuned!) Last week, she was kind enough to open her studio doors at the Crane Arts Building in Fishtown to show us a glimpse of her paintings beyond the flat file.

We Do It for Love: Philadelphia arts scene in the NY Times

"Art to Make you Laugh (and cry)" in the New York Times Thursday August 27th, by Randy Kennedy.

In case you missed it, there was a great article last week in the Times on our city's beloved Flux Space, PIFAS, Fabric Workshop & Museum, and a smattering of other fine Philly institutions.

As the article says "There is a particularly Philadelphian brand of hardy, low-budget, do-it-yourself, do-it-for-love creativeness evident in art and art spaces across the city." It's true.

And we're extra thrilled to see the mention of FLUX Space's current show by AHN|VHS artist Tory Franklin, up till Sept. 13th!

PIFAS has recently renovated their gallery space and have some great shows coming up. Last month's show, curated by another AHN|VHS artist Hilary Price, featured stunning altered comic book works by Paul DeMuro.

(p.s. to the Times, next visit come to the 319 N. 11th St. hive... just saying)

On Place at AHN|VHS, Opening: Friday, September 4th, 6-10pm

On Place
Alexis Granwell, Karsten Grumstrup, Heidi Neilson
September 4 - September 27, 2009
Opening: Friday September 4th, 6-10pm

AHN|VHS presents a group exhibition of works on paper from flat file artists Alexis Granwell, Karsten Grumstrup and Heidi Neilson.

On Place features works that depict the experience of place via non-literal visual memory. Mapping by memory appears in these works as a navigational tool. Notions of the sublime are present as well, as they all confront the fine line dividing the magnificent and the mundane; the crux of the horizon.

Granwell's etchings reference topographical and location maps of the earth and the stars. These sparse and organic abstractions interweave the ephemeral and concrete, never quite identifiable as earth or air, hypothetical or defined.
Grumstrup's series of horizons evoke notions of the sublime with the curious dichotomy of the infinite sky above hard ground. Drawn with ink on book board, the rhythmic mountain-scape flowing across each image hints at the intangible unknown yet their minute size maintains their familiarity.
Neilson's etchings of rooftops as seen from the windows of the N train in Queens, NY, capture these houses from an angle never seen by their inhabitants and viewed only by the artist while in transit, offering both the mystery of what lies below while revealing the unseen aspect of these mundane structures.

Alexis Granwell has exhibited at The Arlington Center for the Arts, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Pentimenti, and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, among others. She received an MFA from The University of Pennsylvania in 2007.
Karsten Grumstrup is a works on paper and book artist based in Philadelphia and Nevada. He received an MFA from SUNY Stoneybrook in Printmaking.
Heidi Neilson is book artist, printmaker and mixed media artist based in Long Island City, New York. Neilson's work has been exhibited at The Queens Museums, Queens, NY, BravinLee programs, New York, NY, and The Drawing Center, New York, NY, among many others. She is also a founder of the SP Weather Station.

Weekly Forecast: SP Weather Station "Weather Reports" in Philly Weekly

Luke Strosnider "April 2009"

SP Weather Station exhibition "Weather Reports" featured in the new issue of Philly Weekly!

Weather or Not:
A new exhibit at AHN/VHS focuses on meteorological data.


by Roberta Fallon of artblog

"If there’s angst or hysteria about global warming, it’s hidden in the group show “Weather Reports.” Instead of melting ice caps and imperiled polar bears, AHN/VHS’ quiet, small works show—which features drawings, prints, video and mixed media—focuses on the daily weather data recorded at Long Island City’s artist-run SP Weather Station...."

Read on!

Weather Reports installation photos!

We had a blast on Friday at the opening for the SP Weather Station "Weather Reports" show.
Thanks to everyone who came out! and thanks to mama nature for giving us a lovely drizzle-free night (see? maybe all the weather wants is a little attention, and then everything is fine).

Photos are up on the AHN|VHS site here

and the contents of the 2008 portfolio are viewable on the AHN|VHS site here!

and as always, you can read more about the SP Weather Station and all of their events - including guest lectures and other exhibitions - past and present here.

SP Weather Station at AHN|VHS, Opening Friday August 7th 7-10pm

SP Weather Station
Weather Reports
August 7 - 30, 2009
Opening: Friday August 7th, 7-10pm


AHN|VHS presents an exhibition of data interpretive art work for the SP Weather Station, a project of the SP Artist Collective in Long Island City, NY. Co-founded by artists Natalie Campbell and Heidi Neilson in 2007, the SP Weather Station is an interdisciplinary project that collects weather data, and organizes weather-related publications, events, and exhibitions, while maintaining a rooftop weather station.

Over the course of 2008, SPWS invited numerous “Guest Interpreters” to create weather reports using its data. As artist participant and co-founder Heidi Neilson states, the project revealed “the infinite possibilities for the interpretation of data, and some of the problems this presents.” The work produced by these artist interpreters ranges from stark to whimsical to utterly chaotic. Artist Michael Geminder created a minimal four word summary of one month's weather laser cut in cardboard, while Katarina Jerinic created a temporary tattoo for one's index finger which measures the direction of the wind. In a video and live drawing collaboration by Natalie Campbell, Daniel Larson, Heidi Neilson, Jing Yu, and Liz Zanis, the changes in wind direction over the course of a day are read allowed while the artists attempt to collectively illustrate the rapidly shifting patterns.

SPWS has compiled these interpretations into a portfolio which will be on view in the AHN|VHS gallery. Guest Interpreters contributing to the portfolio include Leah Beeferman, Carrie Dashow, Natalie Campbell, Susan G. Campbell, Mike Estabrook, Neil Freeman, Richard Garrison, Michael Geminder, Vandana Jain, Katarina Jerinic, Emily Larned, Daniel Larson, Bridget Lewis, Lize Mogel, Heidi Neilson, Mark Nystrom, Chris Petrone, Sarah Nicole Phillips, Luke Strosnider, Jing Yu and Liz Zanis.

According to SPWS, the “By recording its neighborhood’s environmental conditions, SPWS participates in and adds to some of the many ways people have, throughout history, made their own weather observations. SPWS maintains an interest in new and historical technologies, and in how individuals relate to broader systems and patterns.” And as Neilson says, “...the weather is always around, and all around us; monitoring devices can be as sophisticated or as rudimentary as we need them, in that moment, to be. Anyone can access consistent, scientifically acquired weather data... Taking one’s own weather data implies an interest in the system itself, regardless of its accuracy; it means valuing the system’s internal logic and following its leads."

SP Weather Station has exhibited at The Queens Museum, Eyebeam, and most recently in Ithaca, NY as participants in the “To Let” exhibition series. SP Weather Station is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.

Additional information at www.spweatherstation.net

___________________________________________________________________________________
About AHN|VHS: Gallery owners Julianne Ahn and Lauren van Haaften-Schick are Philadelphia-based artists and arts professionals. In addition to monthly exhibitions, AHN|VHS features a growing inventory of works on paper and editions in all media in our flat file and on our store shelves. All artwork is available for viewing and for sale in the gallery and at www.ahnvhs.com.

"Moonlight Is Visible" Installation Photographs

Despite the holiday weekend, the turn out for Rachel Mosler's exhibition at AHN|VHS was great. Many thanks to her wonderful family and friends for their support and especially the first time visitors who wandered unknowingly into the building that night not realizing other galleries were closed. Special thanks to Becca, our amazing intern. To view additional pictures or purchase artwork from the exhibition online, please visit here.




Installation Photograph: Containment


Top left, clockwise: Untitled I; The Ego Transforms Itself Into a Mystic, Blossoms Fall; Beneath The Broken Boards, We Sail; Untitled II


Installation Photograph: Silver Book


Installation Photograph: Nail Book


Installation Photograph: As It Snows; Transmuted And Bending, Morning



www.rachelmosler.com

Rachel Mosler "Moonlight is Visible" at AHN|VHS gallery, opening Friday July 3rd, 7-11pm

"Here I came to the very edge where nothing at all needs saying, everything is absorbed through weather and the sea, and the moon swam back, its rays all silvered, and time and again the darkness would be broken, by the crash of a wave, and every day on the balcony of the sea, wings open, fire is born, and everything is blue again like morning."
-Pablo Neruda- It is Born

AHN|VHS presents an exhibition of works on paper by Rachel Mosler.


Drawn in watercolor and ink with stunning care and grace, her compositions range from sparse images of oceanic scenes to architecture or botanical forms in various states of growth and decay. Her work is heavily influenced by a "post and beam house" upbringing on Martha's Vineyard, where "my father carved botanical patterns and planted an orchard in her backyard, while my mother stitched and collected feathers alongside roads". Growing up in such an environment offered little access to the forms of entertainment common to others of her generation, so that leisure activities were instead filled with "quiet observations of nature and time", and careful crafting such as stitching and book binding. Her drawings and sculptures are psychological inquiries into the construction and deconstruction of memories from her childhood.

Mosler's imagery is never quite literal, and often it is the space between drawn or painted forms that calls our attention. The Artist speaks of the forms in her work as "a safe space for tension to settle and rest." These works display such a penchant for careful process and exude an aura of rhythmic contemplation. Much like a life spent staring at the sea.


Rachel Mosler is an artist based out of Red Hook in Brooklyn, NY, and currently works as an Art Therapist. She received her BFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003 and her MPS from the School of Visual Arts in 2008. Her work was recently included in a group show at Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn, NY. Prints of her drawings will be featured on Little Paper Planes and the Beholder in the next coming months.


For additional information please contact info@ahnvhs.com

Sketchy Stash installation and edition pics

Thanks to everyone for coming out and making our second show so fun.

Pictures of the installation are up on our website here, as well as photos of the limited edition artist's book produced for the show!
We've made reproductions of one of Bill McRight's pocket sized accordion fold sketchbooks, designed and hand bound by AHN|VHS.
A huge thanks for Silicon Fine Art Print for printing the edition.
We're capping the edition at 20 - grab one soon!


above: entry wall to the show with limited edition books (you see? you totally just thought those were the originals. told you they were good.)

We're A Pick!

Bill McRight's show "Sketchy Stash" is featured in the current Philly Weekly, with a great write up from artblog's Roberta Fallon!



grab your copy while you can, or check it out online:
Here

June Exhibition at AHN|VHS

Bill McRight
Sketchy Stash

June 5 - June 27, 2009
Opening: Friday June 5th, 7-11pm

AHN|VHS is pleased to present an exhibition of sketch books by Bill McRight.

Primarily a printmaker working in linoleum block and silkscreen, McRight's work is known for its extreme intricacy and for his bold, often absurd figures. These sketchbooks are McRight's place for character and concept development, as well as impulsive composition. The figures in his books are drawn and redrawn with altered and increasingly exaggerated gestures and features, interspersed with pages of striking painterly abstraction and bursts of free associative text or overheard phrases. There seems to be a narrative at work, although the books leave no conclusion but to continue to another page. It is rare that McRight takes a figure directly from one of these books for use in a print; these forms are composed on impulse and are made to retain that immediacy. This looseness and experimentation with material and gesture is a surprising contrast to McRight's rigid sculpting of forms in his prints and lino cuts in particular.

This is the first exhibition of the artist's books since his 2005 MFA thesis exhibition at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

AHN|VHS will produce a limited edition reproduction of one of these sketch books concurrent with the exhibition.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bill McRight is a print maker working primarily in silkscreen and linoleum or wood block. In 2005 he received an MFA from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. His prints have been published by Cannonball Press. He lives in Philadelphia and is a current member of Space 1026.

new work by jason andrew turner

Jason Andrew Turner, 25 Men Crying, 2009, graphite on paper
currently on view at the u.o. gallery at the naval yard (south philly).

Arden Bendler Browning in New American Paintings!

Happy to announce that AHN|VHS artist and fellow Philadelphian artist Arden Bendler Browning is featured in the lastest issue of New American Paintings! The juried review highlights current movements, trends and general observations on the best of the best of contemporary painting.


"Collapsible #2 (Hurricane)" 2008


Arden's most recent work deals with the endless tension between organic growth and human sprawl, particularly in the urban environment. Her landscapes are rendered using baroque and jagged marks interspersed with suggestive abstraction to create dynamic scenes so steady in their chaos that they achieve a graceful balance. According to Arden, there is no good or bad side in this conflict, but simply the constant cycle of decay and renewal.

See more images on the artist's site here


From the New American Painting website:
Above all, these artists’ works reflect the pluralistic nature of painting today and underscore the notion that anything goes and everything is possible. Represented are realist interpretations of still-life and the figure, compositions with roots in Abstract Expressionism, and works that explore enigmatic narratives, environmental messages, and the psychological landscape...
The works of Robert Goodman, Rebecca Rutstein, and Arden Bendler Browning, share a subtle common strand in their adept layering of forms, incorporation of linear structures that resemble netting or industrial fencing, and a frenetic energy created by bold, curvilinear elements.

My Dog Speaks at Seraphin Gallery

The opening was last Saturday, but for all of you in Philly or those stopping through, check out this show at Seraphin Gallery - features work by our own Bonnie Brenda Scott and Caitlin Emma Perkins!

From the gallery's press release:
Seraphin Gallery is proud to announce My Dog Speaks; An Animal Narrative in Contemporary Art, curated by Seraphin artist Hiro Sakaguchi. Twelve emerging and established artists will participate in this group exhibition in which animals play the central role... Through each work, these artists view, interact, and imagine animals in their own setting, highlighting the ever apparent bond between humans and their four legged, and at times, two legged friends.
Artists: Alina Josan & Amanda Miller(collaboration), Anne Canfield, Bonnie Brenda Scott, Caitlin Emma Perkins, Caroline Picard, Darla Jackson, Eric McDade, John Karpinski, Laura McKinley, Nancy Sophy, Sarah McEneaney, Sherif Habashi


installation shot of Bonnie Brenda Scott's work


Animals and our relationship to them is a timeless and popular theme in art, yet is rarely given such curatorial and critical focus. Seriously interesting stuff.

Rack and File: selected works from the flat file

Thanks to everyone who came out last first Friday for our debut opening!

The show is beautiful, and that's because we've got some great artists to work with.
Here are some installation shots, and check out ahnvhs.com for more work by these and other artists.





photos by Elyse Derosia


prints by Chris Kline, Matt Leines and Bill McRight


prints and drawings by Bonnie Brenda Scott, Caitlin Emma Perkins, Jason Turner, Jena Derman, Eric Veit and Josh Shaffner


prints and collage by Tory Franklin and Arden Bendler Browning


and our bookshelf, featuring zines and publications by Alex Lukas, Mark Price, a slew of great books and records from Free News Projects, and of course, Megawords (wouldn't be Philly without it)

AHN|VHS

Flat File: selected works
AHN|VHS debut exhibition

May 1st - May 30th, 2009
Opening: Friday, May 1st, 7-10pm


Julianne Ahn and Lauren van Haaften-Schick are pleased to announce the opening of AHN|VHS, a new gallery, flat file archive, curated shop and shared studio on the 4th floor of 319A North 11th St., Philadelphia, PA.

AHN|VHS will debut on Friday, May 1st, with the exhibition "Flat File: selected works", featuring works on paper by numerous artists including Mark Price, Caitlin Emma Perkins, Matt Leines, Alex Lukas, Josh Shaffner, Julianne Ahn and Lauren van Haaften-Schick.

AHN|VHS will feature a publicly accessible flat file of prints and drawings that will be viewable and available for purchase in the gallery and on our website, www.ahnvhs.com. Artists are welcome to submit work for consideration in our flat file free of charge and will receive a generous percentage of revenue from sales. In the coming months, we will expand to include guest curated store shelves carrying artist's books and zines, crafts, records, video, and editions in all media. AHN|VHS will exhibit work in all media by artists from the Philadelphia area and beyond, at various points in their careers. The gallery will have limited hours and will be open by appointment.

As gallerists who are also artists, we are creating an exhibition space where the typical dealer/curator/artist hierarchical paradigm does not apply. Our experience in each of these roles will inform all aspects of the gallery, bringing a more nuanced and thoughtful approach to the exhibition and making of art. With the founding of AHN|VHS we hope to create a space where artists, patrons and all art-lovers feel welcome, engaged, and inspired to participate.


For additional information please contact info@ahnvhs.com

_______________________________________________________________________


About AHN and VHS:

Julianne Ahn holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in Textiles from Rhode Island School of Design. She currently works as a creative director and maintains her artistic practice in Philadelphia, PA.

Lauren van Haaften-Schick is a Philadelphia based artist and designer. She was the principle Founding Director of Gallery TK, a not-for-profit exhibition and performance venue in Northampton, MA, and is the former Director of a contemporary works on paper gallery in New York.