Matthew Sepielli on Phrequency

"In his first solo show, Sepielli sets forth a body of work that throws traditional painting practices to the wolves, often trading traditional canvas for items like his father's course books from college. Sepielli's paintings are akin to the lithosphere – thick and full of matter – laid flat on a table they might resemble the real life contours of a landscape. He incorporates carpet, studio detritus, and more paint than a Sherwin Williams shop to construct what he calls 'things that portray' rather than the blasé 'painting'."

Read the full post: http://www.phrequency.com/blog/art/DIY_FF_OCTOBER.html#ixzz14hoeyeql

Matthew Sepielli in 34th Street Magazine

"If you didn’t catch Matthew Sepielli’s work at Artspace Liberti’s In3s show, now would be the perfect time to journey to Tiger Strikes Asteroid on N. 11th Street to wander through Sepielli’s works. Not quite paintings, but not exactly sculptures either, his work favors hardcover books rather than canvas as his base. These mutant forms have extraordinary texture and come to life through Sepielli’s novel exploration of medium. For instance, his piece “State Fair” layers purples, blues and yellows and juxtaposes them with drill holes on what appears to be scraps of cut canvas spilling out of a closed book. In an interview with FunnelPages, Sepielli reveals his artistic process: “I had all of these hard-bound books, and I was thinking about what I could do with these things after I’m done reading them, since they usually just sit on shelves. So they became surfaces that I paint on. I am thinking about brail and text and how you read a painting versus how you read a book.” With this in mind, his books transform from out-of-reach abstracts into thought provoking 3D concept pieces. Yet, not all of Sepielli’s work hangs on the white walls of galleries — his participation in the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program lends him some serious street cred. This is Sepielli’s first solo exhibit and this local is definitely worth watching out for."

[Read the full article]

Adam Blumberg: Punctum(s) reviewed in the Philadelphia Weekly

"Punctum(s): by Roberta Fallon

Adam Blumberg’s art is about many things, many related to the culture of small-town, Midwest America where he grew up. The objects, drawings and photographs in his solo show, Punctum(s), at Tiger Strikes Asteroid have an anthropological feel—a take on the informal modern tribes to which we all belong (motorcycle riders, protesters and shoppers, for example). It’s all a little elliptical, and while you don’t have to do the reading assignments (although Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida and George Baker’s October magazine essay “Photography Expanded” are both excellent reads), it may help to know the theoretical underpinnings to the works and the show’s title.

A punctum is a small detail in a photograph (intentional or not) that takes the viewer into a different subtext than the main subject. For example, a portrait may depict a face and body, but the dirt road in the distance—the punctum—adds a layer of reverie and intrigue, directing the viewer’s imagination elsewhere.

One photo, “Parking Lot, the Springfield Mile,” depicts some down time at a motorcycle rally in Southern Illinois. The shot, taken from above looking down on a small group in a parking lot, seems almost like a surveillance photo. It takes a second to zero in on what all the people congregated are doing—photographing and gawking at a bikini-clad blonde posing near a bike.\

Another, “Logan,” portrays a young boy playing the electric guitar at night between a row of colorful cardboard boxes and a ground-based fireworks display. The low-angle shot captures so much information it takes a while to decide what is the focus—the boy, the guitar, the boxes, the fireworks, the inky sky or maybe those tiny sparks coming off the fireworks, alive with possibility. The photo embodies the spirit of small-town Yankee Doodle on the Fourth of July.

Blumberg, who studied art after switching from an engineering major, produced a few 3D examples of punctum with two “Signs of Protest”—cardboard, hand-lettered signs based on ones that scream their tiny messages in famous news photos of recent-vintage protests, bringing their own meaning to crowd shots. While Blumberg made the pieces for the show, under glass they look like pieces in a museum of the future documenting the current era. “Jump you Fuckers,” says one, from a Wall Street rally at the height of the financial meltdown. As punctum extricated from their photographic sources and made real, the signs hold your attention. You can imagine the protest, photo or not, and the words on the sign bring a power and meaning that the original photo might not have been aiming for.

Blumberg is an earnest young artist. He is himself a Harley motorcycle rider who has ridden with his father from St. Louis to the big rallies in South Dakota. Blumberg rides a non-motored cycle around Philadelphia, though—his Harley is parked in St. Louis.

The idea of surveillance or distanced observation runs throughout the show. But the eye here isn’t mocking, just a studious look at the world in which the artist travels. Many artists become detectives of a sort, looking under rocks and in bureau drawers to find out about life. Blumberg considers how we try, via the tiny punctum details of our lives and self-expression, to portray ourselves either as members of a group or not. And that’s worth thinking about."


Read more: http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/arts-and-culture/art/Punctums.html#ixzz14hqVmJwC

Adam Blumberg: Punctum(s) on the Art Blog

"The most amusing September exhibition I encountered was almost certainly Adam Blumberg’s Punctum(s) at Tiger Strikes Asteroid. A show of seeming refuse and witty banter, Blumberg creates some signs in the style of those held by homeless people asking for change, except encouraging the readers to “Jump! You Fuckers” or asserting that “I Wish I Had Your $Millions of Problems.” Both irreverent and relevant, some pieces are simply word bubbles on loose-leaf paper.

One piece is a plaster and wooden contraption, a beer bong, painted golden-bronze, and looking more like a broken bugle than a drinking device. The do-it-yourself, low cost, drinking-away-of-sorrows approach to Blumberg’s show make it worth a few hearty chuckles and perhaps the hankering for a beer… although I prefer a glass, myself."

Read more: http://theartblog.org/2010/09/first-friday-at-1026-vox-and-tiger/