Pennsylvania Public Art- Claes Oldenburg’s “Clothespin” in Philadelphia

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Sep 162026
 

Sculptor Claes Oldenburg‘s Clothespin was installed across from City Hall in downtown Philadelphia in 1976. It was commissioned as part of the Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art program.

Two details about the 45-foot, 10-ton Cor-Ten steel sculpture may have you looking at it a bit differently. The first is it’s spring, which is meant to resemble the number 76, a reference to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776. The other is that Oldenburg was influenced by Constantin Brâncuși‘s The Kiss when creating this work. The Kiss is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

For more information about the sculpture and its history, this article on The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, is worth checking out.

 

Delaware Art Shows- “Shadow Work” at Chris White Gallery in Wilmington

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Conceptual Art, Delaware, Drawing, Fiber Arts, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Sculptors / Sculpture, Wilmington
Sep 112026
 

Jennifer Hintz Eggers, “Through the Night”, Oil on birch panel

RitaMarie Cimini, “After the Dream”, Oil on acrylic

Maia Palmer, “Splitting Headache”, Migraine Portrait Series, Charcoal and pastel on paper

Jennifer S. Rodgers, “Nearly every day PHQ-9 Depression” and “More than half the days (GAD-7 Anxiety)” acrylic paint, ink on canvas

Interactive work by Jennifer S. Rodgers– gallery visitors are encouraged to write down worries, fears or anxieties on the paper and place them in the box

Acrylic on wood paintings by Carly Maiorano

Tonight (9/11/26)  is the closing reception for Shadow Work, a group exhibition at Chris White gallery in downtown Wilmington. Curated by Jen Hintz Eggers and Rebecca Howell, nine local artists present work exploring what can be discovered through “shadow work“.

From the gallery:

Shadow Work invites impolite conversations. By shining a light on the hidden aspects of ourselves and our society, each artist examines their experience through honest dialog around parts rarely seen or discussed. From impeccably constructed portraits and florals to expressive large scale paintings and found object sculptures, these works offer a space for vulnerability by opening up the door to community.

Other artists included in the exhibition but not pictured: Regina Katz, Jane Quarterone, Rebecca Howell, and Samara Weaver.

Tonight is also Art Loop Wilmington, a monthly event where galleries and cultural spaces stay open late.

 

Yayoi Kusama (1929-2026)

 Art, Artists, Ceramic Art, Collage, Conceptual Art, Design, Fiber Arts, Films, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Performance Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Aug 282026
 

Kusama- Infinity- Official Trailer

Yesterday it was announced that Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama passed away on August 14th, at the age of 97. Although she had a long career, she became very popular much later in life for her dot-covered sculptures and paintings, as well as her Infinity Mirror Rooms installations. Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013) and  Longing for Eternity (2017), are currently on view at The Broad in Los Angeles.

Kusama: Infinity, directed by Heather Lenz, follows Kusama’s life from her childhood in the mountain town of Matsumoto, to years trying to build a career in New York in the 1960s, her struggles with mental illness, and later, years after her return to Japan, her tremendous career success. The film is a fascinating portrait of an artist who dedicated so much of her energy into making art.

Delaware Art Shows- “The People’s Gallery” at Delaware Art Museum

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Ceramic Art, Collage, Conceptual Art, Delaware, Digital Art, Drawing, Fiber Arts, Glasswork, Illustration, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Photographers / Photography, Printmaking, Sculptors / Sculpture, Wilmington
Aug 282026
 

As part of their programming for the nation’s 250th birthday, Delaware Art Museum is showing the work of local artists in their current exhibition, The People’s Gallery. It is a non-juried exhibition which allowed artists at all levels to contribute work.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to see what this community of artists has created and to purchase local art. Check it out before it closes on 9/6/26.

Delaware Art Shows- “Self, Realized” at The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Delaware, Fiber Arts, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Sculptors / Sculpture, Video and Film, Wilmington
Aug 262026
 

Paintings by E. Lizé

The members of this year’s Artist-in-Residence Cohort (ARC) at The Delaware Contemporary, Mo Berrouet, E.Lizé, and Celeste M. Rodriguez, each explored an element of the self for their culminating exhibition, Self, Realized.

This exhibition was curated by Amber M. Chacana, the first ARC curator-in-residence, and closes on 8/30/26.

Paintings by E. Lizé

E. Lizé’s series is titled Familial World.

E.Lizé is a musical artist and trained visual artist, who paints portraits and scenes dedicated to the Black experience. E.Lizé’s goal is to bridge the gap between predecessors and successors in order to remain a catalyst in preserving Black culture and Black history. E.Lizé is dedicated to archiving and preserving cultural and artistic history. She has a strong interest in tangible history and what it means to inherit it.

Inspired by the women who raised her, E.Lizé created these portraits as a way to honor their legacies and their lives (so far). In doing so, she created a personal archive, marked by her own perspective and care for her family.

Paintings by Mo Berrouet

Mo Berrouet‘s series of work is titled Emotional World.

From the museum:

Mo Berrouet is a visual artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a BFA from West Chester University. Her work explores themes of mental and physical health, personal narrative, and the complexities of the human experience, expressed through a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, ceramics, and photography.

Berrouet delves into the world of her emotions and how they exist within her body, and how her body exists in relation to her emotions. While her subject matter is personal, the emotions and feelings within them resonate with others. For Berrouet, our collective human experiences inspire her.

Work by Celeste M. Rodriguez

Celeste M. Rodriguez chose Cultural World for this body of work.

From the museum:

Celeste M. Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican-American artist born and raised in Camden, NJ. She received her B.A. in Painting from Rutgers University-Camden. Her work examines the complex relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States through visual storytelling, addressing themes of colonialism, cultural erasure, and resilience. Utilizing video, painting, drawing, sculpture, and collage. She confronts exploitation while honoring Puerto Rican strength. She views art as personal and political, and through her art, reimagines a future for Puerto Rico rooted in dignity and self-determination.

Mary Heilmann (1940-2026)

 Art, Artists, Ceramic Art, Conceptual Art, Design, Furniture, Painting / Painters, Printmaking, Sculptors / Sculpture
Aug 172026
 

“Surprise”, 2012, Oil on canvas. (Photo by Thomas Müller) Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Installation view of “Mary Heilmann: Long Line” 2025 at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, On wall: “Long Line, 2025”; “Monochrome Chairs”, 2015; “April Chairs”, 2025. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

“Mode O’Day”, 1991, Oil on canvas, Image courtesy of 303 Gallery

Artist Mary Heilmann passed away on Friday, at 86. Heilmann started her career working in sculpture, but in the early 1970s shifted to making the paintings she would become known for. The influence of sculpture never left entirely though. She returned to making ceramic pieces, which sometimes accompanied her paintings, and began designing her signature chairs, in the early 2000s.

For more about the artist, Art21 has a few videos on their site, including the one below in which she discusses her work, inspirations, and the importance of the titles she uses.

For a deeper dive into Heilmaann’s life and career, including her childhood and education in California, check out Matt Creed’s excellent 2023 documentary Waves, Roads, & Hallucinations.

Pennsylvania Art Shows- Sebastian Errazuriz at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Ceramic Art, Collage, Conceptual Art, Design, Drawing, Furniture, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Sculptors / Sculpture
Aug 132026
 

“Lightning Strike Lamp”, 2025

Top: “Piano Shelf”, 2014, Lacquered mahogony, steel ; Bottom: “Wave Cabinet”, Lacquered Baltic birch, steel, glass

“Occupy Chair”, 2012

“IMAGINE Neon”, 2025, Neon tubing

Detail from wall of AI generated drawings behind “IMAGINE Neon”

Mixing art, design, and politics, Sebastian Errazuriz‘s exhibition Double Take at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a lot of fun. On one side of the room a neon bolt of lightning repeatedly flashes against the wall, while on another neon letters alternate between “IMAGINE” and “AGI” (Artificial General Intelligence) illuminating AI-generated drawings based on his original sketches. There’s also uniquely designed furniture, lamps made using taxidermy chickens, chairs referencing the Occupy Movement, objects incorporating Greco-Roman statue head reproductions, and more, all encouraging visitors to think about nature, technology, and the world around them.

From the museum:

Sebastian Errazuriz (Chilean, born 1977) twists our typical expectations and experiences of using furniture, lighting, and everyday objects. Embracing humor and appropriation, his limited edition and one-of-a-kind pieces often have a subtext that goes beyond form or function, offering personal narrative, a political message, or cultural commentary. This mid-career survey presents over twenty years of a multi-hyphenate practice that gives design a conceptual, Surrealist slant.

Works featured in the exhibition span art, craft, design, and technology. His “kinetic” furniture, constructed from the early 2010s, is characterized by moveable parts – doors, drawers, and shelves that are repositionable, creating new configurations. Other works take nature as a source of inspiration or make new and surprising use of found objects, including vintage watches and taxidermy fowl. Also on display are furniture, mirrors, and other objects that the designer creates by scanning original Greco-Roman antiquities that are then digitally-manipulated and recast in poured marble. A newly commissioned fluorescent light explores Errazuriz’s fascination with, and apprehension about, the potential impact of Artificial General Intelligence on artists, designers, and culture more broadly.

The diverse works on view convey imagination and wit, while also bewildering those who encounter them. The pieces are meant to be lived with, but, at the same time, are provocations with an air of mystery around their function and meaning. Attesting to Errazuriz’s expansive definition of design, the works in this exhibition suggest alternate ways of seeing, thinking, and living.

The show is on view until 8/16/26.

 

Philadelphia Public Art- Miguel Horn- “ContraFuerte”

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Aug 042026
 

In Miguel Horn‘s 2021 artwork ContraFuerte, his figures, made from aluminum plates, appear to be holding up a bridge between two buildings. Located on Cuthbert Street, an alley off of 18th Street in downtown Philadelphia, it was created as part of the city’s Percent for Art program.

For additional information on the work, check out this article from WHYY.

 

Betye Saar (1926-2026)

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Fiber Arts, Mixed Media, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia
Jul 282026
 

Betye Saar, “Takin’ A Chance on Luv”, 1984, pigment on cotton sateen, created in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum

Los Angeles artist Betye Saar passed away on Sunday, July 26th, at 99 years old, just a few days before her 100th birthday. Saar is best known for her assemblage pieces that confronted racism and sexism, often incorporating  spiritual and mystical elements into the work as well.

Takin’ A Chance on Luv, pictured above, was part of the group exhibition Some American Dreams at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, which closed in June.

The short documentary below, created by Christine Turner for LACMA‘s Art+Film Initiative, features the artist at 93 discussing her work.

Pennsylvania Art Shows- “Rising Up” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Fiber Arts, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Photographers / Photography, Printmaking, Sculptors / Sculpture, Video and Film
Jul 272026
 

Caproni Brothers, “The Boxer at Rest”, 19th century Painted plaster cast from the original bronze which was produced between the late fourth and second centuries BCE

Lisa Brice “Untitled”, 2025 Pigment and natural water-soluble binders on linen

Jeffrey Gibson, (l to r) “Power, Power, Power”, 2017, “People Like Us”, 2014, and “You Can Feel It All Over”, 2015, Repurposed punching bags, glass beads, artificial sinew

Rashid Johnson, “Self-Portrait Laying on Jack Johnson‘s Grave”, 2006, Durst Lambda print mounted on panel

Approaching the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, you will find people of all ages and backgrounds taking photos with the statue of Rocky out front, often imitating his famous pose. Through a variety of works from antiquity to the present day, Rising Up looks at the history of this statue, the meanings attached to monuments, and the allure of boxers and boxing culture.

From the museum about the exhibition:

Blending the worlds of art, sports, and popular culture, Rising Up takes on the life of monuments by exploring the meanings and mythologies of the Rocky statue. The exhibition looks to the statue of the most famous Philadelphian who never lived as a way to better understand our complex and vital relationships to our public monuments.

The statue first appeared on-screen in the Oscar-winning Rocky film series. The third installment, Rocky III (1982), featured the dedication of a monument that celebrated the boxer as both an underdog and a hero. The movie-made statue was placed outside the actual museum during filming, a dynamic blurring of art and life that continues to this day. Since that introduction, and through the statue’s departure and prolonged absence from the museum grounds to its prodigal return to the steps, the statue has sparked debate over its aesthetic value and its role in the city. Today, the power of the Rocky statue as a monument stems from its ability to summon public participation.

From antiquity to modernity, Hollywood to contemporary art, Rising Up spotlights both popular narratives and undertold stories surrounding the Rocky statue. Each gallery offers a response to the exhibition’s central question — why do millions of people visit the Rocky statue at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art each year? — and further explores the relationship between art, boxing, and civic identity. It offers a renewed context to consider the statue through works and artifacts that reflect on the deep legacies of boxing monuments across time.

Rising Up marks the first time that the Rocky statue has been displayed inside the museum, explored alongside Philadelphia’s landmark boxing culture and multigenerational artists’ interpretations of sport and society. At its core, the exhibition looks at how monuments are made — by artists and by us — through the lens of the Rocky statue and the ways people engage, debate, and gather around this site of memory.

This exhibition closes on 8/2/26.

 Older Entries