— unpredictable thoughts

See the Alice Neel show at at Moore Col­lege of Art in philadel­phia. You still have time.

August 28, 2008 — Decem­ber 6, 2008
The Levy Gallery for the Arts in Philadelphia

Alice Neel — Draw­ing from Life fea­tures a selec­tion of por­traits and still lifes, span­ning more than fifty years, that exam­ine draw­ing as the pri­mary process in both her works on paper and paint­ings. A self-proclaimed “col­lec­tor of souls,” Neel’s bold, drawing-based approach reflects the artists’ life­long com­mit­ment to the indi­vid­ual and the moment. Curated by Lorie Mertes, Rochelle F. Levy Direc­tor and Chief Cura­tor, The Gal­leries at Moore.

We went to see the exhibit last week. The draw­ings are very hon­est… unafraid of our ideas of what they should be. Changes scratched out or drawn over. I remem­bered when I first saw Alice Neel’s paint­ings. They were com­pelling. They gripped at my chest in a very unex­plain­able way. I don’t believe that I need to know why cre­ative work moves me. I don’t need to intel­lec­tu­al­ize the work. I just know the paint­ings go some­place so per­sonal I can’t resist the emotion.

Tags: art, philadel­phia, women, painter, artist, exhibit