Fifteen Photographers at Gallery 339

While in Philadelphia for the recent Atget exhibit at PMA, I had the pleasure of stopping by the newly opened Gallery 339. Gallery 339 is the only gallery in Philly that is wholly dedicated to photography and opened this past June. The space is large, spread across two floors and has plenty of natural light. While I was there, they were exhibiting two shows. The first, Robbert Flick, who recently also was shown here in NYC, and the second was Douglas Takeshi Wolfe. Their current show, Fifteen Photographers, celebrates their first year with a selection of works from their represented artists.

Of particular interest are Wolfe, Stuart Rome and Amanda Means. Wolfe's bird-oriented works are a stark but delicate minimalist interplay of black and white. (Web-based presentation does them no justice.) While I was there, he had one edition on pink broadsheet newsprint paper piled in a stack in the middle of the gallery floor, free for the taking. Rome's landscape work is highly detailed straight photography in the tradition of an Ansel Adams or Thomas Struth's jungle work (actually, on a technical level, it's much more accomplished than Struth.) Rome is currently showing in NYC at Sepia International. Again, the on-screen presentation is simply doesn't have the resolution to reflect the amazing level of detail in the photos. Lastly, I was able to see two examples of Amanda Means' work, large still lifes of light bulbs and other glass work.

Light Bulb 0034C, 2001 by Amanda Means

If you have time to shoot down to Philly, it's worth the trip to expand your horizon beyond what's on display in Chelsea.

Through Jan 22 at 339 Gallery
339 South 21st St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 731-1530