PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Wexler Gallery is proud to present (In)Between;  a group show curated by Sienna Freeman, Associate Director of the Wexler Gallery.  The exhibition is based loosely on the idea of Vanitas - 16th century Dutch still-life paintings that celebrate life’s pains and pleasures while meditating on their inevitable loss.  Featured artists include Damien Hirst, Randall Sellers, Adelaide Paul, Tim Tate, Anne Siems, Dirk Staschke and Joe Boruchow.   The show will run from May 2^nd through June 28^th, 2008.  An Opening Reception will take place on First Friday, May 2^nd from 5-8pm.  

Working in two and three dimensions, these seven artists investigate the transitory nature of life and the contemporary human experience.  Although their mediums and experiences in the art world are diverse, these artists are linked by a certain uncanny quality possessed by their work.  Often illustrated with imagery revolving around the passage of time, nature, and earthly belongings, this quality begs the viewer to consider their own mortality and question their perception of reality.   

Media icon Damian Hirst is known world-wide for challenging the boundaries between art, science, and popular culture.  A social mirror of sorts, Hirst’s work is an examination of life and death as well as a celebration of the commonplace and the absurd.  Best known for his “Natural History” works, which present dead animals in vitrines suspended in formaldehyde, his works recast fundamental questions concerning the meaning of life and the fragility of existence.  In 2007, Hirst gained the record for the most expensive work of art sold by a living artist when For the Love of God, a human skull recreated in platinum and covered with 8,601 diamonds, sold to a private collector for $100,000,000.  

Hirst has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Into Me / Out of Me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York (2006) and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in Tate Britain, the 50th Venice Biennale (2003).  Solo exhibitions include Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo in 2005, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2005 and Archaeological Museum, Naples in 2004. He is also the recipaint of numerous awards including the DAAD fellowship in Berlin in 1994 and the Turner Prize in 1995.  The artist currently lives and works in London and Devon, UK.    

Ceramic artist Adelaide Paul creates sensitively articulated and beautifully finished animal figures that, according to critic Glenn Brown, have "a cool but non-threatening demeanor.”  Commonly taking the form of dogs and horses, Paul’s animals are covered in hand-stitched brightly colored leather.  Having stated that “muscle is meat and, on great many levels, so are we,” the artist poses her subjects in provocative positions that take on human characteristics and emotions.  Through her work, Paul seeks to pose questions to the viewer regarding the "alternately cloyingly sentimental and brutally callous relationship between humans and animals, both domesticated and wild."
 
Paul has a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and an MFA from Louisiana State University.  Her work can be found in the collections of The Riverside Art Museum, CA and The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, NY.  She is the recipient of the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Grant (2005), the Window of Opportunity Grant from the Leeway Foundation (2004 and 2002) and a Residency at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA (2001).   Paul currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.
 
Tim Tate, a Washington DC native who has worked with glass as a medium for sculpture for over 25 years, found out he was HIV-positive in the early 1980’s.   “I didn’t work with glass until I found out I was HIV-positive,” Tate explains, noting that he has had no physical imparities because of his condition.  Dealing with HIV is very much part of the creative drive behind Tate’s work, with which he hopes to challenge his viewers into thinking more conceptually about glass.  In his latest body of work, Tate creates Video Reliquaries which are composed of hand cast and blown glass, electronic components, and original video.  Using iconographic symbols and images, the artist meditates upon the universal concepts of home, luck, fate, life & death, and hope.  
 
Tate is co-founder of the Washington Glass School and has exhibited world-wide.  His work can be found in the permanent collection of many museums and institutions including The Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Mint Museum.  Tate was named one of the “50 Most Distinguished Glass Artists” by Judith Neiswander (curator/British Museum) and is the winner of 2008 Niche Awards for Glass.  
 
German born painter Anne Siems is an artist whose work comes from an “intuitive, visceral place.”  Interested in “old things that have had a life of their own, stories and all the realms in between,” Siems’ dream-like paintings often follow an open-ended narrative that invites the viewer to complete their stories.  Objects such as clocks, mirrors, keys, fruit, and flowers are shown interacting with ghostly human and animal figures, conjuring up ideas about life and death, sensuality, sexuality, and nature.   Referencing themes commonly found in Vanita painting and early American Folk Art, Siems’ paintings encourage the viewer to explore their own thoughts on the psyche and the spirit.  

Siems has shown in several group and solo shows, both in the US and internationally.  She is the recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship (1986) from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN and has an MFA from Hochschule der kunste in Berlin, Germany. Presently, she lives and works in Seattle, WA.  

Dirk Staschke is ceramicist and sculptor who weaves subtle allegory into a timeless art form.  According to the artist much of his work is “based in human figuration and at times references sculptural history as well as contemporary culture. Often, the work combines these incongruent elements in a manner that asserts larger questions with anthropological undertones… the end result is an odd symbiosis of past and present.”  Figurative, architectural, and ornamental in nature, Staschke’s work explores lines between the rational and irrational, the beautiful, and the grotesque.
 
With an MFA from Alfred University, Staschke has taught at a variety of institutions such as New York University, Nassau Community College, and the University of Montevallo.  His work has exhibited at many esteemed venues and can be found in the permanent collection of The Renwick Alliance in Washington, DC.  Staschke presently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.  
 
Randall Sellers currently lives and works in Jim Thorpe, PA, after spending 10 years based in the Italian Market area of Philadelphia.  Best known for his tiny and extremely detailed graphite drawings of imaginary cities, constructed landscapes, and secret interactions between nymph-like men and women, Sellers sees the images he creates as “separate, tiny worlds climbing out of (his) subconscious.”  Often no bigger then a few inches in diameter, Sellers’ work offers the viewer an intimate peak into fantasized worlds and private moments in the artist’s life.  (In)Between will feature new works in Gouache by the artist, all of which have never been exhibited in the Philadelphia area.  

Sellers has a BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and has studied at Temple University in Rome, Italy.  He has received national and international acclaim, exhibiting in solo shows at Spector Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, NY, and Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.  His work can be found in the permanent collections of  prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, (Judith Rothschild Collection), Philadelphia Museum of Art, High Museum in Atlanta, New Museum of Contemporary Art (Altoids Collection), and 21C Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.

Philadelphia-based Joe Boruchow is a self taught artist working in the ancient medium of paper cut-out.  According to Boruchow, "making images out of paper is like sculpting and performing surgery simultaneously. It is an exercise in excision (it's what you remove that is important) … my goal is to refine an idea to its essence.”  Composed from a single piece of black paper mounted on white satin, his cut-outs play with contemporary social and political themes, symbols, and situations.  Referencing Mexican poster art aesthetics, his work frequently depicts the simple and quiet moments in life that build up an existence.  

Boruchow has shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including a 2007 juried show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, at which he won first prize.  Well known for his DIY “guerilla flyering” endeavors, his commercial poster work can also be found on telephone poles, in record stores, coffee shops, and other public spaces in the Philadelphia area.  

The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com  or call (215) 923-7030.