View the photos here.
Fri 11/15
The parking lot was overflowing by 15 minutes after 5pm, the kickoff hour of the monthly 78th Street Studios Third Fridays. It’s a testament to how popular these events have become, attracting thousands of visitors to the building on the evening when galleries host openings, artists open their studios, and special performances take place.
This month, the highlight was a one-night-only show in the large SmART Space of recent work by Cleveland’s Derek Hess. He hasn’t had a local show in 2 1/2 years — too busy running around the country and even overseas — and the room was packed all night as buyers snapped up his latest drawings. They included work from two recent series: drawings on old 8-track tapes and on ’70s Playboy Magazine covers.
He also had a new book for sale featuring the Playboy artwork, called Derek Hess: He Ain’t No Vargas. A long line of admirers waited to have him sign copies.
The show also featured a documentary about Derek and his work, by filmmaker Nick Cavalier.
Hess’ show wasn’t the only thing that drew a mob. Upstairs at the Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery, area artist Judith Brandon displayed a new set of large, dramatic drawings appropriately titled “Turbulent Territory.”
It took two galleries — Kokoon and the Hedge Gallery — as well as the hall between them to contain the expansive retrospective of the work of North Collinwood painter Randall Tiedman, who died last year at age 63. The show, “Genius Loci,” was lovingly curated by William Scheele and Douglas Max Utter.
And downstairs at Tregoning & Company, Utter’s work joined that of 10 other artists in a group show of recent work by significant regional artists called “Fresh From the Studio.”
View the Photostream here.
