13 days out

Dear friends: many of the Independent Projects are already under way, and since we have almost 80 partners it will be difficult for anyone to see them all. But we'll try, and between Philagrafika staff, interns and board members we will be covering as much ground as we can and reporting to you via this blog.

Last night I attended the opening at the Fleisher Art memorial, where three shows from their Challenge Exhibitions series were on view. One of them was Heather Ujie's Ninja Warrior Face-off!, an interesting meditation on the traditional Japanese woodcut, done in a combination of embroidery and digital printing. Perhaps intended as a visual pun on Ukiyo-e (pictures from the floating world), images of Samurai warriors, digitally printed on a translucent material, were hung at various levels in front of the embroidered backdrop, interacting with it in changing and unexpected ways. Scores of round printed flowers further added to the dreamscape. Also, as part of Philagrafika, Fleisher will be having a show of Brooklyn-based artist in residence George Ferrandi, who has been working with the community towards a collective performance in the form of a procession that will take place in April 24th.