PHL / Getting Ready for Prom
Getting Ready for the Prom Phillip Adams, P. Timothy Gierschick, Alexis Granwell, Alex Paik, Nathan Pankratz, Caroline Santa March 6 - 27, 2009 Opening Reception: Friday, March 6th, 6pm-10pm
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PHILADELPHIA – Tiger Strikes Asteroid, a new gallery space in Chinatown, Philadelphia, announces its opening and first show. Getting Ready for the Prom is the inaugural exhibition at the gallery and includes work from TSA’s collective members: Philip Adams, Tim Gierschick, Alexis Granwell, Alex Paik, Nathan Pankratz and Caroline Santa.Instead of a unified aesthetic, the collective’s work reflects the diverse art culture in Philadelphia.
Adams, the only figurative artist in the group, renders charcoal portraits of individuals; the subjects range from friends to anonymous google portraits. Santa draws brightly colored creatures to diagram systems of communication. Gierschick and Paik are inspired by pop colors: Gierschick utilizing them in iconographic symbols on collaged panels and Paik making boyish geometric abstractions that hover between paintings and toys. Granwell’s and Pankratz’s pieces have a more tactile feel. Granwell’s sculptures and works on paper deal with the metaphysical; Pankratz works with collage mixed media and paint to create layered imagery evoking maps and advertisements.
The artists are an ambitious group and have frequently shown both nationally and internationally. Adams and Santa are recipients of Penn Design’s prestigious Charles Addams Memorial Prize. Both Granwell and Paik have had their work published in New American Paintings. In addition to TSA’s show, Granwell currently has an installation on display at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art. Pankratz’s show “Push It,” at Urban Outfitters Headquarters, closes this week. In 2008, Gierschick showed his paintings in “Strange Place” at Alogon Gallery in Chicago.
Paik, Adams, Granwell, and Santa are recent graduates of the MFA program at The University of Pennsylvania. Pankratz is a recent MFA graduate of University of the Arts, and Gierschick holds a BA in art from Messiah College.
Tiger Strikes Asteroid is a new artist-run and artist-curated gallery located at 319 North 11th Street, home to Vox Populi and Copy Gallery, and the only location in Philadelphia with multiple contemporary artist collective spaces. As part of a community of galleries, TSA will create a new source of dialogue for the Philadelphia art scene. The gallery will show cutting edge work by local talent as well as artists from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. TSA has twelve shows planned for the upcoming year. Future exhibits will include installations, paintings and large-scale drawings. TSA plans to work on a number of collaborative projects with artists from other cities as a way to connect Philadelphia to the rest of the art world.
