I had a show at the Rocket Cat Cafe coffee shop this June and sold 3 out of 15 paintings. I am happy to say that it was a record for art sales in 1 month. The three works that were sold are listed below. Each sale was driven by a personal connection to the space painted. 2 out of the 3 paintings were sold to people in the same zip code. All 3 paintings remain in Philadelphia.

Sugarhouse and the Divide Casinos was purchased by an individual whose family had lived in Fishtown for many generations. She was drawn to the painting by the idea that it crystallized a space on the cusp of change. She recently returned to live in Fishtown, a neighborhood that also has been changing rather rapidly. The conversation reminded me of what I was attempting to do with "The Point at Which the Stream Emerges"

Anatomy of a Street Tree was purchased by an individual who happened to grow up 10 houses away from the location of the tree! He did not know this until we talked.

FDR Park, Frozen was purchased by an individual who happened to get married in the rotunda portrayed in the painting.

I made this little portrait of Obama in oil pastels. The background is water color washes of overlapping geometric shapes.

This is the first political figure I have ever drawn and perhaps it is interesting to think of them as symbols of policy decisions that have real world effects. Obama is an interesting character and I look forward to seeing what happens in the next year.

I have yet to hear him address the arts and would be curious of his position.

The drawing is on ebay right now.

My show is drawing to a close this upcoming week. I will be taking it down Thursday morning. Approximately 3 days left to see it in person!

I do believe it was my first official "solo" show and am happy to say it seemed to be well received. The portraits were hung together on the left hand side and the landscape/ cityscapes were hung on the right hand side. Clustering them like this made for 2 small sub-shows that helped me embrace the 2 different directions that my work appears to be taking.

The was nice rhythm to the way the paintings were hung. Thanks to Samantha for help with hanging the show.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Today marks the 4 week countdown to Mozambique!

I am incredibly excited to expand my world view in this fashion and am kicking into high gear to get ready. We are slowly jumping the hurdles that are needed to accomplish this, and I am happy to report that we got our shots this morning for the various vaccinations.

This past week however, has been tumultuous. I found out last friday that my place of employment would be shutting its doors that IMMEDIATE sunday. I sit 4 weeks away from the most inspirational trip of my life and am unemployed. I hesitate to go into more detail, because simply I have not found my exact voice on this blog and do not want to stray far from the arts focus.

However, as part of my overall strategy in this chaotic time, I am using the internet to try and SELL my artwork, for whatever I can get. I am willing to sell for cheap because of the fast approaching move we will be making in August. Quite simply, the less I have to move in August, the better.

Without further ado, the drawing of a hand I posted on ebay this evening is
here

I am currently showing 15 paintings at 1 shot coffee in Northern Liberties.

With 3 of the paintings, I am donating 50 dollars of the purchase prices to related community organizations. I am intrigued with the Painting Activist's fantastically pragmatic approach.

I’m addressing social issues utilizing painting as my medium of communication. Much like a photojournalist, I travel to locations/events of cultural interest and capture them, only with my brush. My talent is as an artist, my passion is advocating for social change; this is how the two work together.

All artwork is for sale, unless noted otherwise. A portion of proceeds from the sale of original work is donated to the nonprofit corresponding to each piece. So if you’re apt to support my talent and contribute to a cause, invite your art-appreciating-friends, browse, be merry, and buy great art!

Is this what I keep mentioning as the elusive quality that I chase in paintings of late?


This was a phrase popularized by C. Greenberg, primarily in regards to the flattening of painting that occurred throughout modernism. I read this as an acknowledgement of paintings form as the medium(/meaning?) was being deconstructed: a self awareness.

I have thought of this integrity in terms of a puzzle metaphor. Imagine a puzzle where the lines between the pieces correspond to the gestalt lines of perception. This interlocking is not necessarily constrained to "physical" objects. It also works with "empty" space (a physical object none-the-less).


There is also a notion of "spatial architecture" that I believe arises out of this treating of empty space as a physical object.

The puzzle pieces have a direction implicit in the brushwork that contributes to the overall sense of structure.


I've been looking at

William Wray lately...