a pfarrell artblog joint

Sunday, September 25, 2011

I really like to make things... Dennis Beach: New Work



Dennis Beach: New Work is currently showing at Schmidt Dean Gallery in its "new and improved" Center City Philadelphia space. The artist explores pattern, movement, and the biological and organic process of replication in this exhibition of new work. Shown to excellent effect in this airy light-filled space, the predominantly wood structures aptly reflect Beach's opening statement in the video created by John Thornton: Dennis Beach Discovery: "I really like to make things."

In the stairwell outside the gallery, Beach explores movement and other physical phenomena in a sculpture spanning four stories of the building, Flow. Water forced with air pressure "blowing bubbles" in a clear tube is situated through the stairwell, creating a constancy of bubbles surging up and down the tube. Thornton features Flow in his video, along with an off-site demonstration of the fluid mechanics.

The exhibition can be seen at Schmidt Dean Gallery, 1719 Chestnut Street, Fourth Floor, through October 15.