Art

by Roberta Fallon

Asian American Graffiti

Jeff Cylkowski's "Momentum" at Asian Arts Initiative takes graffiti art to a new level--the miniature. Cylkowski, 27, knows graffiti from the inside out, having plied the trade in the Midwest where he was born and raised. His 19 small acrylic and mixed-media works (some measuring no more than 4 inches by 3 inches) translate street art's energy and style into something full of reverence and love (think a medieval illuminated manuscript).

"I wanted to give honor to where I've been," says Cylkowski.

Graffiti art was a way out of teen rebellion and isolation for Cylkowski, who is of Korean descent but was adopted at birth by a Caucasian couple from Minnesota and raised in Chicago and Indianapolis, or "IndiaNoPlace," as he calls it. The artist, who is also a b-boy dancer (he dances with Olive, an offshoot of Rennie Harris' Puremovement group), has breathed the positive energy of the true believer into his work.

Words of personal empowerment--like "impetus," "change," "look," "one"--appear in the paintings, and everywhere, connecting things, are arrows--symbols of energy, direction and momentum.

Cylkowski has installed the walls behind the paintings with bright colored paint, and with 2-D and 3-D arrows in contrasting colors. The installation's nice, but the meat here is in the tiny works that anchor the walls like icons and demand a close look.

Cylkowski performed with Chi Tu at the opening. He says he wanted to connect his movements to the movement in his paintings and installation. There's a youthful optimism in seeking all these connections, but best of all is the love. When an artist works so directly from the heart, the works--for all their energy and color and subject matter--are imbued with a sweetness that's palpable. In this case, it's wild style made lovable by one who loves it. Of note: The show has a great stitched-binding catalog designed by Bret Syfert, available at a sliding-scale price of $20 to $40.

>> "Momentum: an installation by Jeff Cylkowski," through Aug. 15. Asian Arts Initiative, 1315 Cherry St., second fl. 215.557.0455

ADM: Supermarket to the Art World

ADM Gallery, the new artist-run enterprise that operates like an auction site, has an interesting show up. "Patterns," the group's third exhibit, includes an almost overwhelming number of works--82 in all--including everything from works on paper and sculpture to quilts, fiber art and photographs.

The exhibition starts on the walls of the ADM Group office, which houses the gallery in a large rear space. (ADM Group's Adrian De Marco is one of the gallery's founders). The works that sit in the office space seem uniformly elegant and cool. They would work almost anywhere. For example, Chris Hopkins' oil paintings--a birthday cake and a floral bouquet--are yummy à la Wayne Thibaud. As you walk further back through the office to the gallery, the works produce more heat and sparks.

New York artist Brooke Larsen's wall-sized "Postcard Series (The Beach)," for example, a paint and mixed-media work with a prominent grid underpainting, has a devil-may-care attitude that sets it apart. The piece shows a beach scene and has a peculiar red, white and blue color scheme: The sky is painted like a blue- and white-checked tablecloth, the palm trees are a mosaic made of red thumbtacks, and the sand is just a black-on-white grid. If you're into materials and process, this is your clear choice.

Other works that stand out are German artist Ulrike May's jaw-droppingly lovely color photographs of canyons out west. And local artist Daniel Heyman's Chin Colle etchings from the "Tattoo Series" are delicate line drawings with hallucinatory additions of collaged patterning.

Except for Hopkins' works, the rest are still available for bid. You can place a bid during the course of the exhibit or you can buy it outright at a fixed "buy now" price (slightly above the minimum bid required). Or you can wait for the live auction, which comes around Sept. 20.

>> "Pattern," through Sept. 20. Lecture and woodcut technique demonstration with Daniel Heyman on Wed., Aug. 27, 6pm. ADM Gallery, 314 Brown St. 215.925.6040. www.admgallery.com

First Viernes

If you're up on North Fifth Street Friday between 6 and 9 p.m., check out La Colectiva's "Noches de Arte en El Barrio," an art and business open house in the business corridors along Lehigh Avenue and North Fifth. Artists exhibiting work are Colombian-born artist Gina Maria Echeverry-García at the Lighthouse (152 W. Lehigh), and local muralista and teacher Betsy Casañas at Julia de Burgos Middle School (401 W. Lehigh) This will also give you a chance to check out Pepón Osorio's casita (see PW, July 2, 2003) at Congreso de Latinos Unidos (216 W. Somerset St.).

There will be a Puerto Rican "Paranda" (parade) and Spiral Q and American Street Youth Opportunity Center will perform an antidrug piece with giant puppets. Taller Puertorriqueño, Congreso and other organizations are also participating. La Colectiva, which promotes Latino artistic expression, was founded by Gilberto Gonzalez, Lucas Rivera and David Mendez.

>> Fri., Aug. 8, 6-9pm. Lehigh between Mascher and Sixth St., and North Fifth St. between Lehigh and Allegheny.