Bernadette Lawler, owner of Mixed Company (www.themixedcompany.com), 60 North Third Street, has landed herself a sweet deal indeed. Besides helming one of the top galleries on the eastern seaboard, let alone Philly, she has been commissioned to decorate one of the new luxury apartments in the Grand at 15th & Chestnut. Of course, the art she's offering are by folks from her ever-boss roster. A quintet of these mighty fine artists who are exclusive to her gallery just happen to be hanging there this month too.

Jenie Moore continues to send her hard-edged paintings down from Manhattan, and her new work is naughty and nice, plus filled with plenty of spice. A nod to advertising writ false, the female ideal given over to the truth, and innocence voiced the morning after is where her muse maneuvers her these days. John Pompetti cuts loose with work that offers up primary colors that are stark but never static. The kinetic momentum pulsing through his paintings proves that less is not just more, it's the most. Life in the here and now is idealized, yet through this it is also actualized, made more real and precise.

The collaborative paintings of Nuala Clark and Jimmie James are the visual equivalent of an ever cool muted trumpet solo played real slow and easy. Yeah, these two one up Oliver Nelson to prove the blues is the abstract truth via compositions writ oh so personal. Jessica Grisafi offers up baked goods in plenty of flavors, kiln work that runs from vessels to wall pieces. She generates a motif that ranges through her oeuvre that brings to mind cells that have just divided or a binary star dancing free through the cosmos, channeling infinity just fine.

You may not live in the Grand, but you have more than ample opportunity to see some excellent art at Mixed Company.


PRESS/REVIEW page 8 - July 30 • 2003