Pittsburgh Weekend Art Events: 7/1-2/11.

c. David Grim (taken 6/29/11)

I completely forgot that June only had 30 days. Did I ever really know that? Anyway, Unblurred pops up abruptly this weekend.

Friday

Ariela Steif apparently makes large sculptures which she will unveil at Garfield Artworks (4931 Penn Avenue), along with her drawings. Meanwhile Ashley Andrykovitch returns to the walk at Imagebox with a new series of paintings. And it looks like the figures in her work have sprouted flesh! Tommy Bones appears at Studio 5013 (you can figure out the address for this venue). Seth Liebowitz (proprietor of Artform Tattoo and Gallery in Lower Burrell) and Katie Moran come together for a show at Most Wanted Fine Art (5015 PENN).

Eat food, get a drink, do yoga, take a dance class, etc. Unblurred has it all.

And the latest feature at "Blurred" (Dean Cercone's inversion of First Friday) is Seth LeDonne. You don't have to wander far from the other galleries to visit, either. The space is located at 4810 Penn.

Saturday

Full disclosure requires that I disclose my revulsion for the Three Rivers Regatta and its crowds. BUT I'm a bit tormented by the fact that there are indeed a couple of attractions this year which interest me (and no, the inevitably lame Jimmy Buffett cover band is not among them). This year "World Champion Sand Sculptor" Thomas Koet is creating a mystery work, AND a small acrobatic troupe (Circus Orange) from Canada will be appearing. Of course these enticements don't make up for the lost bastion at the point... but I try to support any form of creative public amusement, especially when it's a bit odd.

2011 Pittsburgh Biennial.

The big event this weekend is the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Biennial. In addition to its main location (Shady and Fifth Avenue), additional work will be presented at the Carnegie Museum of Art (reception June 16), Pittburgh Filmmakers, The Warhol (reception Sept. 17) , and the Miller Gallery (CMU, reception Sept. 16).The opening reception at the PCA runs this Friday from 5:30 to 9PM, and Filmmakers picks it up from 8- 11PM. The curatorial staff for this is impressive- Eric Shiner, Astria Suparak, Dan Byers, and Adam Welch. The roster of artists includes Jacob Ciocci (Paper Rad), Paul LeRoy, Chris Kardambikis, Ben Hermstrom, Kim Beck and others. I'm certain it costs money.

Pittsburgh Weekend Arts Events: 6/3-4/11.

Friday

It should be a nice night to stroll along Penn Avenue and take in the sights and sounds of Unblurred. The highlight of this month's event is SURE to be Modern Formations' Retrospective, featuring a selection of work from some of the many outstanding artists that have appeared at the gallery (4919 Penn)over the last ten years. They include Mike Budai, Andy Kehoe, Ben Kehoe, Rick Byerly, and Masha Vereshchenko.

David Matthews appears at Garfield Artworks with an exhibit documenting his performance art project (1995-2002) whereby he posted advertisements in which he claimed to be seeking a girlfriend. Alongside this work are a collection of his drawings called "Profitable Cute Kid".

Erick Brockmeyer and Kuan Ju are at work with low level electronbics at Assemble (5125 Penn), and Brian James Gonnella shows his paintings at ImageBox (4933 Penn). You can also see a decade of drawings by Cameron Clayton at The Shop (4312 Main Street, Bloomfield) from 7-11PM. Gabe Felice opens up the "Blurred Series" (curated by Dean Cercone) at 4810 Penn. Weekly installments follow throughout the summer. And as always, there is plenty of other stuff to discover just by showing up and walking up and down the street.

If you want to venture to another part of town, you can stop by Silver Eye (1015 East Carson Street, South Side) for their first annual Pennsylvania Photography Biennial, Keystone.1. There will be 16 photographers from all over the state participating, and the reception runs from 6:30-8:30PM. And it's FREE.

Also- check out the release (finally) of Black Forest. The Andy Warhol Museum will be officially rolling out the third collection of Unicorn Mountain artists with a bit of fanfare, as a part of their Good Friday series 96-10PM).

Saturday

Gallery 4 (206 S. Highland, Shadyside) is featuring "Wunderball", an exhibition of sculpture and paintings by Anthony Purcell. The opening reception starts at 7PM.

AND don't forget the Three Rivers Arts Festival starts this weekend. I'm not going to point out any highlights... just check out their site HERE for your favorites.