Fast Forward Art Show In Philly

Keith Mulligan

• July 01 2009
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Ryan Humphrey Fast Forward 2009

If you’re in the Philadelphia area from now until September 19 stop by the Moore College of Art & Design and check out the Fast Forward exhibit. The show opened this past Friday with ’80s freestyle legend Dizz Hicks riding along with other area pros along with the premiere of I Love My Bicycle: The Story of FBM Bikes (2009) Directed by Joe Stakun.

For information on Moore College of Art & Design visit www.moore.edu

 

Be prepared to have a sore neck from checking out all of those classic freestyle bikes hanging from the ceiling.

Grind ledges, kick turn ramps, and wheel-topped stools fill the floor.

Transitions, too.

 

Click here to see Ryan Humphrey and Dizz Hicks wrap about the Fast Forward show that was held at the Queens Museum of Art and featured in the May 2009 issue of Ride BMX along with some riding and behind the scenes footage.. 

 

Here is a bunch of info from a few press releases we got…

Ryan Humphrey, a New York-based artist who stirred it up on the first season of Bravo’s Top Design, will re-create his Fast Forward installation that was recently featured in the Queens International with a collection of more than thirty BMX bikes, three versions of Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel (1913) made from BMX bicycle parts, and a massive rug created with the help of designer Todd Oldham that will wrap the walls of the gallery. Bike ramps in the space will be artfully put to use by Ryan along with selected pro level BMX riders from the Philadelphia area and 80’s pro John “Dizz” Hicks. Presented in conjunction withBicycle: people + ideas in motion curated by Lorie Mertes, Rochelle F. Levy Director and Chief Curator.

 

Moore gets moving with this summer

With an exhibition devoted to Philadelphia’s Bicycle Community

June 19 – October 13, 2009

(Reception and Performance –note new date–Friday June 26, 6 – 8 pm followed by Bicycle Film Festival Premier

 

PHILADELPHIA (June 7, 2009):  From May through October, The Galleries at Moore presents Bicycle: people + ideas in motion. On view from June 19 through October 13, 2009, the exhibition, curated by Lorie Mertes, Rochelle F. Levy Director and Chief Curator, celebrates Philadelphia’s passion and commitment to the bicycle with exhibitions and events that explore the art and design of the bicycle—from functional object to a canvas for good causes, personal expression and civic mindedness.

 

Philadelphia’s connection to the bicycle runs deep. In 1876 during the Centennial International Exhibition Albert Pope the owner of Pope Manufacturing Company, saw the first modern bicycle ever to be displayed in the United States. He started importing them and later building them. Pope’s bicycle was the first modern bicycle built in the United States. In just a few years, the contraption bowled along every city’s streets.

 

Today in Philadelphia, the bicycle is used in a daily commute to school or work and in the summer as a prime outdoor activity along the Schuylkill River and Kelly Drive. Whether as a mode of transport, healthy hobby, or a world-class sport Philadelphians ride by the thousands on the road, on the track, on paths, and pretty much anywhere two wheels can go.

 

“Moore as the nation’s first and only women’s art college, is the perfect venue to talk about the significance of the bicycle,” says Lorie Mertes, curator of the exhibition and director of the Galleries. She says, “Not only are bicycles integrally linked to the creative communities in Philadelphia and the primary mode of transportation for the city’s many art and design students, but the bicycle is also one of the most significant designed objects to affect the lives of women. Nineteenth-century suffragists saw it as a “freedom machine” for women and even Susan B. Anthony is quoted for saying that the bicycle “has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”

 

About the Exhibition

In addition to vintage bikes from Philadelphia collections, including one of Albert Pope’s Colombia bikes from the late 1800s, the core exhibition will feature a variety of bikes found in Philadelphia’s urban landscape: “fixies,” folding bikes, road and touring bikes, commuters, cargo bikes, and more. The art of the hand-built bike will focus on Philadelphia’s own Bilenky Cycle Works.

 

Sections of the exhibition are devoted to highlighting annual Philadelphia events such as the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship Race, Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, Bicycle Polo and Urban Cyclocross, as well as community-based organizations like Neighborhood Bike Works and the Bike Part Art Show and the Pedal Co-op. Areas of the show will look at innovation in bike design as well advances towards making Philadelphia a bike friendly community, including the unveiling of the prototype for Bike Share Philadelphia by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

 

While primarily focused on the Philadelphia-based bicycle community, artists and designers from Philadelphia and beyond who find inspiration to create new forms, functions and materials from bicycles and bicycle parts will also be featured in related exhibitions including: Ryan Humphrey, Lee Stoetzel, The Dufala Brothers, Aaron Igler/LURE and Dan Murphy, among others.

 

An exhibition on and about people in motion, the show hits the streets in June with a reception and performance by 80s BMX pro “Dizz” Hicks on Friday, June 26 from 6 to 8 pm and special film screenings by the Bicycle Film Festival followed by a summer of programs for all ages including artist-designed bicycle rides, Bikes & Trikes Family Fun Day and curated bike tours. The exhibition contents will rotate several times over the summer so there’s always something new to see through October.

 

 

Ryan Humphrey: Fast Forward

Levy Gallery for the Arts in Philadelphia

May 29 – September 19, 2009

Ryan Humphrey, a New York-based artist who stirred it up on the first season of Bravo’s Top Design, will re-create his Fast Forward installation that was recently featured in the Queens International with a collection of more than thirty BMX bikes, three versions of Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel (1913) made from BMX bicycle parts, and a massive rug created with the help of designer Todd Oldham that will wrap the walls of the gallery. Bike ramps in the space will be artfully put to use by Ryan along with selected pro level BMX riders from the Philadelphia area and 80’s pro John “Dizz” Hicks.

 

RELATED EXHIBITIONS:

Bicycle Design’s Commuter Bike for the Masses Competition

June 19 – October 13, 2009

“What kind of bicycle, or pedal powered machine, would it take to get non-cyclists out of their cars for trips to the store or to work?” This is the question that drove an internet-based design competition for a transportation-oriented bicycle for the non-cyclist.  A driving force in sharing ideas and creative solutions, this exhibition focuses on one blog’s contributions to creating dialogues on how pedal power can contribute to sustainable communities. James Thomas’ Bicycle Design blog invited a jury of six industrial designers and a journalist to select the six finalists and Torkel Dohmers’ “ThisWay” winning entry whose designs are featured in the exhibition.

 

InSights

From May through October in conjunction with Bicycle: people + ideas in motion, the InSights series of exhibitions featured in the Window on Race Street gallery will feature rotating solo exhibitions of works inspired by the bicycle by Philadelphia-based artists.

Lee Stoetzel

May 29 – July 4, 2009

Philadelphia-based artist Lee Stoetzel’s 10 x 8-foot high bicycle is. twice the scale of a regular bike. Made entirely of fractured mesquite, a naturally degraded wood that emphasizes the beauty and detail of the object’s original design.  

 

Steven and Billy Blaise Dufala – Toilet Trikes

July 11 – August 30, 2009

Artists/brothers Steven and Billy Blaise Dufala create witty, satirical twists on the readymade inspiring us to think about new possibilities in odd combinations of objects. Three of the Dufala Brothers’ racing tricycles made out of toilets painted with racing stripes and welded onto bike frames will be on view in addition to photographs and video of the Toilet Trikes being raced through Old City as part of the Philly Fringe Festival in 2005.

 

Dan Murphy - Style Points                                   

September 11 – October 13, 2009

Window on Race

Philadelphia native Dan Murphy is a photographer, designer, painter, archivist, and co-founder of Megawords Magazine (megawordsmagazine.com). In 1994 he was hired as a bicycle messenger and  began to document and strongly influence both the messenger and graffiti communities. He is the co-curator of the book Public Wall Writing in Philadelphia, and is the co-author/designer of the upcoming book The Landlords Cycling Club. Dan has worked with Bilenky Cycle Works, RVCA clothing, NIKE, Neighborhood Bike Works, Cinelli Bicycles, and R.E. Load Messenger Bags. He has organized and participated in bicycle races and has done multiple bicycle tours in the U.S. and Europe. He will create a site-specific multi-media installation

in the galleries’ Window on Race.

 

 

 

Gallery Hours:  Monday through Friday 11am - 7pm; Saturday 11am - 5pm, Closed on Sunday and all academic and legal holidays

                       

Gallery programs and events are FREE and open to the public except for the Bicycle Film Festival.

 

Moore College of Art & Design

20^th Street and The Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Call 215-965-4027 / www.thegalleriesatmoore.org/www.moore.edu 

 

The Galleries at Moore receives generous support from Moore College of Art & Design and the Friends of The Galleries at Moore. The Galleries also receive state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency as well as program support from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and the Barra Foundation. In addition, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities, supports The Galleries at Moore. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

 

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Moore College of Art & Design, the nation’s first and only women’s art college, celebrates 160 years of educating women for careers in the visual arts. New coeducational graduate programs will expand Moore’s unique career-focused mission and student-focused environment. These features combined with the professionally active faculty form a dynamic community in the heart of Philadelphia’s cultural district. The College offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with ten majors and beginning in Summer 2009, will offer three Master’s degrees. In addition, Moore provides many valuable opportunities in the arts through The Galleries at Moore, continuing education programs for professional adults, the acclaimed Young Artists Workshop for girls and boys grades 1-12, The Art Shop and the Sculpture Park. For more information about Moore, visit www.moore.edu.