Pew Center Awards Over $9M to Philadelphia Artists and Institutions
Philadelphia's Pew Center for Arts & Heritage announced today the 2014 recipients of over $9 million in grants supporting local artists and cultural organizations. Several of the largest grants, at $360,000, will support upcoming exhibitions at institutions like the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA).
The 49 individual grantees work in a variety of artistic mediums. They include visual artists Leroy Johnson and Brent Wahl, both of whom have been named Pew Fellows and will receive $60,000.
The Pew Center has been awarding grants since 1989, beginning as the Philadelphia Music Project and expanding, in 2005, to its current conglomeration of charitable programs honoring artists, choreographers, composers and others.
Brent Wahl (b. 1968) works primarily in photography and time-based mediums, transforming everyday materials and detritus into mesmerizing compositions. “For over a decade, I have been fabricating and then photographing three-dimensional constructs that move through contextual, optical, and spatial shifts,” Wahl says. “I tend to use inauspicious materials and ephemeral matter (aluminum foil, tape, paper, wire, debris) as a way to bring to light the subtle ways these materials can quietly contribute to the shaping of poignant, liminal, and even sublime connotations.” The result is a body of work that has a unique and compelling presence. Wahl’s work has been widely exhibited, including five solo exhibitions at Vox Populi (Philadelphia) and group shows at the Tate Modern (London), the Institute for Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), and Arcadia University (Glenside). He received his M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently a senior lecturer in photography and visual studies.
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