Through a new partnership with Philadelphia-based Saxbys Coffee, the Department of Fine Arts is helping to transform the company's University of Pennsylvania location into a showcase for new art and creative dialogue. The first in what is expected to be a series of exhibitions, Dichotomy, brings together drawings, paintings and mixed-media works by fourth-year undergraduate students Gina DeCagna and Terrill Warrenburg, who share an interest in nature and dynamic forms.
The partnership was struck when PennDesign Professor and Undergraduate Fine Arts Program Director Ken Lum was approached by entrepreneur and Saxbys CEO Nick Bayer, who started the business in 2005 with one café and a pledge to “Make Life Better.” (With a mission rooted in community and hospitality, Saxbys has grown to 30 locations in the Northeast and Midwest.) When it came time to renovate and reopen the Penn location, Bayer re-conceived the space as a showcase for local artists and invited Lum to curate its exhibitions. The plan calls for two fine Art students to exhibit their work simultaneously, with a new exhibition every two to three months.
In response to the café’s narrow footprint, the exhibition was designed to present DeCagna’s works on the Eastern end and Warrenburg’s to the West. In the central space, works by both are presented side by side to encourage viewers to explore the boundaries between representation and abstraction, organic and inorganic. The exhibition opened with a public reception on November 18.
Dichotomy remains on view through December at Saxbys, 4000 Locust Street, Philadelphia.
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