Photography by Sabrina Galaviz and Alexandria Romain, Copyright 2019
ROMANCE WITH HORROR
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I, among many others, absolutely love horror movies. In fact, that is my genre of choice. I once screamed in a theater and had a 7 year old girl in front of me, no parents insight, turn around and give the most judgemental look. No shame. Many people I know claim to like it because they “like being scared,” but then when I jump out from behind a partially closed door on their way to the bathroom, I’m met with profanity rather than laughter of delight. So what is it really that draws us to watch gore and jump scares while also never venturing further from modern suburbia?
Perhaps the answer is more obvious than we think. Søren Birkvad, film scholar of Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, says it’s simply an activity to avoid boredom. There is a trait called “sensation seeking” in which people with personalities that get bored easily score high on. Those are the types of people that typically like horror films. So if you find yourself easily bored and happen to enjoy scary movies, there you go. You can now add sensation seeker to your resume, with caution of course. The term could take an interesting turn.
Another possible explanation can be found in the elements that make up the films themselves. Dr. Glenn Walters has defined the ingredients as: tension, relevance, and unrealism. I think this is the case for most exciting life situations. Horror films need tension to build, relevance to captivate an audience, and unrealism so said audience can fall asleep without salt lines or cuddling up next to their bedside handgun. In parallel, romance needs tension for heat, relevance for conversation, and unrealism to keep you wanting more. The same could be said for many more experiences, but I think for intensity purposes those three things make up only the best of situations.
The most common answer found as to why we crave scary movies is to satisfy the “beast within.” It’s easy to say that we all have some measure of sicko. Maybe you like watching peoples’ heads getting bashed in, or the jump scare is what reminds you what it feels like to truly be alive, or maybe you don’t button and iron the back pockets on your khaki shorts. No matter how disgusting you are, horror films will always be there to comfort and remind you that there are freaks worse off than you. That’s all we long to know, right? That we aren’t the ones at rock bottom.
I like scary movies. To others they may seem cliché or niche, but to me they are a reminder of how truly pleasant my life is. I have the privilege to not go about my day wondering if I’ll stay alive despite of a masked man or being held captive in a foreign country without the comfort of my family. The truth is that our world already has the scariest realities. Those happy endings in flicks aren’t conclusions. They are reminders that if we take action against our monsters from personal health to daunting tasks of speaking up and acting for those who are living their nightmares, then there is still hope.
My subject is the city, the world outside my door. These paintings are straightforward representations of the things I see. There is a bit of magic in the early morning light on a wall, the cacophony of colorful signs in a shop window, or along a thoroughfare, and the reflections of light sparkling on the river. All these bits of life, and the sense of human habitation within the city, are important to me. – Larry Francis
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Many painters have captured scenes of everyday life, however, the paintings of Larry Francis are full of a glowing delight, derived from a fascination with the atmosphere of city life. Philadelphia is a frequent subject of his work, the pieces reflecting the personality of the industrial, yet often quaint, metropolis. Some of his paintings find nooks of the city that are serene; the secluded neighborhoods and parks that visitors do not always get the chance to see. Some are more active scenes; the bustling downtown areas and buildings that are more iconic to Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. Francis uses gouache and oil paint to capture the light of the golden hour of the city with warm, luminous hues. He renders the most beautiful days in Fairmount Park, with crystal clear reflections of the sky on the water of the Schuylkill River. His paintings are refreshingly straightforward – nothing seems to be hidden – yet they often leave the viewer curious to learn more of the story. The joy infused into these works is infectious, and viewers might find themselves feeling nostalgic for a place they have never been. Larry Francis has been showing with Gross McCleaf Gallery since 1982, and is currently an instructor in painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied from 1967 to 1971.
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About The Artist:
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Portrait of Larry Francis
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Larry Francis is a Philadelphia native who has painted on the streets of the city from the early part of his life in art. Larry studied painting at PAFA where he was awarded the J. Henry Schiedt European Traveling Scholarship in 1970. His first big solo show was held at the Peale House Galleries of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1979. Over the years, Mr. Francis has received a number of awards; a few are the Julius Hallgarden Prize from the Academy of Design N. Y. in 1972, Mary Butler Award from the Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 1996, Charles Knox Smith Founders Prize at the Woodmere Art Museum 2002, and a Prize for Painting at Cheltenham Art Center in 2011 and 2018. HIs work is in many public and private collections including the Noyes Museum of New Jersey, Woodmere Museum in Chestnut Hill, Federal Reserve Bank ,Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum. Mr. Francis shows his work at the Gross McCleaf Gallery, where he has had a dozen solo shows. Larry can be seen in the short film “ Larry Francis: Painting Philadelphia, by John Thornton. Larry teaches Landscape Painting and Drawing at the PAFA.
Photo: Tony Ward. Preacher. House of Prayer. Pennsylvania Convention Center. Copyright 2018
Pennsylvania Convention Center Launches New Website
featuring its $1.5 million West Wing Art Collection
Paconventionart.com hosts information about 69 artists and their works
PHILADELPHIA (Oct. 16) – The Pennsylvania Convention Center announced today the launch of a new website to serve as an online platform for the public and art lovers to discover and learn about 131 pieces of fine art installed throughout public spaces within the facility’s 2011 expansion, which increased the venue’s saleable space by more than 60 percent to 1 million square feet.
The Pennsylvania Convention Center invested $1.5 million in the acquisition and installation of the artworks, produced by 69 Pennsylvania artists, which are now placed throughout the facility’s West Wing Expansion. The Center hosted a formal public unveiling of the art earlier this year, as well as public tours of the art in connection with Wawa’s Welcome America’s summer festival. The venue’s West Wing art collection features 42 paintings, 31 works on paper, 26 photographs, 10 sculptures, eight cased objects, eight textile installations, five tile mosaics, and one video artwork by Pennsylvania’s most inspiring artists.
The site, www.paconventionart.com, provides a detailed map of the facility that identifies the location of each piece of art, images of the artwork itself, as well as biographical information and additional facts on each artist. The website also features video interviews with 38 artists and allows users to search works by title, artist, and location within the Convention Center. A two-minute introductory video can be viewed on YouTube. Previously, the collection was available only for viewing during conferences, meetings, or private events hosted at the Convention Center.
The website also contains a downloadable brochure that people attending events at the Convention Center can print or reference for self-guided tours. Website visitors can sign up for mailings and notices of future art-related activities at the Center.
“This artwork was selected with the goal of utilizing our facility to showcase some of the incredible talent of Pennsylvania’s many gifted artists,” said Gregory J. Fox, Esq., Chairman of the PCCA Board of Directors. “Our facility hosts more than 1 million visitors each year who have the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate this art in person, but we wanted to provide even greater access to the public. This new website makes these works accessible to art lovers anywhere in the world while also showcasing our facility as the cornerstone of the region’s hospitality industry.”
The website was launched to coincide with the year-long 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Half of the artists featured in the collection attended the Center’s free, public Community Festival on June 30 to discuss their works with attendees. The new art website can be reached through the Center’s website at www.paconvention.com.
“I am delighted that the Convention Center is making its art collection available online to a wider audience with significant detail on the artists and their individual backgrounds,” said Astrid Bowlby, whose 100 foot-long, commissioned work, “That Music Always Round Me,” is featured at the Center. “The website also provides convention and meeting attendees with a resource to learn more about specific pieces of art, as well as seek out additional works during their visit. The site is not just an archive of the collection, it greatly enhances individuals’ experience and their ability to appreciate both the art and the artists who created these works.”
The Convention Center joined with Pennsylvania arts organizations to select and curate the works in the collection. The Center received significant administrative assistance from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) in Harrisburg under the direction, guidance, and counsel of now-retired Executive Director Philip Horn. The new website lists the names, titles, and organizations of both the Art Purchasing Committee and the Pennsylvania art professionals who served on the Blind Jury who were all instrumental in the art selection process for the pieces in the Center’s West Wing Art Collection.
“Our incredible collection of outstanding works of museum-quality art, which can be found in public spaces throughout our facility, really differentiates the Pennsylvania Convention Center from other meeting venues,” said John J. McNichol, President & CEO of PCCA. “This new website showcases Pennsylvania’s talented artists and the diverse creative culture of our region. It also allows the Center to highlight our unique collection for prospective customers as an added benefit that their event attendees can enjoy.”
About Pennsylvania Convention Center
The Pennsylvania Convention Center is celebrating its 25th year in the center of Philadelphia’s cultural offerings and world-class dining and entertainment scene. The Convention Center is managed by SMG, the nation’s leader in public facility management. It is the 14th largest such facility in the nation and features the largest exhibit space and ballroom in the Northeast. It has won numerous awards and recognition, including a designation as the Best Government/Public Building of 2011 by the Engineering News Record of New York. For more information, visit www.paconvention.com.
Tony Ward Ward began his professional career in 1980 as a corporate photographer for the pharmaceutical giant, Smithkline Corporation. After several years of working in the department of corporate communications for Smithkline, he opened the Tony Ward Studio in 1984, to service a variety of Fortune 500 companies and smaller business entities.
In 1998, TW achieved global notoriety for his first published book on erotic photography, the controversial and highly praised OBSESSIONS. The monograph was followed by four more challenging, innovative and critically acclaimed volumes on eroticism and photography at the turn of the century. Scholars that specialize in the history and aesthetics of photography such as A.D. Coleman, Rick Wester and Reinhold Misselbeck have written illuminating essays that accompanied the artist published works.
Ward’s photographs have been widely collected, exhibited and syndicated around the world. His unending quest for inspiring subjects, and new projects compels him to divide his creative time between diverse cosmopolitan centers, including: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Hamburg/Berlin and his beloved Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Tony Ward has been teaching Photography courses at the University of Pennsylvania since the Fall of 2010, and has published the work of his students in the blog section. The daily blog features articles by Tony Ward and guest contributors who are invited to write on a variety of topics including; Art, Architecture, Photography, Fashion, Erotica, Politics, Science, Travel and Current Events.
