NoName Gallery presents Next Levels: The Art of Healing

Women in color

A Girl Gone Mad, by Allegra Yvonne Gia, shows the countenance of a young woman surprised in triplicate, tied up in a pink bow. Nearby, Gia’s Femme Fatale confronts viewers in a watermelon-red gown. Surrounded by bougainvillea, she gazes ahead regally, challenging observers to look away.

From her perch, Femme Fatale likely hears Doug Trachtman’s Lady Marmalade, who emerges from a patchwork of vibrant prints, grips the mic and wails beneath a nimbus of purple hair. Trachtman, a Lehigh Valley native, and Gia, of Philadelphia, are among 10 artists featured in the exhibit, curated by NoName owner Jonene Lee.

Since opening the gallery three years ago, Lee, a photographer, has presented exhibits in varied genres, each lasting two months. She says she’s found Pop art to be most successful in terms of sales, maybe attributable to its vibrance and immediacy. In addition to a primary exhibit, NoName features a mix of ongoing work, including photographs by Lee. Currently, her seaside images of Belize are on view, including one of the calm Caribbean from the vantage of a deserted basketball court. It’s a quiet scene fringed in palms, with a well-used hoop that dips toward the ground.

Backseat flashbacks

Pop art mines everyday life, and resonates most deeply with viewers who connect to the iconography and eras depicted. With so many artists represented, everyone can find something that evokes a response.

Thalo Halo’s Journey not the Destination, for example, will captivate children of the 1960s and ‘70s for reasons beyond its balanced composition. For those survivors of endless car trips, who had no more for amusement than AM radio, a book, and “I spy with my little eye,” Halo’s collage of roadside signs is a totem pole of memory. Those backseat hostages identify in a visceral way with “Howard Johnson,” and “No Vacancy,” and appreciate, as others cannot, the title, which Halo tucked into the canvas.

Record the world…or invent your own

Brandon Dominguez’s art is populated by characters of his own creation. Brian the Brain has arms like Mickey Mouse—licorice whips ending in ballooning white gloves. Those arms are all we see of Brian in Sleep, where he presents the bloom of a large red poppy. Dominguez, born in Mexico and now based in Allentown, works in media that include paint, augmented reality, street art, and art toys.

Eyes Up Here, Jappy Agoncillo’s interpretation of the latest iteration of Superman, exemplifies a practice he describes as “comics to cartoons, street art to skateboarding, and punk rock to posters.” Agoncillo’s fine art has been featured in galleries in his native Manila, Philippines and New York City, where he is based.

Famous faces populate MADS canvases, from Freddie Mercury and Andy Warhol to Picasso and Mr. Potato Head. Born in Venezuela and raised in Miami, her work reimagines popular icons and challenges ideas of identity, politics, money, and religion. In The Art of Healing, the Pittsburgh-based artist is represented by Van Gogh the Dreamer. In MADS’s imagining, Vincent wears a Fendi scarf, stylish hat, nose ring, and stuck on his lapel, a “Hello My Name Is” tag. The abstract portrait is inscribed with affirmations that Van Gogh, who struggled with mental illness (possibly bipolar disorder), throughout his life would likely have appreciated: “You are the creator of your experience,” “Love yourself,” and “Art is to console those who are broken by life.” Whispers of encouragement across the centuries, from one artist to another.

Editor’s note: This piece was developed and published thanks to a partnership with The Chestnut Hill Local.