Eastern Pennsylvania artists, predictably, tend to turn out in large numbers, with Philadelphia and its closest suburban counties (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery) usually accounting, as they do this year, for a third of the works on view. This year the five counties also captured one-quarter of the show's prizes and honorable mentions.
The great art form of painting sometimes seems marginal to our culture nowadays, but in this show it tries to stand tall, and often succeeds. Example: Allentown Panorama by Peter Schnore of Boyertown, which took a first in painting. This city overview has unusual depth, the image firmly connected to its place and conveyed with a sense of humility and continuity between past and present. The 2011 recognition for Schnore calls overdue attention to his long-standing interest in panoramic subjects.
Another must-see painting is third-prize winner Sickelm's Eye, a startlingly realistic larger-than-life image of a man's face by Nathan Marzen - art collections manager at the Allentown Art Museum - that wins you over with its verve. Two other paintings that offer a fresh point of view on everyday experience are Jeff Bye of Hershey's painterly airport overview Terminal, which won second prize, and Philadelphian John Pacer's oil triptych Voyeur, a gently witty theatrical portrayal of a young girl applying makeup in a domestic setting. Pacer's is an ambitious handling of a composition that keeps opposing energies simultaneously alive.
