Our Friend Ralph had an art opening in Philly this past weekend, with some amazing screen prints, on both paper and wood, from photos he had taken around his beloved hometown.
We shot a few pics at the show, and asked his to give us a brief rundown on the premise behind it…
“The name of the show was Lost Treasures (it was the name of an abandoned storefront i saw up there), it was screenprints of photos I’ve taken under the El train line in Philadelphia, the further north you go under the El the worse the area gets, and thats right up my alley, I love old run down buildings, the graffiti, and the characters you see along the way…that area used to be a bustling part of town for shopping, and over time it has become almost a wasteland of abandoned shops and drug dealers…I used my Canon PowerShot G10 digital camera, which I wore around my neck and hidden under a windbreaker, if I saw a cool shot I would unzip and click…i originally drove up there parked on the edge of the “shopping” district and was going to walk a big loop so i could get pics on both sides of the street, after I made it about 2 blocks I was already offered drugs 4 times, asked if I was okay or needed anything, and even had a guy try to sell me loose cigarettes I decided to get back in my car and just pull over when i saw something cool…I almost got to see a fist fight in the middle of the street until the guys girlfriend pulled him back into his car…and I saw a guy in a gorilla suit holding up a sign for used furniture…it was def a good time, im not gonna lie, I was a little sketched out being under there by myself, but I also found an oasis of a diner, it looks like this place was the shit back in the 60’s and they havent changed the decor since, they had the best chocolate chip pancakes I’ve had in the city, and for 3.99 you get 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, and a coffee.” _ Ralph Stollenwerk
The Slingluff Gallery
11 W. Girard Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19123
The show is up from May 5th-27th
