Painted Lady by Alan Powell

The white exterior of the Victorian-style house became a palette for a narrative story to unfold in flashes and collage of color. Powell’s use of his own home as an artistic subject follows in the tradition of the iconic Painted Ladies in San Francisco, CA, where similar style houses were repainted in vivid, expressive color palettes and entire blocks became interconnected with beautiful color relationships. Powell transforming the neutral base of his home with bold strikes of graffiti takes an alternative approach: his ‘painted lady’ is courtesy of the “fifteen-year-old brat with a bottle of spray paint,” emphasizing rebellion, visual conflict, and a deliberate anti-aesthetic.

text by Katerina Pate

Artist Biography
Alan Powell

Alan Powell has been working as a visual artist for fifty years. From 1971 until the mid 1990’s he worked almost exclusively with video and electronic imaging. His video work in collaboration with his partner Connie Coleman spans the past thirty years and has been exhibited at The Kitchen, The Alternative Museum, and The Museum of the Moving Image; the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Musee d’Arte Moderne in Paris.. Their video work from their years as Artist-in- Residence at the Experimental Television Center is in the archives at Cornell University Library. Five of those pieces are in distribution by Electronic Arts Intermix in NYC. Alan Powell’s artwork encompasses single channel experimental videotapes, sculptural multi-channel mixed media installations, audio compositions, digital photography and painting.  He is currently on the Board of Termite- TV, a Philadelphia based collective  and Signal Culture in Owego, NY. Alan Powell’s current work investigates man’s relationship to his environment and the natural world. Powell is currently a Professor-emeritus at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA.