VISUAL ARTS

For its summer art exhibition, Athan's Cafe and Bakery is hosting a solo exhibition “Philip Spinks: Katrina, Order & Chaos” from June 13 through August 31 at its Brighton location, one of the best alternative art venues in Greater Boston. The exhibition features nature-inspired organic paintings that tell very personal stories by Phillip Spinks, an artist from Boston’s South End. Independent curator John Quatrale has selected a group of engaging and intriguing original artworks for the exhibit.



Phillip Spinks’ body of work is about taking what is lost or destroyed and creating new meanings as well as anchoring what remains. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck both New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf coast. Phillip's Parents' and his Grandmother's homes were gutted. Ninety percent of his family photographs were completely destroyed. What remained were fragments of memories. Phillip saw the austere beauty in the imagery that remained, and as opposed to allowing the loss of the images to create a void in his mind, he chose to reclaim these memories and create a new vehicle to contain them.