Six Philadelphia Exhibitions that Stand Out This May and June
From singing in tongues to solar system-shaped belly button lint, many, many boys, and the Rocky monument.
I was handed a coffee mug this weekend that said “America 1776-2026.” The coffee was bitter, so I did not drink it. This mug was meant to celebrate America. To me, it read like a grave stone, or what businesses do when they incorporate a company. A lot is happening in Philadelphia because of the country’s birthday. And I am all for reflecting on history. Yet, lately I’ve been drawn to works that speak less about America—the country, its business—and more about the times we’re in. Particularly, I’ve been drawn to abstract or absurd works because what we’re all experiencing goes far beyond words.
Below are six exhibitions happening across the city in artist-run spaces, galleries, and museums.
1. Mouthful, a large group exhibition currently on view at Vox Populi, open now through June 14, 2026, is one such show that goes beyond words. Words, specifically, are its main subject. Curated by executive director Blanche Brown, the show melds current Vox members with regional and international voices. Brown conceptually frames the show around an iconic work by the late artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982), Mouth to Mouth from 1975, and Janet Zweig’s Mind over Matter (1993), and puts the artists in dialogue with new and contemporary pieces. The exhibition includes work by Robert David Carey, China Rain Chung, Logan Cryer, Catia Colagioia, Jordan Deal, Lucia Garzón, Mona Gazala, Rachel Hsu, Cecilia Vicuña, Tan Lin, M Slater, Lea Devon Sorrentino, Eva Wu, and Connie Yu.
My biggest takeaway from Mouthful came from untitled, duet for an opera (2026), by Jordan Deal. This video was one of the biggest—excuse my language—mindfucks I’ve ever encountered, in the best possible way. I’d just finished an art marathon of viewing exhibitions across the city. I sat down alone to view the work and to catch my breath. Running a little over nine minutes, the video spans two walls with two green beings serenading the viewer with operatic gibberish.* The performers are singing in English, but the dialogue doesn’t connect and often overlaps. At the bottom of the video are French subtitles that do and do not line up with the English opera. It was like they were singing in tongues. It felt otherworldly. Incredibly haunted by the surprise encounter, I had to close my eyes at times and just let it wash me. I swear I’d seen the green bearded figure before: either in another artwork, a dream, or another lifetime. Perhaps they are from the future.
“untitled duet for an opera is a work that is staged for an opera, marking a duet, one singing ‘the 99 names of snow’ and the other, in a complementary contrast, ‘the 99 names for the n word with a hard r,’ said Deal. “This work is intended to take the stage as a material part of Capeforce. The performers in this work will remain anonymous, unless stated otherwise in the future.”
2. Uuughhh at Fleisher/Ollman is the Dufala Brothers’ fifth solo exhibition, open now through May 21, 2026. The first time I attempted to view Uuughhh, I got stuck in traffic for 2 hours because a car had caught fire. A grey smoke billowed in the distance as I missed all the openings I’d hoped to see. The second time I arrived, the gallery was closed in solidarity with May Day. The third time was a grand success. The work presented in Uuughhh included a solar system made from Billy’s belly button lint, an over-designed wheelbarrow too heavy to function well, and an air filtration ductwork made of the especially toxic, pre-1970s galvanized steel in the shape of gigantic human lungs, among other artworks. The Dufala Brothers use humor strategically and highlight the materials and objects utilized in the labor of working-class men. I stopped for a while to admire Stephen’s drawings, which took him at least 12 hours to create each. You can feel the labor in the surfaces of the drawings. Time well spent.
3. FJORD’s XYZ ACCESS is on view now through June 16, 2026. XYZ ACCESS is a three-person show of new art by Logan Elise Crompton, Jocelyn Tsui, and Ryan Scails that’s been in the works for over a year. It began based on FJORD’s annual open call. Sean Starowitz, the curator and co-director, stated that FJORD was interested in expanding and critiquing the artist open call in artist-run spaces.
“At FJORD, we’ve been thinking about how to approach that process differently while also acknowledging the realities of running a small independent space. Open calls can function partly as a fundraiser, but we try to remain flexible and waive fees when needed. The larger goal is to honor the labor on both sides.
XYZ ACCESS emerged directly from that thinking. We originally imagined it as something much more straightforward, but during the review process, we kept returning to certain artists and conversations. Rather than forcing the work into a quick exhibition cycle, we allowed it to simmer and develop over time. The pause became important. The final exhibition reflects a slower and more responsive curatorial process that grew out of the submissions themselves instead of simply selecting “winners” from a fixed format.”
—Sean Starowitz
“FJORD curated us from our open call applications. We didn’t get the open call show, but they saw through lines in each of our work relating to grids and underlying structures guiding or dictating the work,” said Crompton.
I spoke with each artist individually, and all three touched on the importance of craft traditions within their practices and the presence of the grid. I loved how, even though all three artists’ works were critiquing the effects of technology on place and the body, they used very handmade materials to do so.
Crompton rarely incorporates figures in their work, and when they do show a Black figure, it's typically covered by a protective element or material that acts as armor, like sequins. Elements of their own bodily DNA, likeness, and items like hair scarves are incorporated within their work, along with a keen interest in fiber studies. Scails utilizes found materials like tea bags, and he also often uses found fabric in his practice. He shared that his parents owned a vintage store, and he grew up rummaging through its treasures.
“The tea bag piece, 3Hunnit, is made from used Twinings chai tea bags; all of which have a tag that labels their brand as being 300 years old. That gives the company an even more questionable imperial presence than any Western tea purveyor already does when it comes to global trade. Here it’s made into a tapestry that flaunts the dyed surface and the tags as decoration, in the same way they proudly tell on themselves with their branding,” said Scails.
When speaking with Tsui, she went into detail about RISO printing techniques she utilized to replicate specific patterns and colors in the paper tapestry, Analog Glitch, and the floor installation, Paper Tiles—a reference to Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong.
“The pieces I exhibited at FJORD take on the fold as a tool of dense compression, whether it be in the act of compressing data through warps and wefts in Analog Glitch, or the compression of an urban, architectural phenomenon in Paper Tiles. How can these artifacts, drawn into the book form, then begin to take on volume and assert themselves, as well as their memories of labor, in any given space?” — Jocelyn Tsui
4. Blah Blah Gallery presents its first group show of all male artists in Boys Boys Boys, on view now through July 10, 2026. The exhibition brings together work by Adam Lovitz, Branche Coverdale, Charles Hickey, Kevin Sabo, Luke Forsyth, Michael Saunders, Nasir Young, Nicolo Gentile, Samuel Richardson, Scott Vander Veen, and Todd Stong. Having previously centered works by women, queer, and gender non-conforming artists, this is a bold move for the gallery, and the comment section on the Instagram announcement post proves it. I excitedly attended this opening, most eager to see Charles Hickey’s work in person for the first time, and I was delighted to report it’s even more incredible. Hickey is a Los Angeles-based artist utilizing 3D pen techniques to “paint” references to art-historical paintings, and he shows with Feia gallery.
I was most surprised by a sincere work by Nasir Young in the very back of the gallery titled Faces of London #02. A gouache on Bristol painting of a graffiti-covered church storefront that reads “New Life Bible Pentecostal Church.” With a title like Boys Boys Boys, I’d imagined only sexy renderings of muscular men in little to no clothing, but this piece is a literal come-to-Jesus moment. Don’t get me wrong, there are speckles of scantily clad men included in works like Put to Wrest (Lick) by Nicolo Gentile, which seems to use clips from a vintage muscle magazine. One particularly electrifying work was The Compromise by Todd Stong, a pencil drawing on grained glass of a skeleton with an erection. A discovery for me was Michael Saunders’ work, Doorway and rough trip. Saunders’ paintings seem to be reflections on death, dying, or even just the precarity of being alive, a relevant topic for this woman who recently experienced postpartum depression.
5. Temple Contemporary’s SPACES OF ENCOUNTER, on view now through June 27, 2026, is “a research-driven exhibition exploring cultural literacy in the built environment, the ministry of presence, and the biological impacts of space and place on American life. Conceived by public art researcher Danicia Monét Malone and guest curated by Alyse Tucker of New York University, the exhibition brings together 21 artifacts and artworks across image, audio, and data from multiple cities in conversation.”
Outside the gallery is a large, golden inflatable porch. The inflatable is pushed up against—and towers over—the bronze statue in the green hallway, and the sound of block-party music plays nearby. Upon entering the gallery, the first work is a sharp cultural reclamation placard that inverts historical segregation language, “COLORED ONLY No Whites Allowed.” This piece will land very differently depending on who is looking at it. It immediately establishes the exhibition's frame: structural inclusion and exclusion within space. Walking through, one is presented with statistics about public art access across Albuquerque, Indianapolis, and San Basilio de Palenque. The exhibition weaves Malone's research among nooks and havens—the family photo wall, for instance, where the curators invite the viewer into 'the interior worlds of Black life.’
6. Lastly, my underdog recommendation is to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s current exhibition, Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments, on view now through August 2, 2026. I rolled my eyes at an exhibition about Rocky, but the show surprised me and encompasses much more than the man and the myth. Joni Sullivan wrote a review, “In Rocky’s Shadow,” and SOS has at least two more reviews in the works by other writers. I am still thinking about the exhibition, which is the biggest compliment I can give. And like I just said in my most recent essay, perhaps it’s time we trade the underdog stereotype of Philadelphia for a more accurate description of the city.
I wish you happy gallery-hopping this May and June!
*Editor’s Note: Thoughts on the word “gibberish.”
After this piece was published, I had a conversation with Jordan Deal about my use of the word “gibberish” to describe the vocal content of untitled, duet for an opera. Deal pointed out that the words being sung in the 99 names of snow and the 99 names for the n word with a hard r, both written by them, are charged and intentional, and that “gibberish” risks dismissing as meaningless what is in fact a deliberate enumerative composition.
What we worked through together: the experience of trying to receive two voices singing in parallel projected onto different walls, neither harmonizing nor resolving, was for me less like hearing nothing than like hearing glossolalia: singing in tongues. Deal embraced that framing as resonant with what the work itself is investigating: language transforming into a register of the metaphysical, the spirit, the encounter. They stated that there is still disagreement in the use of the word itself, particularly in framing what’s happening. We agreed to leave “gibberish” in the piece with this note.
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Emily Logan is a nomadic art writer and publicist. Since 2020, she’s been building Space On Space. Previously, she worked as a publicist at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA. She holds a BFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art and an MS in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship from Fox School of Business, Temple University.
Space On Space is a media movement started in 2020. Originally a cathartic impulse to process the times, SOS has evolved into an investigation into the connections between land, power, and art. The outlet creates content and offers PR services to help artists, designers, and businesses take up more space in the media. At the intersection of art writing and public relations, SOS interrogates the line between mythmaking and the historical archive. The publication has produced three print magazines and a mountain of digital content covering artists from around the world. The magazine hosts parties, art talks, and poetry events. In a media landscape built for speed, SOS slows down—because depth is disruptive, and attention is power.
Thank you for these great recommendations! ❤️