James Oliver Gallery

James Oliver Gallery A contemporary gallery in the heart of Philadelphia
On View: Press Play - through May 23rd, 2026

James Oliver Gallery (JOG), which opened its doors in late 2006, aims to be a leader in the presentation of contemporary art in the Philadelphia area. An appealing and lively forum in Philadelphia's Center City, the gallery looks to shatter rigid notions of artistic presentation. Featuring exciting modernist furniture and beautiful views through 19th century fourth floor windows, JOG creates a rel

axing environment where patrons are encouraged to convene, socialize, and discuss art. James Oliver, an established painter and musician, oversees all aspects of the gallery. His personal style synthesizes the modern and the minimal, creating a clean aesthetic in his own artworks.

In 1970, John E. Dowell Jr. became the first African American artist-in-residence at the Venice Biennale. Five years lat...
06/25/2026

In 1970, John E. Dowell Jr. became the first African American artist-in-residence at the Venice Biennale. Five years later, he exhibited at the Whitney Biennial. Today his prints live in over 70 museum collections worldwide, including MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he spent 42 years shaping young artists as a professor at Tyler School of Art. His practice is rooted in jazz. He has used his prints and paintings as literal musical scores in live collaborative performances. The Lower Seneca Village reaches back to a Black community in Manhattan erased to build Central Park. What does it mean for a place to be erased and still leave a mark? John’s work anchors Unfurling 250 at James Oliver Gallery. Available online at jamesolivergallery.com/store

Images: Final Transition (2016), The Lower Seneca Village (2018)

On Instagram: John E. Dowell

Before Anthony DeMelas trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, he was a teenager tagging walls across Phil...
06/24/2026

Before Anthony DeMelas trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, he was a teenager tagging walls across Philadelphia with Klub City Decorators; a graffiti crew that, decades later, would send two of its members into a gallery together.
His piece Colonialism is a wood ship complete with figurehead, linen sail, and a working stereoptic viewer; an invitation to physically look into history rather than just read about it.
What do you see when you look closely at something built to look like the past?
Anthony’s work is part of Unfurling 250 at James Oliver Gallery, on view through August 22 and online at jamesolivergallery.com/store

Image: Colonialism - wood ship with figurehead, linen sail, and stereoptic viewer

Instagram: Anthony DeMelas

Nic D’Amico has photographed Olympic athletes, global musicians, and major brand campaigns. He co-founded Klip Collectiv...
06/23/2026

Nic D’Amico has photographed Olympic athletes, global musicians, and major brand campaigns. He co-founded Klip Collective, the studio that pioneered video projection mapping as an art form. In Simone Biles / Ghost Flag over the Capitol, he places two American images side by side: the Statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol, whose original liberty cap, a symbol tied to freed enslaved people, was replaced during design with a helmet still often misread as Indigenous, and Simone Biles, not as allegory but as undeniable, living excellence. What does freedom mean when the symbols are unstable but the achievement is unquestionable? See Nic’s work in Unfurling 250 at James Oliver Gallery and at jamesolivergallery.com/store

Image: Simone Biles / Ghost Flag over the Capitol
Instagram: NIC DAMICO

For over 20 years, Pete Checchia has photographed the Philadelphia Orchestra and performed at Carnegie Hall through his ...
06/22/2026

For over 20 years, Pete Checchia has photographed the Philadelphia Orchestra and performed at Carnegie Hall through his lens. His work is built on precision, timing, and trust. His piece Patriotic Relic / Divided Nation takes a different shape entirely: a two-sided light box, viewable from both faces, holding two different images that never quite agree with each other. That’s the point. Some American symbols look completely different depending on which side you’re standing on. Come see the box in person. 723 Chestnut St., 2nd Floor

Pete’s work is featured in Unfurling 250 at James Oliver Gallery and online at jamesolivergallery.com/store

Instagram: Pete Checchia

Images: Patriotic Relic / Divided Nation (2026), American Woman (2015)

Don Bell spends his days as an Emmy-winning sports anchor at CBS Philadelphia. But his camera follows a different beat; ...
06/21/2026

Don Bell spends his days as an Emmy-winning sports anchor at CBS Philadelphia. But his camera follows a different beat; one dedicated to amplifying the richness and complexity of communities of color, often in quiet, unguarded moments far from any broadcast. In Unfurling 250, his photographs are layered with hand-applied acrylic, watercolor, and pencil, turning a single captured second into something built and re-built by hand. What does it mean to add your own hand to a moment you already caught on camera? Don’s work is on view at James Oliver Gallery through August 22.

Images: Moonlight, A Modern Promise, Ain’t It Nice. Photographs with acrylic, watercolor, and pencil.

Instagram: Don Bell

Paul Bastin spent nearly 30 years photographing New York City before he ever pointed a lens at Philadelphia. When he fin...
06/20/2026

Paul Bastin spent nearly 30 years photographing New York City before he ever pointed a lens at Philadelphia. When he finally did, he says he saw it the way a stranger sees a place; wide open, unfiltered, looking for what locals stop noticing. Jump captures exactly that kind of unguarded moment: ordinary, fleeting, real. His work is part of Unfurling 250 at James Oliver Gallery. Sometimes the person who just arrived sees more clearly than the person who never left. Has that ever happened to you in your own city?

Instagram: Paul Bastin

Silver gelatin printing is one of the oldest photographic processes still practiced today; the same chemistry that made ...
06/19/2026

Silver gelatin printing is one of the oldest photographic processes still practiced today; the same chemistry that made the first American photographs possible nearly 200 years ago. Philadelphia photographer Ted Adams uses it deliberately. His images of bars, campers, and phone banks aren’t trying to look old. They’re using an old language to ask a new question: what happens when you strip a familiar scene of its expected meaning? What do you see when the obvious story falls away? Ted’s work is part of Unfurling 250 at James Oliver Gallery, on view through August 22. What’s the first thing you notice in a photograph before you read the caption?

On Instagram:
Ted Adams
Ted Adams

Address

723 Chestnut Street 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA
19106

Opening Hours

Thursday 5pm - 8pm
Friday 5pm - 8pm
Saturday 1pm - 6pm

Telephone

+12679187432

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