James Oliver Gallery presents JOYLAND, opening December 6th, 2025. Featuring 19 artists based throughout Philadelphia, JOG has invited past exhibitors alongside new faces to participate in this year's holiday exhibition. View works from Adam Wallacavage, Alissa Eberle, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Lee Shuman, Anthony Coleman, Anthony DeMelas, Carol Klein, Chris Decker, James Oliver, Jodi Rice, Jon Manteau, Kassadie Nieto, Lisa Roberts, Lawrence Spitz, Martha Rich, Nick Feeley, Patricia Yanez, Soso Capaldi, and Wendee Yudis.
Join us for our Holiday Party on Saturday, December 13th from 6-9pm.
As 2025 comes to a close and we wrap up our 19th year of programming, we gather in support of those who have made a meaningful impact on our regional arts community. From Wallacavage’s surreal chandeliers and Eberle’s explorations in neon, to the collaborative drawings of Coleman and Wright, JOYLAND offers a vibrant snapshot of Philadelphia’s creative energy in our most unique space.
Adam Wallacavage, born in 1969, is an American artist renowned for his surreal and highly ornate octopus chandeliers. He currently resides and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His journey into the realm of sculptural art began when he self-taught the art of ornamental plastering in 2001, which led him to create his signature octopus chandeliers. His works are inspired by a variety of sources including sea adventure stories, the extravagant interiors of old churches, and the works of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.
Alissa Eberle is a visual artist, full time neon bender, and sign fabricator living and working in Philadelphia PA. Originally from Lowell Massachusetts, Eberle studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Tufts University graduating with a BFA in Studio Art.
“Working primarily within the medium of neon sculpture, I am interested in the unknown in the contemporary landscape. In my work, I explore notions of time dissonance, nostalgia, otherworldly experiences, parallel universes, and the intersection between the manufactured and natural world.”
Anthony Coleman, also known as Tony, and Andrew Jeffrey Wright have been collaborating on colored pencil drawings together since 2022. Tony is a self taught artist, while Andrew has a BFA in Animation from the University Of The Arts. In their collaborative work, Tony draws his highly stylized portraits of people, animals and cartoon characters and then Andrew fills the background with his abstract waves. They have shown their collaborative drawings in galleries in Austin, TX, Alexandria, VA and Philadelphia, PA.
& Anthony Coleman: Hagar The Horrible On Splotch Waves
Anthony DeMelas is a visual artist from Philadelphia, exploring overlooked glimpses of visual reflections that coexist all around us. His conceptual process and inspiration is always in flux; reanimating fragments of his life through a broad palette of wood, oil, wax, paint and photographs. Through layering images and materials, he works to expose an unseen realm of existence. Photos are taken without the guise of perfected shutter speeds and paint is pulled across these surfaces, allowing the oil, water and wax to do what they may, giving us just enough information---but without clouding our sight.
Carol Klein was an Associate Artist at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia from 2007-2012, until opening a ceramics studio alongside Lawrence Spitz in 2013. “As a ceramicist, my goal is to capture the suppleness of textile and the formality of porcelain. I saturate various weaves of glass textile, sometimes coarse and sometimes fine, with porcelain to create vessels that are remarkably thin, strong and light weight. Each is individually formed, and then fired until the glass fiber and porcelain fuse. Some of the vessels evoke movement in swirling drapes and undulating flutes. Others suggest formality with their pleats and tailored folds. Small openings in the woven walls invite light to penetrate. Some have raw fiber edges which suggest both fragility and informality.”
James Oliver is a painter whose precise visual language pushes the tradition of twentieth century abstraction into a contemporary context. Oliver is a conceptually driven formalist whose work is inspired by his dreams and emotional states, which he abstracts into an undetermined and subjective viewing experience by emphasizing line, color, and form. He turns to a figurative practice in recent series, rendering cultural icons like chopper bikes, Pontiac Firebirds, and his childhood poodle in detailed line drawings, these representations similarly evoke broadly accessible effects abstracted from his mental landscape.
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