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Now seven years old, Space 1026 is one of Philadelphia's premier art incubators. Since its founding in 1997 as a workspace and gallery, the Space, as it's called, has helped nurture careers for just about every artist affiliated with it.

Jim Houser, Max Lawrence, Thom Lessner, Liz Ryewski, Rebecca Westcott, Ben Woodward and Andrew Jeffrey Wright are a few of the young artists with budding national reputations. Their work is sought out for exhibits, and some of them are starting to win grants and awards, like the 27-year-old Westcott, a recipient of a 2004 Pew fellowship for painting.

Over the years Space 1026 members have found friends and likeminded artists around the country and invited them to show work in the Space's second-floor gallery. These informal, often freeform exhibits by collectives like Providence, R.I.'s Fort Thunder (whose members were included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial) have been good forays into foreign territory for a viewer, though not always visually great.

This month Change Agent--a Brooklyn collective of visual artists, designers and DJs--is in residence at Space 1026's gallery. And while I can't speak for the audio component (provided at the opening by Team Shadetek and Mode Raw), the visual art's a package of earnest, labor-intensive work that's beautiful, accomplished and imbued with friendly fantasies and comments on contemporary culture.

Some exhibits get swallowed in the atmospheric, tin-ceilinged gallery at Space 1026. This show, with four discrete pieces by four artists, holds its own.

The most compelling installation is the assortment of large woodblock prints by Swoon. Pinned to two clotheslines in front of the windows, the prints are cutouts of children playing ball along with other figures (some life-size) printed with black or white ink on supports that range from hospital sheets to Mylar. They create a kind of ghost village waiting for action. And indeed, as I learned from one 1026er, Swoon has taken her figures to the street and installed them on walls in New York and elsewhere--her way of commenting on community.

Orien Mcneill's elegant drawing installation pulls you in with its combination of fantastic imagery and beautiful shapes. Mcneill, who took several days to complete the wall-spanning piece, created a kind of sad Star Wars landscape that entwines present-day housing with futuristic, invasive techno-robots. It's machines vs. the natural world, and biology's not going to win.

There are odd, humorous touches, like a fish gliding through the sky as if it's a dirigible with several propeller blades attached to its belly; and the open mouth of a spaceship whose teeth are a row of sewing machines. I got much enjoyment from studying the work, which also includes a couple of 3-D elements.

Mode Raw, aka David Paul, faxed in his piece--literally. He took a digital photo and blew it up to wall size, then broke it into files and faxed all 45 pages of it to an old fax machine. Then he printed it on thermal paper and spray-glued it to the wall. Paul's piece, with an ambiguous image (rock star caught in stage lights or murder victim caught in headlights?) is full of longing for old technology. It reminded me of the nostalgia for Atari and Pac-Man I've seen expressed in other young artists' work.

I hope to see many more "welcome neighbor" exhibits at Space 1026. They're a public service--letting you sample another town's good art without having to make the trip.

"Change Agent: Call It a Crew" Through June. Space 1026, 1026 Arch St. 215.574.7630. www.space1026.com

sketches

Less Than Hero

Painter a nd printmaker Jason Urban is fixated on America's superheroes. From Superman to Dirty Harry, the artist's painted a rogues' gallery of tough guys in his show at Spartaco. And just in case you're wondering about the artist's point of view, Urban inserted Josef Stalin into the mix--just another guy above the law who got away with murder. These aren't love icons, Urban's saying. They're law-breakers held up as icons. Urban paints them in typical poses taken from photos (Stalin in profile, Christopher Reeves' Superman about to fly), then all but obliterates the image under a snowstorm of white dots applied with the aid of a screen and roller. The look evokes the dots of Roy Lichtenstein, except the effect is "pox"--not pop. Which isn't to say they're ugly. Indeed, the works are beautiful and accomplished. The earliest piece in the show is a woodblock print of the Lone Ranger, which looks like a wanted poster and contains cautionary words about lawlessness. In fact, this exhibit is a little essay on acting outside the law and getting away with it. (R.F.)

"Jason Urban," through June 26. Spartaco Gallery, 52 N. Second St. 215.238.8877. www.spartacogallery.com

ROBERTA FALLON (rfallon@philadelphiaweekly.com)