Though 1st thursday's openings were a bit conservative this month (lacking the excitement and sales of new artists like Eva Speer and PORT's Ryan Pierce last month... except Chambers) shows like Matt King at Fourteen30, Damien Gilley and Ethan Rose at Gallery Homeland and Stephen Slappe etal. at The Art Gym made for memorable openings that would have added "zing" my recent New York trip. Nice to know the Portland art scene still stacks up and is showcasing interesting new talent.


Matt King's Science Diet was a rumination on uneasy consumption...


Tilt Export's latest curatorial project at Gallery Homeland may be the best show in Portland this month and another big step forward for Damien Gilley. I'll have to go back during the week so I can determine if Ethan Rose's sound installations add anything or not. As you can hear here, it was simply too loud at the opening to tell.



Beginning with Stephen Slappe's wonderful four channel car video this show also had some interesting work by Dan Gilsdorf, Mack McFarland and Mike Bray (whose work still seemed a touch like grad student work... I was one of his MFA critiquers at the U of O). This show was a bit of a revisitation of Retinal Reverb a few years ago but of the four it is Slappe who has improved most exponentially.

The East side is looking good these days.
But don't miss Kim McKenna at Beppu Wiarda this month, easily the strongest show I've seen at that gallery.

I-E: You are absolutely correct, McKenna's work is a real standout on the west side. Being on the same block as Chambers those two galleries along with the Mandy Greer show at MoCC are the ones to see. I also liked Cynthia Lahti's show at PDX a bit... its one of those shows that takes time. There is a bit of Giacometti and Nicholas Africano in her stuff. I dont like the softer works from her (girl coming of age stuff) but there is something wierd about making ceramic zombie death masks or funereal ceramics in 2009.

The stuff with Goya-like edge holds up really well and I keep thinking I havn't seen Lahti's best show yet. I think she needs a museum or non profit outing where she can go a bit darker and show her full range.

I should hit Gallery Homeland again before the end of the week. Gilley's contribution there is stunning... doing a whole lot with very little on a grand scale. Right now Gilley is the most impressive emerging (still an mfa) artist in Portland and maybe all of Cascadia. He has tremendous capacity to work and streches himself significantly on every outing. Exciting to see this nice kid grow so significantly each time... last year this time he was promising, now it's just a quesetion of pecicely "how good".

OK now his MFA thesis show later this month better not dissapoint!

"zombie death mask"?

Damien Gilley has been impressing me by leaps and bounds with every showing of his over the last year. His work at Gallery Homeland is amazing. We posted it as best show of the month on www.openwidepdx.com. Go check it out, but it really needs to be seen in the flesh.