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Portland art blog + news + exhibition reviews + galleries + contemporary northwest art
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Friday 05.17.19 Time>Space>Place  AmazonComPandaTreeLoraZombieFineArt by Jeannette Mill Portland's art scene has taken some hits lately but it also has new venues and a continuing tradition as an incubator of new talent. So instead of celebrating failures head out to see this new venue called 1122. This promising group exhibition called Time>Space>Place features some of my favorite new talents like Tabitha Nikolai and Wiley so I suspect the company they keep will be worth checking out. Artists are; Shannon Anderson, Ralph Barton, Ricky Bearghost,Tess Bidelspach,Jackie Boden, Aaron Cunningham, Job Erickson, EM Fuller, Sam Hancock, David Hunt, Jeannette Mill, Tabitha Nikolai, P.A.L.S. Video Collective, Brianna Rosen, Ivan Soliton, Gena Sophia, Mathew Spencer, Jason Triefenbach and Wiley. TIME > SPACE > PLACE promises to be , "the first manifestation of Standard Practice Co:Creative, a soon- to- be-incorporated community arts nonprofit dedicated to catalyzing creative potentials through engaged discourse and collaborative action." Seems like an opportunity to grow from and that's what artists need. Time>Space>Place | May 17 - June 15 Opening: May 17 6-10PM 1122 Gallery 1122 SE 88th Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 17, 2019 at 16:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 04.28.19 Weekend Picks  Just some of the Northern Lights exhibition at the Portland Japanese Garden Guest curated by Sachiko Matsuyama, Northern Lights: Ceramic Art of Hokkaido, features works by 21 established artists of the Hokkaido Pottery Society, with additional works by other members. Northern Lights is a follow up to an exhibition held at the Portland Japanese Garden a decade ago and celebrates the occasion of 50th anniversary of the Hokkaido Pottery Society. This is my 20th year of living in Portland and for that entire time the Japanese Garden has consistently put on the strongest craft based shows in the city. This exhibition is no exception with personal favorites like Masaaki Ishikawa's swirl patterned vessel with blade ridges, Shichiiro Koyama's Bishamon tortoise-shell lattice vessel and my favorite a tiny little green ah glaze bowl by Hideki Takai. 2019 is the Year of Hokkaido at Portland Japanese Garden, which commemorates the 60th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Portland and Sapporo. In many ways the Portland Japanese garden is the Japanese cultural embassy in the USA. Northern Lights: Ceramic Art of Hokkaido April 27 - May 27 Portland Japanese Garden 
Far Right Nancy Grossman's Cob I, at PAM's Modern American Realism from the Smithsonian Museum (last day) Perhaps one would expect a show titled Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Smithsonian's Sara Roby Collection to be about staid Americana but the opposite is true. In fact one could just as easily call this American Surrealism. The iconic Edward Hopper has such a mood... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 28, 2019 at 9:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 04.12.19 America's Whispered Truths closing at Archer Gallery  Willy Little (fg) and Reneee Billingslea's Lynching Shirts (bg) at Archer Gallery It ends Saturday so dont miss America's Whispered Truths at the Archer Gallery, which I reviewed recently within a cluster of related shows. In this duo exhibition Renee Billingslea and Willie Little dont pull any punches as they each explore the not so subtle violence of racism through powerful assemblage and installations. If you want a truly unvarnished yet nuanced exhibition, America's Whispered Truths screams in silent terror, giving scope and sobering scale to the whole discussion of racism in America. America's Whispered Truths February 19 - April 13 Closing Reception: April 13, 3-5PM Archer Gallery Clark College, Vancouver WA. Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 12, 2019 at 11:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 12.01.18 1st Weekend Picks  Manga Hokusai Manga at Portland Japanese Garden The latest show at the Portland Japanese Garden, Manga Hokusai Manga: Approaching the Master's Compendium from the Perspective of Contemporary Comics, takes a look at the connection of early Manga to today's modern form. This is the US debut for a traveling show, which compares acknowledged masters from all eras. The show takes us from Hokusai to today's best and brightest. I'm personally struck by the way all forms are stylized visual compendiums, like stored visual thinking about basic and sometimes capricious aspects of life that are normally fleeting or nigh impossible to capture in photography or words. One could call it a kind of essential visual theater on the page. There are lots of events set with this show including a scholarly lecture on December 15th... and a closing panel, which will be announced. Manga Hokusai Manga: Approaching the Master's Compendium from the Perspective of Contemporary Comics | December 1 - January 13 Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Ave 
This is your last day to catch Victor Maldonado's Liberation Stories at Froelick Gallery and it is one of the strongest painting shows Ive ever seen in Portland, which is interesting because the artist tends to be more of a conceptualist. But here he's visceral, engaging the history of street art, Philip Guston, Baselitz, Guggenheim Mural era Pollock and perhaps even Hermann Nitsch? The thing is it all comes from being the city of Portland's most visible Mexican/American artist who is paradoxically "not Mexican enough" and at the same time always summoned to be on any multicultural panel (the essential voice who is always on the panel but never given the award, which makes me furious). The truth is Victor has always walked a tightrope... being a bit of a provocative troublemaker as an artist and as a great ombudsman as an administrator. These paintings just burn through all the stereotypes and their tornadic vorticies coalesce into bodyslammed wrestlers... or are the dead? Always too smart, too nice, too handsome, too considerate and too perceptive to sit into left and right wing political schemas his works are troubling and put the viewers on the ropes in paintings like The Fallen and Ofrenda. I like his newfound confidence, now on display many years after earning his US citizenship, Victor is taking the victory lap nobody seemed to be willing to give him (including himself). True, he's a friend and I couldnt be prouder of him but ultimately this is a cultural comeuppance. Victor's paintings simply cannot be ignored... and in any other progressive city besides Portland would have been celebrated more. But Portland's institutions do not acknowledge true provocateurs like Victor... yet it is exactly what the smugly woke need. The "liberation" here is the fact that Victor has been crucial for over a decade and somehow despite not really thinking of himself as a masterful painter has become just that. The sheer economy and bravura of works on display arent about revisiting traumas... they are a all in your face testaments to the considered vitality paint can convey. No more hiding, this is the strongest solo painting show in years from the Pacific Northwest (only about half of the recent works are on display). *He also has an excellent Chapel on Display at the Archer Gallery and today is the last day to see it. Liberation Stories | October 30 - December 1st Froelick Gallery 714 NW Davis  Jeffry Mitchell's Tyger! Tyger at PDX Contemporary Another last day, in this case to catch Seattle's Jeffry Mitchell. He is on a roll and one had better be to intone William Blake's great poem by calling his latest at PDX Contemporary, Tyger! Tyger! What makes this baroque conglomeration of delicate ceramics and wall works the the way the ceramics feel like folk art. Somehow Mitchell's latest works feel like they are pantomiming the often touted schism between western art and the far east rendering the argument moot. I enjoy that and by using folksy spun lathed stools as plinths Mitchell purposefully confuses crockery, mysticism and furniture. He's been doing some of the very best art of his long career lately. Tyger! Tyger! | October 30 - December 1 PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 01, 2018 at 9:50 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 11.27.18 Meow Wolf The Movie PORT has followed Meow Wolf since the early days and even visited them in Santa Fe last year. What is important is the way the artists of Meow Wolf have taken back the modes of production and presentation to support themselves and in the process have become the biggest art draw in Santa Fe (a place full of heavy hitters). In fact, two Portland artists, Nathanael Thayer Moss and Chelsea Linehan were involved in the Santa Fe warehouse project and you can see their work scattered all over the trailer above. The movie plays all over the country on Thursday night, including Portland. Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 27, 2018 at 16:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 10.06.18 Haunting October Picks October is usually one of the premier months to see work in Portland's art scene. Perhaps partly because every day in Portland is Halloween the bar for standing out is already pretty high and October becomes a double down. Here are my picks:
maximiliano Ghosts and Venus by Maximiliano and the collaborative trio of Rise x Fall shows just why the Littman Gallery continues to be one of the Portland metro area's most challenging art spaces. Most of Portland's University galleries are pretty conservative in their embrace of liberal values (more Hillary than Bernie or Ocasio-Cortez) but the fact that the Littman is programmed by PSU's students means it is closer to its student body and Portland's far more progressive citizenry. Here in another multimedia exhibition Maximiliano's still developing work explores the gauzy liminal veils of understanding between gender identity, the USA's Imperial posturing and its citizenry's somewhat haunted interface with society's so called norms. "Rise x Fall is an ongoing collaborative series of both video and live performances by Maxi Miliano, Ruben Marrufo and Jaleesa Johnston. Using the veil as an indicator of otherworldly presences, rise x fall explores the liminal terrain of transition, between stability and instability, and the rise and fall of empire. Taking inspiration from the crashing of the waves against the earth, this piece inhabits a space of the simultaneous pain and fear of death, as well as the hope and growth of rebirth." Ghosts & Venus | October 4 - 25 Live performances October 18 & 25 at 6PM Littman Gallery (Smith Student Center, 2nd floor) Portland State University  Victor Maldonado at Archer Gallery I Say, "Radical!" You Say, "Feminist!" is one of those shows about gender, identity and the human body that you'd think had been done a million times in the Portland area, but in fact I havent seen this sort of edgy survey of artists working in the subject attempted in a very long time. Way to keep a keener edge 'Couv and people who are really fired up should find it to their tastes. At the Archer you will find a who's who of up and comers as well as experienced guides like: Roz Crews, Kelly Bjork, Wynde Dyer, Emily Endo, Alexa Feeney, Klara Glosova, Junko Iijima, Tyler Mackie, Victor Maldonado, Patricia Melton, Matthew Offenbacher, Alyson Provax, Kelly Rauer, Maggie Sasso, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Ann Leda Shapiro, Naomi Shersty, Alisa Sikelianos-Carter, Anthony Sonnenberg, Alexander Wurts. Though to tell the truth they could probably restage the show every year for 5 years without using the same names. The thing is the show seems to be actually curating work that invigorates and bounces off each other... none of the old, "who can humblebrag the best" that has become a cul-de-sac of tepid liberal elite thinking. With today's news nothing could be more relevant than visiting this show. I Say Radical, You Say Feminist | September 25 - November 10 Closing Reception November 6 2-4PM Archer Gallery Clark College 1933 Fort Vancouver Way Vancouver Washington ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 06, 2018 at 7:37 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.20.18 Post Analog at Grapefruits 
The latest show at Grapefruits Post Analog featuring the work of Paloma Kop and Sara Goodman. Grapefruits is a space specializing in non digital programming so I've been looking forward to this as a signature kind of exhibition for the space. I also like the fact that much new media is already old media. Here is a curatorial statement from Sarah: "Within the last 20 years, we've seen the transition from analog to digital video tools in the creation and distribution of moving images. Between maker and consumer, there’s always been a collaboration between user and tools, but now we rely less on physical labor and more on access to digital software and platforms. Although there is a long history of analog video creation, within recent years, there's been an increased resurgence of analog tools to create and distribute newly created video content. A renewed fascination with physical labor. We take a larger role in the collaboration with the machine from the start. We fetishize the passage of time; the destruction of magnetic medium. We aestheticize the failure and decomposition of a tool that always had planned obsolescence. Nostalgia for a past that had an optimistic future. Now, we master the imperfection and glorify it. Intentionality of destruction; yet generative in its genesis. Paloma Kop and Sara Goodman produce video works of generative materials that they then manipulate through physical analog video processing tools. These time based recordings are both performative and ephemeral. A ghost on the screen, tracking, glitching, transforming. Both Sara and Paloma transcend this art form by creating prints of their works. Using a screenshot to hold onto the chaos. Printing out a screenshot, instead of sharing it online. The progression of glitch from electronics to paper, manifests our ubiquitous perception of technology ruling our world. The tools we use, either analog or digital, manifest metaphysical changes to the way we perceive the world." Ok, that is a tall order but that only gets my attention more.... nothing liker a little ambition to make Portland work better as an art scene. Besides I like analog glitchcraft, it speaks to that road warrior aesthetic or the lived in star wars univers where Han Solo had to smack the hyperdrive to avoid obliteration by an Imperial Cruiser. Post Analog | September 20 - October 21 Opening: September 20, 6-9PM | Performance @ 8PM: drc / erc Grapefruits Art Space 2119 N Kerby, Suite D Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 20, 2018 at 15:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.13.18 Utopian Visions Art Fair  People often ask me, is there anything new going on in the Portland art scene. Answer, a resounding yes and though the world really doesnt need another art fair the Utopian Visions Art Fair is exactly what the world needs... new faces and ideas looking for hope and a new way. Some of my favorite artist and art agitators like Maximiliano, Victor Maldonado, Chicken Coop Contemporary etc. are all involved. Tune in and catch up. Utopian Visions Art Fair Friday, September 14 2018 5-8PM Saturday, September 15 11AM-4PM Sunday, September 16 11AM-4PM 518 SE 76th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 13, 2018 at 18:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 08.31.18 Labor Day Weekend Picks Unlike most art scenes Portland's Summers tend to bring extra activity. To that a bunch of new shows have arrived and a few worthy ones are entering their last days. Catch these shows and of course that Ann Hamilton is still up, I felt it was a bit cobbled together and needed some more tailoring to fit its site but decide for yourself...
here are my picks: 
Carnation Contemporary is a new collective and they are launching their gallery venue today. I love their studio space off Interstate ave but they are also opening up a proper gallery space in the Disjecta Compound. The inaugural show is called First Date and has my full attention. Portland needs to support these artist driven initiatives to retain its enviable edge as a creative epicenter. First Date | August 31- September 30 Opening Reception: September 1 | 6-9PM Carnation Contemporary 8371 N Interstate 
As a domestic house that converts to a gallery Indivisible is perhaps the most intriguing of Portland's alternative spaces. Their latest show Encounters by Jeleesa Johnston should not be missed. The opening vibes are always pure Portland. Encounters | September 1 - 22 Opening Reception: September 1 | 6 - 9PM Indivisible 2544 SE 26th ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 31, 2018 at 19:18 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 08.21.18 Wendy Given at Vernissage  Wendy Given, Nighthawk True, I find a simple restatement of stereotypes like; trees, rain, and more trees to be a Northwest narrative that doesn't really require another show but a better way to look at it is, "what kind of wilderness?" Is it a deep dark, conceptual one triggering the lizard parts of the brain and filtered through modern concerns? It sure can and Wendy Given is one of those area artists who goes into the woods so to speak with her latest show... You, Darkness. It is a major theme in the region that has international reach... see Twin Peaks (which is just one instance of this strong artistic subject mater regarding the unknown, nature and animals). You, Darkness | August 7 - October 30, 2018 Opening: August 21, 5- 7PM Artist Talk: September 18, 5 - 7PM Vernissage Fine Art 1953 NW Kearney Street Tel: (971) 277-4118 Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 21, 2018 at 11:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 08.15.18 Grace Kook-Anderson in Conversation  Grace Kook-Anderson Normally the skies of the Northwest shower us with constant rain but lately it has been stinging wildfire smoke. True the air is better today but perhaps your lungs are still burning. I suggest arts fans check out this free curator conversation at the Portland Art Museum Between the somewhat newish Northwest Curator Grace Kook-Anderson and her boss PAM Director and Chief Curator Brian Ferriso. Grace has largely avoided the traditional Northwest art cliches, while reminding us of the diversity of the region's art... which has been very international for a long time. Artists like Sam Hamilton and Hannah Piper Burns have signaled that we should expect the unexpected... rather than the march of obvious craft, trees and rain, presented by frequently overexposed local names. Instead, she has been concentrating on many artists who are less, "regional feisthists." ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 15, 2018 at 18:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.02.18 August must see picks  Jenny Holzer at PNCA Jenny Holzer's work couldnt be more relevant at this moment in history so her Use What is Dominant in a Culture to Change it Quickly exhibition at PNCA's 511 gallery is especially timely. Consisting of the artist's Sentences and Sentiments from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation the artist holds forth on the questioning of power through words and the redaction of words. It is also part of next week's Converge 45. Use What is Dominant in a Culture to Change it Quickly | July 19 - August 22 First Thursdays 5-9PM Opening Reception August 9, 5-7PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway  . Kitai at Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education Perhaps the strongest exhibition on display in Portland at the moment is R.B. Kitaj A Jew Etc., Etc. at the OJMCHE. A virtuoso painter who scraped the paint ever so lightly on the canvas here... Kitaj romances his life as a Ohio come British transplant to LA, influencing today's LA painting scene significantly. Even though my British art friends have grown callous to him we hardly ever see Kitaj in the Pacific Northwest and this one is full of quality. On full display at OJHCHE Kitaj romances the studio and his outsider status as well as drawing upon the chilling loss of the love of his life. So many of the noted painter's best works are on display and every First Thursday goer should stop by the OJMCHE. Check out Jesse Hayward's more in depth look at one Kitaj painting that stars in the show. R. B. Kitaj A Jew Etc., ETC. | June 6 - September 30 Open Free on First Thursday Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education 724 NW Davis Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 02, 2018 at 12:21 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 07.15.18 Teeth and Consequence at Private Places 
Portland has seen a lot of excellent private art openings and events this weekend but here is an artist organized event we can point you to. Organized by Christopher Russell and Bobbi Woods Teeth and Consequence at a space called Private Places explores violence in an intellectual way via the writings of Jean Genet. Unfortunately this subject matter is completely relevant today. "I give the name violence to a boldness lying idle and hankering for danger. It can be seen in a look, a walk, a smile, and it's in you that it stirs. It unnerves you. This violence is a calm that disturbs you." - Jean Genet I'm always suspicious of artists leaning on writers when exploring things that emerge from the lizard part of the human brain (because I think the artists understand better than the writers) so lets see how Heidi Schwegler, M. Page Green, Sweaterqueen and writer Dennis Cooper do. It is certainly has the markings of a classic summer group show and being in an artist's studio shows how Portland's artists still drive our scene. Teeth and Consequence | July 15 - August 26th Opening Reception: July 15 3-5PM (by appointment after) Private Places 2400 Holladay Street Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 15, 2018 at 9:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 06.30.18 Annual Seed Building Open House 
North Coast Seed Building The North Coast Seed Building is one of Portland's great artist work spaces (many have disappeared or have been threatened). Today it hosts its annual open house. I loved last year's Seed Building Open House. The building is made up of three separate warehouses constructed over thirty years, beginning in 1911. Originally zoned only for industrial use, artists working in the space in the early 1990s were nearly evicted by the fire marshal. Years ago, due to the intervention of a sympathetic member of the City of Portland's Bureau of Buildings, an artist's work was reinterpreted as a manufacturing process, and the North Coast Seed Building became an officially sanctioned artist space. This is one of the best annual events in Portland and we need more of these spaces since several have been redeveloped, robbing the city of its important artist workspaces and overall ethos. Many top Portland artists have studios here. Open House | Noon-8PM | June 30 North Coast Seed Building 2127 N Albina Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 30, 2018 at 9:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 06.02.18 Mother Shape at Indivisble 
As PORT readers already know Indivisible is one of the most interesting alternative spaces in Portland and this house/gallery continues its programming with Mother Shape by Amy Conway. To paraphrase, apparently the exhibition replicates, documents and transcribes the shape of motherhood in the artist's life as a reflective attempt to define the role in on her own terms. It's a heady topic that is very current... especially considering there is a very mom-oriented strain running through Portland's contemporary art scene (in most other places it is more of a liability). Is this the MOm Jeans of contemporary art? Let's see what Conway offers to the discussion? Mother Shape | June 2-30 Reception: June 2, 6-9PM Indivisible 2544 SE 26th Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 02, 2018 at 14:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.11.18 Weekend Picks The weather is finally fantastic and there are a lot of thesis shows from new grads. Here are some adventures to have:
Every year my favorite thesis show seems to be the OCAC BFA offering. This year they are calling it Coalesce and the MFA students are also showing in the same building but for some reason the BFA student offer more gems and better ideas even if sometimes less practiced in presentation. Some of the standouts this year were the woven tapestries of Luciano V. Abbarno, Cathie Carroll's multimedia paintings and Michaela Coffield's installation of child-like wonder. Many others showed a lot of promise but those three are ready to show. Coalesce | May 11 - 25 Opening Reception: May 11, 5 - 9PM Gallery hours of 11AM - 5PM daily 120 SE Clay St. 
Thirdspace is one of the most interesting alternative spaces in a scene that has seen a lot of pressure on such places. Their latest show is called [Home] and is photography based around the theme. I suspect the lack of details is an attempt to keep gentrifying developers from turning their space into a spa or luxury tanning facility. [Home] | May 11 - 13 Opening Night: May 11th 6:30 - 9:30PM Hours: Saturday, May 12th @ 6:30 - 9PM Sunday, May 13th @ 5:30 - 7:30PM Thirdspace 707 NE Broadway St Suite 205 Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 11, 2018 at 13:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 05.03.18 May Gallery Picks 2018 Spring is in full effect and the weather is sublime, time to emerge from your homes and catch important shows to ponder. Dont miss them.
 Bespoke Bodies at PNCA ends soon I'd argue that art is an appendage and so is design. All of which should remind us that the Bespoke Bodies: The Design and Craft of Prosthetics show at PNCA is entering its last week and if you have not seen it, you must. A wide ranging show that goes from physical artificial limbs to more digital enhancements this show covers a huge amount of ground, from simple replacement and mimesis of typical human limbs to to enhancements undreamed of in science fiction this is an important exhibition for anyone curious about humanity, where it has been and where it is going. Bespoke Bodies | February 15 - May 9th, 2018 First Thursday: May 3, 5:00-9:00PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway  Horatio Hung-Yan Law's DACA Lounge A Dream Sanctuary at Archer Gallery The current plight to DACA "Dreamers" in today's political climate is a very real destablization of the lives of those who know nothing but their lives in the United States of America and DACA Lounge a Dream Sanctuary by Horatio Hung-Yan Law is a multimedia exhibition in collaboration with students and dreamers about their lives. The exhibition has been up for a while but was just completed today as part of Law's residency in collaboration with dreamers in the community. See it, it is one of the best multimedia exhibitions the area has seen recently. DACA Lounge A Dream Sanctuary | April 10- May 5th Archer Gallery Clark College 1933 Fort Vancouver Way Vancouver Washington  Prosoography (2018) Matthew Dennison Ive been keeping on Matthew Dennison for years but lately his odd figurative works of oblivious humans and wise animals have taken on a new poignancy and I am excited to see his latest show, Democracy. It is an ambitious title, fraught with all the hopes and fears of the moment... I suspect it may live up to the billing as each painting is a reaction to the day's news. Democracy | May 1 - June 2 Froelick Gallery 714 NW Davis ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 03, 2018 at 12:20 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 03.17.18 Louise Bourgeois in Pendelton  Louise Bourgoise at Pendelton Center for the Arts One of the best shows to see in the Pacific Northwest at the moment is the surprise appearance of Louise Bourgeois' work in the small western town Pendelton, mostly known for its rodeo and woolens. The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation continues to do good things by making important work available to audiences and places that wouldnt otherwise have access to it. I also found the Pendelton Center for the Arts with its excellent architecture, being a former Carnegie Library to be more than just another white box gallery space... it brings out an almost baroque aspect to Bourgeois' surreal imagery. Bourgeois is incredibly topical right now with her focus on the the psychological positioning of women and judging from the very well attended opening last night its going down well in cowboy country where the crowd was more varied than anything I've ever seen considering the ages, backgrounds and ethnicities present. Pendelton itself has a long tradition with women breaking ground through its rodeo so I cant help but think the combo would have pleased her. In particular the Crochet series of prints with their focus on knotwork, texture and routine... often evoking ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 17, 2018 at 12:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.01.18 First Thursday Picks March 2018  Ma'at Mons (installation view at PDX Contemporary) After the 2016 presidential election the constant stream of intolerance and hate has made it difficult for many artists to produce work (and have been collecting pitchforks and torches instead). Still, the mark of a true artist is they need not a vocational requirement to make art, its simply what they do. Storm Tharp is one of those artists and he has been busy. This work, provides the viewer room to breathe as well as vent... a series of large scale prints, it is very different from anything we have seen from him before, though the lumpy forms do evoke his sculpture... recalling the work of Morris Louis and Ellsworth Kelly it is surprisingly Apollonian. Ma'at Mons | February 28 - March 31 First Thursday Reception: March 1, 6-8PM PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders 
Sadly it is the last show for Una gallery at the Everett Station lofts but they have provided a needed haven to see emerging POC and queer work. This last show Portland in Color is a fitting photo biography. "Since the summer of 2017, Celeste Noche Photography has been collecting the stories and experiences of creatives of color living in Portland, through the photographic blog series Portland in Color. The project is simple and honest in nature, yet yields vulnerable and empowering portraits of artists actively creating and organizing in a town deemed the whitest city in America." Portland in Color First Thursday: March 1 6-10P Una Gallery 328 NW Broadway #117 ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 01, 2018 at 14:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.19.18 Josh Smith at Northview Gallery  Joshua W. Smith at PCC's Northview Gallery I've always liked Joshua W. Smith's work as one of the best artists to graduate from OCAC he always seemed to walk the tightrope of design and art without getting hung up on the conventions of either one. He lives in LA now but his latest show, Every truth blocks another is a good time to catch up in one of the more interesting gallery spaces in Portland (if mid century brutalism is your thing, and it is definitely Josh's). Not certain if I buy the zero sum concept but that seems built in doesnt it? ... absolutely an appropriate subject at the moment. Every truth blocks another | February 20 - March 25th Talk then reception: Tuesday Feb. 20, 2 - 5pm Northview Gallery (hours M-F 8am-4pm and Sat 11am - 4pm PCC Sylvania (Communications Technology Building) 12000 SW 49th Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 19, 2018 at 13:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.12.18 L&CC Faculty Exhibition 2018  Barely There (right), Jess Perlitz I like how Lewis and Clark College doesn't just do some faceless group annual faculty exhibition. Instead, it puts a dual show and this year it features professors, Joel W. Fisher's Abridged Proof and Jess Perlitz's Forever washing itself exhibitions. Both seem to traffic in the unreliability of information so it makes sense to pair them. Having seen the show it counts as one of the best things to see this winter in Portland... well worth the trip. Overall, I find this school's faculty intriguing because they always seem to consistently produce an interesting crop of students every year (along with OCAC), whereas it comes and goes with most of the others. Abridged Proof and Forever washing itself | January 18 - March 18, 2018 Artist's reception: 5-7PM, February 13, 2018 Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery Lewis & Clark 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 12, 2018 at 12:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 02.04.18 Hanakago at the Portland Japanese Garden 
For my money the real super bowl this weekend is the Hanakago (flower basket) exhibition at the Portland Japanese Garden. It features bamboo basket masterpieces from Portland collector Peter Shinbach's bamboo art collection, further brought to life with the ikebana art of Mrs. Etsuho Kakihana. Kakihana is a master teacher of ikebana of the Saga Goryu School at Daikakuji, Kyoto. It is one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist Temples in Japan. I think it is important to remember there are things to be gained from 2 different things working together... if only the world could follow this modus operandi more, eh? The exhibition encourages a closer look in an age lacking much of that. For a long time the Garden has arguably and consistently put on the strongest craft exhibitions in Portland (if not the West Coast) but what I love is how each exhibition are treated as living, iterative and evolving practices... like Jazz. Instead of some simple collector's vanity show the Garden's efforts are charged and expanded through the inclusion of flower art in the baskets. I am not a football fan, and in contemporary art (and this is contemporary) this use of vessel and object has been of prime interest to so many artists like Eva Hesse, Anish Kapoor, Lee Ufan, Damien Hirst, Rachel Harrison and Michael Heizer. Locally MK Guth, Midori Hirose, Ellen George, Laura Fritz and so many others also focus on the display support as part of the object... an interrelated charge that goes beyond surface and support. It is often a delicate visual ecosystem that can be traced to Asian traditions that Brancusi then brought to modern art museums and furthered by Noguchi. hat I like is the way life animates art, it tells us that art history is still made in the present, besides what could be better than spend the super bowl in quiet contemplation? Hanakago | February 3 - April 1, 2018 Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 04, 2018 at 9:46 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.01.18 First Thursday February 2018 Picks 
Robert Frank (installation view) at Bluesky He's ultra influential and considered by many to be one of the fathers of street photography but Robert Frank's work is rarely seen because of the fragility and value of the work. To remedy this situation Frank and Gerhard Steidl conceived of a traveling exhibition of photos, books, and films. Rather than as ultra precious objects Frank's images are printed on sheets of newsprint and hung on the walls or from the ceiling. This is one not to be missed. Robert Frank Books and Films 1947 - 2018 | January 4 - February 25 First Thursday Reception: January 4, 6-8PM Blue Sky 122 NW 8th  Portland's Winter Light Festival at PNCA Portland's Winter Lights Festival seems to get a little more serious every year. Some of it can be just eye candy spectacle for burners but some of the venues like PNCA are focused on the art... not just arty aspects of light. Portland is an installation art town though none of our festivals and institutions seems to make a point of featuring it... could the Light Festival be that venue some day? 24 different installations by artists are spread throughout the PNCA grounds. Winter Lights Festival at PNCA | February 1-3 (6-9PM), 2018 First Thursday: February 1, 6:00-9:00PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 01, 2018 at 13:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 01.27.18 Last Chance: Wyeth family reunion at PAM  Andrew Wyeth, On The Edge (2001) This weekend is your last chance to catch The Wyeths: Three Generations at the Portland Art Museum, which feels more like a family gathering than a museum survey of the Wyeths. Frankly, that is exactly what this is, a family reunion ...and it is very good thing. Whether you love Andrew Wyeth's bone ghostly landscapes or his masterful wisps of existential hair in hardscrabble Americana or not this exhibition extols a waspy New England generational presence, like a Thanksgiving Day rendezvous with all the familial dramas, humor and warmth simmering underneath. That said, I am an unrepentant Andrew Wyeth fan despite the work never really being couth in Greenbergian... then Artforum circles (a sign he was on to something) and I also grew up appreciating N.C Wyeth's illustrations. All of which contributed to a more fluid appreciation of visual culture that doesnt put artificial barriers up between graphic art and Art. As a family, the Wyeths cover the whole spectrum... but Andrew Wyeth is the great one and the reason there is a traveling exhibition of his family's work. There's a vitality in this filial arrangement. Patriarch N.C. Wyeth has a fantastical bent, Andrew's world is haunted and Jamie brings humor and nature's animus. True, this a lot of waspishness here in a time when all white male Newenglanders are reviled as a kind of LLBean clad Brahman class in the US socio-political landscape but I am a firm believer that no one be they Mexican, Jew, Irish, Italian, Nordic or Hmong should have to apologize for what they are and what their culture brings to the table. There are some truly marvelous works, especially the large Andrew Wyeths that are not behind glass, several N.C. Wyeth oil paintings that became book illustrations and a witty conclusion with Jamie Wyeth, whose painting of empty adirondack chairs sums it all up. Family, it is a thing... The Wyeths: Three Generations | October 7 - January 28, 2018 Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 27, 2018 at 9:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.04.18 First Thursday January 2018 Picks 
Robert Frank, Santa Fe - New Mexico, from the book The Americans He's ultra influential and considered by many to be one of the father's of street photography but Robert Frank's work is rarely seen. To remedy this situation Frank and Gerhard Steidl concieved of a travelling exhibition of photos, books, and films. Rather than as ultra precious objects Frank's images are printed on sheets of newsprint and hung on the walls or from the ceiling. This is one not to be missed. Robert Books and Films 1947 - 2018 | January 4 - February 25 First Thursday Reception: January 4, 6-8PM Blue Sky 122 NW 8th ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 04, 2018 at 14:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 12.22.17 NTVTY VIII 
It is an annual tradition but XChurch's experimental NTVTY, a pan-media-dimensional holiday happening will have it's 8th and last iteration at this tiny church this weekend. Be there to know how Portland does its artiest of holiday events. Three nights only. NTVTY VIII | December 23-25 @ 7:00PM XHURCH 4550 NE 20th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 22, 2017 at 16:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 12.14.17 Opening a third way  Forecasting Cascadia: metabolic architecture and climate change by Abigail Emiko Inoue Cox It has been a brutal couple of years for Portland's alternative art spaces (with bright spots like Una, Grapefruits, C:3 and Indivisible) but we continue to add exciting new venues here and there. Thirdspace is the latest, featuring the work of Abigail Emiko Inoue Cox. Her installation Forecasting Cascadia: metabolic architecture and climate change comes right after yesterday's 4.0 earthquake so it has remarkable timing. She is interested in the intersection of ecology and design (a favorite subject of mine) and her use of carbonized wood forms recalls the forest fires and building boom of 2017 as well. Afterwards there will be a community discussion about opportunities for the space in the coming year. Let's hope the find a third way in these too binary times, Launch | December 14 - January 20, 2018 Opening: December 14 | 6 - 7:30PM -ish Introduction to the space with dir. Kalaija Mallery: 7:30PM Roundtable discussion: 8:00-ish Thirdspace 707 NE Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 14, 2017 at 14:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 12.07.17 First Thursday Picks December 2017 
Lorna Simpson, Wigs (Portfolio) 1994 From the collection of Jordan Schnitzer Blue Sky is concluding the Embodied: Asserting Self exhibition series with an exhibition of Lorna Simpson's Wigs. Focusing on the human obsession with hair as well as ties to self, family and society this is one of her best bodies of work and extremely topical today. Lorna Simpson | December 6 - 31 First Thursday Reception: December 7, 6-8PM Blue Sky 122 NW 8th  Focusing on the way female voices and contributions are constantly mitigated Caitlyn Clester has curated works by; Eden Gately, Kailyn Hooley, Emily Schwartz, Kalaija Mallery,Caitlyn Clester, Jaleesa Johnston, Kimmy Munoz, Anita Spaeth, Helen Hunter and BloC. I like the title of the show and it is certainly a topical subject. Conceiling the Ambient Obscuring the Encompassing | December 7 - 15 First Thursday: December 7, 6:30-9:00PM PNCA (in the commons) 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 07, 2017 at 13:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 11.25.17 Thanksgiving weekend picks Ok, many have cabin fever with the family and or loved ones and have already had their fill of holiday shopping (I detest it). The clear antidotes are some art exhibitions that allow one to stroll and contemplate while getting far awy from the house or stores. Here are my picks:
Andrew Wyeth, On The Edge (2001) The Wyeths: Three Generations at the Portland Art Museum feels more like a family gathering than a museum survey of the Wyeths... because that is exactly what it is. It is a good thing. Whether you love Andrew Wyeth's bone ghostly landscapes or his masterful wisps of existential hair in hardscrabble Americana or not this exhibition extols a waspy New England generational presence, like a Thanksgiving Day rendezvous with all the familial dramas, humor and warmth simmering underneath. That said, I am an unrepentant Andrew Wyeth fan despite the work never really being couth in Greenbergian... then Artforum circles (a sign he was on to something) and I also grew up appreciating N.C Wyeth's illustrations. All of which contributed to a more fluid appreciation of visual culture that doesnt put artificial barriers up between graphic art and Art. As a family, the Wyeths cover the whole spectrum... but Andrew Wyeth is the great one and the reason there is a traveling exhibition of his family's work. There's a vitality in this filial arrangement. Patriarch N.C. Wyeth has a fantastical bent, Andrew's world is haunted and Jamie brings humor and nature's animus. True, this a lot of waspishness here in a time when all white male Newenglanders are reviled as a kind of LLBean clad Brahman class in the US socio-political landscape but I am a firm believer that no one be they Mexican, Jew, Irish, Italian, Nordic or Hmong should have to apologize for what they are and what their culture brings to the table. There are some truly marvelous works, especially the large Andrew Wyeths that are not behind glass, several N.C. Wyeth oil paintings that became book illustrations and a witty conclusion with Jamie Wyeth, whose painting of empty adirondak chairs sums it all up. The Wyeths: Three Generations | October 7 - January 28, 2018 Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Ave  Bill Will, House of Mirrors It is a great time to reflect on the state of the USA at the moment. To that end perhaps no Portland artist illustrates the risks that have always been present than Bill Will. Will is one of Portland's biggest trickster satirist installation artists and in times like these what could be more appropriate than a lil art sideeye? Funhouse at the Hoffman Gallery is just what we need, a reminder of just how wrong we have always been as a nation. The entire menagerie of installations themselves form a funhouse with a specific route of whirling twirling theatricality that the viewer completes as a participant... predictably ending in a gift shop. Funhouse | September 10 - December 10 Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road  photo: Yamazaki Kenji What could be a better antidote to holiday shopping and being cooped up with relatives for days? ... a quick trip to Japan, sure. Well, the Portland Japanese Garden is one of our premier cultural gems and the latest exhibition Mirrors of the Mind: The Noh Masks of Ohtsuki Kokun is perhaps the ultimate exploration of sophisticated mask creation. Noh masks are incredibly subtle as they are meant to be animated by the slightest turn transforming mild into sly and the demonic into loyal or honorable in the hands of a capable actor. This gives Noh masks an otherworldly aspect that draws viewers into a kind of phantasmagorical understanding/experience of why and how faces convey complex meaning through manipulation of light and posture. Master mask maker Ohtsuki Kokun elevates what in the USA has been thought of as merely an entertaining past time into something more sublime and hard to pin down. Certainly these mask reflects on a place of shadow where humanity dwells and communicates... masks can reveal the ghost in the machine. On top of that the Garden in Fall is simply outstanding. Mirrors of the Mind: The Noh Masks of Ohtsuki Kokun | October 14 - December 3rd Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 25, 2017 at 10:17 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.02.17 First Thursday Picks November 2017 
Adam Sorensen's Places at PDX Contemporary I've followed, championed and worked with Adam Sorensen .. going way back and Places is easily his strongest exhibition to date. I think it is the sublime aspect that isnt just filled with wonder but a certain terror of impossible discovery and landscape that lets us locate our own fantastical expections for nature that works here. It is also his most zen-like un-fussy but precise paint handling that works here. In these somewhat terrible times Sorensen shows us a fantasy that is at once both appealing and synthetically off. It provides a fantastical recalibration and spa-like perceptual respite at the same time. Places | November 1 - December 2 First Thursday Reception: November 2, 6-8PM PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders 
Rockstar Wayne Coyne is also a visual artist and his immersive multimedia installation King's Mouth is making a stop at PNCA's 511 Gallery. Is psychedlia enough? Probably... since the spectacular happenings at The Flaming Lips shows are in many ways their signature it would be interesting to explore the aesthetic in a gallery. King's Mouth | November 2 - January 6, 2018 First Thursday: November 2, 6:00-8:00PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 02, 2017 at 15:18 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 10.26.17 All Hallows Picks True, every day in Portland is Halloween... so I dont particularly celebrate it other than as an excuse to explore that which humanity has a tenuous understanding of. Still, artists are the masters of the kind of exploration... here are my picks of the best things to see during this holiday.
photo: Yamazaki Kenji The Portland Japanese Garden is one of our premier cultural gems and the latest exhibition Mirrors of the Mind: The Noh Masks of Ohtsuki Kokun is perhaps the ultimate exploration of sophisticated mask creation. Noh masks are incredibly subtle as they are meant to be animated by the slightest turn transforming mild into sly and the demonic into loyal or honorable in the hands of a capable actor. This gives Noh masks an otherworldly aspect that draws viewers into a kind of phantasmagorical understanding/experience of why and how faces convey complex meaning through manipulation of light and posture. Master mask maker Ohtsuki Kokun elevates what in the USA has been thought of as merely an entertaining past time into something more sublime and hard to pin down. Certainly these mask reflects on a place of shadow where humanity dwells and communicates... masks can reveal the ghost in the machine. On top of that the Garden in Fall is simply outstanding. Mirrors of the Mind: The Noh Masks of Ohtsuki Kokun | October 14 - December 3rd Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Ave Bill Will, House of Mirrors What could be more frightening than the state of the USA at the moment? (Ok there are worse moments in human history so lets hope things arent heading there). To that end perhaps no Portland artist illustrates the risks that have always been present than Bill Will. Will is one of Portland's biggest trickster satirist installation artists and in times like these what could be more appropriate than a lil art sideeye? Funhouse at the Hoffman Gallery is just what we need, a reminder of just how wrong we have always been as a nation. The entire menagerie of installations themselves form a funhouse with a specific route of whirling twirling theatricality that the viewer completes as a participant... predictably ending in a gift shop. Funhouse | September 10 - December 10 Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 26, 2017 at 18:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 10.07.17 Weekend Picks: domestic edition Andrew Wyeth, On The Edge (2001) The Wyeths: Three Generations at the Portland Art Museum feels more like a family gathering than a museum survey... because that is exactly what it is. It is a good thing. Whether you love Andrew Wyeth's bone ghostly landscapes or his masterful wisps of existential hair in hardscrabble Americana or not this exhibition extols a waspy New England generational presence, like a Thanksgiving Day rendezvous with all the familial dramas, humor and warmth simmering underneath. That said, I am an unrepentant Andrew Wyeth fan despite the work never really being couth in Greenbergian... then Artforum circles (a sign he was on to something) and I also grew up appreciating N.C Wyeth's illustrations. All of which contributed to a more fluid appreciation of visual culture that doesnt put artificial barriers up between graphic art and Art. As a family, the Wyeths cover the whole spectrum... but Andrew Wyeth is the great one and the reason there is a traveling exhibion of his family's work. There's a vitality in this filial arrangement. Patriarch N.C. Wyeth has a fantastical bent, Andrew's world is haunted and Jamie brings humor and nature's animus. True, this a lot of waspishness here in a time when all white male Newenglanders are reviled as a kind of LLBean clad Brahman class in the US socio-political landscape but I am a firm believer that no one be they Mexican, Jew, Irish, Italian, Nordic or Hmong should have to apologize for what they are and what their culture brings to the table. There are some truly marvelous works, especially the large Andrew Wyeths that are not behind glass, several N.C. Wyeth oil paintings that became book illustrations and a witty conclusion with Jamie Wyeyth, whose painting of empty adirondak chairs sums it all up. Make certain to stream Victoria Wyeth's sold out talk on Sunday on PAM's Facebook page (It wont be archived so you have to watch it real time)... Victoria is a hoot and really brings the family history into perspective. The Wyeths: Three Generations | October 7 - January 28, 2018 Granddaughter talk: October 8th 2PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Ave 
The latest show at Indivsisble, Coded Albumen, features artists Bukola Koiki and Angelica María Millan Lozano. The work explores the way immigrant women have always been crucial instigators of political action though code. Just to restate the obvious I love how Indivisble brings art into a domestic space and in many ways this is what contemporary art at the institutional level has lacked... a sense of extraordinary connection to everyday life... hopefully this latest show at Indivisble distills this important thread... Coded Albumen | October 7-28 Reception: October 7, 6-9PM October 14, 21, 28, noon to 5PM, and by appointment. Indivisible 2544 SE 26th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 07, 2017 at 9:35 | Comments (1) PermalinkThursday 10.05.17 First Thursday October 2017 Picks  Calvin Ross Carl is one of those bright spot artists in Portland who effortlessly combines design and art into the restless tensions of the age. His latest works at Russo Lee Gallery titled, "I am here till I am not," are perhaps his most realized to date, combining the exciting patter work of years ago with the hipster sloganeering of his recent series. It seems to have deepened, becoming both abstract and poetic, not just merely cool and positioned. He's maturing into something special, not just the latest pop-spoit-splainer. I am here till I am not | October 5 - 28th Russo Lee Gallery 805 NW 21st 
The final exhibition for Compliance Division is Maximiliano's drwned cities. Maximiliano is one of my favorite new Portland artists and always has an incisive take on gender, fashion and identity. Too bad it is Compliance Division's last show but it is best to go out strong and Everett Station Loft Galleries are always turning over. 2-5 years is all that can be expected of them and Compliance Division has been memorable. drwned cities | October 5th 6-9PM Compliance Division NW 6th between Everett and Flanders, #101 ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 05, 2017 at 13:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 09.30.17 Weekend Picks 
The Boathouse Microcinema is one of the brightest spots in the Portland scene and their latest, "PDX Cinematic Psychogeography," features Portland artists who use the filmmaking process to explore and better understand the world around them. "There will also be films by visiting artist Deborah Stratman, whose own experimental landscape films have screened at venues ranging from the Sundance Film Festival to the Whitney Biennial. Artists include Dustin Morrow, Jodi Darby, Eric Fox, Julie Perini,Pam Minty,Ross Reaume, and Deborah Stratman. Program curated by Matt McCormick, Adam Simmons will be on the video wall." PDX Cinematic Psychogeography September 30 | doors at 7:30 - show at 8:00 $8 - seating is limited Boathouse Microcinema 822 North River Street 
Jovencio de la Paz (detail) We all still wonder what will become of the Art Gym since newish director Blake Shell left to head Disjecta (her curating seemed hemmed in at the school) but at least her last show Breaking Symmetry shows a return to what we loved about her stint at the Archer Gallery. Breaking Symmetry focuses on contemporary fiber artists including: Emily Counts, Jovencio de la Paz, Jo Hamilton, Anya Kivarkis, Brenda Mallory, Kristen Miller, Emily Nachison and Jane Schiffhauer. It's the sort of obvious show idea nobody has had the curatorial temerity to do yet so its important and we all wonder what is to become of the Art Gym... it seems like all University Gallery programs have cone under a lot of institutional pressure and its a shame. Open-ended arts exhibition programs enrich campus life in important ways at any university campus, especially ones far removed from the city core. Marylhurst used to be an art powerhouse but even under founding director Terry Hopkins it had been waning... without a strong, fresh and adventurous eye at the helm the situation is concerning. At least we can enjoy this show. Symmetry Breaking | October 3 - December 10 Opening Reception: October 1, 4-6PM Art Gym 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy. 43) Marylhurst University Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 30, 2017 at 9:35 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 09.09.17 Bill Will at Lewis and Clark College Bill Will, House of Mirrors Bill Will is one of Portland's biggest trickster satirist installation artists and in times like these what could be more appropriate than a lil art sideeye? Funhouse at the Hoffman Gallery is just what we need, a reminder of just how wrong we have always been as a nation. The entire menagerie of installations themselves form a funhouse with a specific route of whirling twirling theatricality that the viewer completes as a participant... predictably ending in a gift shop. Leave it to Lewis and Clark College to bring another strong season opener by trusting an artist to push the envelope. Funhouse | September 10 - December 10 Opening Reception September 10, 3-5PM Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 09, 2017 at 11:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.07.17 First Thursday Picks September 2017  Installation view of Crepuscular Blue Alison Saar is considered one of the most important and sometimes controversial artists doing public art today so it is timely to have her work back in Portland. PORT interviewed her here 7 years ago in a discussion that explored race, identity and the artist's way. What her current show at PNCA's 511 gallery reveals is she is also a formidable print maker, giving us another facet to consider in addition to the sculpture, which are also on display. Upon visiting the show I was struck by just how successful her prints are, often using inventive non traditional support materials, coupled with a keen graphic sensibility. All of the works come to the 511 Gallery via the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation as part of their ongoing series at PNCA. It is one of the year's best shows and with everything else going on at PNCA the school (usually 2-4 other professional and student shows) is typically a best bet for 1st Thursday goers. CREPUSCULAR BLUE: PRINTS AND SCULPTURE BY ALISON SAAR | September 7 - October 14, 2017 First Thursday: September 7, 6:00-8:00PM Artist Talk: September 18, 6:30PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway  Marie Watt, Companion Species (Canopy), 2016
Marie Watt has been on of the Pacific Northwest's stalwart artists for decades but this new series combining the depictions of a dogs (like the Capitoline Wolf) on various fabrics as well as sculptures argues to be her strongest work to date. I like to see an artist actually hit a new stride after getting a lot of awards and museum attention... it is a mark of distinction. Companion Species | August 31 - September 30 First Thursday Reception: September 7, 6-8PM PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 07, 2017 at 13:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 08.22.17 Kate Simmons at Alexander Gallery  Kate Simmons' Slow Cooked at Alexander Gallery First off, the Alexander Gallery in Oregon City is an under appreciated and under exposed gem in the region with its high ceilings and overall nice layout. If you want to do a large scale work it is one of the best spaces in the State of Oregon. Making use of those features, Kate Simmons' exhibition Slow Cooked: An Interior Monologue, explores "the cyclical nature of domestic tasks and are infused with a healthy dose of self-talk. In this work the artist explores and juxtaposes ideas of balance inspired by being a career oriented female and homemaker. This exhibition spans a three year period of making and features works of many media including, large scale photographic installation, bronze and mixed media sculpture." My own Mother was once a Home Ec teacher so I have a personal interest in this subject. On the world stage there has been a great deal of refocusing on female artists but I've found the talking points surrounding Art are still dominated by the very 19th century male-centric value structures and axioms. I think we simply need to apply a different set of values/virtues to apply to all artwork rather than modes that have existed since before the beginning of the industrial revolution (a discussion of space alone would be refreshing rather than objects as investments). Simmons is doing her part and you can hear her KBOO interview here and she's speaking tomorrow at 1:00. Slow Cooked: An Interior Monologue | August 7 - September 1 Artist Talk: August 23rd, 1PM rm N140 (Niemeyer Center) Alexander Gallery Clackamas Community College 19600 Molalla Ave. Oregon City Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 22, 2017 at 10:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 08.19.17 Understanding the Sublime, Free day at PAM  Jennifer Steinkamp's Orbit at PAM (photo Jeff Jahn) One day before the total eclipse the Portland Art Museum is having one of their essential Miller Free Days. Since PAM is the biggest repository on the study of the sublime in Oregon and an eclipse is the epitome of the sublime by Burke's influential definition something fraught but ultimately not dangerous if viewed in a safe way) looking at art will enrich the eclipse experience and vice versa. A great deal of art works with the sublime, from Picasso's Guernica to Damien Hirst's sharks or even Anish Kapoor's bean. The sublime can be political, abstract... even photographic. To that end there are several worthy examples on display at PAM. For example, Jennifer Steinkamp's Orbit is an immersive mandelbrot net of both natural seeming imagery conveyed through patently unnatural means, making it fraught with definitions. There's also an tasty little Clifford Gleeson painting show on the 3rd floor of the Northwest wing and Several works in Sam Hamilton's Standard Candles, particularly one video installation where the artist walls upon books into the landscape. Last but not least is the Greenberg collection itself... most of which traffics in the sublime and is extremely relevant (museums often neglect their strengths, its one of their main paradoxes). Of course, it is unfortunate there isnt a major Rothko on display as his work is some of the most sublime in history... we are all hoping that PAM gets the Rothko Pavilion idea sorted out so the can connect those dots better. Great Rothkos rival solar eclipses. Miller Free Day August 20, 2017 | 10AM - 5PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 19, 2017 at 16:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.10.17 Art & Ecology at Indivisble  Detail from Buster Simpson's "Captiva Raft Revisited 2017" from Rising Water Confab, a collaborative residency at the Robert Rauschenberg studio on Captiva Island, Fl. Portland isnt that strong in its formal institutions but as was pointed out by Peter Plagens years ago its alternative space is very interesting... perhaps that is why Converge 45 feels like it doesn't quite present Portland's A game. Perhaps the most interesting alternative space in Portland is Indivisible (in a residential house deep in Portlands Southeast neighborgoods) so it is great that they are having a special open house this evening (Thursday, August 10th, 6-9 pm) for the Art & Ecology show. Curated by Linda Wysong it features works by Peg Butler, Bruce Conkle, Egg Dahl, Ardis DeFreece, Adam Kuby, Vanessa Renwick, Buster Simpson, Linda Wysong. Art and Ecology | August 6-26 Special reception: August 10, 6-9PM Additional viewing Saturdays, August 12th, 19th, and 26th noon to 5PM Indivisible 2544 SE 26th Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 10, 2017 at 12:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 06.17.17 North Coast Seed Building Open House 
The North Coast Seed Building is one of Portland's great artist work spaces (many have disappeared or have been threatened). Today it hosts its annual open house. The building is made up of three separate warehouses constructed over thirty years, beginning in 1911. Originally zoned only for industrial use, artists working in the space in the early 1990s were nearly evicted by the fire marshal. Years ago, due to the intervention of a sympathetic member of the City of Portland's Bureau of Buildings, an artist's work was reinterpreted as a manufacturing process, and the North Coast Seed Building became an officially sanctioned artist space. This is one of the best annual events in Portland and we need more of these spaces since several have been redeveloped, robbing the city of its important artist workspaces and overall ethos. Many top Portland artists have studios here. Open House | 2-10PM | June 17 North Coast Seed Building Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 17, 2017 at 12:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 06.11.17 Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education reemerges  Grisha Bruskin's Alefbet I cannot think of a better time for Oregon's Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education to reemerge on Portland's Park Blocks. Beset with hate crimes its astounding how humans seem to repeat their mistakes and the greatly expanded museum's exhibition of intolerance by all is just what we need to see right now (and always. International art star Grisha Bruskin's Alefbet (the Alphabet of Memory) comes to us from Russia and is a stunning and mysterious tapestry that everyone should see. The revamped museum is free and open to the public today. Grand Opening: June 11, 12-4PM (free) Alefbet | June 11- October 1, 2017 Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education 724 NW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 11, 2017 at 9:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 06.07.17 Women To The Front  Keep Me Safe, Tracey Emin What I like about collectors putting on their own shows is not every one of their open house efforts is worth recommending but Women to the Front at Lumber Room fits the bill. First of all as a single collector show of female artists it refreshingly isnt trying to be comprehensive history making exercise since important artists like Lee Bontecou, Agnes Martin, Anne Truitt, Eva Hesse and Helen Frankenthaler and are not present though crucial artists like Lynda Benglis, Kiki Smith and Tracey Emin (some would debate her being crucial but they forget she is the King of confessional art, male or female). Instead, knowns like Ana Sew Hoy and Eve Fowler (who is unveiling a site specific work) are rounded out with other Artists who happen to be women. This is Part II of an exhibition where some of the artists are moved or subbed in. In the past I was not impressed with the space's previous all ladies attempt Interior Margins, whose language and curatorial assumptions seemed to make a lot of younger female artists bristle (a schism that played a part in the last presidential primaries for Democrats) but I think these shows play a part of developing new language and contexts and checking out this less formal arrangement is interesting because it keeps the exhibition itself a kind of experimental gathering. Women To The Front Opening Reception: June 8 5-7PM Regular Hours: Fridays 12-5PM Lumber Room 419 NW 9th Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 07, 2017 at 12:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 06.03.17 Weekend Picks: In House Edition With Portland's intense real estate market perhaps the last refuges for Portland's vital alt-space scene are its excellent in-house galleries which turn residencies into art spaces. Does RACC support them enough? Emphatically, NO... but we should be valuing and supporting them. Here are two to check out this weekend. These are the sorts of places emerging art stars launch build national and international art careers... less so our University and commercial galleries, which often catch on to things late... way after an artist builds a career outside Portland. There is a disconnect between the dynamic experimental scene and institutions.
Indivisible continues to do interesting things with the home as gallery concept so their latest "Interchange: is of interest. Featuring Sharyll Burroughs, Jaleesa M Johnston, Mary Edwards, and Ju-Pong Lin it is a multimedia installations & performance group show. Interchange | June 4-24 Opening reception: June 3, 6-9PM Additional viewing June 10, 17, and 24th, noon to 5PM Indivisible 2544 SE 26th 
Clay Mahn Another great house gallery is Falsefront, which presents an intriguing show by Clay Mahn called Bad Habits. Though the press release gives no information except an obstruse poem (a bad habit?) I'll go by the Chicago based artist's previous work and still recommend it. Clay Mahn | June 4 - July 2 Opening Reception: June 4 12-5PM Falsefront 4518 NE 32nd Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 03, 2017 at 12:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.31.17 Mikalene tells it like it is 
Mickalene Thomas I've known Mickalene Thomas for a long time and interviewed the one-time Portlander years ago just as she was conquering New York. With all that has happened in Portland recently I think her free talk at the Portland art Museum Tomorrow will be a breath of fresh air. Mickalene Thomas June 1, 6-7PM (free) 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 31, 2017 at 12:50 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.26.17 Weekend Picks Suddenly the never ending soggy February has ended and Portland is awash in summer-like sunshine. Time to emerge from the caves to feel the heat at these cool shows:
 P.I.M.G.'s Liminal Passage, this weekend at Pioneer Square One of the best things to happen to the "under rent pressure" Portland art scene is the Housguest series of well-funded exhibitions in Pioneer Square. The latest comes from the Portland Immersive Media Group who specialize in Virtual Reality and otherwise altered reality situations. Titled You Are Here there is a full weekend long program starting this afternoon. It is all free and open to the public, with viewing accessibility Friday 6-10PM, Saturday 11AM-10PM, and Sunday 11AM-6PM at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Full details of program can be found here. "During the weekend, visitors to Pioneer Courthouse Square will be able to interact with Virtual Reality (VR) through multiple experiences. Audiences will be able to traverse the physical and digital world through "Liminal Passage," experience an idealized digital version of Pioneer Courthouse Square in VR, escape to anywhere in the world through Google Earth VR, and be transported by several experimental performances throughout the weekend. Join in throughout the weekend to hear from VR experts Kent Bye and Amber Case, and attend performances by Golden Retriever." You Are Here | May 26 - 28 Houseguest @ Pioneer Courthouse Square 701 SW 6th  Rainen Knecht at Never Not Here | PPROT-SE With new spaces like Grapefruit Juice and already established house spaces like Indivisble, Portland's alt-space scene is really the crown jewel of of an active art ecosystem. Time to check out OV Project space this weekend for Never Not Here | PPROT-SE Curated by Midori Hirose, Never Not Here | PPROT-SE looks like another anthroplogical art encampment within a house. There will be new works by Natalie Anne Howard, Shawn Creeden, Rainen Knecht and Dino Matt. There will also be performance with Mia Ferm and visiting artist Michael Reinsch as well as The Tenses. The statement is proustian, "Some of us live within the daily rituals of waking to an alarm, walking the dog, running late in traffic to the office, catching glimpses of celebrity gossip and cooking magazines at the grocery checkout counter or sitting on a park bench reading political twitter feeds on the phone. Switch off this light. What if these daily happenings were swept away? Stripping away day to day enjoyment or woes, Never Not Here | PPROT-SE are collected expressions of what could resonate. An analysis of the parameters we set for ourselves from a cataclysmic perspective." Never Not Here | PPROT-SE When: Saturday, May 27, 6-9PM OV Project Space 7604 SE Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 26, 2017 at 12:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 05.20.17 Weekend Picks 
Clifford Still, PH-405 (1967), private collection @ Portland Art Museum My first pick is easy, the Portland Art Museum is participating in the National Museum Day today so it is free. There's lots of good stuff like the John Yeon show and Sam Hamilton in the Apex Series but its some of the special guests that are soo absolutely worth a visit. In particular this absolutely fantastic Clifford Still PH-405 from 1967 is an absolute stunner. The painting envelops the viewer like walking into a furnace and the heartwood of a tree at the same time. The surface also has the delicacy of scales on a butterfly's wings. It is sublime and since you have to go through that much dreaded tunnel to get to it the crowds likely wont follow you... The museum really does need to fix that floorplan problem with the Rothko pavilion (City Council members get it together, the Rothkos alone will be the crown jewel of Portland's cultural offerings so it needs to happen somehow). Portland Art Museum Museum Day (free): May 20 1219 SW Park  Another easy pair of picks are the annual PNCA MFA and BFA shows. It has been a crazy year and its always interesting to see how graduates contend. TBH, last year there was a lot of hyper-attenuated neoliberal drivel (some good stuff too)... but I bet this year's graduates will have more of an edge. At least I hope so because we need more radical thinking in this world. Frankly, the status quo for perhaps the last 17+ years has not been working and art should challenge the status quo, especially the art world's status quo (please no more grotty pottery on raw plywood plinths and emptied trashcan contents in piles that are glued together, it is done). PNCA MFA & BFA thesis shows | May 21 - June 16 Opening receptions: May 21, 6-9PM MFA @ Falcon Building 321 NW Glisan St, 6th floor BFA @ PNCA 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 20, 2017 at 10:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.12.17 May Thesis Show Picks  OCAC's 2017 BFA show It is that time again, new graduates have their thesis shows and there are often group show aggregations of various school's programs. My consistent favorite of these always seems to be OCAC's BFA graduating class show. I am not sure why this is but every year the BFA grads from Oregon College of Art and Craft just seem to be consistently both more probingly self-aware and actualized than other schools. That said you never want to peak at your thesis show. Perhaps it is because OCAC BFA students are not afraid to show their best (because there is always more when you have technique) or they simply have great teachers. Either way it shows, check it out. I certainly will. *Update: Highlights include Emile Kelly, Paul Cooley, Katrina Kauffman and Williejane Dent. Fulcrum | May 12-21 Opening Reception: May 12 5-9PM 321 NE Davis 
My other pick is another consistent performer, the joint PNCA+OCAC Applied Craft and Design MFA program. This year, brilliantly titled, "Otherwise Chaos," it seems apt. *Update, there were standouts from: Marisa Garcia, Aaron De Lanty and Diane de Ribaupierre. Otherwise Chaos | May 12-26 Opening Reception: May 12, 6-9PM 421 NE 10th Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 12, 2017 at 12:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 04.12.17 Paul Clay at Archer  Paul Clay's Push/Pull at the Archer Gallery Archer curator Senseney Stokes is doing great things up in Vancouver Washington. Her Mary Henry micro-spective was perhaps the best solo exhibition of 2016 and now she's tapped Paul Clay for Push/Pull. He is one of the most interesting new media artists in Portland. PORT reviewed Clay's daring Portland Building show in 2014 and I've been waiting for Portland's institutions (frankly slow to support local new media despite being awash in riches) to feature him and others. Interested in the evolution of humanity and technology as well as conscience transference (more common than you'd think), Clay's Push Pull at the Archer has my full attention. He's been one to watch for years. Here's your chance. For the performance April 13 at 7:00 remember to bring a wifi-enabled smart device + earbuds or headphones. Push/Pull | April 11- May 6 Opening Reception and Performance: 6-8PM, April 13 (7:00 performance) Artist Talk: April 19 Archer Gallery Clark College 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 12, 2017 at 12:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.06.17 First Thursday Picks April 2017  Tabitha Nickolai, Vorpal Cuck-Knives (2017) Costumes, Reverence and Forms features eight artists from two river cities (Portland and Philadelphia) together in both cities. There has been a year's worth of curatorial exchanges involving two institutions and six curators fostering new connections. The exhibition itself is more of a sampler than a survey. Costumes, Reverence, and Forms features artists; Avantika Bawa, Tabitha Nikolai, Jess Perlitz, and Ralph Pugay (all from Portland) as well as Marianne Dages, Beth Heinly, Anna Neighbor and Kristen Neville Taylor (from Philadelphia). For quite some time costume and guise have been an important way to subvert cultural norms and to impose new ones so this exhibition should be of great interest to anyone who has been paying attention Costumes, Reverence and Forms | April 6 - June 3, 2017 First Thursday: April 6, 6:00-8:00PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway 
Brother sister team Merridawn and Georgie Duckler present Roboyat: Omar Khayyam's "Rubaiyat" Reimagined. Promising cacophony and the "anti-topical" this looks like a must. The artists state, "We are interested in ideas of translation, the ephemeral and daily image, what lasts and doesn't, the lineages that keep poetry and visual art alive, in science and in language as a visual medium." Roboyat: Omar Khayyam's "Rubaiyat" Reimagined | April 4- 29 Opening reception: April 6, 6-9PM Lecture: April 9, 7PM Blackfish Gallery 420 NW 9th ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 06, 2017 at 9:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.24.17 Not NCECA picks Nothing against the NCECA conference (I've collected ceramics myself since college) but like many arts people I crave variety. That said I am looking for a new coffee mug, which shouldn't be impossible in Mudtopia Portland. Take all that into account and here are my weekend picks:
 Sam Hamilton, Apple Pie (Still) For her inaugural exhibition at PAM as its newest curator of Northwest Art Grace Kook-Anderson has chosen Sam Hamilton, an artist who has recently made his home in Portland, originally hailing from New Zealand. Titled Standard Candles... the films mark the artists first show in Portland. It is also incredibly significant as Portland really has done a poor job institutionally of paying attention to newcomers... the very people who have redefined this now extremely vibrant and internationally active art city. What's more you will see there is a long run for the exhibition. I think this is a good thing as the APEX series and CNAA's have languished somewhat by not having very clear differentiation programmatically. Hamilton, refreshingly considers himself non disciplinary and shows internationally... another problem the museum has had is with being far too traditional in terms of disciplines and regional identification as belonging to certain institutions or cliques when the vibrancy comes from excellent artsist who just came here to work and show abroad. Basically, artists just dont work/think in proscribed ways (institutions do, often for for grant writing/funding purposes... understandable but it is 2017). Standard Candles | March 25 -August 12, 2017 Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park  Taj Bourgeois In true Portland fashion this is a closing party For Taj Bourgeois' hardflip on a sad dog exhibition and a community meetup. It features short films by Bourgeois as well as a community canvas (bring your art supplies or just yourself). The artist also wants you to, "feel free to bring your zines, patches, prints, whatever to share with others and for trades." Taj is one of the most interesting short form video artists in Portland and the Everett Station Lofts has long been a den for interesting developing artists so check it out. Closing Party: hardflip on a sad dog | Taj Bourgeois March 24, 6-10PM Funeral Diner 625 NW Everett #103 Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 24, 2017 at 13:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.17.17 Art & Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon 
It is a strange fact but Wikipedia editors tend to be men and the site tends to under represent women. For example, it is very true of this wiki on Portland art ecology, despite the fact that a majority of curators, gallerists and critics in Portland are women. To combat this PICA is hosting another of these edit-a-thons and they ask that you RSVP. Also, considering that a majority of the artists, curators, gallerists and critics in Portland are women I also find it odd that men tend to get gallery representation and awards more than the lades do. BTW Last year, every review PORT published was of a female artist and if you ask me who the 10 strongest artists in Portland are 7 of them will be ladies. Art & Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon | March 18, 10AM RSVP PICA (west side) 415 SW 10th Ave, Suite 300 Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 17, 2017 at 13:54 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.24.17 Weekend Picks 
2016 was a difficult year institutionally for the Portland art scene but it seems like a new guard is rising... one which acknowledges the importance of new media as craft oriented and worthy of resources, awards etc. To that end perhaps no development is as noteworthy as the restructuring of Portland Community Media into Open Signal as a resource for artists, filmmakers and other new media developers. With equipment, fully stocked studios and a simple process for being able to use that gear Open Signal is just what the rapidly less affordable Portland needs to keep its creative edge. They've partially renovated the building (its a multi-staged process) to better serve this more open mission so come to their first Open House this weekend. Whats more they join PICA in an area on the East Side as part of a growing new arts district in close-in Northern East-side Portland between MLK and Williams Ave. Come tour the facility and meet the excellent staff. There will be free food and drink, courtesy of Sizzle Pie, Lagunitas, Ninkasi Brewing Company and Two Towns Ciderhouse. Open House | February 25 4-10PM Open Signal 2766 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd  Tad Savinar , Survival (2006) *note that's a pre-Portlandia bird on it There have been numerous talks on the subject but the latest, Responsibility and Relevance: The Role of the Artist in an Ever-Changing Contemporary World should be worth a trip up into the West Hills (and you can catch Tad Savinar's exhibition at the Hoffman too). Somewhat more academic and multi- disciplinary than some of the panels on the subject "Responsibility and Relevance" features panelists; Samiya Bashir (poet and assistant professor of creative writing, Reed College), Eleonora Beck, James W. Rogers (Professor of Music and director of musicology, Lewis & Clark College), Jon Raymond (novelist and screenwriter), Tad Savinar (visual artist, urban planner, playwright, and director), Luan Schooler (director of new play development and dramaturgy, Artists Repertory Theatre)and the Moderator is Randy Gragg. True it would have been interesting to add in a younger rabble rousing artist like Tabitha Nikolai, Victor Maldonado or Ryan Pierce into this mix but I am all for exploring this subject as many times and ways as possible. It isn't a one and done situation. Responsibility and Relevance: The Role of the Artist in an Ever-Changing Contemporary World | February 26, 3PM, Miller 105 Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 24, 2017 at 14:39 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.15.17 Alt-Perfect? 
ALTcade is doing great things and tonight you can play more than 20 unconventional video games created by artists and game designers at Open Signal (formerly Portland Community Media... they will have their reopening on the 25th). Portland has move past the idea that craft is just handmade work and there is craft in coding and game design as well. It is a legitimate aspect of contemporary art and our regressive art awards which dont take new media forms seriously must change their ways (looking at you Ford Family Foundation Fellowships, Contemporary Northwest Art Awards etc.). The Andy Warhol Foundation funds the small, experimental Precipice fund awards and they do support these things (I sat on the panel this last round) but we need to bring Portland's art institutions up to speed with the scene itself. To that end Open Signal is focusing on these needs as center for new media tools and production. ALTcade's lineup: d i v i n e r by Dante Douglas & The Eldritch Teller by Arielle Grimes, Ghost by Daniel Glendening & offline by Pol Clarissou, Cute Crate by Paige Ashlynn and Caidence Stone & VANITAS by Tale of Tales, Program for Self Anamorphosis by Tabitha Nikolai & Tonight You Die by Duende Games, NEST by Cullen Dwyer & meow by sentvyr and takorii, Super Hyper Ultra Starlight Warriors Advance by Vile and Angel Sera & 2sWitches by Arielle Grimes, Interior Stroll by Hannah Piper Burns & VIRTUA BLINDS by Daffodil, Birthday Idea Generator by Tegan Valo & Frog Pets by Nathalie Lawhead, Soundscapes by Lexis Mason-Davis & A Cosmic Forest by Titouan Millet Altcade | February 15 6-10PM Open Signal 2766 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd  Laura Hughes latest show at Linfield Gallery titled "Almost Perfect" explores with her obsession with interesting experiential effects caused by interesting materials that often have specific light oriented properties. One bummer is the choice og when to do the opening and talk from 5-7PM today. In the glory days of Cris Moss as director the gallery found ways to do openings that both McMinville residents and Portland residents could attend. Sometimes they would do the talks on Saturdays so people would not have to fight the extensive rush hour traffic and make it a destination on weekends. Almost Perfect | February 15 - March 11 Opening & Talk: February 15 5-7PM Linfield Gallery Linfield College Miller Fine Arts Center 900 SE Baker St., McMinnville Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 15, 2017 at 10:03 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.02.17 First Thursday Picks February 2017 Apologies for being quiet, it is because I've been traveling and preparing a major piece, which should be out shortly. That said February is typically a good month for art shows and this one keeps up the tradition so brave the cold.
Maximiliano, Una Gallery Una Gallery has only had a few shows but is already a bright spot in the cultural scene, focusing on POC and queer identity work. Last December they were awarded a Warhol funded Precipice Grant (as a panelist I was thrilled how it all turned out). Una's latest titled, "Resist," should be even more fiery and required in these far too interesting of times. Resist features work from Maya Vivas, Dan Pillers, Andrea Beck, Carlos Gonzalez Acosta and Maximiliano. Art as Resistance celebrates local POC, Femme, and Queer artists employing personal identity as a means of opposition. In addition, Stacey Tran and Sara Sutter will perform from their project: Resistance Somatics. This is the place to be this chilly First Thursday in Portland. Resist | February 2 - 26 Opening: February 2nd 6-10PM Una Gallery 328 NW Broadway #117  Resonance at PDX I love it when PDX Contemporary teps outside the box and their latest show Resonance by James Girardoni makes use of an interesting cellphone app interface that creates sound and visual resonances. Resonance | February 2-25 Reception: February 2, 6-8PM PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 02, 2017 at 14:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 01.21.17 Post Snowpocalypse Weekend Picks  Mother with Julia Oldham and Roxanne Jackson What could be better the day after the Women's March on Washington DC (and round the country) than a show titled, Mother at the Art Gym? Hopefully nothing. Since Blake Shell has taken over the Art Gym its shows really havn't had the same frission and edge that she previously brought to the Archer Gallery but this show's inspired pairing of Julia Oldham and Roxanne Jackson... two artists who always bring the macabre/mythical phantasmagoria and physical encounters with their work threaten to bring things back into form. Besides you can also catch the Tad Savinar exhibition a few miles away (you know you want a little roadtrip out of Portland after these storms). Mother | January 17 -March 18 Reception: January 22 4-6PM Art Gym (Marylhurst University) 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy. 43) 
Tad Savinar, 2064: England's Master Architect Presents, to the House of Commons, the Plan to Add Minarets to Buckingham Palace (2014) Tad Savinar is a Portland fixture as an author, conceptual artist and intellectual so this overview collection of work youniverse-past, present, future might be just what the doctor ordered after a brutal election season and winter storms. What Ive always appreciated in Savinar's work is the way they work as set pieces for the sort of ridiculous human dramas that always seem to occupy civics. Perhaps he is Portland's Aristophanes? youniverse—past, present, future | January 17 - March 5 Reception: January 22, 3-5PM Lecture: February 26, 3PM, Miller 105 Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road ...(more Rodin at PAM) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 21, 2017 at 9:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.05.17 First Thursday Picks January 2017 January is always an odd month in the Portland art scene, usually a lot of group shows and holdovers with one or two big shows by top shelf artists that everyone follows. Well we have the group shows and holdovers. Here are my picks:
Christine Nguyen Here is an interesting first, I have never seen a curator from the Portland Art Museum at the Everett Station Lofts... and I actually brought the museum's Contemporary Art Council down there when I was VP. Hopefully today that ends because Grace Kook-Anderson, the new Curator of Northwest Art is the guest curator for the Portland Pataphiysical Society's Christine Nguyen exhibition titled Constellations. A LA based artist it should be interesting though the lofts have showcased an enormous # of significant artists over the years. True the lofts ebb and flow but seem to be on an upswing with Una and Pataphyscal Society as rents rise out of control in the city.... the lofts can hopefully remain an essential incubator? Will the new curator finally break PAM's earned reputation of being nearly completely isolated from what is really going on in the Portland art scene? (a scene that is very active nationally and internationally) Christine Nguyen | January 5 - February 18 2017 Opening Reception: January 5, 6-8PM Portland Pataphysical Society 625 NW Everett St, # 104 
More sad news Duplex gallery will be closing after a good run, but at least it is concluding with Emily Wobb. Her exhibition, titled Bad Dreams... seems appropriate and her work has always had an unsettled quality. Emily Wobb | January 5 - 31, 2017 Opening Reception: January 5, 6-9PM Duplex 219 NW Couch St ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 05, 2017 at 13:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.04.17 Jason Berlin + Alanna Risse at Rainmaker 
Alanna Risse Overall, Portland's best cultural cards are generally not its major institutions but rather its alternative spaces and artist enclaves... the very things that are threatened by rapid real estate development. One of the brightest lights is the Rainmaker Artist Residency program, which gives recent art school graduates a stepping stone once out in the real world. I liken it to an estuary for young fish. Therefore tonight's opening is the first "truly Portland" opening of 2017. Featuring current resident artist Jason Berlin's solo exhibition upstairs in the gallery and Alanna Risse's by invite installation, "A Bigger Boat," it should be a proper start to things in Portland's NW Industrial District. Jason Berlin and Alanna Risse | January 4 - 27, 2017 Opening Reception: January 4, 6-9PM Rainmaker Artist Residency 2337 NW York St Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 04, 2017 at 12:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 12.01.16 First Thursday Picks December 2016  Cauleen Smith at PNCA's 511 gallery Recently the list of Whitney Biennial artists came out and Cauleen Smith, whose show Asterisms... currently on display at PNCA is one of them. Now, Im not exactly wild about the WB list and have my misgivings about this show which according to the artist, "collects, arranges, projects, and draws connections between bodies unrelated, which together, create space and place. Objects from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Craft intermingle with objects from the artist’s own personal collection to create the mise-en-scene for cinemascapes that require an a curious and slow-looking eye." (seems strained and MoCC collection feels strained. Still, I like the fact this is a new media show. Besides, it is a sneak peek at everyone's favorite group show train wreck in the Spring and frankly I like going to shows that I am deeply skeptical of. Art simply isn't about seeing your ideas and values reflected back upon you, though that's part of my criticism of this work so have a look and see what you think? Asterisms | November 3 - January 6, 2017 First Thursday: December 1, 6:00-8:00PM PNCA (511 Gallery) 511 NW Broadway ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 01, 2016 at 15:10 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.25.16 Mary Henry and Erik Geschke in the Couv It is time for Portlander's to envy The Couv as the Archer gallery kills it with two great programmatic choices.
A mini survey of Mary Henry's abstract greatness at the Archer Gallery Mary Henry is one of the greatest under recognized female modernists of the 20th century and the Portland area is being treated to a micro-survey of her work at the Archer Gallery called Practiced Exuberance. Last Spring, PORT reviewed another micro-survey of just her drawings to give you a taste. As part of the American Phase of hard-edged Bauhaus work under Maholy-Nagy she occupies an important place in art history and is a favorite among those with good eyes and taste in the Pacific Northwest. Mary Henry | Practiced Exuberance | November 22 - February 11 Reception: November 29, 4-6PM (The gallery will also be open for Erik Geschke's talk Nov 30th, see below) Clark College | Archer Gallery 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington  Detail of Erik Geschke's Arena (2015), photo Jeff Jahn Erik Geschke is one of Portland's most meticulous and slightly unnerving artists. Through a variety of materials (often with a twisted pop art sense of humor) he upends expectations, often with a sense of uncanny disasters, which have already occurred. Frankly, I loved his last major Portland solo show and reviewed it here. Erik received his M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art's Rinehart School of Sculpture in 2001, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture with a full fellowship in 1996, and received a B.F.A. from Cornish College of the Arts in 1993. Erik Geschke | Clark Art Talk November 30th, 7PM (Archer Gallery will be open before and after talk) Clark College | PUB 161 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 25, 2016 at 18:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.11.16 Weekend Picks Portlanders, the election is over and we need some new information to fill our head. I suggest these experiences:
 Needless to say immigration is going to be veritable forest fire of disputes in the next 4 years, so check out Jose Carlos Tassara's Amigos Imaginarios at Worksound. Curated by Jesse Siegel, "Amigos Imaginarios explores the relationship of facial features and the socio-economic disparities in Latin American culture. The public perception of predominantly caucasian features as more commercially viable, a reality which is broadcasted via social media, billboards and television featuring mainly white men and women to a largely non-white population. Tassara subverts this ideology by creating concrete representations inspired by his own native features and repeating them to create patterns reminiscent of ruins, mutation and mixing." Perhaps Tassara's show is what I'm talking about when I recently called for contemporary art needs to stop treating groups as monogenic with the kind of very surface deep moderate liberal way of looking at things. Edgier and more rigorously detailed art is needed because there has been a wake up call. Amigos Imginarios | November 11 - 18 Opening reception: November 11 6 - 9PM Worksound International 820 SE Alder St. ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 11, 2016 at 17:36 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.03.16 First Thursday Picks November 2016 November is traditionally an odd but good month for art viewing in Portland. The month is short but prime for those who collect so the galleries usually roll out a heavy hitter or do something very experimental.
 Anne Appleby, Gentian June 18, 2016 For my money Anne Appleby is the best abstract painter in the Northwest and one of the top tier artists on this side of the continental divide. Drawing from color in nature her luminescent works show how deft her surfaces are with pulsing energy and life. She is our Matisse and so poetic. Mind you, I've split a desert with her but looking at her work is exactly the same... tough, life affirming and intelligent all at the same time. But That Was Then | November 1-26 Reception: November 3rd 6-8PM PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 03, 2016 at 15:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 11.01.16 Lauren Stumpf at Rainmaker 
Portland's available artist studio space has been under increasing pressure from real estate development. That's why I am impressed with the Rainmaker Artist Residency program, which gives recently graduated artists a bit of a leg up so they can get their footing. November kicks off in an interesting way with Lauren Stumpf's debut solo show titled ConTact as part of her residency. She's shown some promise with her deft use of skins of contact paper. Besides it is always interesting to catch a debut if you truly enjoy art. Lauren Stumpf: ConTact| November 2 - 30 Opening Reception November 2, 2016 | 6 - 9PM Rainmaker Artist Residency 2337 NW York St, # 201 Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 01, 2016 at 16:55 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 10.25.16 Art talks to talk about 
Paul McCarthy and Ed Ruscha in Open This End Open This End at the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark College is the best group show Portland has seen in 6 months and should not be missed. We also have an opportunity to hear from its curator Joseph Wolin on October 25th. Open This End is traveling selection from Blake Byrne's excellent collection, the exhibition isn't just a scattered trophy room of; Warhol, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, Gerhard Richter and Bruce Nauman. It follows several threads of intertwined societal and personal narratives. I think the installation of Jimmy Carter by Jennifer Steinkamp alone should be compelling because it isn't just the same old political art, it is subtle in a way politics usually are not. What's more, Steve McQueen's groundbreaking multi-channel Drumroll video is on display at PAM as part of Open This End as well. Open This End| September 8 - December 11 Curator's talk: October 25, 7PM, Miller 105 Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road 
Ralph Pugay is one of Portland's favorite artists and will be the featured speaker at the next Clark Art Talks. As always there is humor but there is something about our awkward times... the way our customs and institutions seem like ill fitting suits these days that makes his work ring so true. The Archer Gallery also has an interesting poster show called HASTA SIEMPRE. Clark Art Talk: Ralph Pugay Wednesday, October 26th, 7PM Clark College: PUB 161 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way, Vancouver Wa. Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 25, 2016 at 16:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.07.16 Weekend Picks It's been a crazy art week filled with press conferences and constant questions about PAM's new Rothko Pavilion expansion but frankly I'm more interested in looking art. I might even do a few studio visits to get back to the source next week. This weekend has some great opportunities to step out though.
 Flash-November 22, 1963 with soup cans and flowers reflected The big event this weekend is Andy Warhol: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation at the Portland Art Museum. First, this is a full retrospective and I think the breadth of early work like the blotted ink technique shoes to a pop up book and album covers will give a more intimate personal view of an artist that most immediately associate with Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. Those are present too but the exhibition does a good job of filtering in social concerns, politics and erotica in a way that goes beyond the celebrity obsessions that defined Pop Culture. In particular an entire gallery space devoted to the entire folio called Flash-November 22, 1963 is eye opening. It throws the entire show into a different relief. The folio has rarely been shown and it is a crucial piece of Americana that combines concrete poetry, political idealism and tragedy. I'll have an interview with scholar Richard Axsom published here this weekend where we discuss it and other works in depth. Warhol is a crucial artist and in Portland we so seldom experience well executed retrospectives that seeing this show is mandatory. What is great about Warhol is his art was all about "accessibility" a trend which has come to even further define the 21st century, yet somehow Warhol's work isn't the spent force of yet another meme, they age well. Overall, with Warhol's close knit cadres of filmmakers, fashion designers, actors and musicians Warhol predates many of the concerns of Millennials, long before they came of voting age. I'll be curious to hear how they and those even younger respond? Warhol came from a living practice of an extended artistic family so the way the work lives today essentially creates an indexed benchmark of the American identity... similar to the way the Greek Pantheon galvanized that culture. There will be a variety of events and films as well. Andy Warhol: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer | October 8, 2016 - January 1, 2017 1st lecture: Collecting Warhol with Richard Axsom and Jordan Schnitzer | October 9, 2-3PM Film schedule here Beginning October 8th Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Avenue ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 07, 2016 at 15:10 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.29.16 Organic Encounters 
Artists who deal with organic or biological forms and concerns are a major theme in Portland's art scene as it acts as an interlocuter between humanity and everything else... a kind of macrocosm in miniature. Thus, the Organic Encounters residencies at C3:Initiative from 2015–2016 are exciting and will culminate in an eponymous exhibition. A collaboration between c3:initiative and Pulp & Deckle Papermaking the residency artists Ellen George, Laura Foster, Tyler Peterson, and Ryan Woodring utilized handmade paper as a medium to create new works that will be on display. Organic Encounters | September 30 - November 13 Opening Reception: September 30 6-9PM C3:initiative 7326 N. Chicago Ave (St. Johns) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 29, 2016 at 12:18 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 09.24.16 Open This End Panel Discussion and Reception
Paul McCarthy and Ed Ruscha in Open This End A few weeks ago Open This End became one of the most exciting group shows we have had in Portland in months. Partly, this is because it comes from one excellent collector, Blake Byrne, and the work maintains a sharp edge about it. Lately, most group shows of multiple artists in Portland have been pretty bland so everyone should take note. What's more, we can see how collecting art that takes risks rather than fill out some comfortable/worn idea (ex. craft = handmade is an intellectual bunt)serves humanity better. Instead, by collecting something that carries an implicit challenge takes on the responsibilities of what Art with an "edge" demands and therefore occupies a special place between civics and taste. Not all patrons fully participate beyond writing checks... but what a serious and very curious collector like Blake Byrne presents here is something more Portlander's should consider. Yes PADA has been doing collector events for the past year but this one outclasses them all with a panel discussion and reception for an exemplary exhibition with a broad based panel with some serious and very articulate collectors providing additional context. The panel topic will be: Art Collecting, Philanthrophy, and Ethics with Bob Rennie (principal of the Vancouver BC based Rennie Collection), Jordan Schnitzer (founder, Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation), Barbara Schwan (executive director, The Skylark Foundation), Jane Beebe (PDX Contemporary) Panel Discussion: "Art Collecting, Philanthrophy, and Ethics" | September 25 4:00PM (reception following panel in Alumni Circle) Location: Miller Hall 105 Open This End | September 8 - December 11 Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 24, 2016 at 10:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.08.16 September Swing Picks Lately, Portland's art world has been suffering most of the same "look at this estate sale" art the rest of the world has been subjected to but no more... September gets exciting this week:
 Jennifer Steinkamp's Jimmy Carter There hasn't been much talk about it since somewhat underwhelming festival style glut-art seems to saturate the generalist press... but Open This End is a heavyweight at the Hoffman Galler at Lewis & Clark College and should not be missed. A traveling selection from Blake Byrne's excellent collection, the exhibition isn't just a scattered trophy room of; Warhol, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, Gerhard Richter and Bruce Nauman. It follows several threads of intertwined societal and personal narratives. I think the installation of Jimmy Carter by Jennifer Steinkamp alone should be compelling because it isn't just the same old political art, it is subtle in a way politics usually are not. What's more, Steve McQueen's groundbreaking multi-channel Drumroll video is on display at PAM as part of Open This End as well. There isn't an opening but on September 25th there will be a panel about serious collecting (with serious collectors like Byrne), a practice Portland could have more of. Open This End| September 8 - December 11 Collector's Panel with Blake Byrne: September 25, 4PM Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road ... (more including TBA) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 08, 2016 at 8:36 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.01.16 First Thursday Picks September 2016 Though Portland's art scene is one of the few that remains active during the Summer, this year it was mostly a cascade of group shows and frankly almost all of those group shows have been weak on execution for the past 12 months (it takes a lot of care to pull them off and most Portland institutions think more is more and spread themselves amateurishly too thin). So it is exciting that the rains have returned as have the serious solo and duo efforts have as well in September. Here are my picks:
 Carol Benson's Regalia at Blackfish There is an intriguing duo show at Blackfish with Carol Benson's Sewn Constructions and Michael Knutson's Recent Paintings and Monotypes. Both explore some timeworn aspects of abstract wall based work but both seem like they are at the top of their game for more than just one or two works each. The energy these two bring to bear reminds us that Clement Greenberg's personal collection lives at the Portland Art Museum (I think institutionally they may have forgotten... a pity because the local + international scene shows how he does still have legs). In particular, Benson's "physical" recycling of other painters work is intriguing, while Knutson has consistently been one of the West Coast's best abstract painters for decades now. Carol Benson & Michael Knutson | August 30 - October 1 Opening Reception: September 1 | 6 - 9PM Gallery Talk: September 10, 1PM Blackfish Gallery 420 NW 9th ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 01, 2016 at 16:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 08.19.16 Bending Nature, Bamboo at the Portland Japanese Garden 
Portland is in the middle of a heatwave and though its hardly anything that would phase Midwesterners or those from Houston (we don't have much humidity) it is still hard for many as air conditioning can be rare. Thus, it is a great time to climb up the West Hills, where it is cooler and check out the latest at the Portland Japanese Garden for Bending Nature. It features, "traditionally trained bamboo artist and craftsman Jiro Yonezawa and Shigeo Kawashima, well known for his community engagement-based art-making" who "will team with Portland artists Charissa Brock and Anne Crumpacker to create work on site. The exhibition is a rare opportunity for visitors to see art situated in three outdoor locations within the iconic Japanese garden. Each of these artists attempts to 'bend nature' in new directions, challenging conventional bamboo craft techniques and forms to reflect the close relationship between nature and ourselves." Bending Nature | August 20 - October 16 Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 19, 2016 at 14:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.04.16 First Thursday August 2016 Picks 
Wendy Red Star Wendy Red Star's Tokens, Gold, & Glory is one of those very rare installation are exhibitions that HAP gallery seems to be doing quite often, this gets my attention. Red Star draws on; "ephemera, real or imagined narratives, and her traditional Crow background. Her multifaceted Deer Decoys entice the viewer with shiny, golden surfaces, not unlike the natural-looking decoys used to lure other deer." Tokens, Gold, & Glory | July 19 - August 6 2016 First Thursday Opening: August 4 6-8PM Hap Gallery 916 NE Flanders ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 04, 2016 at 13:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.29.16 Weekend Picks  Ralph Pugay's Chicken Pox Orgy Ralph Pugay's work is a bit too edgy for some of Portland's more conservative establishments (Seattle gave him a Betty Bowen Award though) but this hilarious artist is probably the most Portland of painters and he's developing a national reputation. His latest will be on display for only 2 days at Worksound International who is kicking of their new partnership with Upswell (Portland's artists find a way to make this exciting scene happen)... be there. Ralph Pugay | July 29 - 30th Opening Reception: Friday, July 29 from 6-8PM 107 SE Washington Street, Suite 238 
As part of the Converge 45 series of events (a kind of guided tour for visitors to the somewhat difficult to access but super vibrant Portland art scene three curators will discuss the topic of creative Migrations at the Portland Art Museum. This is interesting because PAM hasn't done a particularly good job of tapping one of the most active art scene's in the country. The panelists; "Kristan Kennedy (Visual Art Program Director/ Chief Curator at PICA) in conversation with Converge 45 Artistic Director Kristy Edmunds, Irene Hoffman (Phillips Director and Chief Curator, SITE Santa Fe), and Wallace Whitney (artist, curator, and co-founder, CANADA, New York) to consider creative migration within the United States, and the impacts and potentials presented to the Pacific Northwest." Converge45 seems to be a branding of what regularly happens in Portland every month but this is a discussion that should occur more often. The subject of artist enclaves is near and dear to my heart and have written/tracked the phenomenon of Portland as an enclave more than anyone... I'll be there. Discussion: July 30th 10:30AM - Noon Portland Art Museum (Whitsell Auditorium) 1219 Southwest Park Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 29, 2016 at 17:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.15.16 Weekend Art Occupation Picks  Karl Burkheimer at North View Gallery, PCC Sylvania As an educator Karl Burkheimer is a Portland fixture but he has chops an artist and since I was one of the first to curate him into higher profile shows (VoLume back in 2008 at Worksound) I track his work closely. Myself and many others felt his work in the 2013 CNAA's was an 1980's throwback but lately he's been transitioning to more current work with a stronger built environment edge... one which channels the angst that rapid development is foisting upon Portland Neighborhoods. It is an important theme that isn't being explored curatorially in group shows in any sufficient way. Thus, it is great that North View's director Mark Smith has turned over this exemplary brutalist space to Burkheimer for such an extended time (His Erik Geschke exhibition last year also explored the theme). Stop in multiple times this summer to see how Burkheimer puts his skills to use in this evolving occupation. Simulated Archetypes | July 16 - September 16 Opening Reception: July 16, 5 - 7PM PCC Sylvania (North View Gallery) 12000 SW 49th ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 15, 2016 at 12:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.07.16 First Thursday Picks July 2016 
Summertime often signals a glut of group shows in Portland, but one of the best traditions is Blackfish Gallery's 21st annual Recent Graduates exhibition. The artists are selected by the faculty from their respective programs and the result is always worth a tour. Recent Graduates | July 5 - 30 First Thursday: July 7, 6 - 9PM Blackfish Gallery 420 NE 9th. 
One of the solo exhibitions that has my attention is by a recentish graduate, Colin Kippen. His latest effort, Indices, at Duplex should be the latest chapter in his exploration of the way the optical and material properties can render an object somewhat out of phase with daily encounters of similar but less artfully combined media. I've been following his work since his graduation exhibition and a lot of other people are too. There's a bit of the Dave Hickey school meets Rachel Harrison going on but his work feels a bit grittier and more intimate and it will be interesting to see how this work develops with its penchant for out of phase optical texture. Indices | July 7 -28 First Thursday: July 7 6- 9PM Duplex Gallery 219 NW Couch Street, Portland Oregon ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 07, 2016 at 13:18 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.05.16 Jane Schiffhauer at Rainmaker Gallery 
An Alleged Truth Acting as a Distortion is the apt title for this already quite nasty political season so artist Jane Schiffhauer is definitely on point while pivoting towards something more universal. Consisting of abstract 2d and 3d work regarding the body perhaps Schiffhauer's reappraisal of humanity is what we need during this season of spin? Schiffhauer is one of the brightest up and coming artists in Portland and should be on the short list of anyone taking stock of what is truly going on in Portland. An Alleged Truth Acting As a Distortion | July 6-30 Opening Reception: July 6, 6-9PM Rainmaker Gallery 2337 NW York St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 05, 2016 at 18:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 06.23.16 Ethan Rose + Parallel Studio as Houseguests 
The Houseguest public art series for Pioneer Courthouse Square, aka "Portland's Livingroom", is showing great promise with their latest project by sound artist Ethan Rose and Parallel Studio titled, Exchange. Described as, "a contemporary, interactive sound and light experience.... 'Exchange' invites passersby to create their own sonic performance through movement.... The work draws from a new technological future that is shaping the city, while recounting Portland's history of intimate scale and small city connectedness." I love the idea of an interactive outdoor sculpture space (at night) and it will only exist for 3 days. Also, with a serious budget of 25k per project it also gives artists the respect and resources they require rather than trying to fund as many artists as possible with a meager amount. Exchange | June 24-26, 2016 (free) Friday 6PM-12AM, Saturday 9PM-12AM, and Sun Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 23, 2016 at 15:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 06.04.16 Hot Picks June 2016 Portland has record breaking heat this weekend, here are the coolest things to check out:
 Installation view of a Clyfford Still painting and models of the Still Museum at PAM Brad Cloepfil and his firm Allied Works Architecture are the most notable building design firm from Portland Oregon... leading Portlands transformative path from architectural underachievers to an emerging design capital. It is great that the Portland Art Museum is presenting this exhibition chronicling past and current projects. Unlike most architecture model exhibition it isnt merely models but a kind of catalog of material/spatial test cases that the firm uses to understand and design structures developed with an inherent and essential understanding that arose from playing with these materials and spaces. What's more the models have mostly been displayed in wunderkammern display cabinets... making the viewer's experience more intimate and playful as one discovers the architect's own discovery process. PORT has covered Brad's career extensively... perhaps more so than any other publication has, here are some of the major pieces: Interview's part 1 and 2 reviews of the PNCA's 511 part 1 and 2, Sokol Blosser winery and an early exhibition at PDX Contemporary, whose galleries they designed. There will also be a talk on Sunday June 5th and we are curious how this exhibition might influence any expansion plans the museum might have in the near future... currently the museum does not make good relationship to the South Park Blocks. Case Work | June 4 - September 5th 2016 Opening Talk: June 5th 2 - 3PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 04, 2016 at 11:35 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 06.02.16 First Thursday June 2016 Picks Last month's shows were so good that June feels like going back to school, literally.
I may be Portland's toughest critic but there is no beating what the King School is up to today... the kids just upstaged the Pearl District's art offerings. Today, the King School Museum of Contemporary Art presents That's Old School, "a guided tour and exhibit based on interviews with Steve Willis, the head of school maintenance and an alumni of King School." I love this... these will be guided "museum tours" where visitors will experience the King school through the eyes of the maintenance staff, and learn evolution from past into present. King students will conduct the tours during the opening reception on June 2. Leave it to kids to make social practice MFA's seem tired. They also just ate the lunch of museums around the world who keep trying to open their experiences to be more porous. That's Old School | June 2nd Opening reception 4-6PM KSMOCA-King School Museum of Contemporary Art 4906 NE 6th Ave  Caitlin Rooney, Do You Like Music In case you missed the openings a little while ago PNCA's thesis exhibitions at the 511 NW Broadway headquarters and the former MoCC building are still going on. Standouts include Caitlin Rooney's skewering of "art school" fetish of hypocrisy, Anastasia Greer and Brianna Rosen at the 724 NW Davis space and Margaret Parsons, Alexandra Husey, Kanani Miyamoto, Colin Cheong and many others at the 511 building. PNCA Undergraduate and Graduate Thesis Exhibitions | May 22 - June 17 Reception: Sunday May 22, 2016 6-9PM Pacific Northwest College of Art 511 NW Broadway (and 724 NW Davis) ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 02, 2016 at 12:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 06.01.16 Matthew Barney's River of Fundament at NWFC  Still from Matthew Barney's River of Fundament (2014) With the current heat wave Portlanders have an excellent opportunity to wait out the heat while taking in a marathon of screenings of Matthew Barney's River of Fundament. The two part film is an opera-scale cycle involving Norman Mailer, an Egyptian quest for immortality, mixed with an undercurrent of majestic American industry and landscape this is a challenging commitment to watch (for mature audiences). Is Matthew Barney the USA's 21st Century Picasso or a bloated and excessive caricature of himself like Salvador Dali became? River of Fundament | June 3 - 5 2016 $10 - $25 Northwest Film Center (Whitsell Auditorium) Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 01, 2016 at 12:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 05.21.16 Weekend Picks  Coastal Redwood, Ryan Neil (photo Chris Hornbecker) Oregon based Ryan Neil takes the centuries old tradition of Bonsai and blending his own familiarity with Western North American flora. This is an excellent example of how the Portland Japanese Garden has become a world leading bridge and a new template for the living traditions of Japanese arts and culture into the present day. American Bonsai, the unbridled art or Ryan Neil | May 21 - June 19 Portland Japanese Garden (outdoor courtyard) 611 SW Kingston Avenue 
As part of PNCA's Collaborative Design MFA graduate exhibition I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest one element of this thesis exhibition called Street Food Sites in the Innovation Studio space in the 511 building. (yes I'll report back on the whole show in an update to this post) Street Food Sites chronicles a beloved hallmark of Portland's cultural makeup... its food cart culture and artists like canaries in the coal mine explore the challenges Portland's status as a hot city have presented to our vibrant cultural fabric. I'd like to note that other cities have faced this and survived, but only through progressive and proactive thinking and zoning. PNCA Undergraduate and Graduate Thesis Exhibitions | May 22 - June 17 Reception: Sunday May 22, 2016 6-9PM Pacific Northwest College of Art 511 NW Broadway (and 724 NW Davis) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 21, 2016 at 11:40 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.13.16 Weekend Picks Most city's art scenes kinda die in the summer but Portland tends to ramp up, we do have great weather at this time of the year. Generally, May, June, August and September are almost always the best months and this May is no exception.
 Traditional western notions of property, resources and the public good are under a lot of remediation lately so in keeping The Ross Island Residency, a renegade project initiated by Taryn Tomasello and curator Will Elder, spanning June 2015 - June, 2016, "at the site of a sand and gravel mine in the center of the island in the center of city looks interesting. This exhibition is the residue of symbolic gestures of replacement and a ritual-relational witness of trespass." Trespass: Ross Island Residency | May 14 - June 26 Reception: Saturday, May 14, 12 - 6PM Hours: Saturday & Sundays 12 - 6PM Publication Release: June 25, 5 - 7PM HQ objective 2235 W Burnside  OCAC 2016 BFA graduate exhibition I've always enjoyed OCAC's BFA shows and Making in Evidence: featuring Oregon College of Art and Craft's BFA graduates of 2016 looks like another good one to hit. With seventeen students from diverse backgrounds and creative disciplines they will explore a wide range of concepts and media. OCAC's thesis exhibition comes as the culmination of an immersive mentor-based, craft-oriented and creative community a kind of proof in concept of OCAC's unique and varied curriculum. *Update: highlights include Una Rose, Lillian Reed, William Whitehead, Oliver Wilson and Jessica Oakes with a sense of polish that puts most MFA programs to shame. Making in Evidence | May 13 - May 22, 2016 OCAC's BFA 2016 graduate exhibition (free) Opening Reception: May 13 5 - 9PM Food, drinks and music Regular hours: 11am - 5PM 525 NW 10th ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 13, 2016 at 12:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 05.10.16 Emily Nachison on Odilon Redon at PAM  Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916), Oannes et le Sphinx, 1910, oil on wood, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Edwin Binney The next artist talk at the Portland Art Museum will feature Emily Nachison this Thursday May 12 from 6-7PM. I'm a particularly big fan of PAM's artist talks on works from their collection and not just because I've done one of them. There is something important about creating living relationships with art of the past so I'm especially happy that Nachison has chosen Odilon Redon's Oannes et le Sphinx. It is a lovely little gem in the collection that matches up well with Peter Doig, Katharina Fritsch, Anselm Kiefer and Chris Ofili's contemporary penchant for mysticism. In fact, Portland's art scene is full of all sorts of allusions to sorcery (there is a reason Grimm is shot here too, another obvious curatorial theme that never gets discussed) so I'm curious what she teases out. Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 10, 2016 at 20:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.04.16 First Thursday Picks May 2016 For the past year or so I've noticed that First Thursdays have been waning as other parts of Portland have frankly been more ambitious and noticeably fresher than our main gallery enclave in Northwest Portland's Pearl and Old Town districts. This is partially due to the fact that smaller galleries everywhere have had it tougher as mega galleries have ruled the universe. Obviously, Portland has no mega-galleries and that is part of our charm.
Well, this May's First Thursday looks like it is back with a vengeance serving up perhaps the freshest and most ambitious collection of exhibition receptions in perhaps a decade (anchors like PNCA and the U of O are in full effect after lots of changes but there is depth everywhere). What's more, not a single traditional media exhibition makes the cut. Nothing against them (obviously) but no oil paintings or cast metal sculpture are to be found on this list... we did that last month with 2 out of the 3 I picked. Another trend in may is women who are not academics or graduates of local art schools also making themselves felt. (Both new media and non academically affiliated females as groups are routinely and embarrassingly ignored in regional art awards... if you want an award over 5K prize one typically has to be a man, do traditional media work and or have some tie to a larger local art school as an alum or faculty). This is simply wrong as many of the ignored artists have national/international careers and frequently education from more elite schools. It makes us look clubby and closed minded, when in fact Portland has a very international, otherwise supportive and porous scene with excellent variety of traditional and cutting edge media.  Ellen George, Untitled (Elemental 14) at PDX Contemporary It has been a while since we have experienced a solo show from Ellen George... one of the most interesting and lyrical artists on the West Coast. Her latest titled May looks like another tour de force. Specializing in something akin to manageable installation art, few artists can claim to be as consistently excellent and poetically graceful as Ellen George. May | May 3 - 28 PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders  Memory Theater at Upfor Installation art at PADA galleries is understandably rare but Upfor has taken on new media work like few west coast galleries. Their latest is Srijon Chowdhury's Memory Theater. According to the PR... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 04, 2016 at 18:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.19.16 Rowland Ricketts talk 
As part of Portland Design Week the MFA AC+D Studio is presenting a talk by Rowland Ricketts tomorrow. Trained in indigo farming and dyeing in Japan, Rickett's textile based work combines three things of enduring aesthetic interest, the color blue as mediated by texture and revealed through light. Rowland Ricketts Lecture | April 20, 6:30PM 2016 MFA Applied Craft + Design Studios 421 NE 10th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 19, 2016 at 16:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.07.16 First Thursday Picks April 2016 Well this First Thursday is a hot one, here are some of the coolest shows to check out. Here are my picks:
 James Rosenquist at PNCA James Rosenquist is a living legend... his pop art works took the melange of British pop artists like Richard Hamilton and gave it a cleaner, sleeker more muscle car meets slick advertising sheen that likely paved the way towards minimalism but it also reflected the state of advertising imagery at the time (Hamilton, Johns even Rauschenberg nearly always come off as more more nostalgic, whereas Rosenquist feels immediate). You absolutely must check out his Lifetime Achievement Award Exhibition: James Rosenquist at PNCA's 511 building, drawn from Jordan Schnitzer's collection. Lots of other interesting exhibitions happening at PNCA too so I'd hit 511 NW Broadway for sure. Lifetime Achievement Award Exhibition: James Rosenquist | March 30 - ? First Thursday: April 7, 6:00-8:00PM PNCA (511 Gallery) 511 NW Broadway ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 07, 2016 at 13:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 03.12.16 Ruth Gruber retrospective at OJMCHE 
For those who looking for something beyond the standard MFA puppy mill art (self-serving research and drawings of crystals with a couple pieces of detritus stacked upon each other in white room) this traveling survey of groundbreaking photographer and journalist Ruth Gruber will absolutely blow your mind. She was the world's youngest PHD in the 1930's and her intense curiosity lead her to witness the rise of Hitler (she got within feet of him at a rally... a Jewish girl with epic Khutspah). She was also the first correspondent permissioned to travel throughout the Soviet Arctic and Siberian gulag from 1934–35. Later, her coverage of the Holocaust and its survivors were instrumental in the forming of Israeli statehood. She was an important early influence for me at age 3 or so along with Thor Heyerdahl (I was very precocious and needed role models). Ahead of Time Trailer The associated documentary film has won numerous awards as well. This is a must see historical show that the International Photography Center curator Maya Benton has vowed will tour for as long as Ruth Lives, Gruber is 104. I Love that and her photographs have a philosophical sensitivity and empathy that is rare at any time. This is a master class in true intelligence and gives me hope for humanity. It is also incredibly relevant with so many refugee situations throughout the world. Ruth Gruber: Photojournalist | March 13 - June 13 Opening Reception: March 13 with Film screenings at 12:00 and 2:00 Film screenings Friday at 2:00 Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education 1953 NW Kearney St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 12, 2016 at 14:21 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 03.09.16 Every Day Is International Women Day Picks  Mary Henry Jeffrey Thomas' new gallery is doing a lot to build understanding around the work of the departed and seminal modernist Mary Henry. She studied under Laslo Maholy-Nagy and eventually chose a career as modern painter rather than homemaker and the sheer excellence of her work has Major national museums bringing her into their cannonical collections. The latest exhibition Mary Henry: The Fabric of Space explores her studies and process for creating her often large abstract paintings. Henry absorbed the teachings of the New Bauhaus thoroughly but gave them a West Coast vibrancy and Arcy conveyed a while back here on PORT. So often female artists have to traffic in a sense of vulnerability in their work but Henry, like Agnes Martin and Frankenthaler, is just excellent and justifies how abstraction gets us back to basics by removing gender norms from the work all together. Mary Henry: The Fabric of Space | March 9 - April Opening Reception: March 9 6-8PM Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art 2219 NW Raleigh  Wengechi Mutu The big art event in Portland this week is Wengechi Mutu's talk at PNCA. She's currently showing the Hybrid Human, a series of prints from The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation's collection at the 511 gallery and Im curious what this international mediator of chimerical feminine anthroplogigical forms drawn from science, fashion and her own more surrealist imagination? She presents a chimerical grotesque that pushes back rather than points and in my mind she's a bit of a modern Mary Shelly with these (one could say) monsters as her beautiful creations. We will have more on this soon. Wangechi Mutu Talk March 10: 6:30-8:00PM PNCA (Mediatheque) 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 09, 2016 at 14:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.04.16 First Weekend Picks March 2016 
Worksound International presents Innenraum with German artist social practice artist Per Schumann and international but one time Portlander Zefrey Throwell (I curated him into the 2001 Portland Independent Salon back when he was painting huge oil paintings). I like the subject matter of this show, which according to the press release is, "When looking for the liminal spaces created by city life and art, there are often niches that form part of both. The exploration of the areas of intersection of freedom, community and exhibition gives a space for performative interventions and installations that may widen our interpretation of our perceptions of all." Sounds like a great reason to get out on the town tonight. Innenraum | March 4th, 2016 - April 7th, 2016 Opening reception March 4, 6-9PM Worksound International 820 SE Alder > 
This talk, The New Deal's Local Legacy: Pioneering Historic Preservation And A Landscape Aesthetic looks intriguing. On March 5th AHC Education Committee member Judith Kenny, "explores the history of 1930's New Deal projects in the Portland area and how they contributed to the preservation of our pioneer architectural heritage and the development of a regional landscape style. Elaborating upon HABS and WPA construction projects, the architectural work of Ellis F. Lawrence and Jamieson Parker, and the lasting beauty of Timberline Lodge, this unique educational event will be perfect for both History buff and lovers of the natural world." Note the image above isnt technically a new deal building... but the famous and privately commissioned "witches cabin" is a paragon of that era's "parkitecture" and the ruin itself is an important way to spur discussion about the interchange of the built and so called natural environment. You can get tickets here. The New Deal's Local Legacy: Pioneering Historic Preservation And A Landscape Aesthetic Talk: March 5th 10:00AM, Tickets required $12-20 Architectural Heritage Center 701 SE Grand Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 04, 2016 at 14:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.03.16 First Thursday Picks March 2016 Finally, things are getting more interesting in the galleries, with a certain explosion of material and geometry as well as heightened states of awareness. Kinda like springtime for Clement Greenberg in Portland?
 Jonathan Berger at Adams & Ollman
The show has been up since mid February but you still have till March 12th to see Jonathan Berger's A Future Life. Of course, nothing stands out like a funeral in Springtime but this reliquary of funerary forms and carbonized cubes has the kind of thoroughness I'd like to see more often in solo shows in Portland. Not sure how I feel about it overall (too many great people died in the last few months) and pulling a Louise Nevelson where everything is black (or white for that matter) can be a hack's strategy but at least there is a gestalt and a mood. Americans don't contend with death very much either and it seems like the artist is holding a wake for many lame art world strategies... That is a cheery thought actually. All that said, this is the must see among the commercial galleries this month. A Future Life | February 12 - March 12 First Thursday: March 3rd Adams & Ollman 209 SW 9th ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 03, 2016 at 14:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.12.16 2016 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards at PAM It is that time again the 2016 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards and according to the video above there is a subtext of welcoming those who were not born in the USA featuring the work of; Willem Volkersz, Samantha Wall, Victoria Haven, Lead Pencil Studio (Daniel Mihalyo and Annie Han), Dana Lynn Louis, Helen O'Toole and Akio Takamori. So, will that chamber of commerce kind of ideation be enough to head off the oft repeated nickname of the Conservative Northwest Art Awards? True, many artists in the Northwest are from elsewhere but there is also a tradition of rewarding those who don't shake things up so much... even when Portland and Seattle are dynamic places. True, Seattle's top troublemaker Jack Daws won the Betty Bowen award last year but that should have happened a decade ago! Overall, we may be welcoming but for whatever reason we don't rock the boat much at the institutional level with few surprises. Usually it is just a lot of Northwest cliches of like nature, craft and figuration without much interrogation of what kind of nature, craft and figuration? At the same time so many artists have international careers so I ask, why? Frankly most group surveys have a similar problem where the announcement of the list overwhelms the actual exhibition time and again. Maybe this one will be different? These were initially designed to be like the SECA awards. The show is curated Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson, The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art and curatorial advisor Jessica Hunter-Larsen, curator of IDEA Space, Interdisciplinary Experimental Arts, at Colorado College. The show is Laing-Malcolmson's last exhibition and it is somewhat of an impossible job... especially when your own back yard has the most adventurous art scene with conservative collectors who are not very involved. Each year though Laing-Malcolmson has moved PAM in the right direction, question is if they can replace her with someone both dynamic and convincing enough to move the needle reflecting the tectonic changes we have undergone? 2016 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards | February 13 - May 8 Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 12, 2016 at 12:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.10.16 The Fifth Wheel at Linfield 
"Speak, Thou Vast and Venerable Head" (video animation still) Julia Oldham, 2016 The Fifth Wheel is a multimedia exploration of the arguably hypermasculine novel Moby Dick by four female artists, Julia Oldham, Sarah Nance, Jane Schiffhauer and Alanna Risse. The exhibition takes its title from a description in the novel and though the gallery is rather difficult to get to for openings (from 5-7 on a weekday) unless you are already in McMinnville its a perfect weekend sojourn. Not It | February 10 - March 19 Reception: February 10, 5-7PM Artist Talk: Saturday, March 12 5PM Linfield Gallery | Linfield College 900 SE Baker st., McMinnville, OR Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 10, 2016 at 10:01 | Comments (1) PermalinkMonday 02.08.16 Celebrating James Archer  James Archer The Archer gallery is celebrating its namesake James Archer on the occassion of his donating 129 artworks to the college. 40 of the artworks are on display at the gallery and you can read a little more on the gift here. I have a thing for the way these personal collections enrich institutions as it is the way most people first experience art. Often in a very casual way they simply come across something that strikes them when they are on their way to a class or some other activity. There is tremendous value in this and art isn't just for museums, so go and tell him how much he has done. One things we dont do well around here is thank our leaders... especially the ones who stick their necks out enough, James is one of those leaders. Celebrating James Archer | RSVP khukill(at)clark.edu Celebration reception: February 9, 7PM Archer Gallery (Penguin Union Building) Clark College 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 08, 2016 at 11:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.04.16 First Thursday Picks February 2016 February has always been a good month for art exhibitions in the Portland art scene and everyone seems ready to get out and meet each other once again. Here are my picks:
The Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors, Wangechi Mutu (2005) Internationally famous artist Wangechi Mutu creates chimerical anthropomorphichuman constructions exploring gender, identity and wry positioning within society... including immigrants. Her exhibition at the 511 gallery titled The Hybrid Human are a in that great tradition of the anthropological grotesque, like international Frankensteins for our time. This is the first in The Jordan D. Schnitzer Exhibition and Visiting Artist Lecture Series. The Hybrid Human | January 19 - March 12 First Thursday: February 6, 6:00-8:00PM PNCA (511 Gallery) 511 NW Broadway ...(more with Portland Japanese Garden and Portland Pataphysical Society) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 04, 2016 at 10:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.27.16 Intersecciones: Havana/Portland at L&C 
Rafael Villares Portland has had its typical sleepy January start but Intersecciones: Havana/Portland at Lewis and Clark College's excellent Hoffman gallery looks like the official kickoff to an exciting 2016. The exhibition explores contemporary art in Cuba through the way 6 Cuban artists approach the Oregon trail as cultural ambassadors. It has been over half a century since relations between USA and Cuba have been normalized so this exhibition is a kind of document of emergent familiarity/unfamiliarity. According to the Press release: "Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo creates installations and public actions that poke at the troubled cultural space for people of African ancestry. Reynier "El Chino" Novo's reimagined cultural objects reveal the depleted energy of true political action. Elizabet Cerviño's spare performances draw from the haunted contradictions in historic spaces. Adriana Arronte's installations of exquisitely crafted glass, plastic, and metal objects complicate spaces of personal consumption. Rafael Villares's displaced landscapes create tensions between desire and reality. Yornel Martínez’s alternative magazines provide manuscripts for artist exchange. When the idea to curate a show of Cuban artists first emerged, we had no inkling of the historic change about to take place between the two countries. We happened to be in Havana on the day that President Obama met with Raúl Castro and announced he would take Cuba off the terrorist list. This provides the backdrop for Intersecciones. In the US public imagination, Cuba is either a Communist failure or a victim of US imperialism." Intersecciones: Havana/Portland | January 28 - March 13, 2016 Opening Reception: January 28, 5 - 7PM Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road MSC 95 Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 27, 2016 at 12:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 01.25.16 Candidates Forum for Arts & Culture 
2015 was a year when a lot of what we love about Portland was put under pressure by the years of success in tourism and certain types of job creation. Though we hate the word "creative" when used by politicians it is good to find out what some of the candidates for Mayor and City Council have to say about the future of our city. Confirmed participants include: Ted Wheeler, Jules Bailey, Amanda Fritz, Steve Novick, Stuart Emmons and moderated by April Baer of OPB. *Note there is some controversy as several recently declared candidates did not make the cutoff for the forum. In particular the savvy visual art community has an interest in; ways to keep rents affordable, support for alternative spaces (a crucial seedbed for talent development), why nearly all the major art awards seem to regressively go to hand craft oriented academics to the exclusion of new media and less traditional concepts? (I'm calling for balance.) Lastly, I'd like to see the candidates answer about the perpetual fetish of quirkhype regarding Portland's cultural community rather than a serious discussion? To clarify, Portland is full of artists doing important work nationally and internationally and it is the root of Portland's competitive advantage over most other cities... we have a great community of very serious peers who get very little formal civic support and this is a question of how versed candidates are on talking points regarding patronage and stewardship? Quite specifically, Portland's next Mayor and Commissioners need to be on point culturally, not mere photo op purveyors of quirk or culturally passive regarding Portland's identity. I covered the topic in my 2012 Op Ed in the Portland Tribune but recent financial pressures have made the topic more pressing. Candidates Forum for Art And Culture | January 26 (free) Doors: 3:30 PM, begins at 4:00PM Gerding Theater and Armory 128 NW 11th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 25, 2016 at 13:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.21.16 Saving Centennial Mills?  Centennial Mills (before partial demolition) The remaining Centennial Mills structures at the northern edge of the Pearl District and the last major historical building cluster still sitting upon the Willamette River is still in peril and tonight developer Jordan Schnitzer and historian Chet Orloff along with Patricia Gardner (President, Pearl District Neighborhood Association) will discuss the building with the community. There is tremendous historical texture at the site and we have covered it numerous times here and here as has Portland Architecture and frankly its a complicated project that doesn't pencil out financially very easily (pollution cleanup, degraded structures, etc). That's why the news that the PDC was backing away from a deal last year was so disheartening as Schnitzer was interested in it beyond simple economic terms. Culturally it was an opportunity to both mine and preserve our past... something that has been rapidly been erased as exemplified by the Lovejoy columns. It could have been a moment to articulate Portland's ethos through placemaking. Now it is in limbo and the first public meeting is being held at 6:00 today. The opportunities go beyond the sorts of developments that we have seen in other US Cities, instead think Thief's Island in Oslo... only with a Portland identity both new and old? Recently we lost the Portland Gasco building because a suitable 3rd way could not be found and the preservation/future development question has become a civic crisis. In this case a third way was on the table... Thursday, January 21, 6:00PM 1315 NW Overton (Pure Space in the Pearl District) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 21, 2016 at 12:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 01.15.16 Weekend Picks  "Hero" (2015), Marc Matchak It was sad when HQ Objective left their Oak St. space in 2015 but they are back... on East Burnside now with Fortune Gallery and Press. Their latest exhibition, Folded Object Instructions and Recent Poems, features Marc Matchak and Jabari Jordan-Walker. The exhibition looks like a rebus of sorts: "Marc says there is a tennis match going, but there is no victory and the rules are somewhat fictive. Jabari gave us instructions on how to build a folded object out of copper, yet its final form is impossible. Given these circumstances we may feel irresolute. These selected objects, companions in our small space for a time, are gently voicing concern about our expectations of fairness and order in our world." -Will Elder, curator Folded Object Instructions and Recent Poems | January 16 - February 21, 2016 opening reception on Saturday, January 16, 12 - 6PM HQ Objective at Fortune (Sat-Sun 12-6, or by Appt.) 2235 W Burnside St. 
Michael Knutson, Symmetrical For-Layered Ovoids and Latices II, 2015, oil on canvas diptych, 60 x 80 in. One of my main complaints with local curation of the Portland art scene is we dont do a lot of great thematic group exhibitions. In this case a group of hard core serial pattern abstractionists have stepped up and self-selected themselves at one of Portland's best spaces. Featuring; Cynthia Mosser, James K-M, Matt Cosby, Michael Knutson Rae Mahaffey, Sally Finch, Shu-Ju Wang and Tamara English. I always pay attention when artists organize and I'm a fan of Knutson, Mahaffey and English so I can recommend the trip. THE PULL OF REPETITION | January 14 - February 13, 2016 Weekend Reception: Sat, Jan 16th, 2-4PM North View Gallery Portland Community College Sylvania Campus 12000 SW 49th Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 15, 2016 at 17:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 01.11.16 2016 getting in gear There are two especially interesting exhibitions opening this week:
 Guestwork Sometimes the strongest art makes us question what we want and require and the parsing of those two becomes a kind of existential sublimation. What happens when the artwork itself is a questionnaire or poll? Portland collective Guestwork attempts to find out by polling Portlander's on what their ideal city would comprise. The Ballots will then become infographics. Titled, Accounting for Public Interest, Guestwork's Travis Neel and Erin Charpentier are the latest to tackle the Portland Building's installation space and it is not a bad way to kick off the year. It certainly mirrors the intense political season ahead. Accounting for Public Interest | January 11 - February 5, 2016 RACC Installation Space Portland Building 1120 SW 5th Avenue  William Harvette #3, Collage on Paper, 2006 (Collection of James Archer) Archer @ Archer explores the private collection of James Archer at the public art gallery that carries his name. Knowing the man it should be a diverse opportunity and viewing any collectors collection is an exercise in personal Anthropology. Archer @ Archer | January 5 - February 20 Opening January 12 4-6PM Archer Gallery (Penguin Union Building) Clark College 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 11, 2016 at 9:19 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 01.09.16 Weekend Picks 2016 still isn't extremely active with no major statement solo show in the elite venues. To be fair only Portland's elite artists ever do a big January show... remember this statement maker anyone? Still, things are waking up and these two exhibitions are worth planning your Sunday around:
Taj Bourgeois' work is more than a little in the fluxus tradition and has the penache somewhat like an early Charles Ray or a young Tristan Tzara, while filtering all of his poetic absurdism through social media. This artist weaves a lot of life into his situations and rather worth checking out (the show began last year but is opening in 2016... another good sign). Nice to still have coffeehouses acting as a legitimate place to check out new talent, part of what makes Portland "Portland." Dreams | December 16, 2015 - January 28, 2016 Opening Reception: January 10, 4 - 6PM Stumptown @ 3356 SE Belmont St  Pat Boas, Three Triangles and Three Colors, Sumi ink on paper, 2015 The latest group show at the Art Gym is a look at abstraction titled, and from this distance one might never imagine that it is alive. Painters included are; Pat Boas, Calvin Ross Carl, Jack Featherly, Ron Graff, Robert Hardgrave, Grant Hottle, Amy Bernstein, Michael Lazarus, Michelle Ross, and Amanda Wojick so it should be a good discussion primer. It needs to be because Portland is where the Clement Greenberg Collection lives and the city does have a very strong abstract painting scene. That said, institutionally Portland tends to do fairly conventional surveys of its genres (Art Gym probably being one of the most conventional). One interesting twist here is that many of the artists in "aftdomntisa" are less pure abstractionists and more semioticians or proto linguists being somewhat abstract. Check it out to see if that's just the conventional expressing itself or perhaps an interesting angle? and from this distance one might never imagine that it is alive | January 10 - March 5 Opening: January 10, 4-6PM Art Gym (Marylhurst University) 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy. 43) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 09, 2016 at 15:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.07.16 First Thursday picks January 2016 Like many January First Thursdays this one isn't firing on all cylinders with holdovers and some galleries opening a week or more later. Still, after the ice storm in Portland earlier this week many will want to get out and there are some good things to see (I'll publish the extensive rumination on 2015's Portland art scene this weekend, I think we are all in the right mood for serious reflection now).
 Alien She at MoCC Perhaps the best holdover from 2015 is Alien She, an extensive survey of Riot Grrrl counterculture at the Museum of Contemporary Craft and PNCA. It is the final week to catch this exhibition on the North Park Blocks with its feral sasquacherinas and pink squirrels. Alien She | September 3 2015 - January 9 2016 First Thursday: January 7 6:00-8:00PM Museum of Contemporary Craft 724 NW Davis PNCA (511 Gallery) 511 NW Broadway 
Perhaps the most promising new show opening in Portland today is Eyeshine, a double barrel pair featuring two of my favorite Portland artists, Ryan Pierce and Wendy Given. Both are nature aficionados interested in shifted para-histories, mystery and the way nature circumscribes both humans and itself. The exhibition arose while camping together on the excellent Signal Fire Residencies that Pierce co-operates. Eyeshine | January 7 - 29 Reception: January 7, 4 - 7PM Autzen Gallery | Neuberger Hall, room 204 Portland State University 724 SW Harrison St ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 07, 2016 at 13:55 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 12.19.15 Weekend Picks The year is winding down so there are fewer events but the "Progressive" art galleries of Portland's downtown are having a little gallery crawl party today. I suggest starting at Melanie Flood Projects (420 SW Washington #301) from 3-5PM today. Bring food for the Oregon Food Bank.
...and from 5-8PM today there is a closing reception for Erik Geschke's Amalgam show at the North View Gallery. One of the best shows of the year.  Jamison/Thomas 1985 area view Last but not least there is a wrap party for the Jamison/Thomas 1985 redux exhibition at Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art. We normally don't shill for fundraisers but this silent auction supports the William Jamison Scholarships at PNCA (education is the one exception for our no fundraising rule). Overall, the exhibition has that incredible atavistic energy you saw in the 1980's. This timewarp show has all that high and low maelstrom, marinated in a punchbowl spiked with many things that still aren't legal. Jamison/Thomas 1985 Closing Reception: December 19th 4-6PM Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art 2219 NW Raleigh Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 19, 2015 at 13:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 12.09.15 Tammy Rae Carland Lecture  Tammy Rae Carland As one of the artists in the excellent Alien She exhibition at PNCA and MoCC Tammy Rae Carland will discuss her multifaceted role as a voice for the more recent versions of feminism. Whether it is photography (sometimes for bands like Bikini Kill), zines or video art distribution she's been a force. Tammy Rae Carland Lecture | December 10, 6:30 - 8:00PM PNCA (Mediatheque) 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 09, 2015 at 10:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 12.03.15 First Thursday Picks December 2015  Within Within at Nine Gallery Jerry Mayer and Ellen George always seem to do something interesting with the Nine Gallery and Within Within featuring 200lbs of colored pearl rice looks like the most promising thing on display during First Thursday. Within Within | December 3 2015 - January 3 2016 Opening: December 3, 6 - 9PM Nine Gallery (within Bluesky) 122 NW 8th Avenue  Melody Owen is one of those artists whose work is strongest when it seems to be the stuff of waking dreams... familiar yet surreal. Her Ever Drifting exhibition with its conifers and boats looks like a great holiday installation at W+K. More Portland buildings with extensive and often under used lobbies should partner with artists like this. Ever Drifting | December 3 - 23, 2015 Opening reception: December 3 6-9PM Wieden + Kennedy 224 NW 13th Ave ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 03, 2015 at 14:05 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.20.15 Erik Geschke at PCC Sylvania  It is a busy weekend in the Portland art scene but my pick is a gallery talk by sculptor Erik Geschke for his show Amalgam on Saturday. We've only seen small glimpses of Erik's freaky and superbly crafted work in the past but this is a bit of a survey. In an odd twist I think his his rarefied craftsmanship actually works against him as the craft Portland typically celebrates (I think too much) often features the traces of hand or a kind of expression of "work". Instead, Erik's stuff looks seamless and it heightens the surreal discomfort and humor in the work.... you see more of this in Seattle where he once lived and studied. Maybe Erik isn't humblebragging enough? This is the largest show of Erik's work weve been treated to in Portland and beacause the excellent Northview gallery's hours are kinda dodgy this is one of your only weekend opportunities to catch the show... be there. Amalgam | November 19 - December 19 Artist Talk: November 21 1-2PM PCC Sylvania (North View Gallery) 12000 SW 49th Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 20, 2015 at 15:36 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 11.18.15 Art Talk Armageddon I remember when I first moved to Portland in 1999 and we were lucky to have one good art lecture a month. These days most institutions have a weekly program and this Thursday looks like perhaps the most impossible schedule to choose from. Unless you can fold time and space you have to make a choice between these three options:
 Still from The Ride at PAM At the Portland Art Museum Paige Powell and Director Brian Ferriso will discuss New York in the 1980's (arguably one of the strongest cultural flowerings in human history) as a necessary addendum to The Ride photography and video exhibition. It is on view for the next couple months. A Portland native, Powell was part of the scene as a New York City "IT" girl and had a front row seat to the likes of Andy Warhol, Kieth Haring and her onetime boyfriend Jean Michel Basquiat. This can't help but be interesting but it is also tricky when everyone from Madonna to artist's estates all have lawyers looking to generate billable hours. Still, Powell's photos and memories provide a crucial pov in this important era. It should be fascinating as museums often feel like the cultural residue minus the human stories about what happened. This should fill in some gaps and hopefully isn't too weird for Powell. Stops Along The Ride: A conversation with Paige Powell Lecture November 19th 6:30 - 7:30PM Portland Art Museum 
Watering Hole (2005) by Amy Stein from The New Explorers The New Explorers by OCAC alum Kris Timken looks like an excellent book chronicling the work of female artists who also explore our planet. Join Kris Timken along with artists Camille Seaman, Linda K. Johnson, curator Prudence Roberts and PSU's Professor Ethan Seltzer in a conversation about the project. I reviewed one of the artists, Amy Stein here on PORT when she exhibited at Bluesky. With an essay by Lucy Lippard it looks like an excellent project worthy of greater discussion. This is part of OCAC's excellent Connection series. The New Explorers Conversation and Book Signing: November 19 7:00PM OCAC (Vollum Center) ...(more with Michelle Grabner at PNCA) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 18, 2015 at 15:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.12.15 What I Know Is  photo Dakota Gearhart Portland's art scene has been facing challenges with affordable space being pressured by rents and developers for years but Precipice Fund projects like Prequel have been a bright spot (there still needs to be more). For Prequel over the past six months, nine artists have met on Monday evenings ascribe and revise what it is that they think , "they know." As a kind of open source charette they have invited guests from Portland, Seattle, Pittsburgh and New York to shape these discussions which are, "prone to sprawling entries and circuitous connections." It sounds like a turgid but interesting basis for a group exhibition and I'm curious what is both lost and gained in the translation. Featuring new work by; Travis Beardsley, Kello Goeller, Erin Mallea, Brittney Connelly, Genevieve Goffman, John Whitten, Dakota Gearhart, Lara Kim and Emily Wobb. What I Know Is | Presented by Prequel | November 13 - 22, 2015 Opening Reception: November 13, 6-9PM S1 4148 NE Hancock St Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 12, 2015 at 14:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.05.15 First Thursday Picks November 2015  Paige Powell: The Ride at the Portland Art Museum (photo Jeff Jahn) A lot of people don't realize that the Portland Art Museum is free from 5-8PM the First Thursday of every month and they should take the opportunity to catch Portland native and one time NYC "It Girl" Paige Powell's photography and video exhibition at PAM. Titled, "The Ride" the opening last night was one of those rare moments where the crush of people overrode the museum's climate control in very localized areas to create the sweaty human mass you normally only get in smaller private galleries and warehouses. Everyone you suspect like her onetime boss at Interview magazine Andy Warhol to Keith Haring, Madonna and former beau Jean Michel Basquiat is here. There is also a fun Kenny Scharf installation called Cosmic Cavern. It makes every blacklight exhibit I've seen by younger artists seem timid by comparison. It's an 1980's zoo of activity that emphasizes the way proximity and ladders to climb allowed some to gain reknown and take Powell and her camera along for the ride. The Ride & Cosmic Cavern| November 5 - February 21st First Thursday: November 5 5-8PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 05, 2015 at 13:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 11.03.15 Upgrade Culture at PNCA 
The Upgrade Culture panel at PNCA looks like one of the more interesting and cutting edge new media art discussions in Portland this year. Featuring new media artists, "Erika M. Anderson, Paul Clay, Mathew Lippincott, Megan McKissack, and Tabitha Nikolai on the impact of emergent technology on creative practice." These are some of the artists that I follow most closely in Portland and I personally nominated Paul Clay for the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards (they needed to tech-up and drive the new art/artist discussion more). Topics for Upgrade Culture will include: "the function of fad and novelty in consumer and fine art aesthetics, the shifting nature of place, self, and access amidst near-constant connectivity, the ways in which art and design create an aesthetic veneer for corporate interests and what the role of the artist is or could be in this context." I like this skeptical embrace of a shifting technology... and Portland is doing a lot of great stuff that is difficult to classify, providing a kind of exploration of technological/scientific uncertainty. It is also why I was so excited about the Mediatheque space in PNCA's new building. Upgrade Culture Panel Discussion: November 4, 6-7PM PNCA (Mediatheque) 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 03, 2015 at 14:05 | Comments (1) PermalinkSaturday 10.31.15 Final Rites at Surplus Space  Surplus Space Appropriately, Surplus Space is ending its run today with senseofplace LAB's curation, a title/happening that accurately describes the venue's brief existence. Instead of finely tuned exhibitions I'd characterize its output as a laboratory for inhabiting space with art and functioned almost as a kind of clubhouse. It is a kindred to other experimentally minded alternative spaces like the now closed Recess, Appendix and HQ Initiative and similarly its output tended to be more of a becoming rather than a a presenter of tight fully realized statements. That isn't a slight, interesting art cities like Portland need laboratories where things develop and these spaces need more financial support... and acknowledgement from more established institutions to complete the circle of relevance and patronage. In the past, some spaces like Haze Gallery and the New American Art Union managed to achieve both experimentation and excellence... they remain perhaps the two best programmed spaces in the past 16 years. Other newish spaces like Muscle Beach, S1 and Melanie Flood Projects carry a similar sense of influence and promise as they resemble how another now longish running alt space, False Front, always seem oriented towards putting on a good show. Sometimes a lab can just be a place of experimentation without judgement like Surplus Space... or at least it seemed a tad phobic of being judged as a final product. That's fine. Thus, let's celebrate the diffuse nature of Surplus Space with its 5 part senseofplace LAB curated egress... here is their description: 1)Commemorative Donations as Installation senseofplace LAB invites meaningful (to you) contributions that will become the materials for this work. Contributions can take any form, and will communicate and tell your stories. 2) Surplus Space Marker The Surplus community is invited to design a small marker to be placed in front of the space, to mark the imprint of the gallery on the neighborhood. Markers should be made of materials that can withstand the elements, and be on the smallish side so when they are left outside they will be less likely to be removed. All the markers that are made will be installed in the gallery as part of the installation, and then placed out front as part of a ceremony during the opening. 3)Median as Commemorative Space Over a period of two days before the opening, senseofplace LAB will invite collaboration to turn the median in front of the gallery into a location to acknowledge the gallery's presence. The space will be 'launched' during an event at the opening. 4)Markings (Surplus) During the opening, the community will have an opportunity to fill out tags that are printed with 'This is where...' and attached to flags in the gallery as part of the installation. 5)Radial Shadows (Surplus) will be a series of site-responsive shadow drawings. senseofplace Lab curates Surplus Space | October 31 - ? Opening October 31 6 - 9PM Surplus Space 3726 Ne 7th Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 31, 2015 at 12:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 10.28.15 Exploring Mechanisms of Perception 
Dr. David Wilson, Director of the Casey Eye Institute at OHSU Although there is a tremendous history of science influencing art (James Turrell and Robert Irwin basically founded light and space art on it and others like Anish Kapoor or Olafur Eliasson owe much to it) the science of perception rarely is discussed openly in regards to the way we perceive art and the world around us. As part of the Seeing Nature exhibition Dr. David Wilson will present a wide ranging discussion on the brain science behind visual perception, looking at art, and the mechanisms for experiencing the world. I'm very excited about this as the subject is something I follow closely. The Nature of Seeing | October 29 6-7PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 28, 2015 at 17:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.23.15 Weekend Picks  Custom Paradise wallpaper for Fallen Fruit at PAM This Saturday is your best chance to catch a lot of great shows at the Portland Art Museum because it is the Miller Family Free Day. Once there you can take in Paradise by the collective Fallen Fruit, which opens Saturday 10/24 with events all day (I contributed an abstract photo of apples to Bruce Conkle's contribution). The exhibition mines the museum and the Northwest's ideological, physical, sociological and metaphysical relationship to the apple. It is also great compliment to Seeing Nature. There are great show by two of my favorite artists Anish Kapoor (final weekend)and Margie Livingston on view as well. Miller Family Free Day | 10/24/2015 Portland Art Museum 219 SW Park  Another great bet includes two of my favorite artists in Portland PORT's own Amy Bernstein and Patrick Kelly at Nationale. It is an interest choice in contrasts... Kelly's deep and dark textural abstracts couldn't be more different than Bernstein's abstractions of partially digested semiotic societies. Bernstein & Kelly | October 21- December 4 Opening Reception: October 25 2-5PM Nationale 3360 SE Division ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 23, 2015 at 16:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 10.20.15 Stephanie Syjuco Lecture 
As part of the Alien She survey at PNCA and MoCC, installation artist and sculptor Stephanie Syjuco will give a talk on her production and strategies. A Guggenheim Fellow, she often incorporates vending machines and other inversions of consumer culture... leveraging, "open-source systems, shareware logic, and flows of capital, creating frictions between high ideals and everyday materials." Market Forces: On Errant Productions and Improper Consumptions with Stephanie Syjuco Lecture: October 22, 2015 6:30-8:00 PM Bison Building / MFA AC+D Studios 421 NE 10th Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 20, 2015 at 15:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 10.04.15 Kartz Ucci, new media stalwart revisited  Kartz Ucci's work at the Archer Gallery January 2011 (photo Jeff Jahn) Only a few years have flown by since Kartz Ucci passed away (obituary here) so it is a fitting tribute that a 2 location show will examine her work. The one at the Art Gym opens today. She was a friend and I always appreciated her unvarnished assessment of students and various new media forms. As I mentioned at the time of her death, she was one of Oregon's biggest proponents of new media pioneers (something that pretty much guarantees you wont get any of the big awards... something which is both wrong and sad). I look forward to revisiting her work at both the Art Gym and at Clackamas Community College's excellent and under utilized Alexander Gallery space where her last work 256 shades of grey will be installed from November 9 to December 11. Kartz Ucci - an opera for one |October 4, 2015 - December 5, 2015 Art Gym Opening Reception- October 4, 4-6PM Screening of Ucci works at Hollywood Theater and catalogue release | October 25, 7:30PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 04, 2015 at 12:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.02.15 Jason Hirata at Muscle Beach  Jason Hirata Muscle Beach has been doing impressive things and the latest features Jason Hirata (seems a little like a David Byrne project from the teaser image... not a bad thing). Jason Hirata | October 2 - November 2 Opening Reception: October 2, 6 - 9PM Muscle Beach Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 02, 2015 at 13:21 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 10.01.15 First Thursday Picks October 2015 I'm back from my recent travels and looking forward to seeing everyone on First Thursday. A theme of technology in art has presented itself this October... something welcome when so much of the discussion of art in Portland gets bogged down in retarde definitions of hand made craft. Look, a lot of bleeding edge technology art involves a kind of craft, be it coding, the fetishing of glitches or gene splicing. "Craft" is more simply an expression of technique and sometimes tradition, whereas "Art" acts more like the absence of clear definition... a rebus we project our understanding of the world and ourselves upon (Art and Craft are not mutually exclusive of course).
That said, here are the technology art shows I suggest you see this month (PNCA's Alien She and Malia Jensen at W+K from last month are still up as well): 
I can't think of anything better than the faux pop up shop Dynamic Horizons in the Everett Station Lofts at Composition Gallery to punctuate the tech theme. Described or positioned as a, "Premium trend start-up Dynamic Horizons Ltd. debuts new line of ephemeral wearable technology in a stock Portland-style pop-up shop.... The Intangibles line of ephemeral wearable technology meditates on the shifting nature of place, self, and access in the climate of fiber-optic-fast obsolescence. Comprised of 3 chimeric amalgams of preexisting wearables, the line conjectures at the form factors of future gadgets as they grow more intimately on and into us. Technology is often tritely described as ethically neutral. This is to ignore the built in complexities of new technologies as well as the inherent goals of their makers (i.e., profit.) Determination about the fundamental purpose of a thing is foreclosed well in advance of its use, swathed in impenetrable terms of service. Moreover, the devices and services we use also change us. We become bots in their net. This intent and tendency can be redirected, but requires cognizance, cultivated skill, and solidarity among creative networks, both IRL and URL. Intangibles devices are made from the 'biodegradable' plastic, PLA*, popular in disposable table ware, and will rot for compulsory participation in the upgrade culture." There is a lot of sci-fi related work in Portland (the three best practitioners being Brenna Murphy, Damien Gilley and Laura Fritz) and the tongue in cheek Dynamic Horizons Ltd: Intangibles was designed by Tabitha Nikolai, deSolid State, Matt Dan, Jason N. Le, and is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Dynamic Horizons | October 1 - 31 (Saturdays 12-5) Product Launch & Opening: October 1, 6-9PM Composition 625 NW Everett St. Suite 102 (on 6th) ...(more Upfor and Albatross) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 01, 2015 at 14:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.25.15 Avantika Bawa at White Box 
Avantika Bawa exhibits a lot but her Aqua Mapping show at the White Box is perhaps the best realized of her shows on the North American continent. In it an inflatable buoy in India becomes a point on the map and a location as a rebus. Perfect for the smartphone tracking era... Avantika Bawa | Aqua Mapping Artist Talk: September 26, 2015 3:00 - 4:00PM White Box University of Oregon in Portland 24 NW First Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 25, 2015 at 12:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.18.15 Demos 
Bay Area based Ernest collective has been in a residency at St. John's C3:initiative for some time now creating the Demos: Wapato Correctional Facility project and it is time to finally unveil it. It seems like all of the pressure on artist facilities closer to downtown should spawn more activity in St. Johns, which has a long history of alternative spaces and studios. Demos: Wapato Correctional Facility | September 18 - November 22 Opening Reception: September 18 6:30 - 9:30PM Wapato Roundtable: September 19 11AM - 1PM at St. Johns Community Center c3:initiative 7326 N. Chicago Ave (St. Johns) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 18, 2015 at 10:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.03.15 First Thursday Picks September 2015 This September is eclectic lady land for the Portland Art Scene:
 Alien She is in depth and groundbreaking survey of the influence of Riot Grrrl on artists today and the culture at large. Extremely topical it is easily the one must see show this month, even if it is in 2 locations, both PNCA and the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Curated by Astria Suparak and Ceci Moss. According to the PR: "Riot Grrrl formed in reaction to pervasive and violent sexism, racism and homophobia in the punk music scene and in the culture at large. Its participants adapted strategies from earlier queer and punk feminisms and '70s radical politics, while also popularizing discussions of identity politics occurring within academia, but in a language that spoke to a younger generation. This self-organized network made up of teenagers and twenty-somethings reached one another through various platforms, such as letters, zines, local meetings, regional conferences, homemade videos, and later, chat rooms, listservs and message boards. The movement eventually spread worldwide, with chapters opening in at least thirty-two states and twenty-six countries Question is if this will have any effect on the sexist bias in the local art scene, one which still favors men (despite most of our curators and gallerists being women) and rewards women more for their "role" than the work? (I'll save that in depth discussion for later) Alien She | September 3 2015 - January 9 2016 Opening: September 3 6:00-8:00PM Museum of Contemporary Craft 724 NW Davis PNCA (511 Gallery) 511 NW Broadway ... (more with Malia Jensen and Lauren Hartman) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 03, 2015 at 14:55 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 08.28.15 Jim Dine reading and installation 
Jim Dine Jim Dine is a legendary artist whose heart series became perhaps too popular in dorm room posters in the late 1980's and 90's. I prefer his odd pop assemblages of the late 1950's through the 60's... extremely underrepresented in the art historical cannon and on museum walls. He will be at Passages's Bookstore this weekend for a reading and book launch for Dine's, "Poems to Work On," published by Cuneiform Press. It is in the Towne Storage building (their last event there) so it is a back to roots sort of event rather than a dead museum setting. Jim Dine Reading and Installation | August 29th 12-3PM Passages Bookstore 17 SE Third Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 28, 2015 at 12:37 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 08.22.15 Lecture on Ai Weiwei  Ai Weiwei, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, on display at PAM (photo Jeff Jahn) Portlanders love a good lecture and it can't hurt that wildfire smoke has made outdoor activities difficult so a lecture on Ai Weiwei by Lilian M. Li on The Zodiac Animals in the Garden of Perfect Brightness: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and Cultural Patrimony in a climate controlled museum might be just what you need this weekend. We interviewed Mr. Ai here years ago but it should be interesting to most to find out how this art piece is more of a reflection on the rest of the world's familiarity with Chinese culture than Chinese culture itself (a majority of Chinese restaurants have something related to their zodiac so instead of something like the Three Friends of Winter he parrots back a Western version Chinese culture back to the West). It's a bit like me wearing a plastic Viking helmet on the Irish Coast (something I'd never do btw)... it recalls a kind of cultural invasion/subjugation that has been turned into tourist fodder. Most non Chinese know little about their history and other shows like Margie Livingston, Gods & Heroes and Anish Kapoor make it a good time to visit the museum. The Zodiac Animals in the Garden of Perfect Brightness: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and Cultural Patrimony Lecture: August 23 2-3PM Portland Art Museum 12129 SW Park Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 22, 2015 at 12:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 08.17.15 Melody Owen at Hand-Eye Supply 
Generally artists are most effective as speakers when they are discussing the particular and often esoteric interests that fuel their practice. That is why the latest conversation at Hand-Eye Supply, Cut Away World, with artist Melody Owen looks intriguing. For years she has collected cutaway cross-sections that reveal the anatomy of the subject... creating a kind of intimacy and an illusion of objectivity. The thing is they are essentially maps and like all maps they have a certain subjective angle or set of world view assumptions that they are derived from. I also feel this is the opening salvo of the new season in Portland (things kinda go on hiatus or at least become very "volitional" from July through mid August in Portland's art scene.) Cut Away World | Melody Owen Talk: August 18 6-7PM Hand-Eye Supply 427 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 17, 2015 at 14:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 08.08.15 w a r e @ Surplus Space 
Site responsive, specific and spatially engaged art is a major part of Portland's art scene and the latest show at Surplus Space, curated by Will Elder titled "Ware" is the latest in a long string of shows. "w a r e" features works by Eli Coplan and Rose Dickson and promises to explore, "themes of spatial relations and synchronicity." This makes sense since over the past 15+ years Portland has experiece a major influx of new residents and a building boom, but the question of sucessful work isn't just "responding" to site and using space so I'm very interested in all of these shows. There are poets and philosophers of space and then there are those who simply take it up. As the planet has become quite crowded this question of space has become a defining issue for humanity. w a r e | August 9 - 21 Opening: Sunday, August 9, 3-6PM Closing/Panel Discussion: August 21, 7PM Surplus Space 3726 NE 7th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 08, 2015 at 13:46 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.06.15 First Thursday Picks August 2015 
Ellen George is simply one of the very best artists in Portland... if you don't know this it is likely because she is a woman and doesn't teach/or an alumnus of one of the local art schools. She's one of the very sci-fi/design savvy artists I keep mentioning (Damien Gilley, Avantika Bawa, Laura Fritz, Jordan Tull, Paula Rebsom, Laura Hughes, Tony Chrenka, Wendy Given, MSHR, Matt Leavitt, Nathaniel Thayer Moss, Jenene Nagy, the former Appendix guys etc.) The genre is significant because they thrive on the shifting uneasy future of civilization as channeled by the Portland ethos, which isn't restricted to Portland). Also, her projects with Jerry Mayer are consistently very strong as well, and their latest "Formation" at NineGallery looks like another winner. Formation|Jerry Mayer & Ellen George August 5 - August 30 2015 Opening Reception: August 6th 6:00 - 9:00PM Nine Gallery (Enter through Blue Sky Gallery) 122 NW 8th Avenue 
PNCA's Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies is one of my favorite programs in Portland and the thesis exhibition for the 2015 is something you should catch. Drift: PNCA's Lo-Rez MFA Thesis 2015| July 30 - August 9th First Thursday Reception: August 6th, 6:00 - 8:00PM Regular Viewing Hours: Mon-Sat, 9am-10pm, Sunday, 10AM-6PM Pacific Northwest College of Art| Lemelson Innovation Studio (ground floor) 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 06, 2015 at 14:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.28.15 Renters on the move with Recess Last night PORT's Tori Abernathy was on Koin 6 news discussing the Portland Renter's Assembly and the idea of rent control and its something we have been following (check out this review). First of all, the Koin story conveniently cut out any mention of art but the "space" Tori discussed was Recess's old home with studios etc. It was a thriving hive for Portland's vaunted "creative class". I hate that term but it is true a lot of what has made Portland so desirable (artists re-imagining the world) has also pushed many artists out of their hives. The artists are still here (for now) but something should be done as artists are the canaries in Portland's realestate coalmine. Is rent control the answer? Probably not, but it is worth exploring... perhaps 1 year residencies built into new residential projects? What about Vancouver BC's style of Community Amenity Contributions, which I've brought up many times? The simple % for art that such building projects generates isn't the kind of cutting edge art it is displacing. It is tame in many ways and I think of the difference is analogous between that between wild and hatchery salmon when I consider Portland's artist ecosystem and the type of art that is produced in undeveloped vs developed spaces.
With all that in mind Recess is renting from Air BnB for two events in Portland's Alphabet District. The first will be a series of talks on Wednesday then an exhibition on Friday.  Air BnB rental for Recess' latest. A Good Place To Live: Talking Summary by Steve Kado When: Wednesday, July 29th 7-8:30PM Kado's talk is "is an effort to transplant the central issue of classical philosophy, the goal of understanding what would in both material and ethical terms constitute 'a good life.'" Capacity is limited so RSVP info@recessart.com to reserve a space and address The second part of the program is an exhibition titled Modern Apartment in Alphabet District. It takes place July 31th, 2015 from 3-7PM with hour long appointments starting and ending on the hour (space is limited to 15 so contact info@recessart.com to get your time and location) Artists include: Will Elder, Steve Kado and Rebecca Peel and their "Interventions, both architectural and sentimental, agitate the uncanny viscosity of our unknown host's personal brand." It sounds intriguing. Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 28, 2015 at 12:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.21.15 Wendy Given speaks at PNCA  Part of Wendy Given's Creatiio exhibition at Hap gallery in 2014 Tomorrow Wendy Given will discuss her work in the brand new Mediatheque hall at PNCA. Given is one of numerous local artists who explores the way nature creeps into our consciousness via the way it disrupts the sense of what is contemporary. In fact, it is often pagan and sci-fi at the same time... making the genre an heir to surrealism in some important ways. Basically, animals have a way of taking viewers out of time and creating an empathetic and or fight or flight present (some bright curator could do a challenging survey with her Malia Jensen, Vanessa Renwick, Vicky Lynn Wilson, Ellen George, Laura Fritz, Paul Clay, Paula Rebsom, Julia Oldham, Melody Owen, Rick Bartow, sometimes Heidi Schwegler and Seattle's Jeffry Mitchell exploring animal in the contemporary art ecosystem but our institutions don't really look all that hard at trends regionally, even though nearly all of these artists show outside the region in major institutions). Maybe it is the fact that most of these artists are women? We tend not to value empathy/nature in art, especially when it is existentially unsettling. Which is a great lead in to checking out Given's talk. Artist Talk: Wendy Given July 22, 6:30 - 8:00PM PNCA (Mediatheque) 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 21, 2015 at 13:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.02.15 First Thursday Picks July 2015 It is a hot one for the Portland art scene this First Thursday, here are what look to be the coolest shows (hint they all involve mandala-like symmetry):
 Honour Mack,Emerging, oil and acrylic on canvas Yale trained Honour Mack is the visiting artist for PNCA's Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies and her exhibition Resolving Chaos should be a good introduction to students and the art scene alike. Her work traffics in the fascination with spirituality that some ascribe to the younger so-called millenial generation (it is sometimes true, as a gen-xer I reject the rule of stereotypes... for example I'm not cynical and it is obvious neither is Mack). It should be of interest to many Portland artists, though one has to ask, why would one want to resolve chaos if it is the natural state of flux for the universe? Resolving Chaos | July 2 - August 8 PNCA 511 NW Broadway 
Iconoclast Nathaniel Thayer Moss's Incision at Hap Gallery marks his debut solo show in the Pearl District. Becausehis work challengs perception and draws on uber-geek/design source material, Moss was the first name I gave when this newish gallerist wanted some leads to check out. I've worked with him and he shows immense potential that doesn't really translate in photographs. Incision | July 2 - August 1 Oprning Reception: July 2 6-8PM Hap Gallery 916 NW Flanders ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 02, 2015 at 15:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 06.29.15 Environmental Impact Statement at Surplus Space 
It is strange how rare group exhibitions that consider the environment are in Portland. Somehow, most of the institutional curators are unwilling to approach a major thread of discussion here (the 2012 Northwest Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum did though). In that void... enters Environmental Impact Studies, a group who won a Precipice Fund grant and will be taking over Surplus Space for a week. Lead by Lisa Schonberg, Leif J Lee and my arch nemesis Amy Harwood (long story, she dressed in a bear costume in 2003 and attacked me with her sandwich board... then we co-curated the enviro-conversantIn Vicinity together in 2009. She's great.) Basically Environmental Impact Statement will be conducting interventions in Mt. Hood's forests, where logging and pipelines have been threatening ecosystems for many years and the Surplus Space show will ideally bring some of that back to Portland featuring work by: Featuring work by: Jodie Cavalier, Jodi Darby, Lisa Schonberg, Heather Treadway, Amy Wheeler Harwood, Leif J. Lee, Alison Jane Clarys, Danielle Ross, Gary Wiseman, Sam Pirnak and others. Environmental Impact Statement | June 29th - July 17th Opening: June 29, 6:00 - 9:00PM Closing Reception & Talk: July 17th 7:00PM Surplus Space 3726 NE 7th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 29, 2015 at 12:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 06.19.15 Weekend Picks  Sneak peek of No Boundaries at PICA (photo Jeff Jahn) Aboriginal art (like all great things) is controversial, facing relentless questions of authenticity and exploitation... yet the strength of the best work stands and you will be able to see some of it in PICA's latest show, No Boundaries. It also foregrounds a strong discussion around collecting art (all coming from the Scholl's world renowned collection)... an example Portland's young patronage system needs more of. Great Art transcends, while embodying all orbital questions and tensions and this exhibition does occasionally deliver those moments where all the minuses become plusses. True, No Boundaries is new territory for PICA in many understandably head scratching ways. For example, many of the contemporary aboriginal artists presented are no longer living yet PICA typically works directly with living artists. Also, this the only West Coast leg of a national museum tour, yet PICA is definitely not a museum. Still, I understood why PICA curator Kristan Kennedy wanted to do this (PICA is the least linear thinking of all of Portland's art institutions). So why? First, the Scholl's collection represents some of the most vital abstract work of the past 50 years, the kind no serious painter can ignore. Contemporary aboriginal art came of age in the 90's and caught on in Britain before other places... they are filled with contraditions. For example, some of the works on display are legitimate masterpieces, though the Scholls don't baby them with museum requisites like climate control. Lastly, No Boundaries is heart stoppingly good in addition to being a turbid collision of worlds... some of the greatest aboriginal artists on view like Paddy Bedford and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri exemplify the joy and heartache of this collision and thereby form a commentary on both a now vanished world outside of the art market, tragic race relations and true contemporary influence. It is incredibly current and nobody, especially painters should miss this traveling gem of an exhibition organized by my friend Bill Fox at the Nevada Art Museum. Where? The venue is in Chinatown kitty corner from the old PCVA and across from the old Portland Art Center's spaces. Artists: Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri (1958-), Paddy Bedford (1922-2007), Jananggoo Butcher Cherel (1918-2009), Tommy Mitchell (1943-2013), Ngarra (1920-2008), Prince of Wales (Midpul) (1938-2002), Billy Joongoora Thomas (1920-2012), Boxer Milner Tjampitjin (1935-2009), and Tjumpo Tjapanangka (1929–2007) No Boundaries | June 20 - August 16, 2015 Opening Reception: June 20 7:00PM Historian's talk with Henry Skarit | June 22 6:30PM (free) PICA (main exhibition at Mason Ehrman building annex, with a few leftover works at PICA HQ) 467 NW Davis, Portland Oregon Hours: Th-Fri, 12:00-6:30PM Sat-Sun, 12:00-4:00PM 
Last Fall, globetrotter & local art scene stalwart Liz Obert's latest work Dualities went viral with some nice media attention from Slate and today you can catch the work in Portland. Dualities explores the complexities and bifurcations present in those who live with mental illness. Obert's approach is diaristic, slightly reminiscent of Sophie Calle and I'm fascinated by the subject matter... myself and those nearest me are mostly very fortunate to not have to experience these issues but still I think all of us would be surprised how common, manageable yet untreated mental illness is. Liz Obert Dualities | June 15 - August 15 Opening Reception June 19 5-7PM The Olympic Mills Commerce Center 107 SE Washington St ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 19, 2015 at 9:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 06.13.15 Weekend Picks: Gods, Heroes and Hipsters The Portland Art Museum's Gods and Heroes, Masterpieces from the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Historically the Ecole des Beaux Arts was one of the toughest and most prestigious of all of the art academies in Europe. It boasts a heavy hitting "last name only necessary" alumni roster including: Gericault, Delecroix, Moreau, Manet, Degas, Renior, Cassatt, Bonnard and Rodin... spanning into the 20th Century. The collection is one of the world's finest including 200 works from Prix de Rome contestants. They wouldhave studied some of the works on view in Portland. The PAM Exhibition will focus on 140 pre Twentieth Century works by; Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Honore Fragonard, Anne-Louis Girodet, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Antoine-Louis Barye, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jean-Antoine Houdon, Francois Rude and drawings by Simon Vouet, Antoine-Jean Gros, and Theodore Gericault. The Homeric and classicaly versed allegorical subect matter has always held an unexpected allure for Portlanders and I suspect it is the enmeshed civic/moral storytelling/ambiguities one finds in these works that endears them so. I certainly enjoy a good scene from the Trojan War and the way an artist might interpret a particular moment in Achilles tale. Perhaps check out the curators talk on Sunday at 2:00 to get a better grounding on the subject matter? Gods and Heroes, Masterpieces from the Ecole des Beaux Arts | June 13 - September 13 Curators In Conversation: June 14, 2:00PM | Whitsell Auditorium Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park 
What could be more different than Gods and Heroes?... Todd Johnson's Hipster-ish Malt Liquor and Cold Cuts photography exhibition at FalseFront tonight. Who knows, maybe 500 years from now academy trained painters might be painting their interpretation of what happens at Falsefront tonight? Malt Liquor and Cold Cuts | June 13 - July 12 Opening Reception: June 13 6-9PM FalseFront 4518 NE 32 Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 13, 2015 at 12:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 06.06.15 Weekend Picks  Mel Katz 2009 (photo Jeff Jahn) Mel Katz is easily one of the most important figures in the history of Portland's art scene so his 50 year retrospective at the Hallie Ford Museum is much anticipated. As a PSU and PNCA professor as well as a founding force within the PCVA, he brought new international standards to Portland. As an artist he was the only Portland based artist whose name and work I was familiar with (from afar) when I moved here 16 years ago. We interviewed him extensively here on PORT and the work remains as vibrant today as it ever was. Art can become cynical or defensive as a career progresses and it is a testament to Mel's achievement that no trace of those sentiments can be found in his work. His work stands as a proof in concept for worthy, high minded ideals and engagement. Make the trip to Salem. On and Off The Wall | June 6 - August 23 Hallie Ford Museum 700 State Street Salem Oregon 
Vase by Tatsuzo Shimaoka The Portland Japanese Garden does the best craft/design exhibition in Portland, partly because Japanese craft and design traditions are simply incredible. Their latest exhibition Kizuna, The Rebirth of Mahiko Ceramics explores the the work of Mahiko, a remote pottery town whose legendary kiln was destroyed by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami incident. The term Kizuna is loosely translates to, "the bonds between people," and has been repeated frequently since the 2011 disaster. Kizuna, The Rebirth of Mahiko Ceramics | June 6 - July 5 Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Avenue ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 06, 2015 at 10:46 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 06.04.15 First Thursday Picks June 2015 
Ethan Rose at PDX A great deal of sound art becomes gimicky quickly but what I like about Ethan Rose's latest "Entwined" is the way he uses sound waves to create visible waveforms. There is a lot of promise in such an honest approach and soundwaves are incredibly interesting visually. Entwined: a sound installation | June 2-27 PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders  Gordon Parks, Department Store, Mobile Alabama (1956) Gordon Parks is a legend in both photography and the history of civil rights. Sometimes Art simply is History. This is one of those confluences and Portland is lucky to have this show at Blue Sky. I think the press release says it all: "In September 1956, LIFE magazine published a series of 26 color photographs by Gordon Parks that documented aspects of everyday life for the Thorntons, an African-American family, in and around Mobile, Alabama during Jim Crow segregation. The photo-essay, 'The Restraints: Open and Hidden,' contained only a fraction of the countless images that Parks shot during this time, but until the fortuitous discovery of 70 additional color transparencies in 2011, the bulk of the photographs taken for this assignment were thought to be lost. Throughout the month of June, Blue Sky will show a limited-edition portfolio of twelve of these rarely-seen color images, reprinted and loaned by the Gordon Parks Foundation for this special exhibition." Gordon Parks | June 3 - 28 Blue Sky 122 NW 8th ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 04, 2015 at 16:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.27.15 Richard Hunt & Lee Kelly at PNCA 
My favorite Richard Hunt, Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1975) at University of Chicago There is something about heavy existential metal and by that I mean sculpture sited in public spaces. Richard Hunt and Lee Kelly are both synonymous with heavy form art in their respective cities of Chicago and Portland so it should be interesting to hear them compare notes Thursday at PNCA. Both are lyrical but I liken Hunt to being more influenced by the Futurists like Boccioni and Kelly more to language, perhaps even the design of typefaces? Moderated by Pietro Belluschi's son Tony and his wife Marti since the two artists had interacted with the noted midcentury architect. Artist conversation: May 28 6:30 - 8:30PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 27, 2015 at 18:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 05.26.15 Slow Fall To Earth 
Shaking off the holiday, time to reengage? Today at HQHQ as a component of Central's symposium, Peripheral to What?, Amur Initiatives Media and Research presents an, "inquiry into the actuation of an airdrop." Slow Fall to Earth | May 26 7:00PM HQHQ Project Space 232 SE Oak St #108 Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 26, 2015 at 13:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 05.19.15 Gamblin at Curiosity Club 
Tonight Scott Gellatly of Gamblin Paints will give a presentation on Portland own premium oil paint manufacturer to Curiosity Club. Oil paint may seem old school to some but the proliferation of color in modern life is a relatively new thing. Before the impressionists paints had to be produced in individual artist studios, which by necessity resembled factories in their own right. Ive taken the factory tour several times and it is always fascinating, so do yourself a favor and check this out if you have any interest in painting or color itself. Gamblin Lecture: May 19th, 6-7PM Hand Eye Supply 427 NW Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 19, 2015 at 10:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.13.15 Mary Henry at Jeffrey Thomas  Mary Henry at her home During the Twentieth Century the story of Modern Art was mostly one of men but in the past 20 years a more varigated and gender accurate history has been rediscovered major contributors like Sonia Delaunay, Gabreiel Munter and Lygia Clark. There is still a long way to go though and the fact that Helen Frankenthaler's work still sells for less than Morris Louis' is galling since she introduced the staining technique and was more than a little involved in the development of Greenberg's most important theories. We are just beginning a major revision. Enter the late Mary Henry to that list and her estate's first exhibition with Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art titled Gardens of Delight. A student of Laslo Maholy-Nagy at the New Bauhaus in Chicago Henry distinguished herself by absorbing the Bauhaus teaching of forms conveying underlying spiritual information. Today we call it good design but back then it needed to have an more exotic terminology. Henry is an exceptional poet of forms as Arcy conveyed a while back here on PORT. So often female artists have to traffic in a sense of vulnerability with their private lives or nakedness being used. Henry, like Agnes Martin and Frankenthaler, she's just excellent and justifies how abstraction gets us back to basics by removing gender norms entirely from the work. Garden of Delight | May 13 - July 11 Opening Reception: May 13 6-8PM Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art 2219 NW Raleigh Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 13, 2015 at 12:16 | Comments (1) PermalinkThursday 05.07.15 First Thursday Picks May 2015 With the very early Spring it seems like the Summer season of group shows is out in full force already. Yet it is still Spring and this is what is in bloom:
 Midori Hirose is one of those artists that the Portland art scene loves critically (we were the first to review her when she was relatively unknown and again and yet again). I has been a while since we have seen her go all out so this exhibition at PSU's often excellent Littman Gallery is quite welcome. We shall see what this humorous alchemist is up to this time? The Joker Is Wild | May 6 - May 27, 2015 Reception: May 7, 2013, 7 - 8PM Artist's talk: Artist talk and performance: Thurs, May 14, 7-8PM TJIW w/ special guest Rattledick (music for the high strung) Littman Gallery, Smith Hall, Room 250 Portland State University, 1825 SW Broadway ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 07, 2015 at 14:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.01.15 Weekend Picks It is you final weekend to catch Italian Style at PAM, Hakkodo at the Japanese Garden as well as Italian Style at PAM, Hakkodo at the Japanese Garden as well as Julie Alpert at the Archer Gallery. These are my picks for this weekend art wise:
 Megan Whitmash at Reading Frenzy Sunday afternoon Jennifer Armbrust (PORT co-founder) and her co-curator Michelle Blade present Feminist Bookstore at Reading Frenzy. Artists; Lisa Anne Auerbach, Michelle Blade, Alika Cooper, Edie Fake, Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Whitney Hubbs, Jessica Hutchins, Jessie Rose Vala and Megan Whitmarsh have re-imagined covers of feminist classics. On Sunday 1-3PM you are encouraged to bring in your own feminist classics and create your own custom dust cover with supplies on hand. All covers created during the event will be scanned and posted on feministlibrary.org According to the press release, "Drawing attention to the role of feminist thinking in artistic practice, Feminist Bookstore celebrates the contribution of writers, theorists and intellectuals. Each artist created a custom dust jacket for a book that has shaped their life, work, or way of being. These jackets will be displayed on the original books, inviting viewer to engage not just with the art, but with the texts themselves." Feminist Library | May 1-31 Dust Jacket Event: Sunday May 3, 1 - 4PM Reading Frenzy 3628 N. Mississippi Ave  Acanthus, lacquered bowl by Naoko Goto Dont miss the last weekend to catch 4 generations of the Goto family's lacquer work in Hakkodo, The Artisans of Kamakura. It is also a reunion of sorts since Unkyu Goto won the Gold Medal for outstanding Craftsmanship in Portland's 1905 World's Fair. There is a reason the Japanese Garden has put on the strongest craft shows in the city for several years now and this is no exception. In a rare move a woman, Keiko Goto is now head of the family's workshop while her younger sister Naoko has opened a more moder solo practice. Definitely check it out, besides the Japanese Garden itself is sublime and a top shelf experience. The sheer scope of the exhibition with its exquisite craft presents a living continuity that a lot of artisanal crafts have trouble with (trendy retro might seem "authentic" but the genuine is the real thing that "authentic" makes pretenses of being but is not). This doesn't feel antiquarian so much as an exquisite family reunion. I'll have more on this but since it is such a lovely weekend go to the garden. Hakkodo, The Artisans of Kamakura | April 10 - May 3 Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Avenue" Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 01, 2015 at 12:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 04.29.15 Frameless Continuum  Cantaloup (still) Vasulkas inc. Most art has a technical aspect, from the innovation of mass produced pigments to the mechanics of photography... the history of most artistic genres is an index of crafted technology. Video art is obviously very influenced in similar ways by technology and Frameless Continuum: Image Processing in Early American Video Art is an exploration the way the craft of image processing technology helped develop the video art genre in the 1970'sand 80's. The look is all the retro rage again and colorizing, keying, switching, and fading have come back in digital apps so here is your chance to learn the history and marvel at the massive processing power your smartphone now has. Of course that ubiquity and ease can lead to overuse. What's more why doesn't the discussion of craft extend to processing electronics and computer code? Frameless Continuum | April 30, 7:30PM PNCA Mediatheque 511 NW Broadway $8 Suggested Donation | Free for PNCA students with current ID Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 29, 2015 at 19:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 04.24.15 Weekend Pick: Laser Gilley 
It had to happen, it was inevitable... one of Portland's favorite artists, Damien Gilley, has harnessed the power of lasers and for one night will turn Carl & Sloan Contemporary into laserland. It will also be a book release for his monograph Vibrations. I've followed and worked with Damien over the years being the first to review him while he was still in grad school (I normally wait till they graduate). He's grown a lot from a local favorite to an artist with an international career. Basically, this is chief art event this weekend in one smallish gallery and it continues to reiterate that science/design/scifi art (I call them space invaders)is a major trend in work here that hasn't been adequately addressed by any institution in Oregon yet. They all explore the tension and promise of technology/design in a city obsessed with the quality of life. Damien Gilley | April 25 6-10PM Carl & Sloan 8371 N. Interstate Ave. #1 Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 24, 2015 at 16:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 04.17.15 The Space Between 
I generally don't plug shows by artists that are still in school unless it is a thesis show but this 2 day pop up exhibition titled The Space Between looks promising. It explores one of my favorite themes of symmetry/asymmetry and teaser images look like it is installed in intriguing ways. It is related to an old zen principle of breaking symmetry in order to to bring life to the space (the Japanese Garden is full of it and the implications in mathematics are vast). Curated by two OCAC MFA's Sarah Eaton and Shiloh Gastello it features; Christiana Hedlund, Caylee Hoover, Colin Kippen, Sarah Miller, Jennifer Sindon and Emma Weber. The Space Between | April 17 and 18 Opening Reception: Friday, April 17th, 6 - 9PM Ash Street Project Studio, 524 SE Ash Street Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 17, 2015 at 13:47 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 04.13.15 Julie Alpert's Splat! at Archer Gallery  Julie Alpert Julie Alpert is a Seattle based painter and installation artist and along with hercurrent exhibition Splat! at the Archer gallery, she is the artist in residence at Clark College. I like how the Archer has become an embassy in the Portland area for Seattle artists over the years. It would be good for everyone if there was a similarly reciprocal venue outside but still near Seattle. Then there is the difficulty of showing artists from Vancouver Canada in the States despite being so close by. Ah borders, the arts are naturally inclined to cross them, governments... not so much. Seattle and Portland's art scenes can actually learn a great deal from each other, both from their differences and similarities. Show up and compare notes at Splat! Splat! | April 6 - May 7, 2015 Reception: April 15, 5-7PM Artist Talk: April 15: 4:00PM Archer Gallery 1943 Fort Vancouver Way, Penguin Union Building Vancouver Washington Gallery Hours: Tues.-Thurs. 10AM - 7PM, Fri. and Sat. 12-5PM Phone: 360 992 2246 Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 13, 2015 at 20:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 04.10.15 Weekend Picks 
Hakkodo, The Artisans of Kamakura, is the finale in a trio of of exhibitions tracing traditions in Japanese lacquer and brings 4 generations of artists (all from one town) who have for 29 generations handed down the tradition from father to son. Now a woman, Keiko Goto, is building a new tradition along with her sister Naoko, building upon the past but moving in a new direction. PORT reviewed the exquisite second in the series by Kazumi Murose, and the first Rediscovering Lacquer was our top pick of 2014's craft/design exhibitions. Definitely check it out, besides the Japanese Garden itself is sublime and a top shelf experience. Hakkodo, The Artisans of Kamakura | April 10 - May 3 Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Avenue ...more (Heidi Schwegler + Richard Mosse) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 10, 2015 at 14:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.07.15 Amy Whitaker Lecture 
There is a great deal going on midweek in Portland visual arts wise but Amy Whitaker's lecture looks promising. Whitaker is the author of Museum Legs a collection of essays on the life of museums and public art and explores the intersection of art, business, and everyday life. . She is also the president of the Professional Organization for Women in the Arts (POWarts) and a mentor for fellows of the TED Conferences as well as full-time faculty at the Sothebys Institute of Art in New York. Amy holds an MBA from Yale and an MFA in oil painting from the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Her undergraduate degree is in political science and studio art from Williams College. Amy Whitaker | MFA AC+D Visiting Artist Lecture Lecture: April 8, 6:30- 8:30PM AC+D STUDIOS 421 NE 10th Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 07, 2015 at 11:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.02.15 First Thursday Picks April 2015 Well spring is in the air, bringing a sense of newness and renewal. Here is what should be fresh tonight:
There's nothing fresher than new BFA's (hopefully that's true). Enter PNCA's 503/971 exhibition, organized by two students, Joseph McGehee and Joseph Greer the exhibition will survey current art students from PNCA, PSU, Reed, OCAC, and Lewis & Clark. Curated by Kristan Kennedy (Portland Institute for Contemporary Art), Robert Snowden (Yale Union), Libby Werbel (Portland Museum of Modern Art) this will be the first real shakedown of the new commons space so Im extra curious how it plays out as a gallery space. 503/971 | April 1 - April 29 Opening Reception: April 2 6-9PM 511 Commons PNCA 511 NW Broadway ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 02, 2015 at 15:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 03.30.15 Burkheimer & Antoni  Burkheimer is at Linfield Karl Burkheimer's ambiguous architecture for "Not It" will be the final show curator Cris Moss curates for the Linfield Gallery... one of the very best spaces in the region so let's hope his replacement is up to the task (the U of O likely snagged Moss as a way to compete more effectively with PNCA, which now has a vastly enhanced profile with the 511 building). Burkheimer is at his strongest when he's more of an architectural gadfly and less sculptural, yet still not architecture( he has strayed into both areas lately so I sense this is a return to form/unform) and Linfield's soaring gallery is one of the few in the region which presents a lot of room for such fugitive interlocutionary spatial experiences. The fact that this trickster is opening this on April 1st is another good sign to go see "Not It"... both Burkheimer and Moss enjoy a smart prank and sometimes that strategy works wonders. Not It | April 1 - May 6 Reception and Talk: Wednesday, April 1, at 5:30PM (artist talk) Delkin Recital Hall, 6:30PM reception in gallery Linfield Gallery | Linfield College 900 SE Baker st., McMinnville, OR  Janine Antoni Ingrown, 1998 7 years ago Reed used to have the best college art programming/shows in the region... That isn't true anymore but their Ostrow lecture series remains one of the best bets. What's more, it has been over a decade since PICA was the last to bring Janine Antoni to speak to Portlanders. Antoni's work presents the body and its functions as a kind of aesthetic intelligence made manifest in the tradition of greats like Ana Mendieta, Chris Burden, Richard Long and the once great Marina Abromovic. There is a current crop of younger practitioners like Tino Seghal and Rossana Martinez (whose work I brought to PNCA in 2010) to name a few. Considering the popularity of such physical intelligence work it will be interesting what she has to say about not jumping the shark. Janine Antoni | Ostrow Lecture Series Artist talk: March 31 7:00PM Reed College | Kaul Auditorium Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 30, 2015 at 12:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.05.15 First Thursday Picks March 2015 It is one of the strongest First Thursdays in years for Portland. Here is where you gotta go. (Liz Leach, Adams & Ollman and Portland's newest major gallery Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art all have shows that were up last month but worth a look). Here is what is new:
 Gathering Autonomy: Justseeds Artists' Cooperative at PNCA's new 511 Gallery Obviously the opening of PNCA's 511 building is a crucial part of Portland's visual art scene and the school is throwing a First Thursday Festival from 6-9PM. Explore the building, which will be filled with multimedia art installations, even outdoor projections upon the building. Check out the new 511 gallery, which presents Gathering Autonomy: Justseeds Artists' Cooperative. First Thursday Festival | March 5 6-9PM PNCA 511 NW Broadway  Gate E at Muscle Beach Muscle Beach has taken over a great space in Morgans Alley for Gate E a group show featuring, Erika Ceruzzi, Zack Davis, Lali Foster, Heather McKenna and Rebecca R Peel. Gate E | February 20-March 25 First Thursday open til 7PM Muscle Beach @ Morgan's Alley 515 SW Broadway ... (More) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 05, 2015 at 12:08 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.16.15 Vicky Lynn Wilson's Era at Alexander Gallery  Vicky Lynn Wilson at CCC Vicky Lynn Wilson is one of those artists we here at PORT track. Partially, it is because she always puts such exhaustive effort into her exhibitions. Her previous Cumulus was a tour de force so an exhibition tracing her milestone of turning 40 plus a look back at her transition from art student to professor called Era should be worth the trip to Oregon City (but its only open during the week but contact them to see if something can be done: kates(at)clackamas.edu). Wilson has always effectively mined her own life and material experiences and the Alexander Gallery is one of the nicest in the state (wish it were programmed accordingly with the same rigor/vigor/hours as say the Archer Gallery because it is a great space). ERA | February 17 - March 19 Opening & Talk: Thursday, February 19th, 12PM Alexander Gallery | Gallery Hours are 9-5 Monday-Friday Clackamas Community College (Niemeyer Center for the Performing Arts) 19600 Molalla Avenue, Oregon City Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 16, 2015 at 22:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.11.15 Midweek doings  Area view Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art's inaugural show (photo Jeff Jahn) We broke the story a few weeks ago but tonight marks the return of one of the gallerists who started First Thursday, Jeffrey Thomas. He's charmingly bemused the unveiling isn't ON First Thursday but that hardly matters, the exhibition shows off Jeffrey's zen tinged tastes brought back from his days as a gallerist in SOHO and the Portland branch of Jamison Thomas, which was one of the first Pearl District spaces. PDX Contemporary and Froelick (now 20 years old) both learned the trade at the Jamison Thomas Gallery. His background simply makes him different than any other gallerist in the Northwest, it shaped him but it has also given him a tremendous amount of perspective that being out of the game for 20 years can give you. If he hadn't been a consistent part of the art scene here this would be a massively jarring re-introduction... but to many of us it wasn't an if but "when" situation. The space is a nicely proportioned white box and the inaugural show The Sum Of Its Parts - Part 1 consists of few area ringers like Mary Henry, Brain Borello, Sean Healy, Laura Fritz and James Lavadour. There are comparative newcomers as well like Ben Buswell and Brad Mildrexler (among others) as well as former Jamison Thomas artists Cyrilla Mozenter and Heather Hutchinson. The Sum Of Its Parts 1 | February 11 - March 21 Opening Reception: February 11 6-9PM Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art 2219 NW Raliegh  Aly Khalifa On Thursday the talk by Aly Kalifa looks like a very interesting talk for designers and entrepreneurs. "Aly Khalifa is design entrepreneur that is addicted to inventive culture. He has specialized in innovation development and launched products for some of the most exciting sports brands in the world. Trained as both an engineer and a designer, Aly has traveled extensively for 19 years to manufacture sporting goods design and technologies. His collaborations have garnered more than 16 patents, been nominated for a Grammy Award and exhibited in the Louvre." Aly is the co-founder of Designbox, a multi-disciplinary workspace of creative professionals. He is also the founder and leader of SPARKcon, the nation's largest open source festival that promotes local creative culture. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 11, 2015 at 12:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 02.07.15 Italian Style in Portland  Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945 opens today at the Portland Art Museum. I can't tell you how many times longtime Portlanders have expressed surprise at this show... Portland and fashion? Yet it is no secret that Portland has changed. Now there is a tight knit and respected clothing design scene here and design of all types is one of the major new economic drivers of this hip yet not following anybody else city. The subject appeals to Portland on numerous levels. There's the obvious design connection, but it is also the way fashion is a way to express optimism on a personal meets community level. Portland gets that. Then there is the strong Italian influence you can find in our cafe culture, espresso anyone? Lastly, there is the museum itself with its Belluschi designed wing where the exhibition begins. The travertine marble floors and palazzo style arcade of the Schnitzer Atrium didn't need any Italianification. The show itself is exquisite. My personal favorite being Mila Schon's gown for Jaqueline Kennedy for Truman Capote's Black and White Ball. It is all here, Marucelli, Gucci, Versace, Dolce and Gabana, Prada... there is even a kitty sweater. A room of Portland designers with Italian influence rounds out the exhibition. There is some menswear including a suit for JFK and as local designer Elizabeth Dye mentioned at the preview fashion is really for everyone. Sure, some of this is ultra bespoke couture but a lot of it is an expression of handmade values and an expression of community pride. A large portion of it is about comfort and style and the Ferrari in the lobby shows just how Italian Style as a mode caught on in the USA with much broader appeal than French fashion. The Ferrari induces constant Ferris Beuller references and references to Audrey Hepburn's old Hollywood glamour are everywhere. About the only thing missing is Bjorn Borg's icon 70's Fila sportswear (Nike and Adidas wouldn't be half of what they are today without Bjorn's immense appeal, Nike snagged McEnroe quickly), it is something Victoria and Albert Museum curator Sonnet Stanfill admitted, though she points it was added to the book for that reason. Still, the exhibition is stunning and a must see as an expression of community pride in design, craft and style. Portland might be relentlessly casual but it is a studied relentlessness that makes this contrasting approach so interesting to us. Italian Style | February 7 - May 3 Curators's Talk: February 8, 2-3PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 07, 2015 at 12:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.05.15 First Thursday February 2015 Picks  My top pick for First Thursday this month has got to be Bill Will's Love Thy Neighbor at Nine Gallery because any artist who uses bread makers, tent poles and felt rockets to explore the absurdity of short range missile warfare simply cannot be ignored. The installation makes a lovely clicking noise too... is it a bomb or bread? Love Thy Neighbor | February 5 - March 1 Opening Reception: February 5 6-9PM Nine Gallery (inside Bluesky) 122 NW 8th  Joe Rudko's Flat Wave at PDX Joe Rudko's latest show Picturesque mines the way the distortions of nostalgia turn once recognizable photographs into a kind of abstraction. In some ways it is a full circle and very zen way of recursively turning photography into an icon but somewhat in reverse of Rauschenberg and Warhol's methods. It also makes sense that his work graces the cover of Death Cab for Cutie's latest album, Kintsugi. Picturesque | February 3- 28 Opening Reception: February 5, 6-8PM PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 05, 2015 at 16:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 01.23.15 Weekend Picks  Jordan Schnitzer speaking to 5th Graders for Under Pressure (photo Jeff Jahn) Under Pressure, making its stop in Eugene, is the most encyclopedic of the exhibitions collector Jordan Schnitzer has touring the country but it is the way the educational program around it presents a pantheon of worldviews and strategies that is so valuable. The list of artists tells the rest of the tale: Radcliffe Bailey, John Baldessari, Jennifer Bartlett, Robert Bechtle, Mark Bennett, Vija Celmins, Enrique Chagoya, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Richard Estes, Joe Feddersen, Eric Fischl, Helen Frankenthaler, Ellen Gallagher, Red Grooms, Damien Hirst, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Alex Katz, Barbara Kruger, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Hung Liu, Brice Marden, Kerry James Marshall, Sarah Morris, Judy Pfaff, Martin Puryear, Robert Rauschenberg, Edward Ruscha, Richard Serra, Roger Shimomura, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Donald Sultan, Fred Tomaselli, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol and Terry Winters. The variety of approaches in the media of printmaking gives a multifaceted opportunity to do exercise one's muscles for comparative aesthetics. Under Pressure | January 24 - March 29 Collector's talk andtour: January 24th 11:00AM Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art | University of Oregon Campus 1430 Johnson Lane, Eugene  White Noise2 looks like the art part that kick off the Portland art scene's 2015. A while ago Worksound introduced the idea of a Contemprary Triennial and this fundraiser/info event should give everyone more to chew on. Installations by: Corey Smith, Judith Sturdevant, Mack McFarland and Cintamani. Video by: Ajna Lichau, Eileen Isagon Skyers, Paul Clay and Santi Chandravongsri. White Noise 2 | $10 or $15 for 1+1 January 24 8PM - Midnight 916 NW Hoyt ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 23, 2015 at 12:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 01.20.15 Allan Sekula at Lewis & Clark College 
Still from Sekula and Burch's The Forgotten Space (2010) When the world lost photographer, critic and theorist Allan Sekula a few years ago it was a huge loss. Still, his legacy of interrogating the long and isolating arms of global commerce lives on and now Portlanders finally have a chance to take in an extensive survey of his work Reinventing Documentary: The Art of Allan Sekula at the excellent Hoffman Gallery. Sekula's career spanned everything from a Guggenheim fellowship to participating in Documenta XII and was one of the cornerstone professors in Los Angeles' art scene. His presence alone at openings gave things weight, and for a flavor of what he brought to the table check out this interview in Bomb. His wife Sally Stein will make some remarks at the opening. Reinventing Documentary: The Art of Allan Sekula |Januray 22 - March 15 Opening Reception: January 22 5-7PM, Remarks by Sally Stein at 5:30PM Lecture: Blake Stimson: "Allan Sekula and Paul Strand", February 24 | Miller 105, 6:30PM Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark College 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 20, 2015 at 9:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 01.19.15 Takahashi | Kennedy Conversation  Mami Takahashi C3: Initiative presents a screening and conversation with multidisciplinary Portland-based artist Mami Takahashi and curator Kristan Kennedy. On Wednesday January 21st Takahashi will present and discuss recent video and performance work, which uses the body to explore, "cultural identities, inbetweenness, and legibility." The conversation with Kennedy will follow. Screening + Conversation Wednesday, January 21st, 2015 | 6PM c3:initiative (in St. Johns) 7326 N. Chicago Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 19, 2015 at 15:39 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 01.12.15 Exploring Images of Africans at the Archer  Mohau Modisakeng, Untitled (Frame Xii), 2012 Seattle gallerist James Harris has curated an exhibition of African photographers who explore self portraiture, culture and identity titled, Am I Not a Man and a Brother? Am I not a Woman and a Sister? It features: Hasan and Husain Essop, Nomusa Makhubu Mohau Modisakeng, Abraham Oghobase and Adeola Olagunju with additional works by; Jodi Bieber, Kudzanai Chiurai, Frank Marshall, Ebony Patterson, Lindeka Gloria Qampi, Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko, Saya Woolfaulk. Am I Not a Man and a Brother? Am I not a Woman and a Sister? | January 6 - February 7, 2015 Reception: January 13, 4-6PM Archer Gallery 1943 Fort Vancouver Way, Penguin Union Building Vancouver Washington Gallery Hours: Tues.-Thurs. 10AM - 7PM, Fri. and Sat. 12-5PM Phone: 360 992 2246 Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 12, 2015 at 12:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.08.15 First Thursday January 2015 Picks January's First Thursday kicks everything for the year off a week late for 2015. Here are my picks:
 Eva and Franco Mattes, last days of the Feldman Gallery I know I picked this a while back but this time it is your last chance to say goodbye to the Feldman Gallery for good with Eva and Franco Mattes' exhibition Breaking Banality: The Dysfunction of Remediation at PNCA. The school's new 511 building should be an improvement though. The exhibition's title was created by an online random exhibition title generator and will restage, "ten reiterations of one performance from their series 'BEFNOED - By Everyone, For No One, Every Day,' for which they commission anonymous workers to realize webcam performances." Related to Fluxus events and the general way in which instructions manage computers of all sorts it should spark further discussion of the quirk-core performances that are popular on youtube and amongst recent art school grads these days. Breaking Banality: The Dysfunction of Remediation | November 6 2014 - January 10 2015 Feldman Gallery PNCA 1241 NW Johnson  Victoria Haven Award winning Victoria Haven's latest exhibition, Subtitles, at PDX Contemporary is comprised of a massive array of 100 wood block prints. It should be cinematic... just without the movie and there is something about the gallery's architecture that should really work well with this refreshingly dry way to kick off the year in the Pacific Northwest. Subtitles | January 6-31 Opening Reception: January 8, 6-8PM PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 08, 2015 at 14:05 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 12.21.14 Ntvty V 
It started 5 years ago as a parody of holiday nativity scenes but these days the annual display by Xhurch (it is housed in a former church) is now simply spiritually pluralist cacophony. I think of it as a more artistic take on this sometimes crass season. Cyber-Vikings, Excessive Yogurt Yogis, Trekkie Twitter Tolkienists, Donut Sandwich Apocalyptics, Block Party Federalists and Sea Monkey Capitalists unite? Overall, one thing I appreciate about Portland is the the way most everyone can get on without trying to homogenize everything. Embrace the season like the Portland art scene does... NTVTY V | December 22-24 Hours: 6 - 9PM Xhurch 4550 NE 20th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 21, 2014 at 12:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 12.12.14 Weekend Picks Though the year is winding down with lots of year end parties and held over group shows there are still a few openings this weekend.
It is the giving season so artist Jesse Hayward is doing a kind of autobiographical exhibition, showing many of the works that were given to him over the years at galleryHomeland tonight. Exhibition includes; Olivia Brown, Elias Crouch, Sally Finch, Bryan Friel, Nathan Gibson, Bill Hayward, Midori Hirose, Byron Kurtz, Hannah Lockhart,Mark Moore, Lisa Mir, Jarrett Mitchell, TJ Norris, Tim Schwartz, Sibel Sunar, Liz Walsh. Givers | Opens December 12 6-9PM galleryHomeland Portland 2505 SE 11th Ave 
Thomas J. Gamble's latest show at S1 titled "It's Really Cool To Be Here" focuses on the here and now. The the show title is taken from an interview the night the Eric Garner protests started. Opening 6:00PM S1 4148 NE Hancock Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 12, 2014 at 12:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 12.06.14 Kerry James Marshall at PAM 
With all of the racially driven strife bringing people across the US out into the streets, perhaps Kerry James Marshall's talk at PAM is the most contemplative thing Portlanders can do on a cultural level to address this moment in history. Afterwards, catch the Richard Mosse Enclave show for an unimaginable humanistic perspective on a situation with far fewer solutions. Kerry James Marshall | Critical Voices Artist Talk: December 7, 2-3PM (free to members, $15 non, $12 seniors and students) Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park *Update, for those who could not attend Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 06, 2014 at 21:03 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 12.05.14 First Weekend Picks Lots of interesting things going on this weekend in the Portland art scene. Here are my picks:
Worksound International presents Spiderland an installation by Mitsu Okubo. Hailing from San Francisco the work mimics the cacophony of numerous voices all speaking at the same time with no real comprehension. Okubo then translates this universalized disconnect onto canvas. Spiderland | December 5 - January 23 Opening reception: December 5, 6-9PM 820 SE Alder St ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 05, 2014 at 13:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 12.04.14 First Thurday Picks December 2015 December is always the oddest month for Portland's art scene since many of the main galleries are showing in Miami, group shows are the default and numerous other venues are holding over shows from last month so you can check our picks from last month too. Also, check out the Gabriel Liston show we just reviewed. It is held over as well. Here's what is new:
 Sandra Rouxmagoux Sandra Rouxmagoux is one of the very best paint handlers in the Pacific Northwest and her juxsapositions of the man made and nature skewer that often tense conversation with tragicomic zest. Even more surprisingly she is beginning her second term as the Mayor of Newport. Thesecond half of this dual person show Oriana Lewton-Leopold explores intens emotional reactions of women from the Olympics to Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Blackfish should be the place to check out expressionistic brushwork in Portland for the Month of December. Sandra Rouxmagoux and Oriana Lewton-Leopold | December 2-27 Opening: December 4 6-9PM Artist's talk: December 6, 11:00 AM Blackfish 420 NW 9th Ave ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 04, 2014 at 14:37 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.21.14 Laura Hughes at PSU 
Laura Hughes has taken on an unenviable task in visual art... somehow trying to find a way to carve out something new while building on the careers of light and space artists Robert Irwin, Dan Flavin, James Turrell and Doug Wheeler. Later today she will speak about this challenge and her latest show at PSU's excellent Littman Gallery, a space which typically has one of the best programs in the city (it is run by students). This exhibition has more Flavin in it than I've seen from her before and the use of sequencing and stations points in a new direction for the artist. The Lines Along Which Anything Lies | through December 4 Artist talk: November 21 6:30 - 8:00 PM Littman Gallery (Smith Center) Portland State University Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 21, 2014 at 10:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.14.14 Weekend Picks Portland just had what passes for a Winter storm here and perhaps people want to get out. Here's what I suggest for those who like a little adventure:
Last Summer Tony Chrenka was one of those newly minted artist/curators that I felt should be watched closely. Today he's having a solo show titled Slow Grow at S1. Chrenka's practice is a hybrid of design and millennial zeitgeist and the press release is promising. In it he states, "I am attempting to break away from Earth. Every day would be a new start. Each would be a first day of a bright life on a long summer solstice, with a body unrestricted. The Earth restricts us by providing us with limited the amount of space and material, and if we keep using them at this rate humans would surely need more than one Earth. It would be better to not have 4 or 5 Earths, and instead abandon our reliance on this planet all together. I have lowered my consumption of limited resources to become more sustainable. Zero emissions vehicles and LEED Platinum architecture help me lower my consumption of these resources. I am slowly starting to transcend. I spend less of the Earth's resources through each of my actions, and since I am affecting less I am less worried with what I am doing. I can tread in any direction without leaving a trace of destruction, and so I do. My path is my own, uncompromised by the bounds of Earth." It sounds ambitious if slightly obstruse. Slow Grow Opening Reception: November 14, 6 - 9PM S1 4148 SE Hancock  Dana Lynn Louis' Clearing A visit to Lewis and Clark College is always a bit of a treat so consider a conversation about Dana Lynn Louis' show Clearing at the Hoffman Gallery. On Sunday there will be a, "facilitated dialog" on the exhibition, featuring a panel discussion, "followed by small-group discussions in which you are invited to participate." Clearing Conversation: November 16 2:00PM | South Chapel Lewis and Clark College Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 14, 2014 at 14:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 11.12.14 Growth: multimedia art in Director Park 
Sporting a geodesic dome in Director Park, Umpqua Bank presents a series of interactive art experiences assembled an exhibition titled, Growth. Artists include digital artists; Fake Love and The Mill with sculptural works from Portlanders Aaron Rayburn, Blaine Fontana, and Blair Saxon-Hill as well as work from visitors Huy Bui, Michael Murphy and Tofer Chi. I've often wondered why there aren't more pavillion-style multimedia popup shows in Portland's parks (the Buckminster Fuller-esque dome seems like a predictable prerequisite) so this attempt will have Portland's attention. The holiday shopping season seems like an auspicious time to attempt this but as always the curatorial voice and integrity of execution for artists who aren't usually found in urban parks will ultimately determine how well this works (remember Levi's Station to Station project?). The exhibition tours to; Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento Spokane and Eugene. Growth | November 14- 23 11AM - 9PM Daily (free, with a slight wait) Director Park at SW Yamhill and Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 12, 2014 at 12:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 11.08.14 Richard Mosse at PAM  Richard Mosse, Film still from The Enclave, 2012-2013, showing a rebel from Mai Mai Yakutumba posing in Elephant Grass in Fizi, South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Richard Mosse's documentary film Enclave represented Ireland at the 2013 Venice Biennale and was a standout for bringing the relentless humanitarian disaster in Congo back into public view in such a compelling, even sublime way. Mosse describes the situation as a, "Hobbsian state of war," and over 5.4 million have already died in the conflict since 1998. This weekend, the Portland Art Museum is bringing both Mosse and his work to Portland with a talk Sunday November 9th at 2:00 PM. The exhibition runs through February 15. For this visually stunning project Mosse used the now discontinued Kodak Aerochrome III infrared film, which was created for military surveillance purposes. The intense colors create a psychedelic/sublime effect while depicting rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in greater contrast. *Update: this is an excellent, engaging exhibition and should not be missed (interview on the way). Enclave | November 9 2014 - February 15 2015 3rd floor Jubitz Center Artist Talk: Sunday November 9, 2:00PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 08, 2014 at 12:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 11.05.14 First Thursday Picks November 2014 November is an odd month in the Portland art scene where shows are either truncated to a few weeks or extended through December and often into January. It also means the shows sometimes take a few more chances or explore broad themes that resonate with the holidays. Here are my picks for First Thursday:
Originally from Italy, Eva and Franco Mattes present Breaking Banality: The Dysfunction of Remediation at PNCA's Feldman Gallery (the clock is ticking on this important space once the 511 building opens). The exhibition's title was created by an online random exhibition title generator and will restage, "ten reiterations of one performance from their series 'BEFNOED - By Everyone, For No One, Every Day,' for which they commission anonymous workers to realize webcam performances." Related to Fluxus events and the general way in which instructions manage computers of all sorts it should spark further discussion of the quirk-core performances that are popular on youtube and amongst recent art school grads these days. Breaking Banality: The Dysfunction of Remediation | November 6 2014 - January 10 2015 Artists talk: November 5, 6:30 - 8PM Feldman Gallery PNCA 1241 NW Johnson  Jesse Mejia Light Wash by Jesse Mejia presents itself as, "an immersive, interactive audio-visual installation," and its great to see the Everett Station Lofts coming alive again with some ambition and taste. Featuring 5 channels and several related performances on November 28th... there is a theme developing this month. Light Wash | November 6 - 28 Opening Reception: November, 6 7-10PM (performance 8:30) Performances: November, 28 7-10PM Composition #102, NW 6th and Everett ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 05, 2014 at 14:37 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 10.29.14 I'm Afraid, Will I Dream? at HQHQ 
HQHQ Project Space presents I'm Afraid, Will I Dream? Featuring; Matt Leavitt, Izidora Leber, Justin K. Moore + John Tage Johnson and Anastasia Tuazon. Taken from the famous line in Kubrick's 2001 this exhibition looks to sidestep the more sensational aspects of the Halloween season to explore the transcendental by tuning out the existential mitigation that reliance on automation and computers brings. I'm Afraid, Will I Dream? | October 30 - November 17 Opening Reception: October 30 6-9PM HQHQ Project Space 232 SE Oak St #108 Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 29, 2014 at 18:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 10.23.14 Weekend Picks  Kazumi Murose Portland's Japanese Garden has been doing the strongest craft-based shows in Portland for several years now, though it helps that the Japanese craft tradition is fully appreciated with their top practitioners being revered as "National Living Treasures." The Portland Japanese Garden's latest exhibition Urushi: Masterpieces of Lacquerware by Kazumi Murose, Living National Treasure of Japan (October 25–November 16) brings one of these national treasures to us. Lacquer has been undergoing a resurgence in innovations of late avoiding the relicquery assigned to any form that purely looks to the past. Kazumi Murose will also be giving a talk on the 26th (at PAM), which should be inspiring to anyone who appreciates skill, design and Japanese culture. Urushi: Masterpieces of Lacquerware by Kazumi Murose, Living National Treasure of Japan | October 25 - November 16, 2014 Artist Lecture: October 26, 2-4PM at Portland Art Museum (free but RSVP) Portland Japanese Garden in the Pavilion Gallery 611 SW Kingston Avenue ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 23, 2014 at 15:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.17.14 Weekend Wanderer Yes, PORT will have my Bruce Guenther piece for you after the weekend (it is as complicated, personal and historically versed as its subject matter and I want to let it marinate a little more). Still, you should get out and see some art this weekend (shows that opened last weekend, Lumber Room and Abigail Newbold at PNCA are all still up) and these three new additions might just make your weekend.
 (L to R) Homage to Delacroix: Liberty Leading The People (1976) Robert Colescott, Trinitarian (2007) Mark di Suvero, Brazilian Screamer (1931) Morris Graves, By the River (1927) C.S. Price, Chu Culture deer funerary guardian (Late 5th early 4th Century BCE) In Passionate Pursuit (The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Collection and Legacy) is retiring Chief Curator Bruce Guenther's final exhibition at the Portland Art Museum and it is a massive undertaking where the subtext itself is the act of collecting as sustaining patronage. True collectors like Arlene and Harold Schnitzer share their lives with the objects they relentlessly acquire, creating an anthropological biography in a way that others can experience. Curatorially, sifting through the over 2000 objects in the collection in a cogent, focused and yet representative way to come full circle for the Schnitzers, PAM and Bruce all in one fell swoop. It is clearly very emotional for PAM's staff and the Schnitzers. Also, what I like about Bruce's approach to the show is he didn't group by genre or even chronology, instead it is a conversation of objects and truer to the way the collection has operated in Harold and Arlene Schnitzer's lives. For example, my favorite corner features a socio-politically challenging Robert Colescott (image above) that has never been exhibited publicly ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 17, 2014 at 15:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.10.14 Weekend Wanderer It is one Very Busy weekend in Portland's art scene since Saturday is the last day for TBA visual art shows, Nationale has a new space and Surplus Space is doing a performance night. Here are my picks:
Stream Room by Deep White Sound at FalseFront sounds a lot like attending numerous trance raves at the same time with its cacaphonous presentation of multiple sound art pieces at the same time. Everything is streamed to multiple handmade streaming devices. Curated and produced for deepwhitesound by DB Amorin with design and visuals by Dana Paresa + programming and consultation by Matt McVickar. Stream Room | October 11 - November 2 Opening Reception: October 11 6-9PM FalseFront 4518 NE 32nd Avenue ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 10, 2014 at 11:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 10.07.14 Polly Apfelbaum & Tony Feher at Lumber Room  (teaser image)Apfelbaum (bg) All the Colors Under the Sun, Feher (fg) Portland can be a difficult town for outsiders and this goes doubly true for traveling artists and curators who use their credentials like a calling card. Basically, Portlanders are very accepting but they don't accept received wisdom like other places do (it really does take 5+ years to build up your reputation here). Culturally this fact can make the city seem a tad like some lost island (full of dinosaurs or misfit toys, take your pick) but it also means it is a protective enclave for experimentation. That is what Lumber Room's mission has been... a kind of low pressure guesthouse for art and two recent shows by Tony Feher and Polly Apfelbaum allowed each to pursue their own brand of post-minimal/neo-formal exploration in separate shows. Both shows, by virtue of being "explorations" weren't their most memorable efforts but they were an unfolding of the creative process that would be put under a microscope more in New York or London. That is freedom... and important when developing new work. *Update, this tag team show is more successful than the individual solo exhibitions.... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 07, 2014 at 13:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 09.29.14 Dana Lynn Louis Talk Dana Lynn Louis' Clearing People are rightly talking about Dana Lynn Louis' show Clearing at Lewis and Clark's excellent Hoffman Gallery. Tomorrow at 6:30PM she will be discussing the work... which to my eyes has elements of Judy Pfaff and some roots in Eva Hesse. Clearing Artist Talk: September 30 6:30PM | Miller 105 Lewis and Clark College Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 29, 2014 at 16:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 09.27.14 Free day at PAM 
Erich Heckel (German, 1883-1970), Zwei Verwundete (Two Wounded Men), 1915, woodcut on wove paper from This is War! at PAM There are a lot of interesting openings in Portland tonight at Wierd Shift and Surplus Space to name two but sometimes it's good to revisit the Portland Art Museum for something more historically meaty... and since it is participating in the Smithsonian's National Museum Day program it will be free today. Besides the collection, there will be a new Chris Antemann show beginning and I found the This Is War! exhibition very rewarding (a lot of my graduate degree work related to these artists). That makes sense since one of the museum's greatest strengths is its collection of German Expressionist woodcuts (thanks to Gordon Gilkey). Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 27, 2014 at 10:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 09.23.14 Dirk Staschke at Archer Gallery  Dirk Staschke's Consuming Allegory (2012) Portland based but internationally active Dirk Staschke is finally having an exhibition near his new home base, congrats to the Archer for being on it. Staschke's stunningly crafted ceramics aren't just impressive visually, the conceptual exploration of excess is so well honed that the idea hits you before the technical elements can be geeked upon. In my book that is successful work so you won't want to miss this. Bounty | September 23 - October 25, 2014 Reception: October 1st, 5:30 - 7PM Artist's Talk: PUB 161, October 1, 7PM Archer Gallery 1943 Fort Vancouver Way, Penguin Union Building Vancouver Washington Gallery Hours: Tues.-Thurs. 10AM - 7PM, Fri. and Sat. 12-5PM Phone: 360 992 2246 Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 23, 2014 at 10:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 09.03.14 First Thursday Picks September 2014 If you really know the Portland art scene... you already know that the new season really starts in August (mostly in alt spaces and University galleries.) We know this place better than anyone else and here is what you shouldn't miss for September in the Pearl District.
 Victor Maldonado's Doug Fir It started a few years ago but the arch affable, talented and very bright Victor Maldonado (yes he writes for us) has been revamping his work to outwardly question the visible/invisible aspects of the Mexican immigrant experience. Since gaining his citizenship last year he has finally given himself permission to go Mexi-Amercan Beuys on lilly white Portland Oregon by negating his skin and embracing ludicrous stereotypes (in a way that strangely isn't attention grabbing). He calls it Mad Mex for the way the Luchador masks grant freedom in the constriction they require... call it cultural camouflage. The gloves are off, the mask is on. Let's see what Maldonado can do? Lucha | August 26 - September 27 First Thursday Reception: September 4 till 8:00PM Froelick Gallery 714 NW Davis  Jenene Nagy's Pavillion Onetime Portstar Jenene Nagy is making some gorgeous work these days and her latest, titled "Brilliant" mines the world of subtle values, shades and nuanced perceptions recalling the likes of Dorthea Rockburne and Robert Irwin all on a works on paper format that has become increasingly distinct. Brilliant | September 2 - 27 PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 03, 2014 at 18:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 08.26.14 Peter Campus at Linfield 
Linfield's gallery just keeps giving us the strongest programming of any college gallery in Oregon, this time with an exhibition by video art pioneer Peter Campuscalled Isthmos. Campus' work is grounded in a background in cognitive psychology and the golden era of film, which in his hands unexpectedly turn the video experience into an exploration of boundaries between self and the revealed otherness of perception. His latest works onm view at Linfield have as much to do with Edward Hopper's landscapes and Claude Monet's haystacks as they do with digital technology as a mediator of sensation and experience. We will have a fantastic and intellectually ambidextrous interview on PORT soon but till then you can check out this essay by Bill Viola on Peter Campus (which one could say is possibly more about Bill Viola than Campus but that's typical of artist essays). Peter Campus | August 25 - September 30 Artist Talk: Wednesday, August 27, 6PM, reception following Linfield Gallery | Linfield College 900 SE Baker st., McMinnville, OR Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 26, 2014 at 12:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 08.20.14 People's history of art  Tomorrow, Ampersand will be presenting a book signing and talk by Nicolas Lampert, the author of A People's Art History of the United States. The book focuses on the history of ideas, movements (political, social etc.)rather than the way a lot of art history focuses on patronage. Thus instead of a history of trophy hunting it seeks to reconnect Art to the people that it reflects. Very topical considering the focus on the art market and academicism (the "other" art market which is very demonstrative/illustrative) rather than the exploration of ideas these days. Reception: August 20 7:00PM Ampersand Gallery & Fine Books 2916 NE Alberta Street, Suite B Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 20, 2014 at 10:32 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 08.13.14 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 
We pointed out a few of their members last month but now Muscle Beach is producing a show called, "4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42" at PSU's Littman Gallery. The #'s are a reference to the TV show LOST and deals somehow in object animism so there is a sense of unfolding at work here. It will feature; Luc Fuller, Nick Fusaro, Malcolm Hecht, Jonah Porter, Willie Young with a screenplay by Marc Matchak. 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 | August 14 - September 4 Opening Reception: Thursday, August 14, 7 - 10PM August 14th - September 4th The Littman & White Gallery Portland State University [Smith Student Union] 1825 SW Broadway AVE, 2nd Floor Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 13, 2014 at 13:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 08.09.14 Shifting into Weird 
One never knows what to expect from Weird Fiction or the Precipice Funded Weird Shift Storefront but apparently today's official Boring and Dull day wont be boring and dull if WFT has anything to say about it, "Weird-Fiction (((WFT))) will be sharing tales of Strange Weather at Weird Shift Storefront, the warehouse of the weird, center for marginalia studies, coffee and conspiracy" "...also on the bill Justin Lincoln and Devon Wootten and Jewelry Rash." "All Month: work by Dakota Gearhart, Jane Long, and Klaus Pinter" Weird Shift Storefront Reception: August 9 | 7:30 PM - ??? 201 N. Alberta ST Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 09, 2014 at 12:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.07.14 First Thursday August 2014 Picks  James Lavadour at PDX Contemporary James Lavadour is a treasure and what I've always loved about his work is the way it deals with the chaos of science and more intuitive disciplines like music. His latest show title comes from the way science describes processes like the mixing of oil and water where fingers of instability create regions of change. His work lives up to any billing so check out one of the strongest painters working today. Fingering Instabilities | August 5 - 30 Reception: August 7, 6 - 8PM PDX Contemporary Art 925 NW Flanders ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 07, 2014 at 14:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 08.04.14 Nicola Lopez at OCAC  Half-Life by Nicola Lopez OCAC is presenting an installation, Half-Life, by Brooklyn based artist Nicola Lopez from the collection of Jordan Schnitzer. Half-Life's space shaping properties juxtaposing natural and built forms in a gigantic print format should be very interesting in OCAC's sylvan setting. The artist will be in attendance for the opening. Nicola Lopez Half-Life | August 5 - September 27 Opening Reception: August 5, 5 - 7PM Oregon College of Art and Craft Hoffman Gallery 8245 SW Barnes Rd, Portland Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 04, 2014 at 10:47 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.31.14 First Weekend Picks It is always interesting how August plays out in Portland's visual art scene. In most art cities in the northern hemisphere August is kind of dead but Portland gets a lot of visitors from the Bay Area and elsewhere during this often hot month so there is a summer camp vibe that oozes indie charm. Here are my picks for the weekend:
 Michael Trigilio at 12128 12128 Boatspace continues its Precipice Funded (in residence) series with Michael Trigilio, a video and performance artist from San Diego who took part in the 2008 Whitney Biennial. If you want a summertime art adventure the trip to this crab boat as an alt space is tough to beat and a sound performance at 8:00 should contribute to the vibe. Michael Trigilio | Augst 1 2014 Reception : 6 - 9PM (performance at 8PM) 1 2 1 2 8 12900 NW Marina Way (be careful in Linnton's speed trap and be sure to park in the lot) ... (more Falsefront & HQHQ) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 31, 2014 at 13:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.25.14 C3: Initiative Open House & Block Party  Last week we pointed out C3: Initiative as an all new alternative space to watch in Portland. It's partly because they have a great space (inside and out) and want to work with independent curators. Well here is your chance to check things out and introduce yourselves. It is also the closing for their Blue Moon Camera staff photography show (St. Johns does have a wealth of working artists and studio spaces and is easy for those West Hills recluses to visit). C3: Initiative | July 26th Open House 10AM - 7PM 10-11AM: Outdoor papermaking 11AM-12: Live music from Mike & Olyn 12-2PM: Live music from The Ragshakers 2-5PM: Shanti Om Yoga class with live music and a potluck 5-7PM: Live music from Joe Little, Pulp & Deckle pulp spraying demos, and snacks. 7326 N. Chicago Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 25, 2014 at 17:46 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.18.14 Jordan Wayne Long at 12128 Boatspace  Often, performance comes off as self congratulatory attention mongering... BUT the fact that Jordan Wayne Long's "Impact Piece #1" comes with a warning against bringing any children is a good sign. Also, the fact that is is at 12128, everyone's favorite alt-space crab boat means that just the location alone is worth the trip. JWL's work comes from his his participation in 12128's micro residency program funded in part by the groundbreaking Precipice Fund. Show up and see if it is worthy enough to justify using the middle name professionally. Jordan Wayne Long | July 19 2014 Reception : 6:00PM (performance at 7) 1 2 1 2 8 12900 NW Marina Way (be careful in Linnton's speed trap) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 18, 2014 at 17:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.03.14 First Thursday July 2014 Picks First Thursdays in July are often my favorites. Partially because the openings are so low key and the hometown vibe with all the group shows and recent graduates makes for many unexpected surprises. This year July looks like it has some serious cultural firepower... it used to be mostly a month for group shows consisting of second and third stringers.
 Shirley Tse at PNCA
My top pick has to be Quantum Shirley at PNCA's Feldman Gallery. Quantum Shirley is Shirley Tse's attempt to partially rebrand relational aesthetics with the relativism of physics as her jam but one can't blame her for trying. It promises to be the mixed media, genre bending melange that Tse originally became famous for before it was the art world's default mode of art production 5 years ago or so. For that alone it is worth checking out as artists are always trying to create implausible realities where their rules somehow gain traction. Quantum Shirley | June 19 - August 10 Opening Reception: July 3, 6:30 - 7:15PM PNCA | Feldman Gallery 1241 NW Johnson ... (more, including Jesse Hayward and recent graduates) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 03, 2014 at 13:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 06.26.14 Peter Burr at FalseFront 
Peter Burr's solo show of projection, sound, and lenticular prints at FalseFront titled "digging fills" should be an ideal kickoff for the summertime season of shows in Portland. What's more it is one of the projects funded by the Precipice Fund, designed to support these very crucial alternative space shows (which traditional granting orgs have had trouble getting behind). digging fills | June 28 - July 13 Opening Reception: June 28 6 - 9PM FalseFront 4518 NE 32 Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 26, 2014 at 11:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 06.13.14 Gardening Weekend  Re-discovering Lacquer: 12 Artists Reinvent a Timeless Tradition, (FG) chopsticks by Gallery Shili (photo Jeff Jahn) I'm very excited about what may be the best craft/design exhibition Portland has seen in decades titled, Re-discovering Lacquer: 12 Artists Reinvent a Timeless Tradition at the Portland Japanese Garden. Not only does it seamlessly explore some of the newest and most radical uses of lacquer today through its 12 artists and designers... it also features a stunningly simple and elegant exhibition design that highlights the work. This attention to presentation addresses a problem most craft shows in Portland have been undercut by lately. If you love design and craft this is THE show and exquisite work deserves the same level of presentation. I've seen it and this won't disappoint, all while hinting at the coming garden expansion by architect Kengo Kuma (interviewed last year) who also has work in the show. The exhibition premiered last year in Tokyo and is specificly configured for the Portland space, along with a few different pieces. According to the PR: "A wide variety of pieces are included—from exquisitely and inlaid lacquered boxes by Yamamura Shinya, whose work was recently featured in a major exhibition in New York, to lacquered acrylic rings by Masako Ban, and gilded lacquer sake cups by Koichiro Kimura. This stunning installation was designed by Javier Villar Ruiz, originally from Barcelona, Spain, who is a partner at Kengo Kuma Associates, and the exhibition includes a tiered lacquer shelf by the renowned architect Kengo Kuma himself." Guest curated by Duneghan Park it features work by: Masako Ban,Yukio Hashimoto, Naomi Kamata, Koichiro Kimura, Kengo Kuma, Gang Yong Park, Heigo Sato, Hirotatsu Saito, Gallery Shili Tokyo, Kosho Tsuboi, Satoshi Umeno, Amano Shikki, Shinya Yamamura Re-discovering Lacquer | June 14 - July 6 Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Ave  Pissaro, Place du Carrousel What could be more Portland than an exhibition on a park? The Tuilleries in Paris to be precise, featuring sculpture, models, photography, paintings and even video exploring the civics of that famous park. Similarly, Portland is a city of parks and gardens and has long had an odd little-discussed affinity for French things (we do like food, wine and liberty-egality-fraternity does describe Portlanders). But the roots of our francophilia goes way back to early settlements like Champoeg and later in the early 20th century many of Portland's top cultural patrons spent a great deal of time in Paris collecting works by Monet, Brancusi and Picasso, which are still on display in the collection today. That bit of history aside, the Portland Art Museum lives on the South Park Blocks a grand boulevard with some of its roots in the civic design for The Tuileries/Champs-Elysees in Paris. Yet, unlike the Louvre/Tuilerties PAM hasn't really fully engaged the civic leverage inherent to the Park Blocks (which PNCA is beginning to). To that PAM is staging The Art of The Louvre's Tuileries Garden, with the not so subtle implication that it is actively looking at its own place on one of Portland's most famous parks. Featuring works by, Pissarro, Manet, Cartier-Bresson, Coysevox, Bosio, Atget and Kokoshka the exhibition is a wide ranging and multifaceted look at the way a public space is used by and inspires visitors. This inherently civic approach filled with photography and more than a few colossal sculptures (some with bullet holes) tells a story that the museum is wisely leveraging to explore Portland's own stunning park system. Thus, instead of a vault... PAM has turned into an interpretive civic mirror for Portland to look upon its own parks with via Capture #Parklandia. The Art of The Louvre's Tuilleries Garden | June 14 - September 21 Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 13, 2014 at 13:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 06.09.14 SuttonBeresCuller Talk  SuttonBeresCuller, Ring of Fire (2014) Seattle based SuttonBeresCuller are perhaps one of the most ambitious art producers in that city and they will be speaking in Vancouver Washinton on Tuesday for the latest Clark art talk. Their work often creates a surreal sense of displacement through the use of mundane and often large scale objects... kinda like Duchampian ideas on steroids, frequently with a performance element. SuttonBeresCuller | June 10, 7:00PM Clark Art Talks Clark College | Penguin Union Building GHL 213 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 09, 2014 at 16:20 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 06.05.14 First Thursday June 2014 Picks True, June is a month where most everyone already has one foot in summer and it is filled with group and thesis shows. Still I'm gonna go old-school and pick three classic looking solo shows for you to check out.
Mandy Stigant At Blackfish Gallery Mandy Stigant presents Basketcase, exploring the ancient art that is making a vessel out of clay. It feels like a back to basics show for June and there is something really compelling about her ceramics. The classics are classics for a reason. Basketcase | June 3 - February 28, 2014 First Thursday Reception: June 5, 6 - 9PM Blackfish Gallery | 420 NW 9th 
Andre C. Filipek has a poetic and very precise aesthetic (tuned to design and class) that could turn into something interesting. Check out his latest, ELYTES, at Valentines tonight. ELYTES: New Work by Andre C. Filipek | June 5 8:00 PM - Midnight Valentines 242 SW Ankeny ... (more, including Sean Healy) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 05, 2014 at 16:32 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 05.20.14 Bingaman-Burt at Clark College 
Kate Bingaman-Burt's work is concerned with the consumerist impulse and accretion. An educator, illustrator, curator, author, speaker and workshop giver she is represented by Jen Bekman ballery in New York City. Her first book, Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today? was published by Princeton Architectural Press. Her design clients range from the New York Times, MoMa, the Gap, as well the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland. Catch her talk. Kate Bingaman-Burt | May 21, 7:00PM Clark Art Talks Clark College | Penguin Union Building GHL 213 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 20, 2014 at 18:20 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.16.14 Jennifer Steinkamp: Critical Voices lecture at PAM  Jennifer Steinkamp, Madame Curie (2011) Tomorrow, Jennifer Steinkamp will give the next Critical Voices lecture at the Portland Art Museum. Steinkamp is one of the world's premier video installation artists and has been a pioneer of digital animation in a real world setting, often with spatial and perceptual consequences. Typically a different sense of scale or time is also at work. Also, she often implicates human biographies in a vaster less human-scaled way, for example she has dedicated pieces to 0her former teacher Mike Kelley, Jimmy Carter and Madame Curie. Overall, it is great to see so much new media work being featured at the Portland Art Museum these days with Jesper Just as well. Jennifer Steinkamp Lecture: May 17th 2:00 PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 16, 2014 at 15:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 05.12.14 Tony Feher Lecture  Part of the Tony Feher Retrospective at the Des Moines Art Center (2012) Artist Tony Feher is a poet of mundane often quite domestic objects and you can catch him Wednesday at PSU. He's one of the very best and most influential of the relational aesthetics practitioners out there and it is partially because his touch is so incredibly deft. I caught his excellent retrospective at the Des Moines Art Center a few years ago and seeing his work you might think, OK Ive seen hundreds to thousands of other artists use plastic bottles, pennies etc... but his is different. Perhaps it is because of the addition of a deeper personal narrative that informs the work or perhaps it is simply his rigor. Thus, collectively his work stands out as he isn't simply being a witty constructionist, he's illustrating the personal understanding of events in his life through the palimpsest of the everyday. Also, he's been at it longer than most RA practitioners and I consider him the true heir of Richard Tuttle. You should see his talk at PSU (he's also currently doing a residency in Portland at the Lumber Room, show opens on the 18th) and I'd consider it mandatory for any current art student in Portland or recent grads who arrange objects to attend. Tony Feher | PSU MFA in Studio Practice Lecture Series Artist Talk: Wednesday, May 14 7:00PM Portland State University | Shattuck Hall Annex 1914 SW Park Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 12, 2014 at 14:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.07.14 Last exhibition at current Recess HQ  Heidi Nagtegaal Recess will host its last opening in the Oregon Brass Works building this Saturday with a solo exhibition by Coast Salish People artist Heidi Nagtegaal. Titled, Paying off My Student Loans it is supposed to be an optimistic enterprise, selling 1000 shirts for $20 a piece but it also indirectly underscores the way artists are keeping spaces like Recess open on their own dime with very little support. Recess has moved before but one senses the popularity of Portland and its red hot real estate market are definitely putting the squeeze on artists here (there is a fundraiser planned for May 27th at Holocene). Recess isn't just a presentation space, it is also a warren of artist studios and uprooting this community does signal a danger to Portland's arts ecosystem... one whose strongest contributions typically come from these artist run spaces. There will also be by a talk on by Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen titled The Ghost of vanished Ideals, exploring the oppression of debt upon the poor and frequently incarcerated. Lastly, a short musical set by Brian Mumford of Dragging an Ox Through Water and Jackie-O Motherfucker should make this the must see art event this coming weekend. If you haven't been to Reccess yet (institutional curators many of you fit that that description) now is the time. Paying Off My Student Loans May 10-27, 2014 Opening Reception: May 10th, 2014 6-10PM Anna Gray & Ryan Wilson Paulsen talk: May 10th, 7-7:45PM Mumford Performance: May 10th, 8PM RECESS Headquarters 1127 SE 10th Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 07, 2014 at 14:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 05.01.14 First Thursday May 2014 Picks Portland has a lot of very good shows up right now including Luc Tuymans at PNCA but we at PORT are really picky and these are your very best bets for something new,exciting and interesting in Portland's art scene tonight:
 Three Chants Modern at PICA We just reviewed PICA's Andrea Guyer show Three Chants Modern, which opened recently. It is an internationally important exhibition delving into the way we value the contributions of women in the visual arts. It is a must see and PICA (which normally doesn't have 1st Thursday hours will be open from 6-8 tonight. It's the best show PICA has done since 2003 and the US premier of a crucial work. Andrea Geyer: Three Chants Modern | April 19 - June 21, 2014 First Thursday Hours: May 1, 6:00 - 8:00PM PICA 415 SW 10th Ave, Suite 300 Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday 11:00 - 6:00PM | Saturday 11:00 - 4:00PM  Wesley Peterson at PSU's Autzen Gallery Also in the Southwest are several PSU MFA openings. There are generally some of the better thesis shows in the city and checking them out puts you way ahead on what is really going on in Contemporary art in Portland. Opening Receptions for all 3 (in respective galleries): May 1, 4-6PM Exhibitions: April 28 - May 9, 2014 Wesley Petersen - TOIL - Autzen Gallery Kathryn Yancey – Like One Each Another - AB Lobby Gallery Kaila Farrell-Smith - S? aa Mak’s - MK Gallery PSU MFA Graduate Project Shows  April Brimer May also happens to be Portland Fashion Month and Christine Taylor has culled together an exciting group of Portland photographers for Notions of Beauty: NW Fashion Photography Now. Featuring a pretty comprehensive sample of fashion photogs: Holly Andres, Megumi Shauna Arai, Rafael Astorga, Lindsey Avenetti, Julia Barbee, Willyum Beck, April Brimer, Hannah Piper Burns, Theresa Crim, Brendan Coughlin, Carmen Daneshmandi, Ashley Helvey, Dane Kyckelhahn, Bryan Kyckelhahn, Evie McShane, Sara Moskovitz, Jason Parker, JD White, Elizabeth Rudge, Charlie Schuck, Strath Shepard, Emily Smith, Robin Stein, Cara Swift, Christine Taylor, BriAnne Wills, Hana Ryan Wilson. Notions of Beauty: NW Fashion Photography Now | May 1 - June 1 Opening Reception: May 1, 6-8PM Steven Goldman Gallery, Art institute of Portland 1122 NW Davis Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 01, 2014 at 13:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 04.26.14 PORT on OPB's State of Wonder  Obligatory selfie, yes State of Wonder's Green Room is actually green As part of my 15 year anniversary of coming to Portland I'll be guest curating OPB's State of Wonder radio program at noon today. Here is a preview interview (I was trying to use approachable language in that preview but on the show I don't pull any punches), numerous artists and interviews are part of the program. You can tune in or check this page for links to the archive so you can stream at your leisure after it airs. I'll also include links below to topics we referenced during the show as well as expand some ideas that were tossed about... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 26, 2014 at 1:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 04.21.14 Rodrigo Valenzeula at Archer Gallery  Rodrigo Valenzuela at Archer Gallery (photo Jeff Jahn) Chilean born and Washington State based Rodrigo Valenzeula's work deals in all sorts of labor and his latest show "Help Wanted" at the Archer Gallery looks like it could be one of the best shows on view this April. Dealing in everything from mining to odd jobs and construction Valenzeula interacts with laborers and Clark College students to explore the unofficial labor forms that economies rely upon. Help Wanted | April 8 - May 3 Opening Reception: April 23, 5 - 7PM | Artist Talk: 7-8PM Archer Gallery | Clark College| Penguin Union Building 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Gallery Hours: T-Th 10AM to 7PM, F & S noon to 5PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 21, 2014 at 12:36 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.17.14 See it Saturday  Clement Greenberg looking at a Kenneth Noland Blackfish is 35 this year and Blackfish member and Reed College professor Michael Knutson noticed coincidentally that Clement Greenberg's much hated and yet relentlessly referenced essay Avant-Garde and Kitsch is celebrating its 75th birthday as well. It was kismet so Knutson set about convening a panel of art writers, critics and historians to discuss both Greenberg's most famous work and the way its influence becomes a lens on art today. Greenberg later he recanted many of his definitions of kitsch. Panelists include; Randy Gragg, Eva Lake, Barry Johnson, Paul Sutinen, Sue Taylor and myself. It should be an interesting mix as our backgrounds vary from artists like Lake and Sutinen to journalists like Gragg and Johnson to historians like Taylor and myself. Knutson will moderate and we have been asked to discuss some of our favorite exhibitions as well so it should provide ample opportunity to learn some insights into your local art press corps, all in one convenient place. I've lived here 15 years and Portland has never convened a panel like this. Avant-Garde and Kitsch Today | April 19th, 2:00PM Blackfish 420 NW 9th ave 
Josef Albers (American, b. Germany, 1888-1976) Homage to the Square, edition 35/125, 1967 screenprint If you are in the Bellingham area catch Radical Repetition: Albers to Warhol at the Whatcom Museum. Culled from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation's collection of international prints and Northwest art the show explores the effects of serial sequencing in art imagery in figurative and abstract art. Radical Repetition: Albers to Warhol | April 19 - August 17 Whatcom Museum Bellingham Washington Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 17, 2014 at 16:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.15.14 Andrea Geyer at PICA  Andrea Geyer, Three Chants Modern It has been obvious that 2014 is the year of heightened attention on women's representation in the art world and roles in its history. So it is exciting that PICA has tackled the subject head on by presenting the U.S. premiere of Andrea Geyer's two-channel video installation, Three Chants Modern. Geyer will also speak tomorrow at PSU's Shattuck Annex, April 16th at 7:00PM. The video was, "Commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art, New York during a research residency at the museum in 2013 and made possible by MoMA's Wallis Annenberg Fund for Innovation in Contemporary Art through the Annenberg Foundation, Three Chants Modern looks at the network of women thinkers, social and political activists, artists and philanthropists who were the creative drivers and institutional pillars of the Modernist Project in New York in the early part of the 20th century. Three Chants addresses how history and power are constructed, in part, through the undeniable legacy of these women in contrast to their sparse representation in the formal history of the period." Andrea Geyer: Three Chants Modern | April 19 - June 21, 2014 Opening Reception: April 19, 6:00 - 9:00PM Artist Talk: April 16, 7:00PM, PSU Shattuck Hall Annex PICA 415 SW 10th Ave, Suite 300 Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday 11:00 - 6:00PM | Saturday 11:00 - 4:00PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 15, 2014 at 16:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.08.14 PSU MFA Project Events, 2014 Part I  Perry Doane Carbonaut In the past 5 years or so PSU's MFA and BFA project shows for their studio arts program have become one of the few reliably exciting student exhibitions in Portland. PSU's program has produced artists like Damien Gilley, Holly Andres, Chase Biado and Derek Bourcier and too many others to list. To kick things off this year there are 3 MFA candidates with openings and artists talks on PSU's campus; Perry Doane, Mark Martinez and Isaac Fletcher Weiss. Opening Receptions for all 3 (in respective galleries): April 10, 6-8PM Exhibitions: April 7 - 21, 2014 Perry Doane - Carbonaut - Autzen Gallery Mark Martinez - CREAM - AB Lobby Gallery Isaac Fletcher Weiss - Musings in the Face of Certain Death - MK Gallery Artist Talks: Perry Doane & Isaac Fletcher Weis @ Shattuck Annex @ Wednesday, April 9 2014, 6-8PM Mark Martinez @ Shattuck Annex Wednesday, April 15, 2014, 6-7PM Portland State University galleries & Shattuck Annex Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 08, 2014 at 16:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.03.14 Reflecting Pool 
Lewis and Clark often graduates art scene leaders who create interesting venues like Kyle Thompson and Caitlin Ducey (12128), Jack Shimko (Haze), Justin Oswald (Gallery 500) or even Katherine Bovee who invaluably helped to launch PORT itself back in 2005. Here is this year's crop of L&C Seniors in a show titled Reflecting Pool. Larissa Board Flynn A. Casey Tony Chrenka Matt Cogdill Matthew Colodny Sophia Dagnello Kelsey H. Davis Hilary Devaney Jonas Fahnestock Rhianna Feeney Elaine B. Fehrs Stephanie Kudisch Chloe McAusland Matt Mulligan Savannah Prentiss Samantha Sarvet Camille Shumann Helen Regina Rosenbaum Taylor Wallau Amelia Walsh Kelsey Westergard Julianna Winchell Rachel Wolfson Em Young Irene Zoller Huete Reflecting Pool | April 4 - May 11 Opening Reception: April 4th, 5-7PM Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 11-4PM Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art Lewis & Clark 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 03, 2014 at 14:20 | Comments (0) PermalinkFirst Thursday Picks April 2014  Eva Lake's Anonymous Woman #55 Eva Lake is another of those Portland stalwarts that really makes Portland what it is. She is from Oregon but has put in her time in New York, London and San Francisco etc. To a certain degree (like all artists and in particular female ones) she was taken for granted but when her fantastic collages of women were debuted that all changed and she started to get a following in New York and Switzerland. I was the first to point out how good this work was and it is exciting to finally see another of her shows in Portland. This series focuses not on Hollywood Starlets of the Target Series but on those anonymous faces that seem to be perpetuated in the media. It is the way she amplifies anonymity that she gives the work an even stronger surrealist charge. Anonymous Women | April 3- 26 Augen Gallery 716 N.W. Daviss ...(more Blackfish and Mies van der Rohe damage) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 03, 2014 at 11:46 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.25.14 Tom Stefopoulos at HACCM, Original Portlander to put a bird on it? 
They were still in place in 1999 when I first moved to Portland but for the past 18 years the Friend's of the Lovejoy Columns have been trying to find a way to preserve and find a new home for these historic artworks by Tom Stefopoulos. Stefopoulos was a Greek immigrant who worked for a time at the rail yards that used to be located in the now redeveloped Pearl District and I think it is very important for Portland to preserve its artistic past. The columns appear in the open scenes of Drugstore Cowboy and even appear in musician Elliot Smith's history. When the professional artist, Stefopulos saw the colonnade for the one time Lovejoy viaduct to the Broadway bridge he was reminded of his homeland but he also brought his new world pluck and started an elaborate series of scenes depicting Greek myths and his signature bird designs. His work has an instantly identifiable graphic flair known mostly for his signature birds. In a way he may have been the original Portlander to "put a bird on it" and this exhibition at the Hellenic-American Cultural Center and Museum gives wider context to Stefanopoulos' work as a print maker, master calligrapher and idiomatic public artist. Considering the merely "quirky" public works that Portland has put up in the last decade it would be a good thing to see these historic relics from a bygone era be reinstalled in a new home. They tell an immigrant's story, mixed with Americana, Hellenistic references and a general connection to the culture of the railroads before there was a Pearl District and condos. Filmmaker Vanessa Renwick even has a related video piece in the show so come on out and get caught up on what has been and can be still done. Master Penworks of Tom Stefanopoulos | July 9 2013 - April 30th 2014 Reception: March 29, 3:30 - 6:00 PM Hellenic-American Cultural Center and Museum 2nd Floor Greek Orthodox Church 3131 NE Glisan Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 25, 2014 at 12:47 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.14.14 Weekend Picks  Polly Apfelbaum, Color Stations Portland (detail) photo Jeff Jahn This Weekend, Lumber Room opens Polly Apfelbaum's Color Stations Portland. Apfelbaum is internationally noted as a colorist who starts with a few simple rules, which then are improvised upon as installation to create a structured aesthetic zone. It is very Epicurian in the true philosophical sense and rehabilitates some of the less desirable aspects of Greenberg's Formalism. Overall, the way she develops structure sets her improvisational approach apart, something any top Jazz musician also has to develop. Color Stations Portland | March 16 - April 27, 2014 Opening Reception: March 16, 12 - 2PM Lumber Room 419 NW 9th  Calvin Ross Carl Calvin Ross Carl is a Portland based painter who has been developing at a steady rate for the past few years and has deserved an unfettered solo show for quite some time. Well, Ditch projects is making it happen by presenting CRC's A Beggar on Horseback. It should be an interesting moment to ponder the tectonic collisions of domestic and civic found patterns (hazard signs, table clothes etc) and painterly texture that CRC has been mining lately. There will also be a group show of drawings called LOOKS ON PAPER. Both should constitute a worthwhile trip to Eugene/Springfield. A Beggar on Horseback | March 15-29 Opening Reception: March 15 6-9PM Gallery Hours: Saturdays, 12:00 to 4:00PM Ditch Projects 303 S. 5th Avenue #165 Springfield OR Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 14, 2014 at 14:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 03.08.14 Second Weekend Picks March 2014  Amy Bernstein We have waited an incredibly LOOOOOOOONG time for PORT's own Amy Bernstein to do a solo show of her paintings but on Sunday it will finally be here with Notes at Nationale. I can safely say she's obsessed with possibilities and permutations of meaning... and I don't think there is a distinct difference between the visual moves of painting and the meaning of words in her world. She moves between the two fluidly but never really settles. Perhaps the visual and language are two sides of the same coin, one which always comes up heads as she keeps tossing it? She's one of Portland's best painters and really pushes herself hard. Notes | March 6 - 30, 2014 Reception Sunday, March 9, 2 - 5 PM Nationale 811 E Burnside 
Once again Disjecta's biennial offering dubbed Portland 2014 will open in various locations (some better, some worse) but the main opening is today march 8th from 6-10PM at Disjecta. Already, this year is notable for not having very many female artists... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 08, 2014 at 14:03 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.06.14 First Thursday Picks March 2014 This March looks like a particularly strong series of exhibitions.
 The top pick for this month has to be Belgian artist Luc Tuymans' print exhibition at PNCA's Feldman gallery. Curated by Mack McFarland and Modou Dieng the exhibition titled, Luc Tuymans: Graphic Works - Kristalnacht to Technicolor gives Portland an in depth chance to take in this politically provocative artist. Previously, we have only seen a stray painting or two at PAM. PORT interviewed Tuymans a few years ago here. Luc Tuymans: Graphic Works - Kristalnacht to Technicolor March 6th- June 13, 2014 Reception: March 6, 6 - 8PM Lecture: March 7th, 6:30PM Phillip Feldman Gallery | PNCA 1241 NW Johnson 
Of all the artists that PDX represents I've always thought that Wes Mills best exemplified their quiet aesthetic. Mills himself absorbed a lot from direct contact with the great Agnes Martin and Richard Tuttle and this latest show, Hamilton Drawings, stems from a consciousness changing (and potentially dangerous) incident while hiking in Oregon. We are glad he is all right but this exhibition has us seeing stars too. Hamilton Drawings | March 4 - April 1 Reception: March 6, 6 - 8PM PDX Contemporary Art 925 NW Flanders ... (more, PSU and Duplex) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 06, 2014 at 14:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 03.03.14 Robert Storr on Kara Walker Lecture  Robert Storr Robert Storr, Dean of Visual Arts at Yale will be giving his lecture, Kara Walker: Shadow Caster at the University of Oregon, on March 6th at 6:00 PM. The school will live stream it, but you should absolutely try to see their on campus exhibition, Kara Walker: Emancipating the Past at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. As you can see... it is very different and executed far better than the Walker show at Reed in 2012. The install is spacious and the video work, "National Archives Microfilm Publication M999 Roll 34: Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands: Six Miles from Springfield on the Franklin Road," at the JSMA is perhaps my favorite of her video works. It is a must see and bound to be one of the best shows of the year in Oregon.  Kara Walker at JSMA Besides being perhaps the most accomplished academic/critic/curator combo on the planet, Storr has a special window into Kara Walker's work. He curated the 2004 Site Santa Fe Biennial, "Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque," which included Walker's first video. I was there when it was unveiled and Storr's grasp of history as a continually evolving grotesque makes him better at talking about Walker's work than Walker herself (that isn't a slight, I'm very sure she'd rather not talk much about it and just let its subversions and ugly truths operate visually but no artist gets to do that). Robert Storr: Kara Walker Shadow Caster March 6th, 6:00 PM Lawrence Hall, Room 177 University of Oregon 1190 Franklin Boulevard, Eugene, OR Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 03, 2014 at 11:27 | Comments (1) PermalinkTuesday 02.25.14 Amjad Faur at Archer Gallery  Amjad Faur Today there is an opening reception for Palestinian American Photographer Amjad Faur for his current show, Liban, at the Archer Gallery. Faur's photos have a dense personal feel that belie a longing for Arab self-determination when outside interests always seem to be pulling the strings. In a way they retake the put upon and borrowed exoticism of Dutch still lives and reevaluate them as cultural patrimony. It should make the panel discussion on March 5th a lively one. "The title of this exhibit, Liban, (French for Lebanon) pertains to the impermanence and elasticity of the physical, social, cultural, and psychological spaces in the Middle East. Lebanon is just such a brutal example of what happens under colonial rule that utterly negates the identity and interests of native populations." Amajad Faur | February 18- March 15 Opening Reception: February 25, 3 - 5PM Panel Discussion: March 5, 7 to 8:30PM Archer Gallery | Clark College 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver WA Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 25, 2014 at 9:10 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 02.22.14 Provocateurs at Place  Still from Paul Clay's Parking Lot Dance Tonight, Place's White gallery presents Paul Clay's Parking Lot Dance, Shit Balloons by John Dougherty and The High Improbability of Death: A Celebration of Suicide with the ever quixotic Michael Reinsch. Should be an interesting evening with three of Portland's most promising provocateurs. According to the PR: Paul Clay's "Parking Lot Dance" is a 4 minute, surround-projected, 4-channel video loop. Filling a strip mall parking lot, thousands of duplicated dancers march, shoot guns, wave flags and writhe to a dark dance club beat. The video is a dream sequence and a response to our over-the-top, self-infatuated American shopping culture. One part ceremony, one part protest, one part broadway chorus line - the parking lot is reimagined as a surreal video canvas for digitally generated choreography." John Dougherty's "Shit Balloons" is an installation that utilizes waste materials and celebratory aesthetics to seduce viewers with tricks and humor. Also, there will be brownies. "For "The High Improbability of Death: A Celebration of Suicide," Reinsch will place a noose around his neck, read an epic suicide note poem, and attach helium balloons to the end of the rope in order to lift himself into the air. Reinsch will engage in an act of performance art in which risks are mitigated. This is not a suicide attempt." A wake is a celebration of death and Reinsch likens this to a one man wake where he is in no danger. "Parking Lot Dance" - Paul Clay "Shit Balloons" - John Dougherty "The High Improbability of Death: A Celebration of Suicide" - Michael Reinsch Opening: February 22 6-9PM Place PDX (ENTER ON MOVIE THEATER SIDE AFTER 8PM) 700 SW 5th Ave 3rd Floor Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 22, 2014 at 12:35 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.21.14 Stumptown Coffee Roasters As Art Patron  Throughout the years Stumptown Coffee has made a point of curating their coffee shops and creating venues that are a step above most cafes in the city as art venues. They also have employed many of Portland's best and brightest over the years. To celebrate such ongoing activity they are putting on an exhibition at their headquarters for the 10 visual artists on display right now. Artists included are; Emma Barnett, Amy Bernstein, Patrick Driscoll, Hickory Mertsching, Karl Ramentol, K Scott Rawls, Tim Root, Michael Rutledge, Anna Shelton and Bradley Streeper. Stumptown deserves some of the credit for making Portland such an attractive place for artists. Stumptown Coffee Roasters HQ Reception Friday, February 21 6-8 (Ninkasi beer, wine and snacks) 100 SE Salmon Street Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 21, 2014 at 12:20 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.20.14 Thursday Openings  Photo Richard Gehrke Dutch & European Mid 20th Century designs, especially ceramics continue to have a lasting appeal today and collector Curt Shaffstall has curated a vintage collection for OCAC's shop. All proceeds go to support students at Portland's most focused art and design school, the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Mid-Century Dutch & European Ceramics | February 20 - March 30, 2014 Opening Reception: February 20, 4 - 6PM Shop @ Oregon College of Art and Craft 8245 SW Barnes Road 
FalseFront presents 3 nights of performances with Future Death Toll titled 3 X 3 H R. Each is a one-off performance. Generally, FDT creates works centered around existential constrictions and other constraints. These performances are supported in part by the Precipice Fund. 3 X 3 H R | February 20 - 22, 7-10 PM FalseFront 4518 NE 32nd Avenue 
PCC Sylvania's North View Gallery is one of the nicest spaces in Portland and its latest show Surrounding Visability looks like an excellent reason to trek up the west hill in this idyllic sylvan setting. Surrounding Visibility is an exhibition by the Worksound Incubation artist's collaborative including installations by Erin McComb, Modou Dieng, Micah Hearn, Ethan Homan, Tim Janchar and Judith René Sturdevant. The collaboration is an experimental group, which began as the Work Sound alternative exhibition space. We miss Work Sound but this new collaborative effort seems promising. Surrounding Visibility | February 17 - March 22 Opening Reception: February 20, 3-5 PM North View Gallery, PCC Sylvania, CT 214 Building 12000 SW 49th Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 20, 2014 at 12:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.19.14 Patricia Failing on Francis Bacon at PAM  Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969) installed at PAM (photo Jeff Jahn) Francis Bacon's triptych of Lucien Freud is a fantastic act of painting (don't let anyone tell you otherwise), the man could paint and every inch of these works proves it. Go ahead compare them to the Monet up the stairs at PAM. To dig a little further, figurative painting fans and scholars alike should catch Patricia Failing's lecture, Bacon's Bodies: Trapping the Convulsive Figure at the Portland Art Museum tomorrow. I've always found Bacon's earlier pieces like Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion and the screaming Popes to be a touch derivative or hokey (Bacon himself agreed) but his more mature portraits excel in their tension and poise... and thus, very and quite gravely British. This Bacon triptych is one of the best and I'm curious what Failing has to say, here are some of her thoughts on Geurnica for context for something related to the disquieted flesh in a Bacon. Patricia Failing Lecture | $5, free to members 20 February, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 19, 2014 at 15:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.17.14 Fred Wilson Lecture  Fred Wilson: The Silent Message of the Museum Every year Reed College puts on a major art lecture for their Stephen E. Ostrow Distinguished Visitors in the Arts Program. This year it will be Fred Wilson, who represented the US for the 2003 Venice Biennale. His lecture, The Silent Message of the Museum, should touch on the themes of visual power his work has always interrogated. Organized by Sarah Gilbert, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art. These are always very well attended to arrive early (*note this lecture is in the much larger and newer Kaul Auditorium not the older venue). Fred Wilson | February 18, 7:30 PM Kaul Auditorium Reed College 3203 SE Woodstock Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 17, 2014 at 10:58 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.13.14 Linda Hutchins at the Governor's Office  Linda Hutchins I feel like Portland doesn't get to see enough of Linda Hutchins' mix of performance and kinesthetic mark making these days. It is akin to both minimalist drawing and Yves Klein. Though one person, Governor Kitzhaber will get to see plenty of it because her work will be in situ at his office in Salem into April. Also, for the Valentines day opening Hutchins will participate in a TaKeTiNa performance, a physical discipline which involves rhythmic; step, clap and chants that allow participants to fall out, then fall back into synch. In and Out of Rhythm | February 14 - April 16, 2014 Opening Reception: February 14, 3-4PM with a TaKeTiNa performance Governor's Office | Capitol Building Salem, Oregon Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 13, 2014 at 19:54 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 02.11.14 John Brodie at Linfield 
John Brodie is one of those unsung pillars of the arts community in Portland whose highest profile projects are often collaborations or feature him as a proprietor of businesses like Today Art Studios, Le Happy and Monograph Bookwerks... but he has always been an excellent visual artist full of deft moves. In fact, I've been nudging him to do a major solo show ever since his Store project way back in 2009. Well, this week the wait is over and it is at one of the region's finest spaces, at Linfield College in McMinnville. Titled, Versus Artifacts, Brodie takes is anthropological and poetic approach to digging through that great mound of stuff all Americans seem to accumulate. Besides, after being cooped up for the last 4 days I think Portlanders are ready for a short road trip to wine country. Here is his statement (the fact that is worth reading is noteworthy itself): "This is an exhibition of domestic cultural signifiers chosen, edited and remixed, attempting, once again, through painting, sculpture and the built object, to generate transcendence over everything for the author and observer, and everyone else. History makes an appearance like a stone that has not moved for 1,000 years. Dispersion is forthcoming momentarily. Dedicated to those who come into contact with the moment after the fact." - John Brodie 2014 Versus Artifacts | February 10 - March 22 Opening Talk and Reception: February 16, 3PM (Talk), 4PM (Reception) Linfield Gallery | Linfield College 900 SE Baker st., McMinnville, OR Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 11, 2014 at 10:19 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.07.14 First Friday Picks Though a number of venues like the 811 Building and PLACE are not doing their openings tonight (PLACE is rescheduling for Sunday) both Gallery Homeland and Eutectic will be open if you feel like you can safely make it. BTW PAM just closed early and PNCA/MoCC are both closed for today.
Working Title is an exhibition devoted to the volunteers who make Gallery Homeland happen, Emily Kosta, Zac Kosta, Marc Roder and Reese Kruse. Should be a fun opening to celebrate the micro community that celebrates the art scene so well. A huge # of artists live within walking distance of this SE Portland stalwart so it should be a good opportunity to get out if cabin fever is setting in. Working Title | January 17 - February 21 Opening Reception: February 7th 6-9PM Gallery Homeland 2505 SE 11th 
At Euctectic Gallery their latest show, BOTH/AND, features the work of Chris Baskin and Dan Schmitt. BOTH/AND | February - March Openingf Reception: February 7 6PM -? Euctectic Gallery 1930 NE Oregon. St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 07, 2014 at 13:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.06.14 First Thursday Picks Though the snow has lead to many cancellations two galleries earn the "TOUGH" award, conferring the right to mock all other Portland gallerists as "snow wusses" for the rest of the year. But seriously, these are two great shows you should see soon if you aren't already downtown... perhaps when things get less blizzardly.
Untitled (Screen at Golf Course Near Hillsboro) The late Terry Toedtemeier would have really enjoyed the fact that his show Skies was opening to such dramatic atmospheric circumstances. We all miss him but it is a beautiful thing to actually get to know more of his work as an important photographer. His photo, Untitled (Screen at Golf Course Near Hillsboro) is a masterpiece. Terry was an intrepid and rugged adventurer and never would a little snow deter him. Skies | Feb 4th - March 1st Opening Reception: February 6, 6-8PM PDX Contemporary Art 925 NW Flanders ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 06, 2014 at 17:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.03.14 Emily Ginsburg at Pacific University  Emily Ginsburg Way out there in Forest Grove Pacific University is putting on some very interesting shows and the latest, "Mixed Feelings" by Emily Ginsburg looks like another one worth the trek to wine country or on the way to the coast. Featuring works in glass, animation and sound the show purports to examine, "simultaneity and distinctiveness in the physical, spoken, contemplative and emotional levels of experience through a collection of visual and audio scores." Mixed Feelings | February 4 -28 Opening Reception February 5th 11:30AM | gallery talk 1:00 PM Kathrin Cawein Gallery of Art | Pacific University | Harvey W. Scott Hall 2125 College Way, Forest Grove Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 03, 2014 at 12:22 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.29.14 For Encarncion: Address is Approximate 
The Light + Sound Gallery presents For Encarncion: Address is Approximate by Mark Martinez. The installation explores the impersonal map making of Google as filtered through time sensitive data acting as an emotionally distanced proxy for the artist's relationship with his grandmother. Google hasn't updated images of his grandmother's home since 2011, giving her a false kind of immortality. For Encarncion: Address is Approximate January 30 - February 26 Opening Reception January 30th 6-9PM Light + Space Gallery | Living Room Realty 1401 NE Alberta and 2625 SE 26th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 29, 2014 at 20:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 01.27.14 James Minden at Washington Co Museum  James Minden calls them "Light Drawings" and his show of the same name up this month in Hillsboro gives everyone another chance to catch these fascinating optical works. Just watching other people react to these "handmade holograms is worth the trip alone. Light Drawings | January 22 - April 6, 2014 Opening Reception: Tuesday, January 28, 5:30-7:30PM Washington County Museum @ Hillsboro Civic Center 120 East Main Street, Hillsboro, OR Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 27, 2014 at 21:58 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.23.14 To see in January January is almost over but there are some great chances to catch up on what you should see in the next few days.
 The "must see" thing in Portland right now is the excellent Francis Bacon Triptych on view at the Portland Art Museum. As luck would have it the museum is free on Friday night from 5-8PM. Do it, anybody who thinks there is a figurative painting more worthy of your attention in Oregon simply doesn't know very much about visual art.  Kara Walker at the JSMA Also happening on Friday 6-8PM the Jordan Schnitzer Museum in Eugene is presenting, Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery and Power, from January 25 to April 6. A MacArthur Fellow, Walker is perhaps America's premier artist when it comes to the untidy history of race and power.... (More) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 23, 2014 at 13:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 01.14.14 Willam Pope L.'s Claim  William Pope L. PSU, has increasingly asserted itself as a key player in Portland's contemporary visual arts scene and with William Pope L's Claim, featuring extensive research into Portland's not so hidden history of racism... it should kick 2014 off with a boot to the head. I consider Pope L's eRacism exhibition at PICA in 2003 to be one of the very best exhibitions I have experienced in Portland in the past decade and a half. Let's just say that Pope L. is a master of summoning conflicted reactions; intellectually, viscerally and habitually. Lecture begins at 7 and the exhibition will feature performances by students in PSU's School of Music. Claim | January 15 - February 18, 2014 Opening reception: January 15, 8-10PM Lecture: Wednesday, January 15 7PM | Shattuck Hall Annex Performance schedule TBA Littman Gallery | PSU Smith Hall, Room 250 1825 SW Broadway | Gallery hours M-F noon-4PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 14, 2014 at 10:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 01.10.14 I.M.N.D.N. at the Art Gym 
Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds I.M.N.D.N. or Native Art for the 21st Century at the Art Gym features the work of seven contemporary Native artists reconceptualizing what is meant by Native art. It features; Rick Bartow, Joe Feddersen, Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds, Wendy Red Star, Nicholas Galanin, Peter Morin and Terrance Houle. Guest curator Todd Clark's statement, "I.M.N.D.N. will expand visitors horizons with works by seven contemporary Native artists from the Northwest and Canada who are reinventing the concept of what contemporary Native art is. The exhibition will explore Native mythologies, colonization, identity, and much more, through the smart and talented lens of Native artists in touch with their past, but firmly rooted in the present. With clear vision and lacking romantic overtures, these artists embody the idea of what it means to be a Native artist in the 21st century." I.M.N.D.N. | January 12 - February 14, 2014 Gallery hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 12 noon - 4 PM Reception: January 12, 3 to 5 PM Gallery Talk: Thursday, January 30, 12:30 PM Art Gym | Marylhurst University 17600 Pacific Hwy Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 10, 2014 at 19:43 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 01.07.14 Jenene Nagy's The Crystal Land at PCC 
Jenene Nagy at PCC Sylvania's Northview Gallery Today marks the first day of PORT alumni and former Portlander, Jenene Nagy's The Crystal Land at PCC Sylvania's North View Gallery. Though she moved she's still quite active in the scene here (a prodigal Portlander?) and her work generally conflates landscape and the build environment through materials. I have a quixotic soft spot for this brutalist gem of a space so it is interesting to see more artists engage its architecture. The Crystal Land | Jan. 7 - Feb. 8, 2014 Artist lecture and closing reception January 29 at 2pm Northview Gallery Portland Community College - Sylvania Campus 12000 SW 49th Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 07, 2014 at 13:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 01.06.14 A Light Spray at PMoMA  It looks like the group show to kick off the Portland art scene's 2014 is here and it is at the Portland Museum of Modern Art. A Light Spray looks like a great combination of video artists including Chase Biado, Brenna Murphy, Donald Morgan, that guy who is always funnier than Jimmy Fallon and Ralph Pugay (who is funnier than that guy who is funnier than Fallon). A Light Spray Opening: Tuesday January 7th, 8:00PM Portland Museum of Modern Art (inside Mississippi Records) 5202 N Albina Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 06, 2014 at 10:46 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.02.14 First Thursday January 2014 Picks Ready or not, it is here and since First Thursday is mostly a social event it is a good way to get the feet planted in the new year. Here are my 3 picks:
Christy Wyckoff, Displaced Grove (2013) Blackfish Gallery is 35 this year and to kick off this important collective's anniversary they have organized, "Becoming Blackfish," which features 38 current and former members; John Alberts, Dyann Alkire, Robert Bibler, Barbara Black, Pavel Boboia, Sharon Bronzan, Mario Caoile, Judy Cooke, Priscilla Carrasco, Jonnel Covault, Dennis Cunningham, Julia Fish, Susan Freifeld, Sheryl Funkhouser, Deborah Gillis, Robert Hanson, Jim Hibbard, Harold Hoy, Kanetaka Ikeda, Michiro Kosuge, Colleen Kriger, Paul Missal, William Moore, Howard Neufeld, Barry Pelzner, Esther Podemski, Richard Rezac, Eileen Senner, Manya Shapiro, Margaret Shirley, Kate Simmons, Arvie Smith, Stephan Soihl, Rick True, Lynne Woods Turner, Gary Westford, Harry Widman and Christy Wyckoff. Becoming Blackfish | December 31 - February 1, 2014 First Thursday Reception: January 2, 6 - 9PM Blackfish Gallery | 420 NW 9th ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 02, 2014 at 14:37 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 12.06.13 Rathbun closing at Archer  Attend, Mike Rathbun at Archer Gallery There are a lot of shows ending this weekend at the Art Gym, Lumber Room and Appendix is closing for good tonight (Eutectic has a nice holiday show opening too)... but perhaps the most satisfying of them is Mike Rathbun's large scale effort "Attend" at the Archer Gallery, which closes Saturday December 7th. Attend | October 8 - December 7 Closing Reception and Talk: December 7, 12 - 1PM Archer Gallery | Clark College| Penguin Union Building 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Gallery Hours: T-Th 10AM to 7PM, F & S noon to 5PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 06, 2013 at 11:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 12.05.13 First Thursday December 2013 Picks It is an odd time of year when most of the art venues have just put up holiday group shows or held over an exhibition while they do the Miami art fairs (The best of which is Ann Hamilton at Leach). Still there are usually a few gems to be found. Here are my 2 picks:
Anne Appleby Lackawanna PDX Contemporary leads the pack with Woods by the ever impressive Anne Appleby (who is part of this year's CNAA's at PAM). Her abtract paintings always have a distinctively vegetable toned chromascape to their impeccable and nuanced surfaces. An eternal springtime? Woods | Anne Appleby December 3 - 28, 2013 PDX Contemporary 925 NW Flanders 
Ben Buswell Beb Buswell came to everyone's attention during the 2006 Oregon Biennial but is another one of those very promising young artists that hadn't found a gallery adventurous enough for him... until now. His debut at Upfor, We Live Only Through Ourselves, attempts to offer, "a meditation on loss and mourning tinged with the unrest of personal politics." He's got a poetic flair for structure and materials and I've been waiting for a solo show like this for years. We Live Only Through Ourselves December 5 - January 25, 2014 Opening Thursday December 5, 6 to 9pm Upfor 929 NW Flanders Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 05, 2013 at 14:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 12.03.13 Swan Island Industrial Park 
Portland based photographer Alain LeTourneau has taken on the necessary and perhaps under appreciated industrial subject of Swan Island for his latest photography series. He's got an interesting conceptual framework for the work, which considers the "geography of production" and the division of "labor space." It is a part of Portland that simply plays by different rules of spatial conduct. Opening reception: Tuesday, December 3 | 6-9PM By appointment: December 4-8 | 503 231-6548 BEAMPROJECTS 5232 N Williams Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 03, 2013 at 0:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.21.13 Blair Saxon-Hill talk at PSU 
Installation view of From the Beginning (Yet Further On) (photo Jeff jahn) In support of her exhibition at PSU's Littman Gallery titled, From the Beginning (Yet Further On) the whip smart Blair Saxon-Hill will give a talk on her work Friday November 22 at 6:00 at Portland State University's Shattuck Hall. She's clearly influenced by influential art history so parsing this exhibit should be like visiting old friends. The exhibition is on view November 14 - December 12 Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 21, 2013 at 18:54 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 11.19.13 Susan Seubert Talk 
The latest of the Art Clark lecture series is award winning photographer Susan Seubert. Seubert has recieved both an Eisenstaedt Award and an International Photography Award and exhibited in the 2009 Northwest Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum, among other things. Artist talk | PUB 161 November 20th from 7 to 8PM Clark College>br> 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver WA Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 19, 2013 at 20:18 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.15.13 Dana Schutz and Ryan Johnson Talk 
Dana Schutz, Reformers (2004) November has had a glut of great art talks (including Josiah McElheny and Lynne Cooke this Saturday) but the latest of OCAC's Connections series with Dana Schutz and Ryan Johnson at the Portland Art Museum is a must attend for any figurative painter or sculptor working in Portland. Schutz, one of the world's top painters (and a hoot btw) is known for her somewhat apocalyptic, tragicomic scenarios while Johnson explores a slightly similar existential comedy in 3d... the two have been in conversation for a long time and should make for an engaging talk. Dana Schutz & Ryan Johnson November 18th | 7:00PM Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 15, 2013 at 16:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 11.13.13 Streams and or support? Tonight The Portland Art Museum is convening a panel to discuss the "streams of support" that Northwest institutions provide for artists. The tough question is do these institutions simply use the artists to create attendance and a job for themselves or do they catalyze challenging work and make it possible? Yes and No... it depends which one you are talking about but none of them should ever charge artists for their consideration.
Something oddly defensive and prophylactic always happens at these regional art panels and I've discussed this kind of navel gazing at length here before... it is the definitive post on the situation, including the 10 ways regional survey shows fail. It also stands true for art awards. More recently, the Betty Bowen and Portland2014 lists have drawn a bit of criticism for heavily featuring men and not so many women... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 13, 2013 at 17:05 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.08.13 Weekend Picks Youth Edition  Last Spring recent PNCA grad Matthew Leavitt got my attention with his PDX Window Project as a promising artist to watch. Tonight he opens a show caled Inviolate promising, "Fine textures and materials. Hanging. Purple." Inviolate | November - December 2013 Reception: November 8 7-9PM Ristretto Roasters 3808 N Williams Ave. 
Tony Chrenka is another one of those promising young artists worth paying attention to and he has turned his new apartment into a gallery for a day. I like the pluck. Here is his PR statement, "It is going to be bright saturday. Don't you think it will simply be a great day to view art. A warm home with a warm hearth, and a large picture window with diffused light streaming through. There is a view to the east of Mt. Tabor. Looking to the interior of the apartment you will notice an arrangement of sculptures, paintings, and friends. They are all shuffling around on the shag carpet, orbiting the sculptures with sun tea in their hand. Joining them will be simple. Take the pressure off (osmosis). It is saturday afternoon after all." New Apartment and New Work | November 9th Reception: 2:00PM to sundown 47th and Stark Apartment 8 Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 08, 2013 at 13:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.07.13 First Thursday Picks November 2013 November is a very short month for art exhibitions but it packs serious cultural firepower this year. For example, as a continuation of last month's top pick, be certain to check out MSHR's collaborative phase 2 of Brenna Murphy's show at Upfor. Here's what else is new:
 Ann Hamilton's Stylus.Hand Gallerist Elizabeth Leach can do great things when she focuses and Ann Hamilton has always been an artist she has spoken about passionately. Though Hamilton is more known for epic and immersive installations she also has a knack for poetic objects. This is the must check out show this month. Ann Hamilton | a reading November 2, 2013 - January 11, 2014 Elizabeth Leach Gallery 417 NW 9th 
Somewhat related to Ann Hamilton in their unrelenting literalness, conceptual pranksters Ryan Wilson Paulsen and Anna Grey take on the institution of institutions in their latest show A Series of Rectangles. It looks like their most focused work in years. RYANNA | A Series of Rectangles November 5 - 30, 2013 PDX Contemporary Art 925 NW Flanders ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 07, 2013 at 10:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 11.05.13 Wednesday doings 
Pacific University's Katherin Cawien Gallery presents Sean Healy's first solo show in the Portland area in over two years. Titled Smudge, the work according to Healy, "is fabricated from cigarettes, beer, and ash. It is about vice, the youthful belief in invincibility, and the inevitable consequences of the merging of those two volatile elements." Smudge | November 6-26, 2013 Opening Reception: November 6, 4-5PM Kathrin Cawein Gallery of Art (Scott Hall) Pacific University 2125 College Way, Forest Grove, Or  PSU's MFA Lecture Series is one of the strongest in Portland and this Wednesday Amanda Ross Ho discusses her work, which is often concerned with detritus, clutter and negative space (or lack thereof). She has exhibited at MOCA and MoMA, two of the world's greatest art hoarders. Amanda Ross Ho | November 6, 2013 Artist Talk: 7-9PM | Shattuck Hall Annex Portland State University entrance is on SW Hall at Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 05, 2013 at 12:58 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 10.30.13 Ann Hamilton Weekend Thanks to Liz Leach and PNCA this weekend is officially Ann Hamilton Weekend in Portland with 2 ways to see Hamilton (an artist who is very interested in the body) in the flesh. Hamilton was last in Portland back in 2005 and this time she has an exhibition at The Elizabeth Leach Gallery to boot.
 Ann Hamilton's installation, The Event of a Thread, (2012) at the Park Avenue Armory, NYC Hamilton's lecture at PNCA on Friday night is perhaps the most accessible way to catch the MacArthur Award winner this weekend. Artist Talk : Friday November 1st 6:30-8:00PM PNCA | Swigert Commons 1241 NW Johnson St. The second event on Saturday should be interesting as Hamilton discusses the body in context to fashion and another artist, Josiah McElheny. Titled, "THE ABSTRACT BODY & FASHION Some thoughts on the abstract body," this should be a more intimate event so get there early. Hamilton, "has created installations that bring together sensory landscapes with performance, crafting spaces and outfits for her works' participants that investigate the line between objects, subjects and bodies. In relationship to Josiah McElheny's work, which culls from modernist narratives constructed around sartorial fashion, Hamilton and scholar Jessica Burstein will address what it may or may not mean for the body to be abstract when it comes to fashion. Screening: Oskar Schlemmer's "Triadic Ballet" will follow the conversation." Ann Hamilton and Jessica Burstein | November 2, 3-5PM Lumber Room 419 NW 9th Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 30, 2013 at 16:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.25.13 Weekend Picks Weekends just keep getting busier in Portland's art scene. Here are my 3 picks:
 Samantha Wall, Amelia (2013) Samantha Wall's Indivisible at Ampersand should be a winner. A few years ago I considered Samantha Wall to be one of the most fully realized artists to come straight out of a Portland MFA program and should go far nationally if she can avoid looking anything like Storm Tharp's work (it isn't necessary and her Robert Longo meets early chuck Close realism is inherently more spartan). A Joan Mitchell Fellowship this past Summer didn't hurt either and now she has been picked up by the Laura Russo Gallery (which has needed some new blood for quite some time). But before then Ampersand is having an exhibition with a limited edition artist book of 100, with 10 deluxe signed editions which come with a small drawing by the artist. Indivisible | October 26 to November 30, 2013 Reception: October 26 from 6 to 9PM Ampersand 2916 NE Alberta St., B ... (more including Free PAM friday night and Zena Zezza) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 25, 2013 at 16:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 10.20.13 Suzanne Opton at Linfield College  The Linfield Gallery presents, 2009 Guggenheim Fellow, Suzanne Opton's large-format photos and audio/video works. Opton's work explores the complex emotional states of veterans. "Each body of work embodies a form of portraiture. From intimate close-up frames of the soldier's heads lying flat on a table and gazing in the direction of the lens, faithful moments of soldiers embraced by their loved ones, and soldiers standing in a unique studio setting holding a comforting blanket, Opton's photographs explore the transformative experiences of war. These images bypass the loaded ideas of soldier and warfare and provide a silent dialogue from one human being to the next." Suzanne Opton | October 21 - November 30 2013 Artist Talk: October 23, 6 - 7PM | Delkin Hall, Vivian Bull Music Center Opening Reception: October 23, 7PM in the Gallery, Miller Fine Art Center Linfield College Gallery, McMinnville Oregon Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 20, 2013 at 23:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 10.14.13 Mike Rathbun opening and talk  Mike Rathbun's Attend (detail) at Clark College Over the years Mike Rathbun has proven himself to be one of the Northwest's most consistent large scale sculptors and his latest, Attend, at the Archer Gallery shouldn't disappoint. Attend | October 8 - December 7 Opening Reception: October 15, 6 - 7PM Artist's Talk: October 15, 7 - 8PM Closing Reception and Talk: December 7, 12 - 1PM Archer Gallery | Clark College| Penguin Union Building 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver Washington Gallery Hours: T-Th 10AM to 7PM, F & S noon to 5PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 14, 2013 at 16:47 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.11.13 PAM hosts Wiki edit-a-thon 
This Sunday from 1-4 PM the Portland Art Museum will be holding an edit-a-thon for Wikipedia articles on notable Oregon artists and works (perhaps curators too?). The state and Portland in particular happens to be crawling with strong artists who merit mention. This is much needed as this rather incomplete this page on the Portland art scene can attest (to dispel a sometime misappropriation, no I didn't create it). Bring your laptop. Wikipedia Edit-a-thon October 13, 1-4PM Portland Art Museum | Mark Building 1219 SW Park Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 11, 2013 at 9:59 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 10.09.13 Mark Morrisroe one night show and book release  For one night only Monograph Bookwerks presents both an exhibition and the Portland book release of Mark Dirt: Mark Morrisroe, a survey of the artist's non-photographic works, compiled by Ramsey McPhillips. "Containing much previously unpublished work, Mark Dirt includes spreads from Morrisroe's punk zine Dirt ('he sort of invented the Boston punk scene,' Jack Pierson later recalled of his former lover), as well as correspondence and notes by the artist, sketches and even his last will and testament. All of these documents have been assembled by Morrisroe's former partner Ramsey McPhillips, and represent the most complete survey of the artist's non-photographic works." Mark Morrisroe One night exhibition and book release October 10 from 6-9pm Monograph Bookwerks 5005 NE 27th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 09, 2013 at 23:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.04.13 First Weekend October 
It is the end of an era as Appendix presents its last show Sallymander by Alex Felton. What constitutes the most culturally significant garage in Northeast Portland the appendix guys and a few gals have done great things with an internationally relevant outlook for the past 5 years. Not certain what to expect but the words, "a kind of encyclopedia made into farce," jumped out at me from the press release. Sallymander Opening Reception: October 4, 8 - 11:30 PM Appendix located in the south alley between 26th and 27th Avenues off of NE Alberta St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 04, 2013 at 12:17 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 10.03.13 First Thursday Picks October 2013  Brenna Murphy at Upfor (photo Jeff Jahn) As their second show Upfor gallery presents Brenna Murphy's LATTICE~FACE PARAMETER CHANT. As you can see from this teaser image Murphy has a flair for pattern which through circuit design and geometry has come to define science and mysticism simultaneously. Overall, this is an exciting development in the scene as most of Portland's core for profit galleries have become extremely safe and entrenched (especially compared to the internationally active alt space scene in town). Murphy originally burst on the scene with the Oregon Painting Society collective and then more recently the MSHR duo and has been popping up in Europe, San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center and New York City as of late. Brenna Murphy | October 3 to November 27 Reception: Thursday, October 3, 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm Upfor 929 NW Flanders Street ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 03, 2013 at 1:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 09.30.13 Jorge Pardo talk and dedication today  Jorge Pardo's newest public art piece, to be dedicated in North Portland (photo Jeff Jahn) Public art is perhaps the thorniest of all fine art forms but sometimes it really works. Today the internationally renown artist Jorge Pardo will be in Portland to dedicate his first such municipal commission at 11:00 at the triangle of Wheeler and Weidler streets in the Rose Quarter. The functional sculpture on the new streetcar line consists of, "Fabricated of steel, wood and fiberglass, the new shelter measures 35' long by 18' wide by 16' tall. The multi-faceted structure includes over 300 individual panels in vibrant shades of orange, yellow, red and grey." It functions as a rain shelter but within it creates a kind of sunshine that we sometimes have very little of around here in the Pacific Northwest. Pardo will also be speaking at 6:00 at the nearby Left Bank Annex (101 N. Weidler). Both events are free and open to the public. Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 30, 2013 at 2:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 09.25.13 Last Thursday Alberta September 2013 Even though Appendix is having their last exhibition next month we have noticed how Alberta Street's scene has been becoming more serious as of late. It doesn't hurt that the city's two best art book stores Monograph and Ampersand have set up shop! Here are 3 picks for Alberta street tomorrow.
 still from Lucas Cook's Welandedonthemoon For this month's video installation Living Room Realty is presenting Portland based Lucas Cook's work. Wine and snacks are courtesy of LRR. Lucas Cook | September 26 through October Opening: September 26, 6-8 PM Living Room Realty 1455 NE Alberta St ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 25, 2013 at 11:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.20.13 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards 2013 Preview 
Regionalism is a tricky paradox, one which I explored at length in this essay on PORT a few years ago. Simplistically, in a very global and connected art world, regionalism exists asa matter of stereotypes and conveniences but upon further examination these always seems like a red herring. With that in mind, the third version of the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards opens this Saturday at the Portland Art Museum (there is a private reception/award ceremony Saturday night...BTW the 1st one was quite public). For background, the last CNAA's were an unmitigated critical disaster (because it fit so completely within NW stereotypes prompting many to call it the Conservative Northwest Art Awards). It wasn't just critics either... everyone from major patrons to artists who were friends/fans of those in the show to other Northwest museum staff made a point of telling me how much they "did not like it" at the opening. In the rather polite Northwest this simply does not happen. Let's just say there may not be a "Northwest" style of art but there is apparently a stereotype of Northwest curation that a most under 60 are anxious to move beyond. The question will be, "does this one deliver?" This time around the 6 artists chosen: Anne Appleby (MT), Karl Burkheimer (OR), Issac Layman (WA), Abbie Miller (WY), Nickolas Nyland (WA), and Trimpin (WA) should avoid a complete repeat but not act an antidote as I explained here in this link when the list was announced. Still, let's see the show before fully judging it? It is a conservative list, perhaps even moreso than 2011's but it also seems to understand that installation art, relational aesthetic and digital imagery are crucial to the discussion today... Overall, survey shows at institutions are often more about the institutions themselves than that which they survey! What I and most people who enjoy contemporary art will be looking for is... ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 20, 2013 at 12:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 09.18.13 Premier Weekend Even though Fall hasn't officially started we are already well into the beginning of the season with far too much to choose from. Here are two moving premiers to consider this weekend.
So perhaps you need something to renew your faith in art and the murky process of collecting? Here is the one and it is only for this weekend. At the Northwest Film Center is the Portland premier of Herb and Dorothy 50 x 50 by Director Megumi Sasaki. In case you haven't been tracking it, Herb and Dorothy Vogel became some of the world's greatest art collectors on a small time budget. Then they gave 50 works to 50 museums in all 50 states. You can see most of the works given to the Portland Art Museum here. As examples of the best that collecting art can achieve, the Vogel's are legendary. Northwest Film Center Fri, Sep 20, 8:30 PM | Sat, Sep 21, 4 PM | Sun, Sep 22, 4:30 PM & 7 PM ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 18, 2013 at 13:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.13.13 Weekend Events Yes TBA opened this week, go see that (Alex Mackin Dolan and AL Steiner and Anna Craycroft are three good vis art bets) but while you are out and about here are some other events that are also worthy of attention.
Katie Steinberg Friday the 13th couldn't be a better day to have an opening reception for Feardom by Colin Manning and Katie Steinberg at Gallery Homeland. Steinberg creates weapons rendered in delicate even precious materials. For example the show features a 4 foot long pearl cannon and uzi's rendered in a Frank Lloyd Wright-ish stained glass prairie style stained glass. Seems incredibly appropriate as Syria's civil war threatens to involve the rest of the world. Manning applies collage and filmic techniques to create unsettling transparent layers that have a nightmare-like quality. Both artists are based in Portland part of the time. Projection performance by Colin Manning as well. Opening Reception: Friday the 13th | 7-11PM Gallery Homeland | 2505 SE 11th ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 13, 2013 at 9:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 09.10.13 69/11: Trading Places  Because everything and everyone in Portland IS interwoven and cross pollinated PSU's Littman and White Gallery staff is trading places with Recess in the Central Eastside Industrial District on Wednesday. The opening should be epic as it looks like it is on one of the nicest nights of the year as Portland's Summer season winds down. Artists are; Missy Canez, Gage Hamilton, Fletcher Meisenberg and Katie Yancey. There will be music by IBQT and American Material Culture as well. Opening Reception: September 11 | 7:30 - 11:00PM Recess Gallery 1127 SE 10th Ave, Portland OR, 97214 Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 10, 2013 at 11:20 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.06.13 First Weekend September 2013 It is the beginning of the new art season in Portland and this weekend is full of options, here are my three picks:
 Installation view of Josiah McElheny's 2012 exhibition at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston Zena Zezza (a Sandra Percival project) is kicking off its Artist Project Season with Josiah McElheny at Lumber Room this Sunday. McElheny is one of my favorite living artists... successfully blurring boundaries between design, history, science and experiential art. The work is masterfully crafted but it succeeds through its intense conceptual ambitions, which turns the beautiful finished work into something interrogative rather than vain. In fact it addresses the vanity of science and modernism. "I began exploring the history of modernism through ideas around exhibition, display and education. Those things are interrelated to me. My first works were quasi-educational museum structures. The first artwork I ever made—and I didn’t consider it a work at the time—was a museum that you would find in the forest by accident. It had both originals and fakes in it that I made myself." -Josiah McElheny Josiah McElheny | September 12-December 7, 2013 Opening Reception: Sunday, September 8 3-5pm Open Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 1-6pm lumber room | 419 NW 9th Avenue ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 06, 2013 at 6:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 09.04.13 September 2013 ! First Thursday !  Memory of Line: Grids, Templates and Miniatures D.E. MAY is a Salem based artist who has been working for forty-one years. He uses materials collected from "Island Salem" in his work. These discarded materials, weathered from time and the elements, desire nothing more than to evoke the feeling of his native land. In his upcoming exhibition, Memory of Line: Grids, Templates and Miniatures he will be exhibiting new templates, miniatures, and large-scale grids. Memory of Line: Grids, Templates and Miniatures | D.E. MAY September 3 - 28, 2013 First Thursday | September 5 | 6-8 PM PDX Contemporary Art | 925 NW Flanders Street, Portland, OR 97209  Michael Lazarus, ON, 2012 acrylic paint, and found material on wood 29 x 31" The paintings in Michael Lazarus' Recent Works are created from found materials, clean lines, graphic pattern, and intense color. Many include commercial signage and lettering reconfigured to create statements or questions. His work explores the dualities of human existence; "anxiety and joy, hardship and pleasure, darkness and light". Recent Works | Michael Lazarus September 5 - 21, 2013 First Thursday | September 5 | 6-8 PM Elizabeth Leach Gallery | 417 N.W. 9th Avenue Portland, OR 97209  Eva Speer Game #4, 2013 Cast resin, acrylic, latex paint 15x15 inches Alone Together is the newest body of work by artist Eva Speer. Speer's work concerns "the contradictory forces of a majesty and rawness outside language and a helpless dependence on the world that has already tamed it". Using industrial materials and mechanical processes, Speer creates compelling works that blends organic and mechanical to fashion something from "the haze of the everyday". Alone Together | Eva Speer September 4 - 28, 2013 Charles A. Hartman Fine Art | 134 NW 8th Ave Portland, OR 97209 & there's more ! Posted by Emily Cappa on September 04, 2013 at 13:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 08.26.13 Hsueh Wei at Linfield College  Hsueh Wei's Cupping #1 The Linfield Gallery presents Hseuh Wei from Taiwan August 26 - October 5. Wei's work explores visual culture from both Eastern and Western perspectives and driven by an innate sense of curiosity as expressed through photography. The PR promises, "The exhibition will host four series by Wei that explore Eastern and Western cultural paradigms. In the project 'Transparent or Not' and in the pieces 'Oceanic Advertisement' and 'Spirited Frame of Mind for Everyday Travel,' Wei uses visual culture as a tool to explore Eastern and Western cultural paradigms, and photography as a tool to understand representation, subjectivity, collective expression, individual choice and freedom within a global context." Opening & Artist Talk: September 4th (opening 6:00, talk 7:00 at Delkin Hall) James Miller Fine Arts Center, Linfield College Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 26, 2013 at 11:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.22.13 Openings & Events | August 22 - 25 
THE PROJECTS THE PROJECTS is a festival of experimental comics and narrative arts, happening at the IPRC and other locations from August 22-25 2013. There will be 4 days of workshops, exhibitions, panels, performances, projections and projects. HERE is the program. The festival is a free event seeking to leave behind the flat model of comics as commerce. Check it out ! THE PROJECTS | festival of experimental comics and narrative arts August 22 - 25, 2013  Cameron Soren & Melissa Sachs Cameron Soren & Melissa Sachs present Weepy Donuts, the result of their art "jam sessions". On a Wacom tablet, lying down in bed, high on Kratom (Southeast Asian plant, when consumed in tea, similar effect to morphine), they produce "paintings". The artists seek to "pick up the viewer" by escaping into a drug-induced pod and looking inward. Weepy Donuts, the Kratom Kids | Cameron Soren & Melissa Sachs Opening | August 23 | 8 - 11:30 PM Appendix Project Space | South alleyway off of NE Alberta St. between 26th and 27th Aves in Portland, OR. & there's an exciting talk on Sunday too ! Posted by Emily Cappa on August 22, 2013 at 9:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.15.13 Openings & Events | August 16 -18  Quality is Contagious: John Economaki and Bridge City Tool Works Drawing on his background in industrial design and knowledge of construction needs, Jon Economaki established Bridge City Tool Works in 1983. Using digital technology and his knowledge of industrial design he created tools to be passed down from generation to generation. The company's process and finished products from the past thirty years will be on view for the first time. Quality is Contagious : John Economaki and Bridge City Tool Works August 16 2013 - January 18, 2014 Museum of Contemporary Craft | 724 NW Davis St Portland, OR, 97209  GLEAN GLEAN seeks to get people to think about their consumption habits and consider the waste we generate. Each year, five artists are chosen and given a stipend of $2000 and six months time to glean materials from the dump and create ten pieces of art. This exhibition is the result of the process. & then in the Vestibule ... A new installation by Courtney Kemp . Through her work, Kemp seeks to familiarize her viewer with interior domestic spaces. Seeking to form and conjure up memories, each piece was created by following a fictional narrative. GLEAN | Crackedpots, Recology, and Metro AT THE ENDING, ON ALL CORNERS | Courtney Kemp Opening | August 16 | 6-9 PM August 16 - September 8th, 2013 Disjecta & The Vestibule | 8371 N Interstate Avenue Portland, OR 97217 & then there's more on Saturday ... Posted by Emily Cappa on August 15, 2013 at 20:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 08.12.13 Chris Johanson Book Signing 
Tomorrow night everybody's favorite lil art bookstore Monograph will host a party and book signing for Chris Johanson's new tome published by Phaidon. Unless you live under a rock you know Johanson's work from his early days in the Mission School/Beautiful Losers of San Francisco and numerous international biennials as well as being locally active. The work channels hippie ideals and 21st Century conscience that always makes me think of an updated William Blake for our times. Johanson's Apex show at the Portland Art Museum was perhaps the highpoint of that program, which has struggled to find an identity that is relevant both regional/international since. Chris Johanson Book Release Party & Signing | Free with a little music by Chris Monograph Bookwerks | Tuesday, August 13 from 6-9pm 5005 NE 27th Avenue at Alberta Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 12, 2013 at 11:19 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.08.13 Out of Town Openings | July 10th Get out of town on Saturday ... Lots of great things happening just outside Portland !
 Sandy Roumagoux Sandy Roumagoux's "paintings are her interpretation of the ever relevant paradoxes of faith, war, and nature". Her work explores "divine absurdities" and the duality of existence. Roumagoux has been Mayor of Newport since last November. Her work is politically charged because she cannot separate politics from art. Attempting to "challenge us to a responsiblity", she focuses on our cultures' "abuse of the environment, our love affair with greed, our throw away consumerism and our sanitizing of violence". As a successful artist she understands how much art positively influences a place and builds community. She compares being an artist to being a thrifty small business, and believes that artists have a lot to teach. An artist/mayor ! Roumagoux is the coolest mayor ! Roumagoux is the coolest artist ! Sandy Roumagoux exhibits New Paintings at KALA. Opening | August 10 | 5-8 PM | Astoria 2nd Saturday Art Walk August 10 - September 3 1017 Marine Drive in Astoria | Sats/Suns 12-4 PM  Nika Kaiser "In Nika Kaiser's video work, notions of a non-physical body are constant; human-like figures appear and transform cyclically, personifying the ghostly and the magical." Her exhibit Subtle Body is an exploration of all parts of a being, including those which exist before life and after death. The installation's use of projection allows for a sense of loss, fragmentation and repetition, as a human presence is created. Subtle Body : video installations | Nika Kaiser Opening | August 10 | 6-9 PM Ditch Projects | 303 S. 5th Avenue #165, Springfield, Oregon 97477 Posted by Emily Cappa on August 08, 2013 at 22:32 | Comments (0) PermalinkOpenings & Events | August 8th & 10th  Katie Yancey Katie Yancey's River is a Moving Body is an exploration of disconnect. Yancey works in video, photography, sound, and performance. Utilizing both digital processes and sculptural elements, she seeks to extend the dimensionality of digital information into the physical. Unnamed flowers call that of this morning's yellow McIntyre Parker (born 1984, California) lives in San Francisco & that's all I got :/ RIVER IS A MOVING BODY | Katie Yancey Unnamed flowers call that of this morning's yellow | McIntyre Parker Opening Reception | August 8 | 5-8 PM August 8 - 28, 2013 White Gallery: PSU Smith Hall, Second Floor | 1825 SW Broadway Portland, OR 97217 Littman Gallery: PSU Smith Hall, Room 250 | 1825 SW Broadway Portland, OR 97217  Mami Takahashi Maybe is a multi artist exhibit attempting to capture the magic of indecision and uncertainty. Maybe is existing in the unknown for as long as possible. "Maybe the exhibition is the result of an exploration? Maybe this exhibition is leading an inquiry? Maybe the viewer will decide? Maybe: an overabundance of (im)possibility." The artists are Mami Takahashi, Chloe Womack, Chris Freeman, Stacey Villalobos, Will Elder, Ebin Lee, (Maria) Petra Fortes-Shramm, Jakob Vala, and Katie Yancey interim series presents Maybe | curated by Mark Martinez Opening | August 8 | 6-9 PM Panel Discussion | August 10 | 4 PM Place | 3rd floor of Pioneer Place mall & Then on Saturday ! Posted by Emily Cappa on August 08, 2013 at 1:05 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 08.05.13 Kota Ezawa talk  As a component of PNCA's Boundary Crossings program exploring contemporary animation Kota Ezawa will be speaking at the Lumber Room tonight at 6:30PM (free). Noted for his wry South Park like animations derived from major contemporary news events, Ezawa explores the way all such events are abstracted depictions... revealing more about the ways these events are portrayed than the details behind them. Thus, he is a kind of animation formalist. Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 05, 2013 at 0:54 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.31.13 Openings & Events | August 1st 2013  Cabinet photographic construction, archival inkjet print 59 x 65 inches Isaac Layman is known for his large format, hyper real images of objects from everyday life. His new body of work includes photographic constructions and curated objects. These works honor the idea of loss and hint through multiple perspectives to the possibility of the afterlife. Funeral : Photographic Constructions| Isaac Layman Opening | August 1 | 6-8 PM August 1 - September 21, 2013 Elizabeth Leach | 417 NW 9th Ave. Portland, OR 97209  Yoonhee Choi | Roya Motamedi Yoonhee Choi's elegant collages are notable for their unlikely materials. Drafting supplies from her days as an architect and city planner. In her hands, line tape, lettering sets, masking tape, and other supplies transform into expressive marks. For rePLACING Choi has added delicate graphite lines, some unexpected material choice, and a dramatic shift in scale from 2.5 inches square to 11 x 30 feet. Each of Roya Motamedi's abstract images is a meditation on place: "Afghanistan, Japan, New York, Mexico and Portland have created structure in me which carries through to my paintings" she says. This will be her first Portland show. Born to an Afghan archeologist father and a Japanese art historian mother, Motamedi and her family spent time in both parents' homelands. At 18, she departed for college in the U.S. Later, with her husband and son, Motamedi lived in a small town outside Guadalejara, and for the last five years in Portland. These intimately scaled oil paintings are glimpses into her wayfaring life. In her words "the colors of murals and dry earth at Bamiyan where Buddha once stood; the mossy temple of Kamakura; the sun of Mexico; the dusty road where dogs nap; and the color of now-the quiet gray of Portland". Motamedi and Choi, share a fascination with place, an affinity for working small, and a playfulness with color and space. rePLACING| Yoonhee Choi & Roya Motamedi Opening | August 1 | 6-9 PM Artist Talk | August 17 | 2-4 PM August 1 - September 21, 2013 Blackfish Gallery | 420 NW 9th Ave. Portland, OR 97209 & there are more openings this First Thursday ! Posted by Emily Cappa on July 31, 2013 at 11:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.23.13 Openings & Events | July 24th - 26th  Mandala two adult sparrows, baby sparrow in nest, dried plants & mixed media in modified wooden box 9 1/2" x 5 5/8" x 17 1/8" Ampersand is pleased to present Memory / Magic / Wonder, Matt Hall's second solo show at the gallery. This exhibition consists of mixed media assemblages and large-scale ink on paper drawings. This work explores historic perceptions of the natural world and our sense of wonder & magical phenomena. His inspiration stems from his childhood fascination with the agility of birds in flight, fish breathing under water & dogs navigating with their sense of smell. Hall's assemblages bring to mind curiosity cabinets of natural history museums, yet on a deeper level they allude to reliquaries. His pieces evoke spiritual practices in which direct interaction with animal parts is thought to transfer magical & totemic powers. Hall has also made a series of intricate drawings in an effort to show the multiple layers of his working experience. He shows a slight glimpse into the horror, strangeness, & magic of his process. Memory / Magic / Wonder | Matt Hall Preview Reception with artist | July 24th | 6-10 PM & open late Last Thursday July 24 - August 25, 2013 Ampersand Gallery & Fine Books | 2916 NE Alberta St., B, Portland, OR 97211 & there are more openings on the 25th & 26th . . . Posted by Emily Cappa on July 23, 2013 at 18:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.17.13 Openings & Events | July 18 - 20, 2013 Art Spark is pleased to feature print making studios Atelier Meridian and Flight 64!
The event will include : Letter pressing, pulling screens on different materials, and coming up with abstract and comedic ways to print iconic Portland imagery. Flight 64 will also be celebrating their 10th Anniversary in the PDX community! Atelier Meridian is a working print studio and artist community in Portland's Lower Albina neighborhood. It is an art studio with 24 hour access to the presses for members and goodwill to artists and the curious who drop in. Founded in 2003, Flight 64 is a member-run non-profit print studio in the Alberta Arts District. It provides artist the tools they need to develop their work, there are facilities for screenprint, etching, relief and lithography, as well as a community of artists. An evening of printmaking with Atelier Meridian and Flight 64 | Art Spark July 18th | 5-7 PM Vendetta | 14306 N Williams Ave, Portland, OR 97217  Lucy Skaer @ Yale Union Lucy Skaer's new sculptures commissioned by Yale Union are not loud talkers. They are however overly informed. Put simply, they are lithographic limestone extracted from Iowa in April. For 370 million years this limestone was considered nothing but rocks. In 1903 Clement Webster, a mining engineer, discovered the lithographic qualities of the stone. All of a sudden the stone had value and the area where the pieces were excavated was made into Lithograph City. For twenty years the slabs were quarried, however when metal printing plate technology developed the quarries closed, and the entire town had folded. The site is marked by rows of telegraph poles tracing what is now a cow pasture. The terra cotta and lithographic limestone are laden with history and technological significance. They are materials that imply a certain kind of use, able to print checks and deeds, designating value. Today however, quarries mine the stone for its non-lithographic properties. They crush the stone into material for road-building or concrete production, and ignore the flat slabs suitable for printing. Lucy Skaer Opening Reception | July 19th | 7-9 PM July 19 - September 12, 2013 Yale Union | 800 SE 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214 & there's more on the 19th and 20th ! Posted by Emily Cappa on July 17, 2013 at 19:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.12.13 Openings : Weekend of July 13th and 14th  Travis Nikolai The Pacific Northwest College of Art MFA in Visual Studies class of 2014 presents an exhibition of works produced at the midpoint of candidates' studies. The work explores concepts of image, language, technology, and contemporary visual culture. Participating artists: Sarah Abbott, Stephanie Brachmann, Mary Mac Dahlke, John Dougherty, Mario Gallucci, Thomas Gamble, Jonathan Gann, Michael Horwitz, Leif Lee, Travis Nikolai, Mark Palmen, Anya Roberts-Toney, Lauren Seiffert, Jessie Spiess, Rachel Wolf, Richard York, and Stephanie Yu. There is another opening in conjunction with Versus, taking place at the Vestibule within Disjecta. Travis Nikolai's Rendering takes something raw and makes it usable. Waste tissue becomes lard, and raw data is assembled into image. We consume, gain sustenance, and reconstitute ourselves. Rendering, a performative installation, explores the use of digital environments for the purpose of remaking the self. Two bodies present themselves as fantastical forms, and together share a sacrament to crystalize their transformation. This act is an attempt to find kindred spirits, molecular affinity, an effort to bond into a new and tentatively cohesive substance. :) Versus | PNCA First Year MFA Exhibition Rendering | Travis Nikolai July 13th - August 11th, 2013 July 13th | 6-9 PM Disjecta ( & the Vestibule inside Disjecta ) | 8371 N Interstate Avenue Portland, OR 97217 & there are more openings on Saturday & one on Sunday too ! Posted by Emily Cappa on July 12, 2013 at 11:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.10.13 Openings & Events | July 11th & 12th  Stripes No. 2 (Page) 2005 oil and acrylic on paper 11.5" x 17.5", 34 pages bound Join Portland artist John Brodie at the Portland Art Museum as he talks about his work. Born in Portland, Brodie has been painting for more than 20 years, with explorations in book art, prints and multiples, mixed media, and sculpture. He was included in Disjecta's PDX2010: A Biennial of Contemporary Art, and from 1996 to 2006 was a member of the 333 Studios. In 2010, he opened Monograph Bookwerks with artist Blair Saxon-Hill. Brodie will have a solo exhibition at the Linfield College Gallery in April 2014. Brodie will discuss his fascination with Oliver Lee Jackson's Untitled No. 6 (1978). Artist Talk and Happy Hour | John Brodie July 11th | 6-8 PM | $5 member, $15 non-members, $12 seniors/students Space is limited. Advance tickets are encouraged; available online or on site. Portland Art Museum | 1219 SW Park Avenue. Portland, OR 97205  Sa Schloff The Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies presents an evening with Visiting Artist Sa Schloff. Sa Schloff's photographic work explores how we live in the present and past simultaneously. Her work has exhibited at The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Houston Center for Photography, Smith College Art Museum and published in The New Yorker, Harper's and Bomb Magazine and awarded a Chicago Arts Assistance Grant, LEF Artist's Grant, St. Botolph Foundation Grant. She received her MFA in photography from the School of the Art Institute and teaches at Columbia College, Chicago. Visiting Artist Lecture | Sa Schloff July 11th | 6.30-8.30 PM | Free for All, Open to Public Museum of Contemporary Craft ~ The Lab | 724 NW Davis St. Portland, OR, 97209 & there are openings too ! Posted by Emily Cappa on July 10, 2013 at 12:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.05.13 Saturday Art Happenings  partial install of Sticks & Sage at PCC's Northview Gallery For nearly a decade with high profile appearances in the 2006 Oregon Biennial (the last one at PAM), Haze Gallery (2004), The Art Gym and PICA's TBA Festival (2009)... capped off with a stunning show at Linfield College, Jesse Hayward has made his mark as Portland's most radical painter. His latest, Sticks & Sage at PCC Sylvania seems to be building on his two best shows (Linfield and TBA) setting up the potential to be "the show of the summer" in Portland. It suffices to say we have come to expect a lot from this onetime student of Karl Benjamin and former Sol LeWitt drawing apprentice (as child he helped execute a mural under the master's direction) so take note. Here's the PR, "Whether it's with painted toothpicks stabbed into amorphous armatures or with hundreds of painted boxes stacked and re-stacked, Jesse Hayward creates art installations that are intended for direct audience manipulation. Utilizing repetition and ritual, he builds and paints objects in his studio that are then re-imagined through a collaborative, installation practice. For his 2013 Summer Studio Residency at PCC Sylvania, Hayward will convert the North View Gallery into a visual laboratory with his installation, STICKS & SAGE. This project will take advantage of a deceptively simple technology: the zip-tie. Anyone attending the show will be presented a variety of painted sticks with pre-drilled holes and zip-ties with which to build freestanding structures. Again, direct audience participation will define the outcome of this work." STICKS & SAGE | Saturday, July 6 - September 7 Special Collaborative Event & Opening Reception: Saturday July 6th 5:00 - 8:00PM Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00-4:00, Saturday 12:00 - 4:00 The Artist Will Be On-Site Weekly: Saturdays 12:00 - 4:00 THE NORTH VIEW GALLERY | PCC SYLVANIA CAMPUS | 1200 SW 49th Avenue DIRECTIONS: Once on campus, follow signs to the Campus Bookstore. The Gallery is located in the North East corner of the Communications Technology (CT) Building which is directly adjacent to the Campus Bookstore.  detail from Stephanie Simek's Radio Room This Saturday Place is presenting two artist talks, Stephanie Simek on her Radio Room and Jodi Darby will expound upon Safe & Sound? at 4:30PM at the ever unlikely venue Pioneer Place mall downtown. Radio Room is literally a room transformed into an AM radio festooned with crystals and other hardware. Whereas, "Safe & Sound? is a documentary video installation by a collective of artists and community organizers concerned the Portland Police Bureau's use of excessive force and other methods of intimidation. Using innovative video and audio presentation methods, Safe & Sound? tells stories about police brutality and resistance to police brutality in the Portland community." PLACE | third floor of the Pioneer Place Mall (Atrium Bldg) Artist Talks: Saturday July 6 4:30PM | placepdx@gmail.com Hours: Thursday - Sunday, 12:00-6:00 PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 05, 2013 at 15:22 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.02.13 First Wednesday Openings : July 3rd  Michele Russo Untitled MR157 acrylic on canvas 70.5" x 60" Draw, a new exhibiton by Dana Lynn Louis, marks her return to the gallery after several years pursuing a variety of projects in Bamako, Mali. Her latest work is particularly influenced by her time in Mali and her observations while there. She observed that the boundaries between life and death shift and flux, as do the distinction between reality and the imagination. The imagery in her work is suggestive of internal bodily systems and patterns of nature. It is part of her ongoing effort to consider the timeless systems of the body, the natural and constructed world, and their interconnections. Michele Russo's work is stylistically simple in both form and line. In his work he focused on the human condition and the ideals of man. He explored humanity in both its whimsy and its foibles. He is best known for his paintings of the female nude in a variety of poses and settings. This exhibition presents a series of paintings that focus on paired female figures in a variety of meditative and exuberant poses. Draw | Dana Lynn Louis Considering Pairs, Works from the Estate | Michele Russo July 3 - July 27, 2013 Opening Reception | July 3rd | 5-8 PM Laura Russo Gallery |805 NW 21st Ave. Portland Oregon 97209  Mason oil on canvas 20 x 20 inches Barbara Sternberger's abstract paintings demonstrate her interest in discovering a harmony between her paint application and her lived experiences. The paintings reveal themselves during their making. For Confluence, Sternberger takes her exploration to a new level. She has created her own hand held paints with dry pigments, oil and wax to form an object which she holds and applies directly to the canvas. She then uses a brush to blend the color. It is in this process that a confluence of elements is born: the coming together of the application of color and the blending of the brush. Christine Bourdette's new exhibition of sculpture and drawings is titled terra mobilis, in recognition of the literal and figurative shifting of the ground beneath our feet. A visit to the Grand Canyon prompted Bourdette to consider the earth's movement, and this state of constant change relates to human uncertainty. These works are Bourdette's mental mappings. These works refer to time passing and our shifting perceptions of such, they are glimpses of slippage, tracings of shifting orientation. Confluence | Barbara Sternberger terra mobilis | Christine Bourdette July 3 - July 27, 2013 Opening Reception | July 3rd | 6-8 PM Elizabeth Leach Gallery | 417 N.W. 9th Avenue Portland, OR 97209 & more openings for first Wednesday ... because Thursday is the 4th ... HAPPY 4th of July ! Posted by Emily Cappa on July 02, 2013 at 23:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 06.28.13 North Coast Seed Building Open House 
Saturday, the North Coast Seed Building will host its 17th annual open house. Some of Portland's best artists and designers rent their studios here from Ken Unkeles (who deserves a key to the city for his activities as a great landlord). You can check our our North Coast Studios photoblog from 2008 if you are curious. This is one of the best events in Portland and it is easily accessible by Max Yellow Line and has free parking. North Coast Seed Bldg Studios + River City Bldg Studios Saturday June 29th | 4 - 10PM 2127 N. Albina + 820 N. River St. (between Widmer Brothers Brewing and the Rose Garden off Interstate in the NOPO Junction neighborhood) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 28, 2013 at 14:08 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 06.25.13 Openings & Events | June 26th - 29th  Lena Wolff Black Dahlia (variation with white dots), 2013 collage with hand-cut & hole-punched paper 40 x 40 in Ampersand is pleased to present Call & Response, featuring work by Bay Area artist Lena Wolff & Colorado-based artist Corey Drieth. While rooted in the patterns & iconography of American quilt making, Wolff's works explore the nuanced visual languages of op art, geometric abstraction & color theory. They are comprised mainly of cut paper painted with watercolor & gouache. Wolff reveals a dynamic organization that involves rhythm, repetition & a sense aliveness. Corey Drieth's gouache & wood paintings explore contemplative spiritual experience inspired by religious traditions such as Zen Buddhism & Quaker Christianity. Citing artists such as Georgia O'Keefe, Agnes Martin & Richard Tuttle as precedents, his work aligns with the American traditions of small-scale, non-representational abstraction. Drieth's new drawings, composed of graphite & white colored pencil on aspen wood, directly explore two kinds of order, the organic & the analytic. The works are rooted in childhood memories of his father drawing diagrams on pieces of wood used to construct utilitarian & decorative objects. "I thought that the marks on the wood were in and of themselves interesting, incomplete & full of potential," notes Drieth. Call & Response | Lena Wolff & Corey Drieth June 26 - July 21, 2013 Preview Reception | June 26th | 6-9 PM Also open late on Last Thursday Ampersand Gallery & Fine Books | 2916 NE Alberta St., B, Portland, OR 97211  Still from Bad Religion Bad Religion was made for an exhibition in San Francisco where a group of artists were asked to make work in response to a short, ephemeral video prompt provided by the curators. Stephen Slappe began his entry by giving himself one rule, that he would only watch the video prompt three times. During the initial viewing, he took in the video, making no attempt to purposefully record any specifics. The second and third viewings involved much note taking, jotting down short phrases about the tone, content, and formal details of the video. Slappe got the sense that the characters were always fragmented or obscured, it felt mysterious and ritualistic. The trajectory of one character toward another character communicated both urgency and inevitability. For Bad Religion, he lifted these tonal and structural qualities, amplified, then transposed onto new images and sounds. Bad Religion Video Loop | Stephen Slappe June 27 - July 24, 2013 Opening Reception | June 27th | 6-9 PM The Light+Sound Window Gallery | 1422 NE Alberta St, Portland OR & there's more happening on the 28th and the 29th ! Posted by Emily Cappa on June 25, 2013 at 15:58 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 06.19.13 June 20th and 21st Openings & Events  Beatles expert Scott Freiman will be at the Hollywood Theatre on Thursday. He has studied the band from an early age and will be presenting his multimedia lecture, "Deconstructing Sgt. Pepper," to the theatre for a second time. Freiman combines his career as a composer, producer, and educator with his in-depth knowledge of The Beatles to bring an event that is part film, part concert, and part lecture. For more information, watch his trailer . "Deconstructing Sgt. Pepper" | Scott Freiman June 20th | 7 PM | $10 Hollywood Theatre | 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, 97212  The Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies hosts an evening lecture with 2013 Artist-in-Residence Sarah McNeil. Sarah McNeil tells stories with sculptural installation and contemporary animation. Growing up in a family of antique auctioneers in a small town on the coast of Maine, she inherited a love of handcrafted objects, historic artifacts & the richly layered narratives behind them. Sarah McNeil Lecture June 20th | 6:30-8:30 PM Museum of Contemporary Craft - The Lab | 724 NW Davis St. Portland, OR, 97209 & there's more for the 20th and the 21st! Posted by Emily Cappa on June 19, 2013 at 14:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 06.12.13 June 13th and 15th Openings & Events  On Thursday, June 13, The Northwest Film Center is thrilled to present STRESS POSITION, the latest work by Vancouver, B.C.-based filmmaker A.J. Bond. Inspired by a flippant remark about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Bond made a bet with close friend and longtime collaborator actor David Amito to see which of them could withstand a week of psychological torture at the hands of the other. Shot in an avant-garde "torture chamber" in an isolated warehouse, what begins as a bizarre and darkly humorous reality TV scenario quickly spirals out of control, testing the limits of their friendship and exposing the connection between filmmaking and torture. CLICK for Trailer CLICK for Advanced Tickets STRESS POSITION | A.J. Bond Screening | June 13th | 7 PM Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium Portland Art Museum | 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR Admission | $9 General | $8 Students, Seniors | $6 Child & more exciting things happening on the 15th ! Posted by Emily Cappa on June 12, 2013 at 23:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 06.07.13 Weekend Picks 
http://eutecticgallery.com/brad-mclemore-cognition/
Contemporary wood fired sculptures are on display at Eutectic Gallery by Richard Brandt, John George Larson, & Brad McLemore. "The passage of time and the story of the sensuous human experience lay on my work. I erode, then build again, reminiscent objects from the past, cycled through the fire, to the future to erode again." Richard Brandt is inspired by his passion for adventure, experimentation, and the discovery of his true nature. The utensils for tea and his love for the land guide his forms and pace. John George Larson is a painter and wood fire ceramic artist from southwest Minnesota. He discovered clay at age fourteen as a means of expression and as an alternative way of exploring fundamental physics. John is currently building his fifth wood kiln and maintains his studio in Milan Minnesota. He uses native clays and other indigenous materials to create his works. Under a constant spell to discover the truth, the resulting works are an exploration into the magnification of the object as metaphor and the physical and mental limitations of the human body. McLemore is a Portland based ceramic professor, and this shows through his work. Guiding students in the observational of natural and human-made structures, his work is formally designed and abstract. His objects currently on display at Eutectic are relics of industrial design. They have been lost, decayed or edited over time, and remain fragments of a greater, discarded system. Organized to implicate utility, the somewhat awkward forms are not tools, yet try to charm with a certain hand-hewn conviction. COGnitiohn | Richard Brandt, Brad McLemore Opening Reception | June 7th | 6-8P M June 7 – July 28 Eutectic Gallery | 1930 NE Oregon St. PDX, OR | entrance on 20th 
Friday June 7th 20 artists at Portland Storage will have their annual open studios. This is always a lively event. Open Studios | June 7th | 5 - 9PM 215 SE Morrison Street 
Tonight, galleryHomeland kicks off Weird Shift Con with The Long Share, an exhibition in keeping with the conference of shifted reality that it supports. "The Conference, an aggregate of interdisciplinary investigations, presentations, performances and puzzles that promise to implode, sinter and splinter (ir)reality prismatically into many new streams for retrieval and report." "The Long Share exhibit (including works by Peter Claugh, Julia Oldham, Tom Sherman, Stephen Slappe, Soda Jerk, Weird-Fiction and others!) to additional amenities, including the Research Commons, the PDF Library, the dossiers, and the Map Room, paired with fine coffee and edibles, will provide other itineraries betwixt and between the scheduled events." It should be wierd. Opening Reception: The Long Share | June 7th | 6:00-9:00 Weird Shift Con: The Conference. June 14-16, 2013 galleryHomeland, 2505 SE 11th Ave & there's much more throughout the whole weekend . . . Posted by Emily Cappa on June 07, 2013 at 11:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 06.04.13 June 2013 First Thursday  Merridawn Duckler www.blackfish.com/exhibitions/ritual-show "Ritual, The Show" has transformed Blackfish gallery space. An exhibit created by Blackfish member Merridawn Duckler and guest artist Geordie Duckler, invites visitors to partake in three separate experiences that combine ritual and art. Blackfish is also hosting "Ritual," a companion, group exhibition of works in various media that explore ideas about ritual. Ritual, the Show | Merridawn Duckler, Geordie Duckler Ritual Group Exhibition | Artists First Thursday Opening | June 6, 2013 | 6-9 PM June 4 - 29, 2013 Blackfish Gallery | 420 NW 9th Ave. | Portland, OR 97209  Klaus Moje, Chromatic Evolution 1 & 2, 2013 fused, kilnformed, ground and polished glass, 47.5 x 72 x 1.375inches (installed) Photo: M. Endo www.bullseyegallery.com Many have tried to explain color through poetic characterizations and elaborate analytical and organizational systems. Despite these efforts, conversations about color remain subjective with little tie to hard fact. In conjunction with BECon 2013, Bullseye Gallery presents Chroma-Culture, an exhibition focused on color, featuring fifteen artists from around the world. Color is subjective, explained scientifically as the sensation of the visual spectrum. It is a physical process in which electromagnetic waves of a particular length stimulate receptors within the eye. Within are brain, we transform this into color and form. Each of the Chroma-Culture artists, using kilnformed glass, approaches color in unique ways, making works that tackle the visual, psychological, symbolic, and cultural implications of color. Chroma-Culture May 01 - June 29, 2013 Bullseye Gallery | 300 NW 13th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209 & there's more ! Posted by Emily Cappa on June 04, 2013 at 18:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.31.13 Openings Tonight: Team Kristan vs Team Holly Often the art world pulls us in opposite directions. For example two of Portland's most popular art personages have rival openings in two very different cities making one choose between Team Kristan and Team Holly. I really should be at both... and you should too. Actually you will see the work better if you go during the day Saturday.
 At Fourteen30 Kristan Kennedy is opening Sleeper and people will go just to kiss her ass and try to get a show at TBA. Kristan of course is the Visual art curator at PICA but everyone knows she's at heart a working painter. She's smart, one of the brightest people in the scene but there has always been a push/pull between her two roles and it always seemed like she was deliberately learning from every artist she worked with as a curator. You could see it most clearly with Jesse Hayward's work at PICA's 2009 TBA but other TBA artists like Charles Atlas, Storm Tharp and Jessica Jackson Hutchins are all in the mix. Lately in group shows Kristan's work has come alive... most recently when very passive, almost apologetic wall based pieces like N.T.N.L.M.R.R.D.R.P. were reconfigured as a shawls covering some furniture in upstate New York art fair. It was a breakthrough. Instead of passive, it seemed to actively wield a silencing of forms and a sense that something was awakening. For that reason I'm very excited about this show and the possibility of Kristan finally fulfilling her potential. Sleeper | Fourteen30 Contemporary Reception: May 31, 6 - 8PM May 31 - July 7, 2013 1501 SW Market 
The Deconstruction (2011) At the Hallie Ford Museum in Salem, Holly Andres is opening her first retrospective The Homecoming. She has become a hot commodity in fashion and commercial photography and her fine art work has started to emerge from the influence of Gregory Crewdson and Justine Kurland in exciting narrative ways. It will be great to see so much of it in one place from such a young artist. The Homecoming | Hallie Ford Museum Reception May 31 | 6 - 8PM June 1 - August 4th Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 31, 2013 at 10:21 | Comments (2) PermalinkTuesday 05.28.13 Openings & Events | May 29th - 30th  pica.org/event/richard-jackson-lecture/ The PSU MFA Studio Lecture Series brings together artists from different disciplines to explore the subjects of their own work before a live audience. Lectures are FREE and open to the public. This week esteemed artist Richard Jackson will be talking. Based in Los Angeles since the early 1970s, Jackson, with his wildly inventive & exuberant "action" paintings, has expanded the definition and practice of painting more than any other contemporary figure. Exhibited widely internationally and nationally, his paintings are slightly performative, sculptural, and concern themselves with the art of everyday experience. Richard Jackson | MFA Studio Lecture Series May 29th | 7 PM PSU SHATTUCK HALL ANNEX | 1914 SW Park Avenue & there's more . . . Posted by Emily Cappa on May 28, 2013 at 17:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 05.23.13 Openings & Events | May 23rd - 25th  www.falsefrontstudio.com In the Bathroom with Barry, An Introduction The walls of the hall that I stood in were white. The ceiling was white, and the floor was white. The Christmas lights strung along the hall and the sink at the end were white. On the sink was a white candle inside of a red jar in front of a mirror. I was waiting by the sink for the bathroom. I was first in line and under the impression that the door with the light coming from underneath was the bathroom. That the door with no light coming from underneath was the closet. The man who was soon to be second in line tested the door with the light and found it to be locked. He declared that it must be a closet. I posited that the light suggested an occupant locked in the bathroom. He tested the door with no light and found it locked. We had reached a stalemate. That is until we heard the flush of a toilet and the lock clack. I offered to let the other man go first and he locked the door behind him. Two more joined the line and the man in the bathroom opened the door. "Would you like to come in? There's two in here." I stepped past the other man and the urinal, past the small wall to the bowl next to the window in a white room. He locks the door, and we both begin our independent study of the porcelain forms before us. "Hello, I'm Barry." "I'm Justyn." "Are you an artist?" I had been thinking, lately, about the need to work on my elevator speech. The one where in a couple of sentences I neatly encapsulate a description of my work that is both accurate and, with any luck, interesting. Here was a captive audience, but all I could say was that, "I am a painter, are you an artist." "No, I am a writer. What kind of painter?" Another chance and it was a good question. I have been trying to figure this out for myself. At the best of times I am sitting at home with books and tea considering the ideas of other artists. Provisional, Casual Abstraction, these are the shorthand signifiers that reduce my approach within critical discourse. I wanted to say that I was an "abstract genre painter." But this felt clunky and like it needed explaining. It also made me think about how the term "genre painting" was considered demeaning when it was first used. So why not Casual Abstraction? All this while pondering the appropriate duration for a conversation that involves two men holding their penises, divided by a wall. "Small/abstract. What kind of writing do you do?" "Non-Fiction. Where did you go to school?" "I didn't." "Good." "What about you?" "I teach." There was a pause, I imagine, as we both attempted to determine, from either side of our wall, whether the other was done. The door rattled and I anticipated the faces of those in line as the lock turned and the door opened in. Justyn Hegreberg creates small paintings as quiet disruptions, breaks in the noise of life and daily thought. They allow space for one to pause and step outside one's self, to follow the material trajectory of another person. Authentic Travel | Justyn Hegreberg Opening Reception | May 25th | 7-10 PM May 25 - June 16 | Saturdays and Sundays | 12-3 PM FalseFront | 4518 NE 32nd Ave. | Portland, OR 97211 There's more for the 23rd & 25th . . . Posted by Emily Cappa on May 23, 2013 at 11:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.15.13 Openings & Events : May 16 - 21st  Photo : Ursa Waz pica.org/event/mike-daisey-7 Mike Daisey, hailed by The New York Times as "the master storyteller," returns to Portland with the world premiere of his new work. In a single night, Daisey takes us on a fantastic journey through the sprawling landscape of journalism right now touching on how it functions, how it fails us, and how it chooses to tell our stories. Using his own scandal as a jumping-off point, he illuminates how the myth of objective journalism weakens and manipulates us and has made our public discourse easy to manipulate. It is a love letter to journalism highlighting the struggle to tell a story that actually shows us the truth. click to buy tickets Journalism | Mike Daisey May 21st | 7 PM Tiffany Center Emerald Ballroom | 1401 SW Morrison Ave. Portland, Oregon 97205 $20 - $40 PICA Members | $25 - $45 General & there's more happening before . . . Posted by Emily Cappa on May 15, 2013 at 23:36 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.10.13 Unveiling a Carson Ellis mural in St. Johns 
Rendering of what Ellis' mural will look like when complete St Johns is getting a new mural by illustrator extraordinaire Carson Ellis and the first part will be unveiled tomorrow May 11th at 10:00AM on 7741 N. Lombard. Details can be found on RACC's site and for a little more critical context PORT reviewed Ellis' show at PCC a few years ago here. RACC certainly has been busy lately with a very cool public art pavillion by Jorge Pardo and a disappointingly "Quirky" lantern installation being installed in Chinatown but Ellis is an excellent choice for St. Johns. Ellis has a flair for evoking that now rare childhood nihilism you find in Russian folk tales and fusing it with an air of not so anachronistic chivalry (that plays so well with the St. Johns bridge). There is a sense of honest discovery in the work and frankly I've always found it more compelling than the Decemberist's music, which it is often used to support... in fact if I were to pick the most accurate depiction of Portland as a city Id pick her work... not say Portlandia, Grimm, The Shins or Decemberists. She simply has more edge than the whole lot of em. According to RACC: "City Commissioner Amanda Fritz and Oregon Speaker of the House Tina Kotek will cut the ribbon at the celebration. The mural will be one of the first things that people see upon entering St. Johns from the east along N. Lombard. Carson's design was painted by Whitney Anderson, an artist with 20 years of experience painting murals, carnival rides and other outdoor works. Then, stick around for the 51st Annual St. Johns Parade that begins at 12:00 Noon." Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 10, 2013 at 12:08 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.08.13 Openings & Events | May 9th - 12th  Jane Schiffhauer Jane Schiffhauer's installation created by handmade undulating nets, ropes, foliage, human hair, and found objects explores the intricacies of our being in relationship to our surrounding environment. Body of Knots highlights the anxieties between what it means to be human and live in contemporary society. Schiffhauer seeks materials that are often contradictory in their nature as well as their purpose in order to comment on gender and the body. For example, ropes may bind as well as create a way of escape and nets may be used as a trap or to offer security. Body of Knots | Jane Schiffhauer May 9 - 29, 2013 Reception | May 9th 6-9 PM Littman Gallery | PSU Smith Hall, Room 250. 1825 SW Broadway. Portland, OR 97201 www.pdx.edu/littmanandwhite/ Fern Wiley's minimal & nuanced drawings are a meditation on the passage of time and energy. Art making for Wiley is a product of her grappling to understand and conceptualize human experience. Currently, Wiley is working from more abstract points of reference, to examine our experience of time and space. Accumulation | Fern Wiley May 9th - 29, 2013 Opening Reception | May 9th | 6-9 pm White Gallery | PSU Smith Hall, Second Floor. 1825 SW Broadway www.pdx.edu/littmanandwhite/ click through for more art ! Posted by Emily Cappa on May 08, 2013 at 23:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 05.02.13 First Weekend in May 2013 | Openings & Events  Philadelphia Wireman Untitled (wire, paper, plastic), c. 1970-1975 wire, found objects 4 x 2 1/2 x 2 inches PW 1019 www.adamsandollman.com/ Vaginal Davis' paintings of women on re-purposed surfaces are made using glycerin, tempera, watercolor pencils, food coloring, mascara, nail polish, & other beauty products. Her small works are self-portraits which also show her respect and admiration for movie stars, and imagined women of the past. According to Davis, they depict "women trapped in the bodies of women." Davis' works will be presented along with wire and found material assemblages by the Philadelphia Wireman. Wireman's bundles consist of different gauges of wire wrapped around everyday objects and materials. Their maker, who has always remained unidentified, was able to communicate such power and energy through his transformation of ordinary materials. The pieces are often compared to African power objects and other ritualized traditions, but the works resonate equally with art practices. So intriguing. VAGINAL DAVIS & PHILADELPHIA WIREMAN May 3 - June 1, 2013 Reception | May 3 | 6-9 pm Adams and Ollman | 811 East Burnside #213. Portland, Oregon 97214  nationale.us/aidan-koch-the-marble-hand-2013 For her show at Nationale Aidan Koch has appropriated the anthropologist's distanced lens, threading together, rearranging, and questioning fixed history. Her exhibit carries on her interest in form and storytelling which come from observing carefully rendered human forms from long ago. Once idolized and idealized she sought out to see if these works still contain power and attraction. I want to travel only on the curve of an arm... | Aidan Koch May 2 - June 2, 2013 Opening | Friday, May 3 | 6-9 PM NATIONALE | 811 E Burnside. Portland, OR . . . more ! Posted by Emily Cappa on May 02, 2013 at 23:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.01.13 May 2013 : First Thursday (& one for Wednesday too!)  Cynthia Lahti's Surprise, 2013 The artwork included in Cynthia Lahti's exhibit Elsewhere consists of drawing, collage, books and sculpture created during an 11 week artist residency in Berlin Germany in the fall of 2012. The artwork is influenced by the powerful feeling studying even the smallest artifact can evoke. Through these works she is focusing on the way various materials affect the conceptual intent and impact of each piece. Elsewhere uses a slew of source material which is then altered, manipulated, and combined. Paper is used quite a bit, introducing an element of fragility, while also making historical references to Dada and Surrealism. At the heart of Lahti's works lie the potential of each material to evoke a different emotional response. Elsewhere | Cynthia Lahti April 30 - June 1, 2013 Reception | May 2 | 6-8 pm PDX Contemporary Art | 925 NW Flanders, Portland Oregon 97209  Matt Leavitt, Remove / Taxonomy in Blue, 2013 Matt Leavitt created Curio after being inspired by representational archetypes he observed in commercials, scientific imagery and art galleries. He uses these archetypes to critique the isolation they suggest and is fueled by the harmonization of rational thought and direct experience. CURIO | Matt Leavitt April 27th - June 1, 2013 Opening Reception | May 2 | 6-8 PM PDX Contemporary Art - Window Project | 925 NW Flanders, Portland, OR 97209 ! ... continued ... ! Posted by Emily Cappa on May 01, 2013 at 0:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 04.24.13 Events & Openings : Last Week of April 2013  moonrise, Portrait #2: Trojan http://www.odoka.org/the_work/portrait_2_trojan/86/ On Thursday and Friday Hollywood Theatre will hold programs to celebrate the 33 1/2 year career of Vanessa Renwick & the release of a dvd compilation of Vanessa's work. The line up for the 25th is raw and raucous. Following the screening on this day will be a brief interview and question and answer session conducted by Richard Herskowitz, the director of the University of Oregon's Cinema Pacific film festival and artistic director of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival. Line up for the 26th is sublime. Following this screening there will be brief interview and question and answer session conducted by Mack McFarland, who is currently director of PNCA's Feldman Gallery and Project Space as well as an artist. RAW, RAUCOUS AND SUBLIME: 33 1/2 YEARS OF VANESSA RENWICK, AN OREGON DEPARTMENT OF KICKASS RETROSPECTIVE | Oregon Movies, A to Z April 25th & 26th | 7:30 pm Hollywood Theatre | 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, 97212 http://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=55594~5f969332-ec94-41af-822d-5c7ec8f2ca2b&epguid=81b7db1a-39a9-4ae1-99ac-2b415fbbae48& & There's More. Posted by Emily Cappa on April 24, 2013 at 12:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.18.13 Weekend Events & Openings : April 19th -21st 2013  Thomas Looking at Pictures #1 (detail), 2013 Fourteen 30 Contemporary Mike Bray is the Co-Founder of Ditch Projects, an artist-run studio, installation and performance space located in downtown Springfield, Oregon. Bray currently lives in Eugene, Oregon, where he teaches at the University of Oregon. The subject of his work is oftentimes film, so his work usually begins with video and then oftentimes evolves into something else. Bray's work is compelling, but there is no saying what Fragments of an unknowable whole has in store. I'm supposed to share a quick synopsis of the show and there's nothing I can say other than it's happening. Fragments of an unknowable whole | Mike Bray April 19th - May 19th 2013 April 19th | 6-8 PM Fourteen 30 Contemporary | 1501 SW Market Street. Portland, Oregon 97201  http://www.reed.edu/gallery The Cooley Gallery at Reed college will hold a short set of talk, and a group discussion, investigating various aesthetic and cultural aspects of the Civil War drawings on view at the Cooley Gallery, by three Reed College faculty. The Faculty members are Kris Cohen - Assistant Professor of Art and Humanities, Jan Mieszkowski - Professor of German and Humanities, & Sarah Wagner-McCoy - Assistant Professor of English and Humanities. Drawing Wars April 19th | 6:30 PM Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College |3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Portland, Oregon 97202 http://www.reed.edu/gallery/ There's More on Saturday & Sunday! Posted by Emily Cappa on April 18, 2013 at 7:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.16.13 Events : April 17th 2013  Another Documentation, 2012 Scaffolding, wood, metal, concrete and Archival digital prints http://www.clark.edu/news_events/archer/art_talks.php Avantika Bawa is an artist, curator, and academic. Her drawings and site- specific installations transform the act of drawing into sculptural gestures that react formally and also conceptually to architectural spaces and their history. This process emerges due, in part, to her relationship to Minimalism and its emphasis upon reductive form, modularity and literal scale. Bawa's curatorial work began with a hotel room show during the Art in Chicago fair (98') and has grown through her studio and gallery, aquaspace (a laboratory for new and multi media art). In April 2004 she was part of a team that launched Drain : Journal for Contemporary Art and Culture, a peer reviewed online journal. She is currently Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Washington State University Vancouver, WA & once upon a time she taught at Clark College. Avantika Bawa Lecture | Avantika Bawa April 17th | 7 PM PUB 161 (Fireside Lounge), Clark College, | 1933 Fort Vancouver Way. Vancouver, WA http://www.clark.edu/news_events/archer/art_talks.php & there's more exciting events on the 17th Posted by Emily Cappa on April 16, 2013 at 7:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.11.13 Weekend Openings : 13th / 14th of April  http://roxannejackson.com Linfield Gallery is currently housing works by sculptor and ceramic artist Roxanne Jackson. Jackson explores themes of death and transformation through her work, focusing on natural processes of decay and destruction, particularly when they come in conflict with human systems. Nature is referenced, by illustrating its inevitable decay. Jackson's work also contains black humor, drawing on pop culture and the contradictions of contemporary culture and the natural world. She has been known to re-appropriate imagery from horror films, particularly the moment of transformation when a human becomes a beast. Jackson draws from the fact that horror movies depict a dark side of human nature, the creatures created in our collective subconscious ride the boundaries between animal and human & conscious and subconscious. Blonde Ambition | Roxanne Jackson April 8 - May 11th, 2013 Opening Reception | April 13th | 3-5 PM Linfield Gallery | James Miller Fine Arts Center on the Linfield College campus, @ 900 Baker Street SE in McMinnville, OR http://www.linfield.edu/linfield-news/blonde-ambition-show/ & there are more weekend picks ! Posted by Emily Cappa on April 11, 2013 at 16:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.09.13 Openings : 10th & 11th of April  Left image: Julia Stoops, Thought and Spirit Right image: Meg Peterson, Orbit II https://www.pcc.edu/about/galleries/sylvania/ Meg Peterson & Julia Stoops present The Space Between, an investigation into the use of space as a metaphor for examining experience and reality. The artist's decision to work together has stemmed from a synchronicity in creative process; they share a fascination with science, particularly in physics and geology. The collaboration is a commentary on the intersections and parallels between the sciences and an inherent spirituality found in the world around us. This is their first collaborative exhibition. This exhibition is supported by the Arts & Culture Council. The Space Between | Meg Peterson & Julia Stoops April 1 - April 27th 2013 Opening Reception | April 10th | 4-7 PM Artist Gallery Talk | April 10th | 3 PM North View Gallery | Portland Community College, Sylvania Campus,12000 SW 49th Ave. Portland, OR 97219 https://www.pcc.edu/about/galleries/sylvania/  David Corbett's "Trace", wood, glue, ink and paper, 2012. (photo: Dan Kvitka) http://www.clark.edu/news_events/archer/index.php Archer Gallery is pleased to present a 3-person exhibition titled Construct. David Corbett, Josh Smith, & Jordan Tull use the language of architecture and engineering to create 2-dimensional and 3- dimensional work. Josh Smith's sculptural work is an exploration of modernist architectural method and craft that is elegantly subversive. In Smith's digital collages architectural elements interact with but ultimately disrupt the landscape. Smith's 2-D and 3- D work shares refined craftsmanship and careful intelligence, as well as, startling junctures where the form appeared to be turned inside out and solidity dissolves. In David Corbett's thickly painted sculptures, lines are haphazard evoking an unsettling eerie feeling. Is this the ruins of an earlier age? Is human presence entrapped in the work? In contrast with his sculptures, Corbett's drawings are less emotionally fraught. Here lines explore the formal qualities of spatial relationships. Jordan Tull presents 3-dimensional prints. Tull's printed and fabricated 3D hybrids convey the tension between imagination and reality through the lens of ultra-modernity. Complimenting these fabrications by highlighting the origin of the printed matter - large format 2D prints explore the events that occur in Tull's computer aided drafting programs. In honor of the Archer Gallery's 35th Anniversary, a small sampling of assemblages by gallery founder, James Archer' will be on display too. Archer's sculptures speak the language of Architecture with a modernist voice, providing a modernist counterpoint and historical perspective to the work done by Corbett, Smith, and Tull. Construct | David Corbett, Josh Smith, Jordan Tull, & James Archer April 9 - May 2nd, 2013 Opening Reception | April 11th | 5-7 PM Archer Gallery | Clark College, Penguin Union Building,1933 Fort Vancouver Way. Vancouver, WA http://www.clark.edu/news_events/archer/index.php Posted by Emily Cappa on April 09, 2013 at 12:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 04.08.13 Thoughts on Brian Ferriso's tenure at PAM and talk at Jimmy Mac's Tonight  PAM's Executive Director Brian Ferriso Tonight, Randy Gragg will interview Brian Ferriso, the Portland Art Museum's Executive Director at Jimmy Mac's at 6:00PM. Here is a primer packed with a few things nobody else is likely to address: Now in his 7th year, Ferriso is basically priming Portland for what could be considered the final stage of his steady but important reshaping of PAM from a rambling and pragmatic program and collection based on the gilded Francophile blockbusters of his predecessor to one based on the best museum practices with an eye for historical relevance. With a series of excellent hires in the curatorial and education departments and several not so sexy but very important endowment building initiatives (like endowing curatorial positions)... Ferriso has transformed PAM from a constantly reshuffled house of cards to one that plays its hand like the house should, conservatively and consistently. Ferriso has given Portland's cultural flagship an even keel and the ability to avoid icebergs. Yes, he charted a course through a minefield when the economy went off a cliff in 2008! He's also been the justifying force behind contemporary and modern exhibitions like China Design Now, Disqueted, Carrie Mae Weems, "dossier shows" like last year's Flesh and Bone (culled from the permanent collection)as well as the most important exhibition in the last 50 years for the Museum and last year's homecoming Mark Rothko exhibition. The Rothko show was especially important as even those who had been somewhat unimpressed with PAM walked away thinking... "that was major, good job!" I heard those words over and over again from other Portland art scene insiders. He also oversaw a tremendous image and programmatic makeover that is much more contemporary. Last but not least, Ferriso has made it a priority to find free days at the museum. Overall, Id give him an A- (possibly an A if he can do a great expansion, which will require a lot of donor education, a great director needs great patrons) ... and he will be courted by other museums in the years to come. I predict he will be director of LACMA, Hirschhorn, Art Institute of Chicago or the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco eventually. The guy is THAT good and we should support his vision of seriousness for PAM and Portland. He's both honest and pragmatic, refreshingly he is smart enough to recognize an important truth when it crosses his path. He is a good listener and only clears his throat when he has something important to say. Still Ferriso's job is not complete and he is one of those very rare museum directors who actually acknowledges where work needs to be done. Here is a review of his first year in office and here is a current to do list: ...(more after the jump) Brian Ferriso: Bright Lights Discussion April 8th | 6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30, free but get yourself a drink or a snack) Jimmy Mac's | 221 NW 10th Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 08, 2013 at 11:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.04.13 Fred Sandback / Julia Dault at lumber room  Dault (L)/Sandback (R) In what is perhaps the most exciting contemporary art show this season in Portland, lumber room will be presenting Fred Sandback/Julia Dault. Separated by several generations, both Sandback and Dault both use and test the inherent properties of their materials to reveal physical and kinesthetic realities to the viewer. For example both artists' reliance on gravity and physical tension gives these these key aspects of our existence a presence to consider. Sandback in particular is one of my all time favorite artists. Fred Sandback/Julia Dault April 5 - June 8 lumber room | 419 NW 9th Hours: Friday & Saturday 12-5PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 04, 2013 at 16:19 | Comments (0) PermalinkApril 2013 First Friday  http://www.recessart.com/ RECESS is excited to present a curated exhibition of resumes and curriculum vitae collected throughout the early months of 2013. The exhibition will open in conjunction with their 2013 open studios. Making a resume is a challenge. Job seekers are pressed to reduce their experiences into coherent chunks, hoping to manifest their specific person-hood on the page. In both content and form, the resume or curriculum vitae becomes a singular portrait of the job seeker's professional self. For Hire explores the methods adopted by job seekers to vocalize their professional merit. For Hire is an exhibition of resumes accepted through an open call in March of 2013. Not only does RECESS have great events and good exhibits, but also it is home base for several artist who have studios there. On April 5th these artist are opening the doors of their studios and sharing their work. The artists include : Maggie Craig (Figurative Painting), Jenny Vu (Drawing, Painting & Comics), Lucile Marlome (Jewerly Making), Erica Edmonson (Sculpture & Textiles), Ashley Burke (Graphic Design), Paul Clay (Video & Performance), and Chloe Kendall (Video & Printmaking). For Hire | mulitple participating artists RECESS OPEN STUDIOS | mulitple participating artists Opening Reception | April 5th | 7 PM - late RECESS | 1127 SE 10th Avenue. Portland, OR 97214 http://www.recessart.com/ & there's more ... Posted by Emily Cappa on April 04, 2013 at 8:22 | Comments (0) PermalinkInigo Manglano-Ovalle at PSU's Littman Gallery  Still from Inigo Manglano-Ovalle's Always After (The Glass House), 2006 Though there wont be an opening reception until April 26th (for PSU's architecture symposium Littman Gallery. For context, PORT interviewed Ovalle extensively a few years ago detailing his particular interest in Mies van der Rohe. Read it before the artist gives a gallery talk at the reception later this month. The video on display is Always After (The Glass House) which is comprised of footage from the ceremonial demolition of some of Crown Hall's windows before a major renovation in 2005. Crown Hall on IIT's campus in Chicago is considered one of Mies' masterpieces. Curated by Dr. Isabelle Loring Wallace (Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory, University of Georgia) and Nora Wendl (Assistant Professor of Architecture, Portland State University) Here is the PR: "The exhibition Always After (The Glass House): Inigo Manglano-Ovalle presents the work of Chicago-based, MacArthur-award winning artist Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, whose technologically sophisticated sculptures and video installations engage modern architecture, while at the same time using this architecture as metaphor. In this exhibition, specially curated for Littman Gallery, two important works from Manglano-Ovalle's oeuvre will be on view: the enigmatic video Always After (The Glass House), 2006 and the large-format print, House with Four Columns, 2010." Exhibition Dates: April 4 - May 1, 2013 Reception: Friday, April 26, 2013, 7 - 8.30 p.m. Artist's Lecture: Friday, April 26 from 7 - 8.30 p.m. in Shattuck Hall Annex (as part of PSU's symposium: Strange Utility: Architecture Toward Other Ends taking place April 26-27th Littman Gallery, Smith Hall, Room 250 Portland State University, 1825 SW Broadway Hours: M-F 12-4 pm Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 04, 2013 at 6:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.02.13 April 2013 First Thursday  Untitled, Pictures from the next day 15 archival inkjet print 2008-12 48 x 32 inches http://www.elizabethleach.com/Exhibit_Detail.cfm?ShowsID=244 In Pictures from the next day, Robert Lyons has created a series about one man, Walter Niemec. Walter's unique eccentricities and passions ignited Lyons' interest. Walter has spent his life in Western Massachusetts in the house where he was born. His only time away was as a Navy Radioman during WWII. Through focusing on Walter's objects and space, Lyons presents a discourse on aging, life, and the choices within which one exists. This is the first exhibition of Lyons' work done in the United States.  oil,zinc, phosphorescent and florescent pigment on honeycomb aluminum panel 2007-12 36.5 x 17.25 inches http://www.elizabethleach.com/Exhibit_Detail.cfm?ShowsID=244 In Latencies, Joan Waltemath's abstract paintings focus on constructing spatial voids using harmonic progressions and non-traditional, reflective pigments in oils. She uses interference pigments, graphite, and the juxtaposition of reflective and absorptive surfaces that change as you move toward and around the paintings. The material is rendered to affect a sense of presence, a power that is latent until the viewer experiences it. Roughly the size and shape of a human torso, the paintings are meant to give the viewer a corporeal feeling, and through visual means engage both mind and body. Pictures from the next day | Robert Lyons Latencies | Joan Waltemath April 4 - April 27, 2013 Opening | April 4, 2013 | 6-8 PM Elizabeth Leach Gallery | 417 N.W. 9th Avenue Portland, OR 97209 http://www.elizabethleach.com ... There's More ! ... Posted by Emily Cappa on April 02, 2013 at 21:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 03.27.13 Events : Last Week of March 2013  Whirlpool http://www.ampersandvintage.com/Ampersand_Vintage/Marten_Lange_-_April_2013.html Ampersand is pleased to present Another Language, a solo exhibition of new work by Swedish artist Marten Lange. The stark black & white simplicity of his photographs & the typological inquisitiveness of his eye are something to be admired. As with his previous bodies of work, Lange's new images bring to mind the work of a visual taxonomist cataloging outside the confines of identifiable geographies or defined eras of time. Another Language ventures toward the natural world, bringing to our eye a collection of animals & vegetation, land masses & water bodies, mineral forms & ephemeral natural phenomena. The object quality of his small photographic prints, floating amid the ample white space of simple frames, further brings to mind a collection of scientific specimens. Differing from scientific practice however, Lange deliberately skirts the boundaries of fact & fiction in favor of a space where intellect & imagination are allowed to collide. Born in 1984 in Molndal, Sweden, Lange studied photography at the University of Gothenburg & the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, UK. He founded Farewell Books in 2007 & oversaw the publication of 11 titles through 2010, among them four of his own books. Lange’s work has been exhibited widely in Europe. In addition to being in attendance for the Thursday opening reception, Lange will be presenting an artist talk & slide show on Saturday. He will be discussing the evolution of his photographic practice & his experiences overseeing the design, production & output of a small publishing imprint. Drinks will be provided by Ninkasi & Lange will be signing copies of Another Language. Another Language | Marten Lange March 28th - April 21st 2013 Opening Reception | March 28th | 6-10 PM Artist Talk and Book Signing | March 30th | 7:30 PM Ampersand Gallery & Fine Books | 2916 NE Alberta Street, Suite B, Portland, OR 97211 www.ampersandgallerypdx.com ... more events for Friday & Sunday ... Posted by Emily Cappa on March 27, 2013 at 12:32 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.21.13 Events : March 22nd & 23rd  Crap Evidence, by Ralph Pugay http://jacobsgallery.org/exhibits/ "FREE PEOPLE, is a group show featuring the work of 12 contemporary painters (Kavin Buck, Calvin Ross Carl, Timothy Scott Daldbow, Arcy Douglas, Danridge Geiger, Ruth Lantz, Kendra Larson, Matthew Letzelter, Raul J Mendez, Ralph Pugay, Eva Speer, & Roy Tomlinson) based in Portland, OR. These artists represent a diverse set of self-driven painting practices ranging from the figurative and surreal, abstract and geometric, to the concrete and representational concerns of painting as a creative form of expression. Not only do each of the artists in FREE PEOPLE demonstrate the versatility that painting offers contemporary artists, but also of its continuing vitality as a form of art. Each artist in FREE PEOPLE is represented by multiple pieces in the exhibition so that the viewer can glean a sense for each of their distinct and overlapping practices, subject matter and methods. To be free as an artist today means that you possess the skills to make art and the ability to be conscious and responsible for the choices you make. The twelve artists in this group exhibition allow us an opportunity to learn from their freedom and be inspired by it." FREE PEOPLE Contemporary Northwest Painters based in Portland, Oregon | Curated by Victor Maldonado March 22 - May 4, 2013 Members Preview | March 22nd | 5-6 PM General Opening | March 22nd | 6-8 PM Speaker | March 22nd | 6 PM First Friday ArtWalk | April 5th & May 3rd | 5:30-8 PM Jacobs Gallery at the Hult Center | 1 Eugene Center. Eugene, OR 97401 http://jacobsgallery.org/exhibits/ ... more picks for Saturday the 23rd ... Posted by Emily Cappa on March 21, 2013 at 17:35 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.14.13 Weekend Openings & Events 
http://fourteen30.com/ Addressing the topic of gay bullying with a series of minimalist works, Philip Iosca presented HOPEFULLY I BECOME THE UNIVERSE at Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2011 to critical acclaim. Previous exhibitions include Water Sports at 12128, Portland; Eveything Matters All The Time Cleaners at Ace Hotel, Portland; Catch All, PDX Across The Hall, Portland; Amsterdam Biennial, Amsterdam and Portland; as well as an invisible monument for Car Hole Gallery in Summer of 2010. In 2011, Iosca published his book of poems, Ballad of the Sad Young Men. Iosca is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and Weiden+Kennedy's 12 Program. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon MOMENT, MONUMENT | Philip Iosca March 15th - April 14, 2013 Opening Event | March 15th | 6-8 PM FOURTEEN30 CONTEMPORARY | 1501 SW Market Street, Portland, Oregon 97201 http://fourteen30.com/ ... more picks for Saturday, March 16th ... Posted by Emily Cappa on March 14, 2013 at 18:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.12.13 Critical Art Ensemble at PNCA's Feldman Gallery 
Critical Art Ensemble's Acceptable Losses at PNCA's Feldman Gallery Presenting the groundbreaking Critical Art Ensemble's Acceptable Losses is perhaps one of the most challenging things the Feldman Gallery has ever attempted so you definitely don't want to miss this and the other related events we will post on for this weekend. According to the PR: "Acceptable Losses is an exhibition that examines which forms of human sacrifice are acceptable within US society and which are not. Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) is a collective of tactical media practitioners of various specializations, including computer graphics, wetware, video, photography, text art, book art, and performance. Formed in 1987 in Tallahassee, Florida, CAE focuses on the exploration of the intersections between art, critical theory, technology, and political activism. CAE has authored six books on cultural production and political economy. Brian Holmes was born in San Francisco in 1959 and lives in Chicago. With Claire Pentecost and the 16 Beaver Group he co-organized the Continental Drift seminars (2005-11). He is a member of the Compass group, exploring the "Midwest Radical Cultural Corridor," and of the Technopolitics group, with Armin Medosh and others. His recent books include Escape the Overcode (2009) and Unleashing the Collective Phantoms (2008). He also wrote the foreward for Critical Art Ensemble: Disturbances (LONDON, FOUR CORNERS BOOKS, 2012)" CAE's Acceptable Losses | March 13 - June 2 Opening Reception: March 13 5:00PM with lecture by Kurtz, Barnes and Sommer at 6:30 on their current projects PNCA | Phillip Feldman Gallery 1241 NW Johnson Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 12, 2013 at 22:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.07.13 Object Focus 1: The Bowl at MOCC  Do-Ho Suh, Untitled (Glass Bowl), 2004, Hand-blown glass, 6.5 x 9.5 inches diameter; Courtesy of the Reed College Art Collection, Gift of the Peter Norton Family Today the first in a series of exhibitions Object Focus 1 : The Bowl opens at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Part 1 is culled from local collections includes masterworks we have seen recently (but never enough) like those by the Natzlers but it also includes more conceptual pieces like the untitled work by Do-Ho Suh. It even has its own Tumblr blog with essays on individual items in the show. What I like about this show conceptually is how it takes a ubiquitous item, one of man's first tools and does a bit of local archaeology mining of local collections. Thus, it treats Portland itself as a kind of bowl, which it is if you consider the Willamette Valley meeting the Columbia Gorge. In general, I don't think one needs to even try to justify craft as contemporary art... instead, if one considers the way even ancient pottery shards become artifacts (that's a different kind of art that uses time and rarity to justify itself) one can consider the bowl as one of the most inherently contemporary objects each culture produces at the time of its making. Everone can relate, so suggest you stop in and see this show curated by Director Namita Wiggers, a show full of objects designed to hold something probably will resonate deeply and hold your attention. Object Focus 1: The Bowl March 7 - August 3 2013 Museum of Contemporary Craft 724 NW Davis St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 07, 2013 at 14:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 03.06.13 Reed Arts Week: REVERIE 
Reed Arts Week (RAW): Reverie is the 24th annual student-led festival of visual and performing arts at Reed College. The festival has been gaining momentum as of late, evolving in ambition and impact from year to year. Tackling the overarching theme of Reverie, this year's RAW will feature performances, installations, lectures, and various projects from national, local, and student artists. The curatorial team highlights the theme as "an opportunity to consider the fluidity of the aesthetic and physical dispositions by which we situate ourselves. To experience REVERIE is to become dislocated, excised from the familiar and submerged in the irrational." Under the spell of this sort of parlance, it's fitting that this year's festival is heavy on sound art and digital works. They further, "RAW 2013: REVERIE aims to invoke an atmosphere of amorphous resolution, a space in which participants can confront the dubiousness of their situations and acknowledge the indeterminacy upon which they situate themselves." RAW: REVERIE | March 6-10th | See full schedule for details Reed College | 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. | Multiple Locations Featuring: New York-based video artist Michael Robinson, Seattle performance duo Shabazz Palaces, Los Angeles artist-theorist Zach Blas, Portland multi-media artist Brenna Murphy, Portland artist and musician Grouper, San Francisco-based artist Chris Ando / John Oven and the Millenials, NYC-based multi-instrumentalist ONEIROGEN, Los Angeles-based artist and composer John Wiese, Seattle-based producer and musician OCnotes, and Portland-based artists Nick Makanna and Brandon. Reed student artists: David Beame, Sophie Barba + Jimmy Curry, Marvin Bernardo, Alisa Bones, Eli Coplan, Lauren DeRosa, Chris Falcone, Nicole Herr, Dorothy Howard, Erin McAllester, Arthur Sillers, Dylan Richards, Madelyn Villano, Erin Guy + Creighton Weidner, Anna Baker + Maxwell Smith-Holmes, Santiago Leyba, and Andrew White. ...(more details after the jump) Posted by Tori Abernathy on March 06, 2013 at 10:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.05.13 March 2013 First Thursday  Stephen Scott Smith's Untitled, installation view, mirror, plywood, drywall, carpet, fir - size various, 2013 Breeze Block Gallery is back from winter break, and they're kicking off the season with something new, the first large-scale transformation of the gallery, an installation by Stephen Scott Smith. Smith's SEEYOUYOUSEE explores perception and shifts in perspective through reflection, light, shadow, CCTV, video, objects and spatial relationships. The show involved a 60-day construction period starting in January 2013, while the gallery remained closed. The first phase of the installation required stacking 10,000 pounds of plywood (piece by piece) in Breeze Block's new Project Space. The flooring in the Project Space had to be reinforced to withstand the load! Once the plywood was in place, erection of the floating wall and door system in the traditional gallery began. Smith simultaneously designed the space and objects, created works and documented the process of boring into the ply stack for over 200 hours. SEEYOUYOUSEE explores myth, faith, and mystery while engaging the viewer to connect the dots through their own story. SEEYOUYOUSEE | Stephen Scott Smith March 6th - April 20th 2013 Preview Event | March 6th | 5-8PM Opening Event | March 7th | 6-10PM Breeze Block Gallery | 323 NW 6th Ave http://breezeblockgallery.com/ ...(more picks including: Amanda Wojick, James Minden and Michael Endo) Posted by Emily Cappa on March 05, 2013 at 23:21 | Comments (0) PermalinkYou New Bad Things at PSU 
I've been looking forward to You New Bad Things, an expose of sorts... exposing us to a tribe of artists who happen to have studios in the same building, collectively called the Holladay Studios. Well, the day is finally here Wednesday March 6th. Sure, some of these artists have established themselves as the brightest young stars in Portland but it is always nice to see them assembled Armory Show (1913) style. Let me be crystal clear, ignore these artists and you hazard irrelevance in a fast moving art scene like Portland. Many of the artists engage digital design age themes that your typical "Northwest Art" shows somehow seem to miss with their one sided focus on whittling and other old school analog processes. So who might these new baddies be? Here's the list: Chase Allgood, Erika Anderson/Leif Shackelford, Chase Biado, Zoe Clark, Zachary Davis, Alex Mackin Dolan, Jamie Edwards, Travis Fitzgerald, Mike Merrill and Chloe Womack. Here are the PR details: "You New Bad Things, The Work of: Holladay Studios is an inaugural exhibition by the nine individual members of Holladay Studios of Portland, Oregon. This exhibition an examination of their ethos for work as independent entities within in an open incubator of dialogue and shared conceptual concerns; A look into a conversation and collaboration amongst peers, an endeavor in earnestness to contextualize and question the cultural currency of the 'contemporary' in contemporary art by individuals working across current pluralistic lines and methodologies." You New Bad Things | The work of: Holladay Studios Reception: Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 5-7 p.m. Portland State University Galleries | Autzen, AB Lobby, and MK Galleries Exhibition: Wednesday, March 6, 2013-Friday, March 29, 2013 PSU Galleries involved: AB Lobby Gallery, PSU Art Building, 1st Floor Lobby, Room 110, 2000 SW 5th Ave. MK Gallery, PSU Art Building, 2nd Floor, Room 210, 2000 SW 5th Ave. Autzen Gallery, Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, Room 205, 724 SW Harrison St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 05, 2013 at 22:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.01.13 First Friday March 2013 
Ay ay, this exhibition Interuptus by Paul North and Near Coastal Riot at Gallery Homeland looks like a promising bet to kick off a March full of gallery shows. Something about a show with a theme of interruption and a certain nautical spirit just seems appealing to me right now, here's the PR: "Art is interruption. We spend much of our time and money perusing works created, yet within these efforts I find we pontificate ourselves into a culture of oblivion. It is a culture where few things are known, yet we speak with such brash certainty on the topics. We build parentheses, so that we may agree on the accepted continuum of what art is, but it aids nothing. The entirety of the experience comes when an individual is interrupted by a piece – by its beauty, intrigue, tragedy, playfulness, and framing of something as other. Knowing this, I have framed this piece to veer away from collective opinion, focusing on individual’s interaction and the meaning created from that. INTERUPTUS functions as a baited hook. Those who choose to bite down will find themselves in a rascally carnival of experiences. For the last seven years, I have made my living on the Pacific, from commercial fishing in Alaska, to sailing Tall Ships down to the Equator and back. What I offer with this installation is a window into those worlds – a landscape framed by the tenets of my mind." Ive also heard something about, "draw for your drink," which sounds like some inspired insanity worth supporting. Interuptus | Gallery Homeland Opening Reception | March 1st | 7-10PM Ford Building 2505 SE 11th  Alex Steckly, Untitled 3, 2013, automotive enamel, automotive primer, and sign enamel on MDF panel, 36 x 36” Another good bet is Alex Steckly's Entitlement at Nationale. Steckly is one of those painters with a fail for texture and a fetish for surface... akin to the the Dave Hickey UNLV school painters. While you are at it check out the new gallery upstairs from Nationale in this active arts neighborhood, Adams & Ollman. Alex Steckly | Entitlement Opening Reception: 6-9PM Nationale | 811 E Burnside Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 01, 2013 at 10:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 02.26.13 Aaron Rose: for OCAC's Connection Lecture Series  Aaron Rose Portland born curator, gallerist, artist and filmmaker Aaron Rose's talk Everything Starts Small is over a week away (March 11th) but the lecture is filling up fast. Rose is most known for putting together the Beautiful Losers exhibitions and film which brought San Francisco's mission school (Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, KAWS, Shepard Fairey and Margaret Kilgallen... etc.) to the fore as coherent street art movement recognized in museums. Portland has at least 1 group of artists like this (using provisional design/architecture, installation art, light & space + video to re-imagine and create a parallel built environment to the one found in Portland so this is of some interest to a close knit group of; Jordan Tull, Damien Gilley, Von Tundra, Paula Rebsom, Arcy Douglass, Jenene Nagy, Josh Smith, Laura Hughes, David Corbett, Jesse Hayward, myself, Laura Fritz and Oregon Painting Society... etc.). Overall, Portland loves lectures and OCAC's free Connection Lecture Series of talks have quickly become the most consistently high level series in the city, thus requiring an RSVP by March 6th. It is filling up fast I suggest you make yours now using: lectures@ocac.edu or 971 255-4165. Aaron Rose | Everything Starts Small March 11, 2013 | 7:00 PM OCAC Connections Lecture Series RSVP required by March 6th: lectures@ocac.edu or 971 255-4165 Tiger Woods Center | Nike Campus | 1 Bowerman Drive | Beaverton Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 26, 2013 at 9:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.22.13 Weekend Gatherings  Untitled, (Ansel Adams, landscape 1), Todd Johnson, 2011, inkjet print, image courtesy of the gallery Todd Johnson has been an active photographer, educator, and curator in Portland for over a decade. For some reason or another (likely that he doesn't get out much and this fair city thrives on nepotism), his own work is seldom in public view. In his exhibition at Marylhurst's Art Gym, he explores myth and forgery through the influence of Ansel Adams. The PR states that the show "reflects his interests in the history of West Coast landscape photography, celebrity, collecting and, as he puts it, 'myth and legend, identity and fraud, historical and contemporary, amateur and professional, junk and treasure.'" While at the Art Gym, take a look at reflections on the last five years of the innovative residency program, Signal + Fire. The Misadventures of Ansel Adams: Garage Sales, Geo Tracking and General Tomfoolery | Todd Johnson Opening Reception | Febraury 24th | 3-5 PM The Art Gym | Marylhurst University 17600 Pacific Highway | Marylhurst, OR 
Nim Wunnan and Gabe Flores @ False Front With his personal work, Nim Wunnan is most noted for two dimensional graphite and ink drawings. Gabe Flores, on the other hand, churns out installations that often make use of multiples of colorful objects, stark white surfaces, mirrors, or some combination thereof. In their new exhibition at False Front, they have both stepped out of their comfort zones. In doing so, they have reinvigorated the question-asking-part of what should be an evolving art practice. In doing so, they have tapped into something personal and therefore they have some valuable experience to impart on their viewers. "Originally conceived as a way to swap their typical media (painting for Wunnan and installation for Flores), this show draws on each artist's personal history, exploring how they sense and perceive. Wunnan's severe synesthesia and Flores' experience with what he terms 'alternative perceptions to the statistical norm' overlap in a shared interest in peak experiences, sensory displacement, and their relationship to their active arts practice." Private Screening | Gabe Flores + Nim Wunnan February 23 - March 23 Opening reception | February 23rd | 7 -10 PM FalseFront | 4518 NE 32nd Ave. Portland, OR 97211 
Josh Berger has been made important contributions to the arts community in Portland over the years, not least as PLAZM's art director. Some months ago, he suffered a bicycle accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. This Sunday, PICA is holding a fundraising event to help alleviate some of the medical debt incurred following the incident. "Featuring e*rock spinning tunes and short musical sets from Sam Coomes (Quasi, Heatmiser), Ray Reposa (Castanets, Raymond Byron & the White Freighter), Tuvan throat singer Enrique Ugalde (Soriah), Grey Anne, and special guests. With food, wine, coffee, and Fort George Brewing beer." PICA will also be auctioning off 100 original artworks from local artists for the low price of $100. A Benefit Party & Art Auction for Josoh Berger February 24th | 3-6 PM PICA | 415 SW 10th Ave (Third Floor) $10-$10 suggested donation Posted by Tori Abernathy on February 22, 2013 at 14:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 02.19.13 Oracle at Archer Gallery  Patrick Kelly's Carbon Trace C The latest show at the Archer gallery, Oracle, looks promising if only for the subject matter being "mystery". Oracle features Marie Sivak, Patrick Kelly and Susie Lee, though of the three I only tend to find Kelly to be mysterious. Still, I'm always interested in any show that seeks to present or evoke the unknown (like this one). According to the PR: "Although physically real and tangible, the works evoke a sense of otherness. Exquisite alabaster sculptures are at the center of Marie Sivak's installation. Both weighty and delicate, the sculptures are surrounded by a gossamer network of nylon tubes that float above and around, while soft flickering video images play against the matte white surfaces. Patrick Kelly's drawings have a powerful dimensionality that is constantly in flux. In Kelly's drawings, heavy graphite lines are repeated endlessly. The light cast on planar and curved surfaces built by Kelly's graphite lines reveals each of these surfaces in sequence as the viewer's point of view shifts." Lee's works, filmed in a nursing home and related to Goya's Black Paintings should be familiar to those who saw the 2011 CNAA's or last Year's Northwest Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum. Oracle: Marie Sivak, Patrick Kelly and Susie Lee February 20 - March 16, 2013 Reception: February 23rd, 4 - 6pm Archer Gallery, Clark College 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver WA Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 19, 2013 at 22:40 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.18.13 The True Final Craft/Perspectives Panel for Hallie Ford Fellows Inaugural  2010 Hallie Ford Fellows, Daniel Duford, David Eckard and Heidi Schwegler Tomorrow at 6:30PM the Museum of Contemporary Craft is holding the last (it was to be the first but was rescheduled) of 3 Craft/Perspective panel discussions related to the We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order To Live exhibition of Hallie Ford Fellowship recipients. This final of 3 talks featuring individual artist presentations by 2010 Hallie Ford Fellows; Daniel Duford, David Eckard and Heidi Schwegler. This was the group that got everyone very excited as a changing of the guard in Portland because none of these artists were represented by local galleries, hadn't been the typical names that received awards previously and had a more contemporary outlook... especially Schwegler. There's already been a lot of discussion related to the nature of these awards here on PORT. But all that aside it isn't these artist's job to address the panel selections (which have become somewhat less adventurous since the first group)... instead it is their job to discuss their work and here is possibly the only opportunity you will have to have these three discuss what they do together in one room (because they have very little in common besides being art educators and an attachment to craft). Panel Discussion: February 19th | 6:30 - 8:00 PM Museum of Contemporary Craft (The Lab) 724 NW Davis St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 18, 2013 at 21:58 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.15.13 Weekend Performances  Jennifer Ambrust at Nationale Jennifer Ambrust, who has been offering free advice to members of nationale for the past few years has recently retired from her web and graphic design work to launch a new creative consulting firm, Ambrust & Co. The next session of Free Advice hosted by Ambrust will take place on Saturday, the 16th. "Working intuitively from a wealth of scholastic and experiential knowledge including creative entrepreneurship, artist mentorship, small business & gallery administration, graphic & web design, Critical Theory, cooking & nutrition, yoga, Jungian psychology, Buddhism, and energetics, Armbrust meets one-on-one with participants, proffering an alchemy of observational insights, resource referrals, recommendations and somatic experiences in response to expressed queries." Free Advice | Jennifer Ambrust February 16th | 12-2 PM Free for gallery members | $5 for non-members Reservations welcome | info@nationale.us Nationale | 811 E Burnside  Katherine Groesbeck at Place Seattle-based artist Katherine Groesbeck will be conducting a wish-making performance this Saturday complete birthday cakes. "Even though I know longer believe in the magic of genies, birthday candles, or shooting stars, I still make wishes just in case I’m wrong. The remnants of my inner child compel me to continue wishing. For the next eight weeks I will explore the magic and the lure of wish making." Coinciding with Groesbeck's festive goings-on, performance artist Michael Reinsch will be turning art audience into consumer as he turns out art-on-demand. "This project utilizes retail strategies adopted from made to order production such as speed, efficiency, and attention to high customer service standards. The viewer orders pieces of art from a menu board posted behind a professionally manufactured service counter." Adrienne Huckabone will also have a new video work on view that fetishizes the imagery of advertising. Katherine Groesbeck | Wish Making & Practicalities Michael Reinsch | On Demand Opening Reception | February 16th | 5-9 PM White Gallery | Place | Third floor of the Pioneer Mall | 700 SW 5th Ave Posted by Tori Abernathy on February 15, 2013 at 15:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkToko Shinoda at Portland's Japanese Garden  Toko Shinoda, Gratitude (lithograph) Portland's fantastic Japanese Garden is kicking off its 50th anniversary year visual arts programming with an exhibition of drawings and prints by Toko Shinoda. At 100 years old Shinoda is herself a Japanese national treasure and innovator in calligraphy drawing from both abstract expressionism and minimalism as well as the long history of Japanese Calligraphy. Those who know their history know that both avant garde American art movements had more than a few path crossings with the traditional art form. Curated by Norman Tolman, the exhibition will present one work work from each year of the garden's existence. According to the garden's PR: "Working in a medium that traces its roots back 3,000 years to ancient China, Shinoda was influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s and today her works combine a refined minimalism with a dynamic abstract energy. Her masterful brushstrokes are often complemented with a subtle touch of color and convey a Zen-like sense of tranquility. Interviewed by The Japan Times on the occasion of her 90th birthday, Shinoda described her work as, 'a balance between dynamism and traditional elegance.'" 50 Prints & Paintings, Toko Shinoda at 100 February 15 - March 17th Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 15, 2013 at 6:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 02.12.13 Dieng & Maldonado at Linfield  Devon Maldonado (L) Modou Dieng (R) It may be a bit of a trek into wine country for Portlanders but Linfield College's gallery does some of the best truly contemporary shows in the area and An Interactive Installation: Modou Dieng in collaboration with Devon A. Maldonado looks like it is worth the trip. According to the PR: "Dieng has collaborated with VanHouten-Maldonado on "An Interactive Installation," an exhibit that draws inspiration from a history of heroes and antiheroes in Mexico and Senegal. The exhibit examines the way history is represented in a contemporary context in the information age. Viewers are asked to interact with the work using a provided 3D lens, in order to investigate cultural history and ethnicity using contemporary tools. A clash of digital and analog cultures determines a hybrid aesthetic of history and ethnicity, the artists say." The PR photo alone conjures the classic Warhol/Basquiat show and other images call to mind Warhol and Basquiat having a bit of fun at Richard Prince's expense. It feels like internationalist payback in a post pop, post painting, post colonial, post photography, post heroic, post POST perhaps pre-revolutionary exhibition. It doesn't have that traditional Northwest vibe at all. 
Detail of Dieng's work at MoCADA Modou in particular is one of the most internationally connected artists in Portland (he's one of the key people behind the Portland NOW Triennial) and I'd be remiss to not mention his participation at Brooklyn's MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts) eMERGING: Visual Art & Music in a Post-Hip-Hop Era exhibition which opens on February 14th. See both shows on both coasts if you can. An Interactive Installation | MMiller Art Center, Linfield College (McMinnville campus) February 11 - March 16, 2013 Opening Reception: Saturday, February 16th | 3 to 5 p.m. Artist talk at Nicholson Library on the Linfield Campus, room 127, Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 5 p.m. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 12, 2013 at 14:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.11.13 Not So Final Craft/Perspectives Panel for Hallie Ford Fellows Inaugural  (L to R) Ellen Lesperance, Akihiko Miyoshi, and Michelle Ross Tomorrow at 6:30PM the Museum of Contemporary Craft is holding the last of 3 Craft/Perspective panel discussions related to the We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order To Live exhibition of Hallie Ford Fellowship recipients. The talk features, "individual artist presentations by 2012 Hallie Ford Fellows; Ellen Lesperance, Akihiko Miyoshi, and Michelle Ross, followed by a moderated conversation around a central question that currently influences the local creative climate." To be sure, whenever someone hands out money, somebody will inevitably grouse but the exhibition has been a lightning rod for a wide ranging discussion here on PORT... just not in the way the Ford Foundation seem to have planned. Instead, by situating the discussion around the somewhat old-school combination "making" and hand made analog processes in some ways the show misses ideas first laid out in Donald Judd's incredibly influential essay Specific Objects (which counter-intuitively was all about being general in a specific way by making objects quite secondary to their collateral effect upon a room and viewer. This ultimately presaged the now omnipresent digital realm.) Thus comparatively, 7 of show's 9 artist (exceptions are Schwegler and Conkle) have a very conscious old-school approach to art, much of it academic as well. This isn't an indictment or review of the work as much as a mirror I feel needs to be held up to these awards panels in regards to so called "contemporary award"s for art in the Northwest. Furthermore, these three artists are all capable speakers so come and see what they have to say about being lumped together in both flattering and not so flattering ways. By purposefully concentrating on more, "traditional disciplines" the Ford Family Foundation practically begged for this kind of "yeah but" critical response (i.e. where is the exploration of digital forms or installation that doesn't call attention to the way it is made). I respect that and the opportunities for discussion it creates are important. Fact is though most contemporary art treats the human hand as a simply a choice to use, or not. It isn't paramount to the discussion of the human condition (especially in this digital age), simply a common one among numerous other strategies. By fetishing the hand/analog process, it is like having desert all of the time and the Ford Family Foundation is hardly the only institution guilty of taking a very standard and stereotypical "genre" based approach to Northwest art as opposed to an ideas/experience based one (which inherently treats all genres, materials and strategies as equals). Panel Discussion: February 12th | 6:30 - 8:00 PM Museum of Contemporary Craft (The Lab) 724 NW Davis St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 11, 2013 at 12:58 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.08.13 Weekend Events in February  Still from Purge, directed by Antti Jokinen. Image courtesy of PIFF. The Portland International Film Festival opened yesterday and will be running through February 23rd. There are far too many gems for us to cite them here, but in case you're unfamiliar with PIFF: "Drawing an audience of over 35,000, the Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) is the biggest film event in Oregon, premiering more than 100 international shorts and feature films to Portland audiences." I'm always personally fond of the film shorts, the first set of which screens this Saturday at 1PM in the Whitsell auditorium. I'm also interested in seeing the documentary filmed in North Korea, Comrade Kim Goes Flying: it looks as though it will prove to be a corny underdog story laden with the cheery undertones of propaganda films. There is so much more to see over the next couple weeks and you can find the full listings on their website. The Portland International Film Festival | presented, in part, by The Northwest Film Center February 7th - 23rd Whitsell Auditorium | 1219 SW Park Avenue Regal Fox Tower | 846 SW Park Avenue World Trade Center Theater | 121 SW Salmon Street Cinema 21 | 616 NW 21st Avenue  Documentation of Jon Gitelson's The Last Snow In Brattleboro. This weekend down in Springfield, an exciting new show exploring new geographies and mapping techniques is opening with the works of three out of state artists. The work in the show, from what I can tell without having yet witnessed it myself, seems both playful and cleanly stark. The works "investigate the materiality of the landscape, the complexity of perceptual experience, and the relationship between our physical and mental experiences of place. Lamson's video A Line Describing The Sun tracks the path of the sun during a one day performance in the Mojave Desert while Mann's photographs of imagined landscapes speak of the desire to run away into the unknown. Gitelson's The Last Snow In Brattleboro tracks the last snow to melt in his hometown in order to convince himself of Spring's arrival." Three Ways to Draw the Landscape | William Lamson, John Mann, and Jon Gitelson February 9th - March 2nd Opening reception | February 9th | 6-9 PM Ditch Projects | 303 S. 5th Avenue #165 | Springfield, OR Posted by Tori Abernathy on February 08, 2013 at 18:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 02.05.13 First Thursday of February  WHEN WILL MY LOVE BE RIGHT, 2013, galvanized welded and riveted steel, leather, brass, copper and seashell, 26" x 25" x 40 1/2", installation view, photo by Jeff Jahn Arnold Kemp, chair of the Visual Studies program at PNCA, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012. His current exhibition at PDX Contemporary When Will My Love Be Right references a song recorded by Robert Winters and Fall in the 1980s that comes out of a genre transforming gospel and r&b into the funky and secular. On view will be a series of handmade mens' accessories, seashells, poetic texts, and images made from the manipulation of aluminum. "These works conceptualize a sense of touch, a sense of empathy and a sense of humor. In thinking about the characters that are described in the various 'aluminums' I find that characters emerge also in the mundane objects of the shoes, the shells and the leather belts that bear a buckle that simply names them as SHY. These works are poetic, associative, and sensual in their insistence on the possibility of mundane objects to portray tense spasms of the soul peppered with pain, laughter, irony and question marks." When Will My Love Be Right | Arnold J. Kemp January 22nd - March 2nd Opening Reception | February 7th | 6-9 PM PDX Contemporary | 925 NW Flanders 
Derek Bourcier @ Littman Gallery I'm very excited to see the solo exhibition by one of my favorite Portland-based emerging artists, Derek Bourcier. He has a curious way of uncovering the magically vital force of objectness. "More Doubt and Wonder is an exhibition of conceptual sculpture and video that trusts in the unseen, the contained, and the imagined as a means to communicate ideas of isolation, imagination, and artistic self-doubt. Bourcier conflicts the inclination to create objects as a necessary part of life with feelings of uneasiness in that form of expression." At the White Gallery just down the hall, there will be a series of 'drawings' by Dunja Jankovic. More Doubt and Wonder | Derek Bourcier February 7-28, 2013 Opening Reception | February 7th 5-8 PM Littman Gallery | PSU Smith Hall, Room 250 | 1825 SW Broadway  Still from With Eyes that Might not See, Claire Zitzow, 2012, 10' 15" HD video, stereo sound, image courtesy of the artist In February at White Box, two exhibitions are opening that focus on place and human intervention into representations of natural landscapes. The exhibition by Claire Zitzow exploring the Coloradan landscape "consists of four new sets of works reflecting on a mediated relationship to landscape that occurs through observational study, a multiplicity of image production, and the experiential." Goldfields is a three-channel video installation by Dawn Roe that "consideration[s] cultural memory in relation to the opposing perspectives of indigenous and colonial settler narratives, pastoral landscape representations, folklore and myth." Claire Zitzow | Remains To Be Seen & Dawn Roe | Goldfields Opening Reception | February 7th | 6-9 PM White Box | at University of Oregon | 24 NW 1st Ave Posted by Tori Abernathy on February 05, 2013 at 14:39 | Comments (0) PermalinkBecker Collection & Sarah Gilbert at Reed College  Henri Lovie (b. Prussia, 1829–1875),(detail) Battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee: Left Wing near the Peach Orchard, April 6, 1862 Graphite and gray wash on wove paper We are now into Obama's already very polarized second term as President and films like Lincoln and Django Unchained are still the major must see films in the theaters, all bringing the the USA's bloody and divisive Civil War era close to our modern consciousness. Thu,s it is timely that the Cooley Gallery's latest show, FIRST HAND: CIVIL WAR ERA DRAWINGS FROM THE BECKER COLLECTION, BOSTON COLLEGE brings us another abstracted but first hand observational account to perhaps the most defining event in our country's history. It is also a coherent follow up to the previous Kara Walker show as well. Here is the PR: "The Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, is proud to present over 140 original Civil War era drawings from the Becker Collection at Boston College. The Becker Collection contains over 600 hitherto un-exhibited and undocumented drawings by American artist Joseph Becker (1841–1910) and his colleagues, nineteenth-century artists who worked as artist-reporters for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper during the Civil War. Artist-reporters were charged with observing, drawing, and sending back for publication images of the battles, troop movements, and daily activities of the era. Completed in the field, their drawings were couriered to Leslie's offices where they were transformed into wood engravings, then cast as metal plates and printed. At times, it took as little as three days for drawings to make their way from the battlefield into Leslie's pages. Civil War Drawings from the Becker Collection is the first opportunity for scholars and the public to study selections from this important and unknown collection, and to appreciate these national treasures for their aesthetic qualities and relationship to contemporary forms of illustrated journalism. The original drawings selected for the exhibition by curators Sheila Gallagher and Judith Bookbinder document key developments in American history in lively and specific forms, as the country struggled to establish its national identity. In addition to Becker, the exhibition includes works by Henri Lovie, Edward F. Mullen, William T. Crane, and Charles E.H. Bonwill, among others." First Hand: Civil War Era Drawings From The Becker Collection, Boston College February 5 - April 20 Cooley Gallery | Reed College 3203 SE Woodstock BLVD. HOURS: Noon to 5 P.M., Tuesday – Sunday, free Located in the main floor of the Reed Library  Sarah Gilbert (photo Dan Kivitka) Sarah Gilbert's After Image at Reed's Feldenheimer gallery explores the very popular intersection of science and art (artists like Damien Gilley, Oregon Painting Society, Carl Diehl, MSHR, Laura Hughes, Kyle Thompson, Josh Pavalacky, Zachary Davis and Laura Fritz are all practitioners) though Gilbert's take is more gadget based, dealing with the very real human/cyborg convergence (the other artists tend to dematerialize objects to varying degrees). There is an opening on First Thursday (far from the Pearl District so Ill post it with its campus brethren). According to the PR, "Sarah Gilbert creates objects, images, and installations that explore changing definitions of the human and posthuman, both in physical form and as conceptual categories. As an artist working in glass, film, and a variety of other materials invested with rich historical craft traditions, she is interested in how objects shape our experiences, and the ways in which we define ourselves through the labor of our bodies. Her projects strive to make visible links between the past and the present, drawing on material memory and the tension between figuration and abstraction as springboards for contemplating our experience of time." After Image | Sarah Gilbert January 28 - Feburary 19, 2013 Edith Feldenheimer Gallery, Studio Art Building Reception with the artist: February 7, 4:30 - 6:30 PM Gallery Hours: Monday–Saturday, 12:00 - 6:00 PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 05, 2013 at 10:08 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.31.13 First Weekend February 2013  Mid-sized arts cities often claim to be on the brink of some limelight explosion, but the whole 'we're-actually-serious-this-time' caveat has gained traction around these parts lately. As the city changes, grows, and attracts more attention, it has some growing pains to feel out and some gaps to fill. Many have pointed out the gaps that remain, but few have gone out to purchase the spackle. With budding plans for a Portland-based triennale, Modou Dieng has taken the caulk in hand. Not So Quiet is the first fundraising event to pave the way for something much bigger to come. The event contains an impressive mashup of cultural practices such as "a dance performance by San Francisco-based choreographer and performance artist Renee Rhodes; readings by Portland-based writer and poet Matthew Dickman; intellectual stimuli from critical theorist and author Barry Sanders, PhD; unique sonic textures by local musical duo Golden Retriever; and DJs spinning throughout the evening. Not So Quiet will also feature the paintings of Jason Traeger, and video works by San Francisco-based artist Anne Colvin, among other guests." Not So Quiet | An Evening of Visual Arts and Performances February 1st | 9PM - midnight 820 SE Alder St.  Afro-Chic (video still), 2010. DVD, 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. © Carrie Mae Weems This Saturday will be the first day (unless you're a Patron Society Member, in which case the first day will be Friday) to see Carrie Mae Weems' exhibit on view at the Portland Art Museum. It's nice that this exhibition of photographs and video by an African-American female artist coincides with Black History Month. I wonder what our community would look like if we didn't need to find an occasion to do such a thing. "Featuring some of her most groundbreaking work, including Ain't Jokin', From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, Ritual and Revolution, and the recent series Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment, Weems' work will challenge audiences by highlighting issues of power, race, and gender." Three Decades of Photography and Video | Carrie Mae Weems Feb 2nd - May 19th Portland Art Museum | 1219 SW Park Avenue Posted by Tori Abernathy on January 31, 2013 at 22:43 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.30.13 First Last Thursday of 2013  Harrison Freeman's Ugly Girl 4 Ampersand has been doing great things for a while now, often discovering new talent. In presenting Harrison Freeman's Both Sides Now it looks like they are at it again. Freeman is obsessed with zombies and horror genres with a tad of that Storm Tharp effect... only without any of the washy ink effects with the wicked line work... GOOD decision! The gallery's PR states: "Brightly colored & grounded in a nostalgic love of zombies & monsters, the Dukes of Hazzard & comic books, Freeman's gallery of garish portraits is inspired by (& even drawn on) found photographs of people long dead. 'It started when I was in Berlin scouring flea markets for old photos,' notes Freeman. 'I was buying pictures of people I thought looked especially strange or creepy & then tried to magnify that in the drawings I was making.' The initial result was a series of 50 snapshot photos, on the backs of which Freeman drew & painted often grotesque interpretations of the front-side figures. Arranged in a large grid at the gallery, the installation is interactive in that we are able to flip from front to back in a comparative viewing experience. As an impetus for a larger body of work, these snapshot sketches have been edited & refined in Freeman's new collection of drawings & paintings. Zeroing in on favorite faces, his works on wood panel & yellowed found paper amplify the distinct folds of skin, bulging eyes, toothy smiles & hair gone awry that are singular to the best & worst of found photographic relics." Harrison Freeman | Both Sides Now January 31 - February 24, 2013 Opening Reception: January 31 | 6 - 10PM Ampersand 2916 NE Alberta St Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 30, 2013 at 14:40 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 01.25.13 Corin Hewitt & Jessica Jackson Hutchins  Corin Hewitt in the Lumber Room's Terrain Shift (photo Jeff Jahn) On Saturday, Corin Hewitt will give a gallery talk titled "The Studio Pressed Flat" at the Lumber Room discussing his work in the current show "Terrain Shift" and how his practice relates to both Kurt Schwitters Merzbau + Giorgio di Chirico's painted interiors. There is a kind of surreal accretion that takes place in the work of all three artists so I'm intersted in this rationale. In general, Terrain Shift is perhaps the most "lived in" show at the Lumber Room to date and because it ends February 2nd this is one of your last opportunities to catch the exhibition. Corin Hewitt: The Studio Pressed Flat Artist Talk: January 26 | 3:00PM Lumber Room 419 NW 9th  Jessica Jackson Hutchins in her Studio, Portland, 2010 As part of their 2/2 series (2 pieces by the same artist on display for two weeks) Fourteen30 presents Jessica Jackson Hutchins. Hutchins lived in Portland until recently and keeps coming back despite grousing about Portland in magazine articles (I find most people who move away do this because they have to constantly justify why they left, though they miss it deeply... my brother does the same thing). Anyways, glad to see her work in town again. Jessica Jackson Hutchins 2/2 January 25th - February 3rd (with a closing reception that day) Fourteen30 1501 SW Market St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 25, 2013 at 12:18 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.23.13 Inaugural Ford Fellows exhibition at MOCC  The First 9 Ford Fellows (notice how the 2 primarily conceptual artists Bruce Conkle and Heidi Schwegler are not doing something with their hands) Three years ago the Ford Foundation did a wonderful thing and started giving out three $25,000 mid career fellowships to Oregon artists. The nine fellows so far are; Daniel Duford, David Eckard, Heidi Schwegler, Sang-ah Choi, Bruce Conkle, Stephen Hayes, Ellen Lesperance, Michelle Ross and Akihiko Miyoshi. All will be featured in the inaugural exhibition: We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live at the Museum of Contemporty Craft, which opens tomorrow, January 24th 2013. ...(More) We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order To Live January 24th through April 27th Museum of Contemporary Craft 724 NW Davis Street Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 23, 2013 at 15:17 | Comments (14) PermalinkFriday 01.18.13 Mid-January Heats Up  The Yale Union is starting off 2013 with an exciting series of performances by New York-based artist, writer, editor, and librarian Angie Keefer. Keefer's five performances will occur on some Friday evenings in January, February, and March. The talks will make use of different media such as audio, film while cohering around an inquiry into human perception and what motivates human investigation. Keefer is co-founder of The Serving Library, an online resource of "bulletins", or downloadable PDFs merging thematically in a published journal each season. Angie Keefer | Opening Reception / "Magician" January 18th | 7:30 PM Also February 1st, February 22nd, March 8th, and March 22nd | 7:30 PM Yale Union | 800 SE 10th Ave 
At Place this Saturday, Jamie Marie Waelchi and Travis Nikolai exhibit two new installations in the Black Gallery. I look forward to another lyrically personal set of artifacts from Waelchi. " Solid Mind examines the disappointments and frustrations, internal and external, that interfere with one's goals, ideals, and anticipated life trajectory. The installation considers the reconciliation of personal expectations with lived reality using glass containers, liquid, light, and a stream-of-conscious drawing technique." The second iteration of the privilege-based exhibition White Pride? also unveils in the same evening at the White Gallery. White Pride (part 2) | Featuring: Jodie Cavalier, Tim Combs, Petra Fortes-Schramm, Gia Goodrich, Julie Perini, Portia Roy, and Sandy Sampson The Breathing Room | Travis Nikolai Solid Mind | Jamie Marie Waelchli Opening Receptions| January 19th | 5-9 PM Place | 700 SW 5th Ave | The third floor of the Pioneer Mall Posted by Tori Abernathy on January 18, 2013 at 14:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkPeter Moore at Gallery Homeland 
Former creative guru at Nike, Peter Moore, will be in effect tonight as his solo exhibition, Controversy and Conversation opens at Gallery Homeland. This graphic driven work makes hamburger of both saints and baddies in a way that seeks to provoke. This is the guy behind the first Air Jordan shoe campaign and on top of it all Gallery Homeland's director Paul Middendorf (currently living in Houston where he has opened another branch of GH) will be back in town as well. Opening Reception: Controversy and Conversation | January 18th 7-10 PM galleryHomeland 2505 SE 11th Avenue, Suite #136 Through February 22nd Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 18, 2013 at 9:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 01.15.13 Terra Linear at Archer Gallery  Terra Linear @ Archer Gallery This Wednesday at Archer Gallery in Vancouver, Terra Linear opens, an exhibition in which nine regional ceramicists exhibit bodies of work that are all informed and motivated by considerations of linear quality. "Through innovative approaches to surface treatment, structure, and a freedom with materials, these contemporary artists all take full advantage of the plastic lyricism and material delight available through ceramic processes." Terra Linear: The Ceramic Line | Featuring: Ann Christenson, Anne E. Hirondelle, Brian R. Jones, Ryan LaBar, Brad Mildrexler, Alwyn O'Brien, Jill Oberman, Sylwia Tur, and Lilly Zuckerman January 16th - February 10th Opening Reception | January 16th | 6-7 PM Archer Gallery | Clark College | 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA Posted by Tori Abernathy on January 15, 2013 at 22:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 01.13.13 North Park Blocks Convergence 
On Monday night, as part of Portland Monthly's ongoing Bright Lights discussion series, PNCA President Tom Manley and architect Brad Cloepfil will be discussing the art school's 511 building renovation (in the media PORT was the first to recognize the 511 building as a game changer for PNCA and the city). Of special interest is the "creative corridor" it will form along with other North Park Block based entities like RACC, the Desoto Building galleries and numerous other creative firms that are within walking distance of the school's new HQ. This move effectively makes PNCA the North Park Blocks anchor tenant that with the Bud Clark Commons should revitalize a somewhat dark and sketchy area at night. The event will be hosted by Randy Gragg, who can be counted on to keep his stronger eye on the promotion of regional real-estate developments. Discussion: January 14th | doors 5:30 PM No Cover Jimmy Mak's | 221 NW 10th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 13, 2013 at 22:11 | Comments (1) PermalinkFriday 01.11.13 Weekend Picks This weekend is exceptionally busy with openings and events at Lumber Room, Art Gym, Place, Rock's Box, PSU, Nationale etc. Lumber Room (already posted about) and Art Gym are my two top picks (Tori is under the weather) but here are the rest.
 Still from Kelly Rauer's Weight On Sunday the Art Gym presents probably the most highly anticipated exhibition to kick off the new year. The dual offering of Kelly Rauer's Weight and Samantha Wall's Laid to Rest is an inspired pairing of two of Portland's best observer/translators of human physiography. The shows are separate but related. Rauer is presenting her most ambitious multi-channel video installation to date. Like Rauer, Wall focuses on a single female figure and "has created a set of drawings that draw on selected video stills as they explore the emotional and cultural underpinnings of gesture." Let's see how the stack up against Robert Longo and Sam Taylor-Wood? Reception: January 13, 3 - 5PM Runs Through February 15th Gallery talk: January 31, 12pm The Art Gym (third floor of the B.P. John Administration Building on the Marylhurst University campus)  Lindsay Kennedy @ Nationale For you painting fans, Nationale presents Lindsay Kennedy's Pattern Assembly on your busy Saturday Night, evoking the pastel and pattern filled heaven/hell that was the hallmark of the late 80's. Buy some Aquanet, make your hair real big, put on some moon boots and check this out. In many ways I wish May would just call up Duane Sorenson and get him to back them and buy the prime Pulliam Gallery space in the Pearl District (now for sale). Nationale has had great taste showing Carson Ellis, Midori Hirose, Oregon Painting Society and Amy Bernstein etc. over the years. The Pearl could use some of the freshness that Nationale seems to find so effortlessly achieve in a serious, well funded gallery that can concentrate on the big picture not just hand to mouth sales (i.e. expect to lose money for 3+ years). Pattern Assembly | Lindsay Kennedy| runs through February 17th Opening Reception January 12th 6-9PM @ Nationale 811 E Burnside ...(more with PSU and Chris Fraser) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 11, 2013 at 10:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.09.13 La Londe talk at Lumber Room 
Evan La Londe at Terrain Shift 2013 is now fully under way and this weekend your Portland art event options are going to be extra plentiful (Tori will have more details soon). In advance of that deluge, I suggest attending Evan La Londe's artist talk at the Lumber Room on Saturday at 3:00 PM. This is perhaps the Lumber Room's most "lived in" exhibition in feel (it is a private residence/collection after all) and La Londe is well versed in the discussion of "the room as camera"... which is a great opening artist talk for this show. Artist Talk: January 12th | 3:00 PM Lumber Room | 419 NW 9th Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 09, 2013 at 10:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 01.04.13 Publish that photo book?  Newspace is kicking off the year with a free talk by photobook specialist Daniel Milnor and publisher Darius Himes this Saturday. "Through extensive examples drawn from their personal work and experiences, and from a compelling survey of contemporary artist books, Milnor and Himes will open your eyes to the diversity of the international photobook scene." Photobook talk: January 5 | 7- 9 PM Newspace | 1632 SE 10th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 04, 2013 at 20:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.02.13 The First First Thursday of 2013  Robert Rauschenberg, Samarkand Stitches I, 1988, Unique screenprint and fabric collage, 61" x 46" Robert Rauschenberg's longstanding career has doubtlessly had an outstanding affect on artistic production to this day, particularly among artists working with collage. His combines operated between the modes of painting and sculpture and made use of everyday objects that would often literally be placed on the surface of the painting. The exhibition opening at Elizabeth Leach tomorrow showcases his forays into printmaking. These screenprints and lithographs are certainly flatter than the work he's most known for, but they employ a similar chaotic flow of everyday imagery, content, and pattern. His son, Christopher Rauschenberg has a series of photographs depicting witty captured moments in a museum setting that are also exhibited contemporaneously. Robert Rauschenberg | Selected Prints January 3 - March 2, 2013 & Christopher Rauschenberg | Museum January 3 - February 2, 2013 Opening Reception | January 3rd | 5-8 PM Elizabeth Leach Gallery | 417 NW 9th Avenue In the video window, viewable from the exterior of Elizabeth Leach, there are a series of video works by Signal Fire alumni Miguel Arzabe, Rebecca Najdowski, Julie Perini, and Zachary Davis. Signal Fire is a Portland-based non-profit arts organization that offers residencies and retreats to artists across many disciplines. Signal Fire celebrates their five years as an organization in 2013. Recent Signal Fire Alumni: Miguel Arzabe, Rebecca Najdowski, Julie Perini, and Zachary Davis January 3 - February 2, 2013 Video Window | Elizabeth Leach Gallery | 417 NW 9th Avenue  Mariana Tres @ Chambers 916 PSU MFA grad Mariana Tres' body of visual works play on the truth value of photography in relation to shared-historical knowledge. This exhibition features work from the playful institution founded by Tres, The Society for Nebulous Knowledge. "'CELESTIAL CLOCKWORK: Herschel McShougle's Dream of Ten Thousand Years' is the sixth major presentation by the Society for Nebulous Knowledge, the quixotic institution Miss Tres oversees. Herschel McShougle’s dream asks us to think deeply into the future. Research for his imaginative decamillenial clock has been recovered and faithfully captured through photography, artifacts and biographical documents for this premiere exhibition. Information will also be available about a present-day manifestation, the 10,000 Year Clock of The Long Now Foundation." Mariana Tres | Celestial Clockwork January 03 - February 02, 2013 Opening Reception | January 3rd | 5-8 PM Chambers 916 | 916 NW Flanders Behind the Cut, Jesse Hayward at Nine Gallery and Andy Freeberg at Blue Sky Posted by Tori Abernathy on January 02, 2013 at 21:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 12.21.12 Nativity 3.0 
For their 3rd year Xhurch's radical nativity series Nativity 3.0 features Portland's MSHR and the Hair and Space Museum. Last year's blasphemy deluxe was alien themed but this year it is much more abstract and technodelic, including the theme of "Imortality (through technology)." Tonight's opening ceremonies features Cloaks and MSHR beginning at 7pm. Here's the PR: "Planned in conjunction with Seattle's reputed Hair and Space Museum, Nativity 3.0 promises to "top out" in both conceptual scope and visual splendor. In 2010, Xhurch staged a quaint and traditional Christmas Nativity which drew friends and a few neighbors. Last year, Alien Nativity attracted hundreds of visitors and garnered international media attention with its kitsch extra-terrestrial motif. This year's installation will abstract even further away from the original, presenting a visual feast while riffing on topics like Infinity, The Coming Technological Singularity, Immortality (through technology), modern Spiritualism and THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!" ...ummm ok, that does beat 3 wise men and some live camels. Opening December 21st 7-9PM Nativity 3.0: December 21-25th | 5-9PM nightly Xhurch | 4550 NE 20th Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 21, 2012 at 11:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 12.14.12 Weekend Openings in December  Will Work for Representation, Sam Guerrero There are a few ways to combat the self-absorbed character of Modern art. One such avenue has been a looking outward, the disappearance of the author's hand as it recedes in favor of a brutally anti-aesthetic void. In a less 'subverting' gesture, some artists have moved towards a deeply reflective (if not hyper-critical)investigation of the social underpinnings that afford them their privileged place in our culture. White Pride? is an exhibition opening at Place with a quality line up of artists that have supposed to take on that challenge. "A thorough examination of how we personally benefit when we step into narratives of privilege is necessary if we want to create new scripts in how we navigate racially. Scarily, this means we have to sometimes stop congratulating ourselves and get a bit more introspective." White Pride? | Nadia Buyse, Chris Freeman, Sam Guerrero, Michael Martínez, Mark Martinez, Christine Taylor, Chloé Womack Opening Reception | 5-9PM Place | 700 SW 5th Ave 3rd floor More behind the cut! Ben Young + Gary Robbins @ PICA and Seth Nehil @ FalseFront Posted by Tori Abernathy on December 14, 2012 at 20:15 | Comments (1) PermalinkFriday 12.07.12 Bruce Conkle at PSU's Autzen Gallery 
It has been a little while since Bruce Conkle has treated us to a full solo show in Portland... but he has been in Mongolia (with Marne Lucas for an Ecobaroque project) so he has an excuse. (Is Mongolian excuse an actual term? If not it should be!) Regardless, Bruce is one of the few award winning multi-media artists in the Northwest that focuses primarily on the conceptual nature of the work... which explains why his work finds traction outside the Northwest Craft Bubble. (That's right I just coined the term "Northwest Craft Bubble"). His shows are always phantasmagorias of eco-tech-witchery wrapped in a hilarious conceptual shell so you will want to see this. According to the PR: "Tree Clouds is an exhibition of new sculptures and mixed media drawings constructed by Bruce Conkle with his own peculiar brand of dark humor. The title 'Tree Clouds' refers to the smoke produced when aromatic resin from trees is burned. The scented clouds are literally puffs of smoke that had their origins from within the trees. Several of the sculptures are bronze incense burners, and periodically during the exhibition they will be used to burn aromatic resins collected from trees native to the Pacific NW as incense. Conkle has gathered the aromatic resins from various trees of the Pacific Northwest- including Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine and Shore Pine. He will be burning some of the collected incense at the reception." Let's hope he doesn't burn hemlock? Tree Clouds is made possible in part through a Project Grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Tree Clouds | December 8 - 20 Opening Reception: Saturday December 8th 6-8PM Autzen Gallery | Portland State University Neuberger Hall | 2nd Floor Room 205 724 SW Harrison St. @ Broadway Posted by Jeff Jahn on December 07, 2012 at 11:47 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 12.05.12 First Thursday on December  The Reader @ White Box The artist and graffiti writer known as The Reader, acclaimed for his work outdoors moves into the White Box for the exhibition Affective Duplication. Here "The Reader employs painting, screen-printing, collage, and sculpture in varied combinations; a new video work will be debuted; architectural elements will interrupt the space allowing viewers to become more intimate with smaller works within a larger site-specific installation." This follows an exhibition earlier this year of The Reader's work at Ditch Projects in Eugene. Affective Duplications | The Reader Opening Reception | December 6th | 6-9PM White Box | The White Stag building | 24 NW 1st Ave 
Binary Lore @ Feldman Gallery "For Binary Lore, Feldman Gallery curator Mack McFarland and Shannon Stratton, curator and director of Threewalls, have collectively selected two artists [sic] from their respective cities for the dual exhibitions." Those in Portland are likely familiar with Brenna Murphy from her work as one half of MSHR and as part of Oregon Painting Society. Edie Fake, on the other hand, is known in Chicago and elsewhere for his illustration work that makes light of the challenges facing queer culture. "Together Edie Fake and Brenna Murphy present two multi-faceted approaches and distribution methods to unpacking our definition-dodging time. In addition to a display of his own work Edie Fake will bring to PNCA a selection of comics from Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE), which Fake co-organized in June 2012." If you're in Chicago, check out the show at Threewalls in June of 2013. Binary Lore | Brenna Murphy (performing with Birch Cooper!) & Edie Fake December 6th | 6-9 PM The Feldman Gallery | PNCA| 1241 NW Johnson St. Also behind the cut, City and County employee exhibition, Louie Palu at Bluesky, and Chemical Landscapes at Multiplex Posted by Tori Abernathy on December 05, 2012 at 18:51 | Comments (1) PermalinkThursday 11.29.12 Oscar's Delirium Tremens Redux  Patrick Rock: Oscar's Delerium Tremens (Photo: Patrick Leonard. Courtesy of PICA [Portland Institute for Contemporary Art] @ PICA's 2011 Time-Based Art Festival, Portland, Oregon. Perhaps the biggest bummer of 2011 was the fact that Patrick Rock's interactive inflatable pink elephant installation for TBA only operated for a few hours. Thankfully it is back, this time in North Portland as Oscar's Delirium Tremens Redux. I'm particularly interested in this as Patrick demonstrated that he was one of Portland's boldest and notable artists when I introduced Portlanders to his huge Simulacra Hermaphrodite inflatable in a show way back in 2005. Always nice to see an artist follow up on successful ideas. Described as, "A viewer interactive sculptural happening @ The Colony – With your host: Patrick Rock of Rocks Box Contemporary Fine Art." Oscar's Delerium Tremens Redux | Free HSaturday, December 1, 2012, 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Saturday, December 1, 2012, 8:00 - 11:00 p.m., 21 & over reception. Sunday, December 2, 2012, 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. @ The Colony - 7527 N. Richmond, Ave. @ Lombard St. (St. Johns neighborhood) Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 29, 2012 at 12:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 11.26.12 Brian Bress Lecture at PSU 
(video still) Brian Bress, Creative Ideas for Every Season, 2010, High definition video, color, sound. Courtesy of the artist and Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles. This Wednesday, Los Angeles based Brian Bress will be the next PSU MFA Studio Lecture Series speaker. The work seems faux innocent and sarcastic at the same time recalling artists like Paul McCarthy, George Condo and Man Ray. The fact that he is satirizing the over-use/abuse of the term "creative" definitely fits the Portland art scene's growing dissatisfaction with such an indiscriminate word. Here's the PR: "Brian Bress is a Los Angeles-based artist, whose dryly comic, character-driven photos and videos are populated with richly collaged and constructed sets and costumes. Recent solo shows include: Cherry and Martin, LA; New Museum, New York, USA (both 2012); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (2012); and Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, USA (2011). Forthcoming exhibitions include Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Italy and Galeria Marta Cervera, Madrid, Spain (both 2013)." Lecture: November 28th 7:00PM | Free Shattuck Annex Hall Portland State University 1914 SW Park Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 26, 2012 at 11:31 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 11.23.12 Better Friday, PAM is free 5-8PM tonight  The Body Beautiful at PAM (seriously great artifacts from the British Museum) So you ate a lot of food, well your mind wants something now and Black Friday definitely isn't the ticket. The Portland Art Museum is the perfect answer. Tonight from 5-8PM the museum is free and with shows like The Body Beautiful (with it's fantastic collection of Greek and Roman artifacts from the British Museum), Cyndy Sherman, Anna Fidler, Sigmar Polke and Flesh & Bone there is quite a lineup. Of course any time this weekend is a good time. Of course the galleries in the Pearl District and Lumber Room are all great for stretching your legs and mind at the same time too. Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 23, 2012 at 14:10 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.15.12 Pre-Thanksgiving Goodies  Carson Ellis @ Nationale Nationale opens this Saturday with a series of new works on paper by Carson Ellis influenced by the Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset and her acclaimed Kristin Lavransdattar trilogy. "Her characters' navigate their destinies with the inspiring, yet clearly fated, qualities of romantic stoicism and self-determination. The resulting discord between this tragic core and Ellis' serene, midnight landscapes of snow-covered fields, stave churches, and fantastical vegetation inspires a new folklore that, while rooted in a romanticized past, ultimately evokes a more introspective present." Midori Hirose's stark snowdrift sculptures will accompany the works on paper. Carson Ellis | Mush, Mush, the Sloping Midnight Line with supporting works by Midori Hirose On view November 14 - December 9, 2012 Opening reception | November 17th | 6-8 PM Nationale | 811 E Burnside 
Part of the series Red Heat Tremors by Jared Haug, construction paper faded with stencils and sun, 2012 Ditch Project co-directors Jared Haug and Brooks Dierdorff make work out in Eugene/Springfield rivaling that of their peer group in the NW region, but their work often doesn't make it out to Portland. Recognizing a common interest in (failed) representations of nature in an increasingly digitized age, they've teamed up for an exhibition opening this Friday at RECESS. "The work in Window Smokers reflects imagery of a cultivated, synthetic, and manipulated nature. With the myth of an untainted landscape in sight, Haug and Dierdorff search for an interface between nature and representation where the unenclosed can be depicted in its disappearance. Utilizing photography, video, and sculpture they investigate the rift between the real and representation, nature and culture, the viewer and the viewed." Brooks Dierdorff and Jared Haug | Window Smokers Opening Reception | November 16th | 7-10 PM RECESS | 1127 SE 10th Avenue 
This weekend, the extremely busy Daniel J Glendening has a solo exhibition opening at FalseFront. The manifesto-like press release for this show doesn't educate curious audiences on the characteristics of the works to be seen. Instead it probes some of the basic questions addressed by Thing Theory and hints at shamanistic motifs. "Earth is represented by a circle split into four quarters, or, alternatively, by an equilateral triangle, pointed downward, bisected by a horizontal line; fire an equilateral triangle, pointed upward. The symbol for gold is a circle with a single point at its center." Daniel J Glendening | Conjurer November 17th - December 9th Opening Reception | November 17th | 7-10 PM FalseFront | 4518 NE 32ND Avenue Posted by Tori Abernathy on November 15, 2012 at 21:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 11.14.12 Mid November group show goulash The middle of November usually begins a spate of thematic group shows designed to buoy attendance and hold interest over the Holidays... this year is no exception.
 John David Knight At PSU's Littman Gallery the ever popular holiday topic of "Doubt" features; Stephanie Drachman, Ally Drozd & Sky Cunningham, Jamie Edwards, Andre Fortes and John David Knight. Curated by Chloe Womack her Doubt show may or may not deliver, "works of abstraction, dissent, and personal narrative that examine this inescapable contemporary condition." Opening Reception: November 15th | 5:00PM - 8:00PM Through November 30th) Littman & White Galleries, PSU | 1825 SW Broadway Smith Memorial Student Union (SMSU) Building 
The Lathe of Heaven, is another such thematic group exhibition with four artists Damien Gilly, Laura Hughes, Daniel Glendening and Jordan Tull making work "in conversation" with Ursula K. Le Guin's 1971 science fiction novel. The show promises to explore, "the physical and spiritual geography of Portland through site specific installations...." In particular, Gilley, Tull and Hughes are 3 artists who seem to be showing CONSTANTLY around here but are also represent part of larger group of artists who use psychology and design language to create a provisional, often sci-fi but always perceptually loaded environments. Think of them as the psycho-reactive progeny of Judd, Smithson, Heizer, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Irwin and Anish Kapoor. Curated by Josephine Zarkovich, she "invited the artists to produce work that resonates with the novel's themes of overlapping visions, architectural interventions and flawed utopian ideals. The resulting exhibition explores Portland's metaphorical and literal landscapes, its geography and unique identity through the work of artists who call the city home." Sounds like a show we've seen numerous times. Opening Reception: November 15 6-10PM Disjecta | 8371 N Interstate Hours: FRI–SUN 12-5 PM | NOV 16 - DEC 30 Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 14, 2012 at 12:03 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.08.12 Weekend Picks  Out in Springfield this Friday, there's a new exhibition entitled Long Nights, Long Days by the Minnesotan interdisciplinary artist, Peter Happel Christian. The exhibition draws its title from a pair of photographic works produced by Peter during the summer and winter of 2012. "One bundle, Long Nights, was removed from its packaging in the artist's backyard, recorded the entire duration of winter beginning on December 22, 2011 and ending on March 19, 2012. The second bundle, Long Days, was opened in a darkroom and processed through a fixer bath first, recorded the entire duration of summer beginning on June 20, 2012 and ending on September 21, 2012." Long Nights, Long Days | Peter Happel Christian Opening Reception | November 9th | 6-9 PM Ditch Projects | 303 S. 5th Avenue #165, Springfield Also this weekend, a group show at Appendix and the start of the NWFF. More details are behind the cut. Posted by Tori Abernathy on November 08, 2012 at 16:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 11.06.12 Daniel Heffernan Reception and Talk  Still from Daniel Heffernan's AE: 1 (2012) On Wednesday, there is an opening reception and talk at Linfield College's Miller Gallery for AE: (1+2), by Daniel Heffernan. Since it is in wine country Linfield may have the Portland area's most remote contemporary art location... but it is also the area's most consistently cutting edge so consider a trek (and maybe some wine tasting). Here's the PR: "Heffernan is a visual and media artist based in New York City whose paintings and video art have been internationally exhibited. The Linfield Gallery exhibition will be his first show in the Pacific Northwest." Linfield College Gallery: Daniel Heffernan - AE: (1+2) | October 15 - December 17 Artist Talk & Reception: November 7th 5PM (talk starts at 6PM @ room 127, Nicholson Library) Gallery hours: M-F 9AM - 5PM & Saturday 12-5PM in the James Miller Fine Arts Center Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 06, 2012 at 11:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 11.05.12 Margaret Wall-Romana at Archer Gallery 
Magaret Wall-Romana, Tangle and Sensation The Archer Gallery presents the first Northwest exhibit by Minnesota painter, Margaret Wall-Romana, who paints large format flora/fauna fantasias. She is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. Archer Gallery | Clark College November 7 - December 9th Opening & talk: November 7, 6 - 8PM (talk at 7 @ PUB 161) 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver WA Gallery Hours: Tues.-Thurs. 10AM - 7PM, Fri. and Sat. 12-5PM | Phone: 360 992 2246 Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 05, 2012 at 10:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 11.01.12 Words for the Weekend  Leslie Hewitt, Untitled (Holding Still), 2009, digital c-print in custom maple frame, 53 5/8" x 62 5/8" Awaking from a deep sleep into the dead of autumn, the Lumber Room opens with its first exhibition this year. Exploring optical play, the works presented here are the result of pushing and pulling the medium of photography towards and away from its very limitations. Pay particular attention to the austere work of recent MFA grad, Evan La Londe and the proto-historical analysis that underwrites the work of Leslie Hewitt. Terrain Shift | Corin Hewitt, Leslie Hewitt, Erin Shirreff, Elizabeth McAlpine, Will Rogan, Jennifer West and Portlander Evan La Londe November 2nd, 2012 - February 2nd, 2013 The Lumber Room | 419 NW 9th Ave More this weekend and behind the cut: Chris Kraus @ YU, bamboo @ Japanese Gardens, and Open Studios @ Towne Storage Posted by Tori Abernathy on November 01, 2012 at 20:58 | Comments (0) PermalinkJulie Ault at PNCA  Julie Ault (Photo Tim Hailand) On Friday, PNCA's MFA in Visual Studies presents Julie Ault as part of the 2012-2013 Graduate Visiting Lecture Series. Aukt is an artist, curator (co founder of Group Material) and editor of the important book Alternative Art New York 1965-1985. Considering that arts funding organizations like RACC and the OAC don't really address the needs of Portland's alternative spaces they should have people at this talk (The book is required reading too). From the PR: "Julie Ault, an artist who assumes a curatorial role as a form of practice, individually and collaboratively organizes exhibitions, multiform projects, and publications. Her work emphasizes interrelationships between cultural production and politics.... Ault co-founded Group Material, an artist collaborative that explored relationships between politics and aesthetics between 1979 and 1996. Her projects include Social Landscape at Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, and the exhibition Outdoor Systems, Indoor Distribution at the NGBK, Berlin. Ault has taught at École Superieure d'Art Visuel in Geneva, UCLA, Rhode Island School of Design, CalArts, and The Cooper Union." Julie Ault: November 2nd | 6:30PM - 8:30PM PNCA Main Campus | Swigert Commons 1241 NW Johnson St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on November 01, 2012 at 12:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 10.30.12 First Thursday of November  Four-layered Ovoid Lattices #2, Michael Knutson, Oil on canvas, 40" x 60", 2012 Michael Knutson's diligently lucid abstract paintings often form overlapping spirals of intersecting colors. In the new exhibition of work by this Yale graduate and Reed College professor, these lattices take on a more rounded form. As you look closely, think about the fact that this local master doesn't use tape. "The works are composed of two, three and four layers of spiraling ovals that play with actual and apparent transparency." Layered Ovoid Lattices | Michael Knutson Opening Reception | November 1st | 6-9 PM Blackfish Gallery | 420 NW 9th Ave.  Interrogation 2, Leon Golub, 1980-81, Acrylic on linen, 120 x 176 inches, The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, Art © Estate of Leon Golub/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY/Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts. Fighting Men looks at images of violence and masculinity through the work of three diverse macho artists. Jack Kirby produces comics with an aggressive flair, Leon Golub is a painter whose imagery recalls the barbaric, and Pete Voulkos turns the often feminine forms of pottery into something 'monumental' to suit the male-centric gaze of today's (and yesterday's) art audiences. In an essay about the exhibition, curator Daniel Duford writes "The specter of violence and the consequences of power animate this exhibition. Raw power emanates from the artwork. To watch Peter Voulkos manipulate a huge mound of clay on the wheel and rip and tear at the resulting form is a spectacle of brute force. The sheer strength required of Voulkos to make his work bespeaks extraordinary physical prowess. Power animated Jack Kirby’s superhero comics; his best known and most personal work depicted beings literally crackling with sublime cosmic energy." You might not get another chance to celebrate the work of three white men in one place, so don't miss it. Fighting Men | Leon Golub, Pete Voulkos, and Jack Kirby October 25th - March 3rd Curators Talk | November 1st | 1 PM Hoffman Gallery | Lewis & Clark | 615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road More beyond the link: Patrick Kelly and the Peoples Library PDX Posted by Tori Abernathy on October 30, 2012 at 15:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.26.12 Late October Weekend Events 
Matt Doyle will be playing with light and sound this weekend at Nationale. Matt Doyle is a musician, artist, and writer. He is the performance coordinator at RECESS, a copy editor for Publication Studio, a Reed College graduate, and an all-around talented guy (if not also a warm-hearted fellow). "Experimenting with the contrasts and interactions of acoustic and visual perception, Matt Doyle will present two opposing channels of video accompanied by a live audio diffusion. This will be the premiere performance of Vibrating Boundaries." Vibrating Boundaries | Matthew Joseph Xavier Doyle October 27th | 7PM Nationale | 811 E Burnside Dill Pickle Club behind the cut... Posted by Tori Abernathy on October 26, 2012 at 17:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 10.23.12 Fighting Men: Golub, Voulkos and Kirby  Jack Kirby Typically when artists curate, they pursue their own influences and interests, which brings its own kind of validity. It's borne more of the immediate coalescing agency of making work rather than engaging the predictable facets and authority of art historical discourse. It is a time honored tradition and instead of being capricious, it often interjects that often undervalued but very powerful voice of the "true fan" that is missing from most curatorial programs. Let's just say there is juice when the combinations aren't so dry and something personal in the present is at stake. Matthew Barney's interest in Houdini for instance. Thus, I'm excited about Fighting Men: Leon Golub, Peter Voulkos and Jack Kirby at Lewis and Clark College's Hoffman Gallery. The show, "probes images of violence and masculinity," making an interesting counterpoint to Kara Walker at Reed and the Body Beautiful at PAM. Guest curated by artist and writer Daniel Duford (whose own work is a pretty straight forward synthesis of these giants) the idea of combining a painter (Golub), ceramicist (Voulkos) and perhaps the greatest comic book cartoonist (Kirby) makes perfect sense. Frankly, I've always preferred Duford's taste in influences over the work he produces and respect the balls it takes to summon these three masters, whose long shadows have dogged him critically. To be fair, of today's artists perhaps only Raymond Pettibon would be expected to stand up well to these titans and Philip Guston has already been linked with all three in art history. Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art | Lewis and Clark College | 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road, MSC 95 Opening: October 25th 5-7PM Curators talk: November 1, 5:00PM (Miller 105) Exhibition run: October 25, 2012 to March 3, 2013 Gallery hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For information: 503-768-7687 Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 23, 2012 at 11:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 10.21.12 Hugh Dubberly for OCAC's Connections Series 
OCAC's fantastic speaker's series continues with Hugh Dubberly's, "Design in the Age of Biology: Shifting from a Mechanical-Object Ethos to an Organic-System Ethos." It should be an eye opening rumination on the way design, visualization and biomimesis have become enmeshed in the last decade or so. Here's a little of the PR: "Hugh Dubberly is a design planner and teacher. At Apple Computer in the late 80s/early 90s, he managed cross-functional design teams and creative services for the entire company and co-created a technology-forecast film, 'Knowledge Navigator', that presaged the appearance of the Internet in a portable digital device. At the same time, he served at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena as the founding chair of the computer graphics department. Mr. Dubberly is best known for creating concept maps-visual models to explore and learn about complex information spaces: 'By showing everything-the forest and the trees-in a single view, concept maps help people create mental models and clarify thoughts.'" Sounds like a winner. Hugh Dubberly | OCAC Connections October 22, 2012 | 7:00PM ZIBA Auditorium | 810 NW Marshall SmartPark garage adjacent to Ziba; bicycle parking and convenient to MAX Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 21, 2012 at 11:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 10.18.12 It's a Small World, After All  Olof Olsson, The Suburban's booth at NEXT, Photo by Paul Germanos. Image courtesy of Google Images. The Danish-Duth-Swedish performance artist, Olaf Olsson, will be performing an entirely scripted, almost two-hour long monologue at Publication Studio. Olsson has a presence and cadence that is at once uncomfortable, cosmopolitan, and witty. "It's a meditation and celebration of the failures and perversities of language, and the body through which it resonates." There will probably be some ukulele tunes well suited for an arts crowd. Driving the Blues Away | Olaf Olsson October 18 | 7 PM Publication Studio | 717 SW Ankeny St.  David Knowles @ FalseFront David Knowles might be known around here for his sharp, contemporary graphic design skills. Beyond his repoirtoire of chic TBA posters, and well-kerned work with Publication Studio and YA5, he's honing a more conceptually-based creative practice destined to stand the test of time. His exhibition It was not so important—who did it and where they went. There was, after all, only one of them opens this Friday at FalseFront. "Out of occasional conversations with a Sears Portrait Studio technician, David Knowles constructs a dialogue, both fact and fiction, to be played in the gallery by two actors. A series of photographs made using studio equipment moves their conversation to unlit backrooms, among props and curtains. Included in the exhibition is an editioned booklet, made to document and reenact the exchange." It was not so important—who did it and where they went. There was, after all, only one of them | David Knowles October 19 – November 11 Opening Reception | October 19 | 7-10 PM Viewing Hours | Saturdays and Sundays | 12-3PM FalseFront | 4518 NE 32nd Avenue  Installation shot of Jason Doize @ Place. Image courtesy of Place. With his sound-based installation Underlier, FalseFront owner/curator Jason Doize "continues his interest in commerce. [Here] his attention lies in the tenuous relationship between shipping and receiving." Despite an unstable global economy and chart-topping unemployment, more and more industrial labour is culled from overseas in exchange for low cost goods. Of course, when you've recently been put out of work the decision to buy the plastic lawn chair over the wooden version becomes a bit easier. Underlier makes use of audio collected from a shipping crate shipped by Doize himself. This and Black Field, an installation by Michael Endo, are opening in the Black Gallery at Place this Saturday. Underlier | Jason Doizé Opening Reception | October 20th | 5-9 PM Artist Talk | November 3rd | 7 PM Place | 700 SW 5th Ave PDX | 3rd floor of Pioneer Mall Posted by Tori Abernathy on October 18, 2012 at 15:55 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 10.15.12 Daniel Heffernan at Linfield Still from Daniel Heffernan's AE: 1 (2012) Today Linfield College's Miller Gallery presents AE: (1+2), featuring two new video installations by Daniel Heffernan. Since it is in wine country Linfield may have the Portland area's most remote location... but it is also the area's most consistently impressive so consider a trek (and maybe some wine tasting). Here's the PR: "Heffernan is a visual and media artist based in New York City whose paintings and video art have been internationally exhibited. The Linfield Gallery exhibition will be his first show in the Pacific Northwest. An artist talk by video artist Daniel Heffernan will be Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 5 p.m. at the Linfield Gallery on the Linfield College campus. The presentation will be followed by a reception. Heffernan explores the meaning and manifestations of live performance in our media saturated society. His art-making integrates various disciplines,including movement, video, music, writing and the visual arts, and draws inspiration from the rapidly evolving relationship between performance and technology. His most recent design projects have been featured at HERE Theatre, which The New York Times credits as 'one of the most unusual arts spaces in New York and possibly the model for the cutting-edge arts spaces of tomorrow.' His work has also been featured at the Soho Playhouse, where he collaborated with legendary film director Ken Russell, and the Clurman Theater, both in New York City." Linfield College Gallery: Daniel Heffernan - AE: (1+2) | October 15 - December 17 Artist Talk & Reception: November 7th 5PM Gallery hours: M-F 9AM - 5PM & Saturday 12-5PM in the James Miller Fine Arts Center Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 15, 2012 at 10:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 10.12.12 Francis Celentano talk  Francis Celentano Gemini 15 (2012) When it comes to hard edge op abstraction Francis Celentano is tough to beat. This octogenarian from Seattle is still going strong and his talk at Laura Russo Gallery on Saturday is a great chance to hear from one of the original op art masters about his latest show (which is gorgeous). Francis Celentano Artist Talk When: October 13, 11AM Laura Russo Gallery 805 NW 21st Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 12, 2012 at 11:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 10.10.12 Posturing and Appropriation Epistemologically speaking, there are many instances wherein text is not the most suitable format for reception. Critics of the hegemony of text, such as the writer, might find more instances than most. With so many untapped visual, aural, and performative resources for expressing complex, subjective, and impacting ideas, it would behoove the cultural arbiters out there to employ them with more fervor. This is the space that the arts have carved out for themselves, or at least, it should be. We could view the arts as simply an opening up. I call for a turn towards the democratic potential within a multiplicity of mediums in favour of their (sparsely) textual counterparts. We would do well to remove the fashionable fluff and the art-therapy-esque works from the spectrum. There are two shows opening in the next few days that operate in just the way contemporary art exhibitions ought to. Leaving the viewer with takeaways that have the potential to reconfigure their orientation to the everyday. If it's not already glaringly obvious, these are two exhibitions that I've been looking forward to for some time and it pleases me to introduce them here.
p. 221, Marianne Wex's Let's Take Back Our Space: "Female" and "Male" Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures, 1979
The taxonomic work of Marianne Wex interrogates the force of gender on the body's presence. Appropriating found imagery from magazines and the like, she classifies the documents according to the positioning of the subject's hands, legs, feet, etc. To throw a wrench in it all, she supplements her study with candid shots taken of folks on the streets of Hamburg. In this way, her survey is at once an encyclopedia of posture and a portrait of popular poses from the north of Germany in the 70s. Among hundreds of orchestrated sets, it's easy to uncover some exceptions to the 'rules', such as men taking on effeminate knee-bends or the artist inserting a break in her own mediated continuity. Roughly 2/3 of her archive have been selected by the artist to be on view at YU beginning this Friday. From YU: "At the center of both the panels and the book is a wide disputation about how we create and present ourselves, and the degree to which gender-specific conditioning and hierarchies are reflected through everyday pose, gesture, and pre-verbal communication." To accompany the exhibition, the film Self Fashion Shown(1976) by Hungarian artist Tibor Hajas will be on loop in their brand new theatre during open hours. Tibor Hajas, acting as amateur anthropologist, films passerby on the street prompting them to find the posture that suits them most.
Marien Wex
October 12–December 15
Opening Reception | October 12 | 6:30 PM
Yale Union (YU) | 800 SE 10th Ave
Still from Roy, Three channel video, 2012
As a stylistic gesture, 'appropriation' is a method of reorganization - a movement. It is distinguished from similar notions, such as arrangement, recomposition, bricolage and others for its relationship to property. For many, it connotes a casual degree of theft. It comes from the Latin verb appropriare, 'to make one's own,' - further segmented as ad, meaning 'to' as in 'towards', and proprius, 'one's own, permanent, special, peculiar'. Inappropriate Appropriation is a group show curated by RECESS co-director and local artist, JP Huckins. The exhibition showcases talented up-and-coming artists who take appropriation, already ubiquitous in our technologically-mediated society, to its limits. Huckins writes, "the artists might not have the answers, they might be pointing at something, or they may be suggesting or nudging you in a certain direction. IA is about seeing things anew that you may have taken for granted before; it's about appropriating inappropriately so that we might appropriate appropriately." While there, be sure to ask where the inspiration for the images on Kulei's hubcaps came from and don't be too quick to dismiss Clay's La Llorona Makes Guest Appearance at Candlelit Vigil as crude culture jamming.
Inappropriate Appropriation (IA) | Featuring: Crystal Baxley, Paul Clay, Sam Guerrero, Rochelle Kulei, and Kesheena Jean Doctor
October 8th - October 24th
Opening Reception | October 11th | 5-8 PM
Littman and White Galleries | Second floor of the Smith building @ PSU
Posted by Tori Abernathy on October 10, 2012 at 18:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 10.09.12 AA Bronson Lecture 
AA Bronson and Nicolaus Chaffin, Ashes to Ashes, performance view Tomorrow, from 6:30-8:30PM PNCA's MFA in Visual Studies welcomes AA Bronson as part of the 2012-2013 Graduate Visiting Artist Lecture Series. Here's the PR: "AA Bronson formed General Idea with Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal in 1969. The trio lived and worked together for 25 years, undertaking more than 100 exhibitions and public art projects. They were known for their magazine, FILE (1972-1989), their production of low-cost multiples, and their early involvement in punk, queer theory, and AIDS activism. In 1974, General Idea founded Art Metropole, a distribution center and archive in Toronto for artists' books, audio, video, and multiples. Bronson's solo work focuses on death, grieving, and healing. He founded the Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City." AA Bronson October 10| 6:30 - 8:30PM PNCA Main Campus | Swigert Commons | 1241 NW Johnson St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 09, 2012 at 11:32 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 10.06.12 Cook'n with MK Guth at The Art Gym 
The Art Gym is re-opening on Sunday after its latest round of remodeling with MK Guth's, "when nothing else subsists, smell and taste remain." There will be a series of conversations about food with the artist during the opening and a stream of artists and scholars throughout the run of the exhibition to make the Proustian palimpsest point. Here's the PR: "'When from a long distant past nothing subsists after the things are broken and scattered, the smell and taste of things remain.' -Marcel Proust Inspired by Proust and a long history of artworks using and commenting on food, Oregon artist MK Guth is launching a new body of work this fall with the exhibition 'when nothing else subsists, smell and taste remain.' M.K. Guth uses art to deepen conversation. 'when nothing else subsists, smell and taste remain' will use handmade books, sculpted serving pieces and utensils to materially propose and symbolize potential dinners inspired by art, music, places, relationships or milestones." MK Guth: when nothing else subsists, smell and taste remain The Art Gym | Marylhurst University 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy. 43)| Marylhurst, OR 97036-0261 Preview Reception: October 7, 3-5pm Gallery Talk: October 18, 12pm Homecoming artist and curator's tour: October 26, 8pm Closed Thanksgiving Weekend: November 22-26 | Exhibition continues through December 9 Posted by Jeff Jahn on October 06, 2012 at 1:36 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 10.03.12 The First Thursday of October  All and Nothing @ Froelick. Photo, Jeff Jahn. In an exhibition entitled All and Nothing, Victor Maldonado creates an empty space for the viewer to fill with meaning a la Cage's 4'33" and others. Here, though, the visual nothing that we're supposed to stack meaning atop takes root in the common motifs of his earlier work. "[Maldonado]attempts to step back from elements of his established creative practice to give the viewer room to experience as they will. The pieces in All and Nothing are humorous and pointed, such as pages from art history texts, painted over in black or chroma key green to omit, alter or highlight reproductions of well known works." Let's see if we can find something in the pastiche, in the Hal Foster sort of way. All and Nothing | Victor Maldonado Opening Reception | October 4th | 5-8 PM Froelick Gallery | 714 NW Davis Street (There is so much more to peruse behind the cut!) Posted by Tori Abernathy on October 03, 2012 at 17:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 09.30.12 Kara Walker Lecture at Reed 
Kara Walker, (still) Fall Frum Grace, Miss Pipi's Blue Tale, 2011, Video, 17 min., Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. (c) Kara Walker. Kara Walker's lecture and reception at Reed on Tuesday will be one of the highlights of the Fall season. My best advice, get there early as it will fill up even faster than other Osterow Distinguished Visitors in The Arts lectures have. Afterwards, there will be a a public reception for her solo show More & Less at the Cooley Gallery. The exhibition features Walker's most recent film, Fall Frum Grace, Miss Pipi's Blue Tale (2011). I caught the film last year in New York and it should have a lot of crossover appeal to Portland's edgy alt-puppet theater goers as well as the art crowd. The show also features a, "body of prints and multiples from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation." More & Less | September 4 - November 18, 2012 Public artist talk: October 2, 7PM | Vollum lecture hall Public reception at the Cooley Gallery follows the lecture October 2 gallery hours: 12 to 9 p.m. The Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery Reed College | 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Regular Hours | Tues - Sunday 12-5PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 30, 2012 at 22:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.28.12 Darkness and light this weekend  Still from Torse,USA, 1977, HD resotoration of 16mm double projection, color, sound, 55 min. Image courtesy of Cinema Project. This weekend, Cinema Project kicks of their yearlong residency at Yale Union(YU) with a screening of Torse by Charles Atlas. YU has built an impressive theatre on their second floor for the film and video curation of Mia Ferm, Michael McManus, and Heather Lane. Torse is a dual-screen rendition of the dance original choreographed by Merce Cunningham, the prolific avant-gardist keen on collaboration. "Shot at the University of Washington with three 16mm cameras - two mobile and manned by Cunningham and Atlas to capture close-ups and a third stationary - Atlas edited the piece to appear on two screens side by side. This strategy allows viewers to see the dance from various vantage points at once. From Einstein's theory of relativity, Cunningham took the idea that there are no fixed points in space, therefore no intended perspective point, no preferred seat from which to watch." With two night time screenings, you'll be able to check this out despite your plans to attend the Stock Dinner this Sunday. Torse | Charles Atlas Curated by Cinema Project Sep. 29 + 30 | 9 PM $7 Suggested Donation Yale Union (YU) | 800 SE 10th Ave 
This Saturday, Appendix Project Space presents This New Ocean by Chicago-based artist Daniel Baird. "Daniel Baird's sculptures treat contemporary objects and materials as items of myth, rendering them into linked symbols of light, passage, and stasis. Removed from their original role as component pieces they approach their core purpose, a transaction of energy and attention." This New Ocean | Daniel Baird Opening Reception | Sep. 29th | 8 PM Appendix | the south alleyway off Alberta St. between 26th and 27th Aves. Posted by Tori Abernathy on September 28, 2012 at 15:54 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 09.25.12 Wednesday Events  Cynthia E. Smith If you are interested in sustainable design catch Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum speak about the Museum od Contemporary Craft's excellent exhibition Design with the Other 90%: CITIES. During the talk Smith will provide, "a global overview of the design, thinking, approach, and frontiers of invention aimed at serving the urban poor in connection with the exhibition. After curating the first exhibition in Cooper-Hewitt's series on humanitarian design in 2007, Smith spent a year of field research in 15 different cities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, focusing on successful design solutions to rapidly expanding informal settlements. Join us for a behind-the-scenes lecture on this groundbreaking exhibition series." Museum of Contemporary Craft CraftPerspectives Lecture: September 26 6:30PM The Lab 724 NW Davis St. Portland, OR, 97209 
Zefrey Throwell, Swiss Ghost in a French Nightmare, 2012, digital C-print, 16 x 24 in. Dan Gluibizzi & Zefrey Throwell's There is no finish line opens September 26th at Ampersand. Both artists will be in attendance & Ninkasi is providing beer. Here's the PR: "We are pleased to welcome back Ampersand regular Dan Gluibizzi for a second exhibition at the gallery, this time in collaboration with New York artist, Zefrey Throwell. As with their previous two-man exhibition at By and By Gallery in Brooklyn titled I'll Tumblr 4 Ya (2010), the photographs & paintings in There is no finish line are invitingly erotic & directly engage the disorienting plethora of web-based imagery that defines much of our daily experience. The existence of a finish line not only predicts an end to something, it also implies an awareness of one's current position in space-time &, by extension, the meaning of one's relationship to culture, reality & society at large." Preview Reception: September 26 from 6 to 9PM Dates: September 26 to October 21, 2012 Ampersand Gallery & Fine Books 2916 NE Alberta St., B, Portland, OR 97211 503.805.5458 Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 25, 2012 at 20:17 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 09.23.12 Vicky Lynn Wilson's Cumulus at PCC Sylvania  Vicky Lynn Wilson's Cumulus It has been a long time since weve seen a large scale installation from Vicki Lynn Wilson. Now consider how PCC's Northview Gallery has been doing some of the most adventurous large scale University gallery exhibits of local artists in the area lately. The combination of Wilson and the Northview Gallery results in Cumulous, which opens Monday. The exhibition is influenced by domestic interiors and natural disasters so Im expecting something both epic and familiar. According to the PR: "Cumulus is a sculptural installation comprised of Paper Mache, pattern drafted cardboard, sewn and cut paper, carved Styrofoam and other mixed media forms and structures. Several human forms traverse the monochromatic brown space of an implied flooded plane. Their postures are bent to the domestic objects which rise from their arms and backs. 'I began with an idea of wanting to transform the space. I decided to use cardboard and paper as a practical matter. The gallery is large so I needed inexpensive and plentiful material. It was the disposability and transience of the material that led me to the subject of the installation.' Taking a 'waste not' approach, the majority of the materials were collected from the recycling of Widmer Brewing Company, Rose City Upholstery and the PCC Bookstore. Even the coffee cups and trash of the artist and visitors to the space are being incorporated." Cumulus: September 24 - October 26 Northview Gallery: 12000 SW 49th Ave. Portland, OR 97219 CT Building, Rm 214 Hours: 8-4pm Monday-Friday and by appointment Artist Talk: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 2-3pm Closing Reception: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 3-5pm Special Performance: Friday, October 26, 2012, 8-8:45pm Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 23, 2012 at 16:50 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.21.12 Industry and Art 
Want to get your proletariat on this weekend? The annual Industry&Art "Celebrate the Worker" expo down at the Swan Island shipyards has some special events this weekend, including the 30 artist show (perhaps the theme is a little too literal to take too seriously but the uber industrial location is incredible). There's the "fully restored steamer Portland, the last steam-powered, sternwheel tugboat to be built in the United States." Also there's a World War II PT boat on hand. Artists like Christopher Rauschenberg, Jordan Tull, Henk Pander, Ryan Pierce, Mark Smith and Michael Brophy etc. all give this annual event a some pedigree but considering the outstanding location things could really be ratcheted up if they wanted to. A lot of the work simply illustrates the worker... what if it explored what that means a little deeper? Check it out and contemplate a cool site that has much much more untapped potential. Industry&Art Hours: Saturday & Sunday, Sept 22-23 | 11AM - 6PM Friday sept 21st 12 - 6PM Tours 2PM & 4 PM Vigor Industrial Shipyard, Swan Island 5555 N. Channel Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 21, 2012 at 11:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 09.17.12 2 Talk Tuesday + Cuba on Alberta Thursday 
Reynier Leyva Novo Catch celebrated Cuban artist Reynier Leyna Novo's talk "Public Art at the Margins" at Reed on Tuesday at 4:30 PM. The PR: "Leyva Novo explores the graphic and material history of revolution and political activism, fusing the social and the sensual in deeply engaging forms. His project 'The Smells of War,' was featured in the fifty-fourth Venice Biennale. Leyno Novo's visit to Portland was organized by the Art, History, Latin American Studies, Hispanic Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Memory Studies Institute at Lewis and Clark College, with collaborative support from the Reed College Art Department and PNCA. Reynier Leyna Novo visits Portland for a series of academic talks accompanied by the exhibition Novo Anniversary Collection, opening this Thursday, September 20, at "The Best Art Gallery in the World," 1468 NE Alberta, 6-8 p.m." Artist talk: "Public Art on the Margin" Tuesday, September 18, 4:30 p.m. Studio Art Building, Reed College campus Opening: Thursday | September 20 | 6- 8 PM The Best Art Gallery in the World 1468 NE Alberta 
Collider (install view) Victor Maldonado (Left), Nathanael Thayer Moss (Right) Later Tuesday night at 7:00PM take in a panel discussion for Collider, an exhibition I curated to explore impure or accretive abstract painting in Portland. The panel features 5 of the show's 6 artists: Amy Bernstein, Jesse Hayward, Victor Maldonado, Nathanael Thayer Moss and Eva Speer, moderated by yours truly. It should another rigorous and energetic discussion worth attending. (Look I hate those typically dull panel discussions and I promise this wont go that route). The Littman Gallery will be open from 6-7PM for extended viewing as well. Panel Discussion | 7:00PM | Tuesday September 18th Portland State University | Shattuck Hall Annex 1914 SW Park Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 17, 2012 at 17:33 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 09.13.12 David Hockney and the Brothers Grimm  David Hockney (British, born 1937), Rapunzel Growing in the Garden, from “Rapunzel” in Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, 1969, etching. © David Hockney. Used with permission. If you're looking for an excuse for a summer road trip, Maryhill Museum in Goldendale is opening "David Hockney: Six Fairy Tales" this Saturday. They'll be screening David Hockney: A Bigger Picture at 2PM followed by a discussion. The exhibition features 39 sketches Hockney produced to illustrate, or rather, accompany, Grimm's fairytales. "Hockney especially enjoyed the elements of magic in the tales, and his images focus on his imaginative response to the descriptions in the text rather than attempting to concentrate on the most important events in the narrative. As a result, the etchings are more than simply illustrations: they stand on their own as images, independent of the stories." David Hockney: Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm Opening Reception & Screening | September 15th | 2PM Maryhill Museum of Art | 35 Maryhill Museum Drive, Goldendale, WA Posted by Tori Abernathy on September 13, 2012 at 14:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 09.12.12 Specific Turn opening at OCAC  Sorry Powells but Monograph is my favorite bookstore in Portland for a good reason and it is great to see the shopkeepers curate a show called Specific Turn at OCAC. Here is the PR: "Acting as curators, artists John Brodie and Blair Saxon-Hill present a selection of books on art, craft, architecture and design including rare, out-of-print and small press publications. As booksellers and artists, the pair will exhibit a selection of books exploring current and re-emerging ideas in the contemporary study and practice of art and craft. Concepts explored will include, among others, the changing notion of the book, an interest in the tactile, and Utopian architecture and craft. Available at the opening reception and through the end of the exhibit will be a free Selected Bibliography broadside (28" x 22.5") in an edition of 500, produced by John and Blair of Monograph Bookwerks." Opening Reception: Thursday, Sept. 13 from 4-7pm Specific Turn: September 6-30, 2012 Oregon College of Art and Craft 8245 SW Barnes Road, Portland, OR 97225 Exhibit open daily, 10am-3pm Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 12, 2012 at 10:41 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 09.07.12 Weekend Openings  The Next Seven Minutes of Your Life, Myndwyrm @ The Gnome Dome in Minneapolis After a year of exhibitions in the Oregon Brass Works building, RECESS celebrates their anniversary tonight which doubles as a meet & greet with 2012 artist-in-residence Myndwyrm + The Wild Plan. Their work draws from artist walks (derivés), audio-theatre, performance studies, and live gaming, to activate cities as centers of creative resistance. During their stay, they'll be sharing user-activated performance pieces (termed 'autotheatre') and creating new site-specific pieces in PDX. This Sunday RECESS will formally introduce MW + WP with an artist talk, their autotheatre sketch The Next Seven Minutes of Your Life, and other in-process projects. Myndwyrm | Artist Talk & Performances September 9th | 8PM RECESS | 1127 SE 10th [MORE! The Portrait Project @ FOCO & Social Landscapes @ Linfield] Posted by Tori Abernathy on September 07, 2012 at 12:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 09.05.12 The first Wednesday and Thursday of September  Tint by Von Tundra @ PDX Window Project, Photo Courtesy of the artists Von Tundra is an underrated Portland-based design collective comprised of Dan Anderson, Chris Held and other collaborators. They're work ranges from functionally a la mode furniture to pragmatic interventions into mobility and space. For their occupation of the PDX Window project, Tint, they explore the specific conditions of the gallery's shop window space compared to the commercial context of those nearby. "The issues of scale, function, association and intention are conditions that Von Tundra has challenged themselves to engage and counter. Tint shifts between direct and indirect references to both any window and this particular one." Tint |Von Tundra September 4 - 29 | 24 hours a day, viewable by sidewalk PDX Window Project | 925 NW Flanders Street  Alex Cecchetti, Summer is Not the Prize of Winter. Photo: Robertas Narkus. The primary reason that programming amps up around here in late Summer is the arrival of the annual TBA festival. Of course, an internationally-renowned festival centered around time-based works carries with it a heavy dose of theatre, dance, and performance-based works. The opening reception this Thursday, however, unveils the festival's slightly more visual side with installations in the classrooms at Washington High School and other locations under the heading "End Things". As always, The Works hosts a careful balance of projects from local, emerging artists and internationally relevant figures. This year, many of these new projects have been evolving through time - the result of residencies and commissions for those represented. Visual Art Curator, Kristan Kennedy writes, "[End Things] is a play on the eschatological preoccupation that surrounds 2012. As we head towards the predicted 'end of all things,' perhaps the world will not end with a cataclysmic reckoning or a fireball from outer space, but rather when we no longer view the world as a round floating object and instead a flat space that we scroll over until we reach the edge. I ask us to become occasional animists and to believe that each thing has something to tell, maybe even something that could save us all." That's a worthwhile call to arms, if you ask me. Also, the sounds of Venus X will surely carry you into the wee hours of the night. Summer is Not the Prize of Winter | Alex Cecchetti Field of Debris | Erika Vogt Monument to Another Man's Fatherland | Van Brummelen & De Haan Understanding Witches Now | Morgan Ritter TBA Festival | PICA Opening Night | September 6th | 10-late Washington High School | Between 12th and 14th on SE Stark St. (MORE: John Cage's birthday @ PNCA & Colliders @ Littman) Posted by Tori Abernathy on September 05, 2012 at 14:35 | Comments (0) PermalinkCollecting Ellsworth Kelly with Jordan Schnitzer  Jordan Schnitzer Interested in finding out how a true art collector shares his passion with the public? Tomorrow's conversation with Jordan Schnitzer is probably your best chance to understand what is an essentially esoteric process. The Ellsworth Kelly Prints exhibition at the Portland Art Museum is a very satisfying summer show (very similar to the recent Letters to Ellsworth at LACMA, also culled from Jordan's collection) but for those artists who love Kelly or are simply curious about collectors... I suggest you catch the conversation tonight with Jordan and PAM's director Brian Ferriso. If you haven't met them, I'd describe them as two of the most engaging people in the Portland art scene. Jordan in particular, is passionate about the forms and multiples in Kelly's process and it's always great to see how much respect and appreciation he has for the artist. That kind of respect is a rarity in the often investment driven art world today. Instead, Jordan collects in depth, as a way to gain understanding... in much the way a true artist like Kelly creates as a function of exploring life's finer moments of observation. It is a kind of personal development that Portland is lucky to share in. Portland Art Museum Conversations: Collecting Ellsworth Kelly, Sept. 6 | 6:00 PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 05, 2012 at 14:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 09.04.12 Trust:: PNCA Alumni Show  Still from Samuel Rowlett's Landscape Painting in the Expanded Field project Though recent institutional survey attempts of the Portland art scene have been less than satisfying or even interesting, PNCA's first try at an alumni show titled Trust PNCA may have learned from the mistakes of others (too diffuse, not contemporary enough, dead energy). PNCA describes Trust as offering, "the viewer the opportunity to become an institutional archaeologist, to dig down through the accumulated strata of object, image, and idea to get at the cultural DNA of the College. For alumni, it is an appropriate homecoming or completion of a circle." With 44 artists it still doesn't include everybody (who would want it to) but it sure tries.... these sorts of group shows are all about the institution ingratiating itself and or re-connecting after all. Still, it looks like it will bring out some new names (another problem with recent surveys). ... ( Link for full list of artists and more) Trust Opening Reception: September 5th | 6-8PM Trust: Srptember 6 - October 21 PNCA | Swigert Commons 1241 NW Johnson Posted by Jeff Jahn on September 04, 2012 at 10:54 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 08.31.12 Claudia Meza at White Box 
PICA's End Things vis art programming gets a little head start this Saturday with Claudia Meza's Water at the U of O's White Box gallery. With its collection of interactive tape players Water looks like Cageian interactive installation art that can't miss with figity lo-fi lovin vistors. According to the PR: "Water is a collection of hanging Califone cassette players that facilitate the exploration of the resonant and sculptural qualities of sounds and their sources. Meza focused her recordings on things that amplify water—ferries, rivers, oceans, waterfalls, water taps, water bowls—isolating their tones and textures on looping tapes. The installation is an instrument without instruction, by which the audience performs their own experience by pressing Play, Rewind, Fast Forward, and Stop. In this way, each cassette deck acts like an auditory "Berlin key" that holds the user responsible for opening and again locking the door before the key may be retrieved. Alongside this sonic space, Meza presents video excerpts from Mourning Youth, an in-progress "wordless opera" on the elasticity of self and time, which she is developing with collaborator Chris Hackett." Opening Reception: September 1st 6-9PM Water: September 1 - 22 | Tues through Sat 11AM - 6PM White Box at the University of Oregon in Portland 21 NW 1st Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 31, 2012 at 10:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.30.12 Zachary Davis at False Front 
Finally, a long awaited solo show by a promising young artist to kick off the second half of the season. False Front presents Flanks and Slopes by Zachary Davis. Davis has been a stand out in several group shows but it is time to see how sustained his practice can be? His solo show last year took place in Philadelphia but received critical praise. Here is some of the PR: "Form is a voracious concept, beginning somewhere in the front of my brain, where teams of cells replace flat swaths of stimulus from the back of the eye with semantic notions like edge, texture, and depth. In schematic, these transmuting units are funnelshaped, and zooming out, the shape remains a funnel, with sensory overload crashing against the wide end and a thin stream of physical actions on the other. Along with other perceived objects, this funnel-form guides my actions on a field of possibility with its own contours. If the shape of tomorrow's weather forecast has enough reality to guide my actions (rainfall by time by latitude by longitude), or the upward trajectory of food prices (by time by latitude by longitude), then the correlation of many such forms (food price by rainfall by time by latitude by longitude) is similarly real. Pull in enough metrics, and we find ourselves on a landscape of goals and dangers, shrouded in fog...." FalseFront | 4518 NE 32ND Avenue August 31 - September 23, 2012 Opening Reception: Friday, August 31 (7 - 10PM) Viewing Hours: Saturdays and Sundays (12 - 3PM) Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 30, 2012 at 22:43 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 08.29.12 Watkins Gradual Instant at Reed College  detail of Gradual Instant Catch Heather Watkins opening at Reed College today. Her Gradual Instant show is comprised of over one hundred works on paper, arranged on the wall in closely-aligned and overlapping groups. Like a blind man's elephant the work is abstract and fragmentary but hints at a holistic survey of the whole. The exhibition also includes a suite of lithographs made in collaboration with Mahaffey Fine Art, with support from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Artist talk and Opening: August 29 | 4PM in the Studio Art Building, followed by reception Gradual Instant: August 20 - September 15, 2012 Edith Feldenheimer Gallery, Studio Art Building at Reed College Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 29, 2012 at 9:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 08.21.12 The Last Throws of August  Still from video documentation of Sean Carney's Abjackass Almost as if to whet the city's palate in preparation for TBA, the White Box invites talented locals to fire away with pop-up-like shows/events each day this week. You might have already missed Lisa Radon today, but don't miss out on tomorrow's light workshop with Laura Hughes. Participants will be able to get their hands on some of the new phosphorescent materials she makes use of in her new work. With a depth of exploratory vision and a working knowledge of electronics, the clever Stephanie Simek presents a new sound experiment on Thursday. On Friday Wayne Bund performs as Feyonce, his queer appropriation of pop diva Beyonce. His character, the ephemera on view at Show and Tell, and his performance are intended to "challenge pop culture, radical feminism, and drag lineage"; it's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Then finally, on Saturday, catch some documentation of prior performances by the successfully abject Sean Joseph Patrick Carney and Michael Reinsch. Sean Carney will present video documentation of a 25-minute long performance that highlights the "links between the history of performance art and stunts by the members of Jackass." If you're faint at heart and looking to actually laugh while being challenged by popular culture, though, I would stick with the drag show. Show and Tell Featuring Lisa Radon, Laura Hughes, Wayne Bund, Stephanie Simek, Michael Reinsch and Sean Joseph Patrick Carney August 21st - 25th | Performances 6-8 PM each night White Box | 24 NW 1st Avenue  Katja Novitskova @ Appendix With a remarkably up-to-date response to current events, Katja Novitskova is the newest addition to a brand new line of web releases from Appendix Project Space. Available to view online from tomorrow at noon through early September, Curiosity and Opportunity: Next Best Thing to Being There is a solo exhibition "in the form of a panoramic application. The resulting show features several existing objects and appropriated images that express the unity of art, technology and nature as form-finding processes based on curiosity and opportunity." Curiosity and Opportunity: Next Best Thing to Being There | Katja Novitskova. Opening at 12 PM, August 22nd Appendix (via the web) | http://appendixspace.com Posted by Tori Abernathy on August 21, 2012 at 17:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 08.16.12 Second half of 2012 home stretch shows Unlike New York, LA or London, Portland's gallery season starts on January 1st and ends on December 31st... perhaps because our excellent summers attract people from elsewhere while keeping us here? Instead, we tend to flee Portland's arch-soggy December through February months.
The first half of Portland's 2012 visual art season was a doosy headlined with a Mark Rothko retrospective that transformed the way a many Portlanders view its local art museum + civic cultural history. Also, the news that our alternative scene was worthy of international attention, leaving more traditional galleries in the dust was a wake up call. Why the galleries don't at least attempt to harness some of that energy in their inevitable summer and winter group shows like they used to... I'll never understand? I guess they think selling the same art to the same collectors over and over again is a good idea? Especially when new players keep moving here and begin looking for the action they read about but cannot be found in the Pearl District. C'mon you know I'm right, Portland is going through massive changes... act accordingly, there is a new set of waves to catch. So what is in store for the second half?  At MOCC Design with the Other 90%: CITIES (Photo: (c) Haas & Hahn for favelapainting.com) On Friday the Museum of Contemporary Craft fully morphs into the design museum a city full of designers calls for with Design with the Other 90%: CITIES. The show was organized by Cooper Hewitt and the Smithsonian making its only West Coast stop in Portland at MOCC and Mercy Corps. 
Kara Walker, (detail) Fall Frum Grace, Miss Pipi's Blue Tale (2011), Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co. On September 4th the Cooley Gallery re-opens with Kara Walker's More and Less. Featuring prints from Jordan Schnitzer's print collection and her latest film "Fall Frum Grace, Miss Pipi's Blue Tale" (2011). Walker will come to Reed to speak on October 2nd... you might want to take that day off to get a good seat! ... (much more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 16, 2012 at 12:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 08.14.12 RACC Summer Celebration 
It may seem like PORT gives the city's Regional Art and Culture Council a hard time (we just want them to become ever more relevant to a city that has undergone huge cultural shifts like genre bending artists, the rise of nationally noteworthy alternative spaces and independent curators), but it is also true that they have upped their game considerably over the years. Join them for their annual Summer Celebration on the North Park Blocks on what may be the hottest day of the year. There will be ice cream, music and food carts etc. It is good idea to know your local art grants funding organization. RACC's Summer Celebration Open House 5-8 PM Thursday August 16th 411 NW Park Avenue, Suite 101 Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 14, 2012 at 19:42 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 08.07.12 The Right Way at YU  Still from The Right Way (1982-3) YU presents Fischli and Weiss' epic The Right Way on Thursday August 9th. Not certain why it is only going on for just one night but I've always loved this piece where Rat and Bear cavort in the Swiss Alps having a series of ambiguous yet morality tinged adventures. It is a bit like a Medieval passion play or Chaucer's The Canterbury tales as written by the very perplexing Purple Panda from Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood. Seriously, this is such a good piece it becomes a missed opportunity that it it is only on view for one night. I think Rat and Bear would feel the same way somehow... it is after all, The Right Way. Definitely go see this, too bad you cant see it multiple times at the same venue since it is the sort of thing that deepens with repeated viewings? Screening: August 9th | 8:00 PM YU Contemporary 800 SE 10th Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on August 07, 2012 at 10:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 08.01.12 August First Thursday  Ducey & Thompson @ the Littman Gallery Caitlin Ducey is one of the curators of 12128 whose personal work lies somewhere in the sculpture and installation ballpark. In her collaboration with 12128 co-founder Kyle Thompson, the new exhibition at the Littman Gallery purportedly marks a shift in her use of material and process, though the direction of that shift remains a mystery. "Thompson and Ducey present pairings of works that stem from individual understandings of water as discrete material and as a massive entity. Their work is a response to the emotional reactions that are evoked by moving water, creating a wave-like space in which visceral impressions and quantitative analyses are equated with one another." Remote Events and Vanished Objects | Caitlin Ducey and Kyle Thompson August 2-29 Opening Reception | August 2nd | 5-8 PM Littman Gallery | 2nd Floor of the Smith Hall @ PSU | 1825 SW Broadway  Evan La Londe @ The White Gallery @ PSU A hop, skip, and a jump away at the White gallery, take a look at a new series of paintings by the talented recent PSU MFA grad, Evan La Londe. Evan's work (and the way its presented) tends to look like forensic scientists studying some trippy trompe-l'œils for clues to the unknown. "These images are full of ghosts, things I cannot name. Shadows reach back to the objects that threw them, but also to something else. The thing is, these shadows didn’t come from light; they’re painted, so they aren’t illuminations in the usual sense. Maybe they’re more like reflections, like moonlight. I discover them as I stumble through the dark." Let me know about the particularly mind-bending discoveries you find. Them Brainwash Days, Those Heartache Nights | Evan La Londe August 2-29 Opening Reception | August 2nd | 5-8 PM White Gallery | PSU Smith Hall, Second Floor | 1825 SW Broadway (More... Gabriel Liston @ Froelick and Jenny Ordell @ Breeze Block) Posted by Tori Abernathy on August 01, 2012 at 12:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.26.12 Bea Fremderman at Appendix  Bea Fremderman @ Appendix S,M,L,XL | Bea Fremderman July 26th | 8 PM Appendix| South alley between 26th and 27th on Alberta St. Posted by Tori Abernathy on July 26, 2012 at 12:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.19.12 Variations 
Variations of the Truth #1, 22" x 30", Ali Gradischer, 2012 Lowell is a new shop + gallery in the southern region of the Mississippi neighborhood. While perusing their collections of tchotchkes and garments with 'interesting' cuts, take a look at the series of cyanotypes by Ali Gradischer hung along the walls. "Variations of the Truth examines the act of map-making as a means to draft visual abstractions of the Portland locale. The result of this work aims to compose a quiet expression of the particular geometry of this place." Take a look and revel in the stripped contours of our urban framework. Ali Gradischer| Variations on a Theme July 20th - August 24th opening reception | July 20th | 6-9 PM Lowell | 819 N Russell St. Posted by Tori Abernathy on July 19, 2012 at 13:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 07.16.12 Hot Haus panel at Victory  This is a town-hall style panel discussion that has been a long overdue regarding Portland's ever increasing profile as an international art city.... and the changing "expectations" that have been in effect amongst the Portland artists whose presence have made such a difference for the city in the past decade or so. Featuring Panelists: Modou Dieng, Mack McFarland and myself as moderator. Artists, patrons and administrators are all encouraged to attend. This issue has been danced around long enough, though I'm going to keep this civil and constructive. Here's the PR: "The New York times stalks us, the Wall Street Journal recently dubbed us a 'Utopia' and 'The Next Art Capital,' but within Portland's very active national and international art scene there has been widespread grimacing about how Portland's art infrastructure responds to this new higher profile. Often there is a schizm between between the old Portland and those whose careers are inherently international. Hot Haus will be a panel for discussing this dynamic and how to make improvements. Sure, most of Portland's support sources and presenting institutions have stepped up their efforts but there is a sense that they learn about what is excellent in Portland from outside instead of supporting it early from within. Should someone have to have a major museum show elsewhere before they are received more seriously here? Also, when well regarded international art is shown here are we giving the artists a proper reception and funding? Overall, there is a sense that the grants, awards, media outlets and supposed survey shows don't adequately present what is internationally interesting... instead being hidebound to old ideas and artists who were established names before artists flooded Portland in the late 90's to the present.... transforming Portland into an interesting art city. It makes some people hot under the collar... let's all convene for a little town hall moment to explore this Hot Haus... and see if we can't provide better support with the resources we already have as well as potential sources in the near future. Come bring you pet peeves and some models that might provide solutions." (apologies for quoting myself...) Discussion: Thursday July 19th | 7:00 PM Victory Gallery 733 NW Everett St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 16, 2012 at 17:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 07.14.12 Some kind of nature in NE  Michael Iauch, Cowboy(still), 2012, high-definition video, stereo sound, 4:02 minutes, looped, image courtesy of FalseFront False Front presents a new series of video works by Michael Iauch. The artist writes, "Is our romance more like a disease? Do we like S&M? I am concerned with an inspired by the tension between my desire for a "pure" experience, to truly transcend the barriers of my mind and body and the decadent utopic visions of American culture that animate this desire; a mix of rock and roll promises, 60's back-to-the-land ideology and the moralistic horizons of greening." Cowboy / Natural Beauty | Michael Iauch Opening Reception July 14th | 7-10 PM FalseFront | 4518 NE 32nd Avenue 
With their second web-based release, Appendix presents [Rare Earth Sculptures] - Cerium by Iain Ball, part of his ongoing project E N E R G Y : P A N G E A. Beginning Tuesday July 17th, this new work will be visible at www.appendixspace.com through the end of July. In Ball's project, Appendix is transformed into one module of his/the greater systemic machine, alongside the mechanics of hydroshearing seen in a dormant Oregon volcano, alongside your computer, alongside your attentive inquiries. Ball conceives of the show as "mind space which creates metaphysical undercurrents directed towards hyperobjects distributed through various technological apparatus, minerals and weather patterns... Cerium uses detritus associated with filtration, transformation and a composite formula resulting in carbon dioxide to create a kind of homeopathic remedy, filtering escalating climate-anxiety as a catalyst towards the ecological thought." Navigate your browser their way on Tuesday. Implore further. Stay plugged in 'til the end. [Rare Earth Sculptures] - Cerium | Iain Ball a part of TheEnergy Pangea Project Appendix (via the web) | http://appendixspace.com Posted by Tori Abernathy on July 14, 2012 at 13:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.12.12 Home on the Range (or at least in SE)  Ranch @ RECESS Lori Gilbert, Ralph Pugay, and Jason Zimmerman are the major players in the power trio that is F* Mtn. They debut their first solo exhibition as a collective at RECESS this Friday. "The ranch is a simple place. While this majestic, natural lifestyle is painted idyllic, It is also lonely, boring, and where stories of small-mindedness and inbreeding seem to stem from. F* Mtn.'s premier solo exhibition at RECESS balances tragedy and fantasy. With motifs birthed from language, the news, and popular history, the works in Ranch take form in sculpture, video, and installation." Ranch, not unlike the condiment it shares a name with, could be considered a celebration of loneliness and bad taste. Ranch | F* Mtn. July 13th - 27th Opening Reception July 13th | 7-10 PM RECESS | 1127 SE 10th Avenue  Spatial Personality at Worksound A collaborative curatorial effort between Modou Dieng (PDX) and Jesse Siegel (SF), Spatial Personalities is a group show of sculptural works from emerging Portland and San Francisco-based emerging artists. "Objects inherently ask for interaction, they exist in a context based reality in which they are not subjected to our mental scrutiny. Devoid of this context of normalness[sic], our perception of the objects changes and our interactions with them become more cadenced and intent[sic]." This might be one of the last chances you have to enjoy mingling and merriment in this classic establishment, so don't miss it. Participating artists include Brynda Glazier, Lacy Davis, Lydia Rosenberg, Judith Sturdevant, Julia Sackett, Kara Cadwell, Michelle Ramin, and Kevin Champoux. Spatial Personality July 13th – August 3rd Opening Reception July 13th | 6-9 PM Worksound | 820 SE Alder (More behind the cut... Jaik Faulk @ Nationale) Posted by Tori Abernathy on July 12, 2012 at 20:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkThis Is To Be Looked At @ Valentines 
Calling all voyeurs, apparently, seeing is supposed to be believing here. Modou Deing curates "This is to be looked at" at Valentines with artists, Teresa Christiansen, Kaija Cornett, Melanie Flood and Christine Taylor. Teresa Christiansen was born and raised in New York City. "She now lives in Portland Oregon where she is an Assistant Professor at Pacific Northwest College of Art. Teresa is currently making photographs in the studio of constructed sets through which she plays with the notion of re-presentation and the fusion of object and depiction within the picture." Kaija Cornet is a 2012 graduate from PNCA. "The Boys Room as a series, evokes in Kaija a pull of both anxiety, and sarcasm. She is a woman seeking the secrecy of what goes on in the minds of men, when no women are looking." Melanie Flood was born in 1979 in New York. "As Managing Editor of zingmagazine, she directed collaborative curatorial projects with Zac Posen, Karin Davie, and the Donald Judd Foundation. Later Melanie curated two solo features- photographs by Todd Hido and a text project by Jenny Holzer, and for three years accepted a position as Photo Editor of The New York Observer. She enjoyed a short stint as a Gallerist, running Melanie Flood Projects out of her Brooklyn apartment dedicating her time to exhibiting young artists. Two years ago Melanie moved to Portland, Oregon where she rediscovered her own practice." Supposedly, "she materialises ideas such as unicorn vomit, formal studies of fluorescent spandex, she constructs still lifes & witnesses cotton candy fossilize." Alrighty then, come to see the cotton candy fossilize! Can't see that every day... Christine Taylor is a Portland-based photographer who, "choreographs and poses her subjects to bring into question control and power issues experienced in the worlds which they interact. Each image shows an intimate peak into the frustration experienced when trying to have power over the uncontrollable." Opening Reception: Thursday July 12 at 7 pm til late Dates: July 11 to July 30 2012 Valentine's 232 SW Ankeny Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 12, 2012 at 16:03 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.05.12 July First Thursday 
BCCTV presents Video? Videos. Videos!, the first foray into an education program within/among/alongside/? the Bud Clark commons. The Commons is an innovative initiative for those experiencing homelessness in Portland. I'm really excited to see how this plays out because it's a step in some kind of direction - political works that are not simply dissident, fashionable, or esoteric, but proactive. Screened artists: Harrell Fletcher, Ted Gesing, Noah Hale, Amy Von Harrington, Stephanie Hough, Andrew Lampert, Oliver Laric, Julie Lequin, Matt McCormick, Tim McConville, Shana Moulton, Serge Onnen, Ed Panar, Doug Potts, Jeffrey Richardson, Mary Robertson, Will Rogan, Catherine Ross, Stephen Slappe, Joon Sung, Weird-Fiction and others. Bud Clark Commons’ first artists-in-residence BCCTV presents Video? Videos. Videos! the Bud Clark Commons Multi-Purpose Room 650 NW Irving Street July 5th | 6-8 PM (More... Jenny Vu at Littman and Ryanna at PDX Contemporary) Posted by Tori Abernathy on July 05, 2012 at 11:53 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.03.12 Rocksbox turns 5: SON OF A SON SON OF A SON BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY  at Rocksbox It's hard to believe that Rocksbox has turned 5, and you can't spend a more "Portland" 4th of July than this at this venue... hell, the neighborhood is so full of illegal fireworks that it resembles Beruit circa 1986 every year. Here's PR's PR: "SON OF A SON SON OF A SON BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY is "FUCK FACE" baseball, greasy bologna, water cooler politics, and nighttime neon basking in the cultural cynicism embodied by four heterosexual 'nice guy' white male unconsciousness' examined through the guise of the North American pastime called summer." The four artists; David O. Johnson, Joshua Pieper, Ian Treasure, and Brian Wasson are 2003 MFA graduates of the new genres department at the San Francisco Art Institute. ROCKSBOXCONTEMPORARYFINEART | 6540 N. Interstate Exhibition: Wednesday July 4 2012 - Sunday, August 26, 2012 Opening reception: Wednesday July 4 | 2012 7-11 PM Gallery hours: Saturday-Sunday, 12 - 5 PM or by appointment Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 03, 2012 at 11:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 06.29.12 Maggie Casey at 12128  From the 13c., name given to the rite of Vespers of the Office of the Dead, so called from the opening of the first antiphon, "I will please the Lord in the land of the living" (Psalm cxiv:9), from L. placebo "I shall please," future indic. of placere "to please" (see please). Medical sense if first recorded 1785 "a medicine given more to please than to benefit the patient." Placebo effect attested from 1950.[1] "The most effective approach is big and red." 1. From the Online Etymological Dictionary, accessed 1:15pm on 6/29/12 Maggie Casey | Placebo June 29th | 7-10 PM 12128 | 12900 NW Marina Way Posted by Tori Abernathy on June 29, 2012 at 0:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 06.27.12 Drawings by Laura Lucille Witman 1927 to 1934 
Drawing by Laura Lucille Witman Tonight Ampersand presents: The Morning After the Night Before Drawings by Laura Lucille Witman, 1927 to 1934. It's a classic example of an an amateur's body of work receiving the public treatment... which makes perfect sense since so many MFAs spend tens of thousands of dollars to replicate the effect. It's a classic case of cultural anthropology. Here is there PR: "Our July exhibition takes its title from a captioned drawing made in 1927 by a young woman named Laura Lucille Witman. The drawing is one of several found glued to the pages or loosely tucked away in a brightly-colored & brittle-paged scrapbook from the same era. Markings on the drawings allow us to deduce that Lucille was a sophomore in 1927 & was married by 1934, the year her maiden name gives way to O'Neil & the same year she made drawings of a lustrous Mae West & a wistful-eyed Hollywood cowboy. For a young woman living in Victorville, California, situated as it is on the fringe of the Mojave Desert, Hollywood must have been a glamorous dream made somewhat distant by the barrier of the San Bernardino Mountains. No wonder, then, that her drawings are filled with the risque trappings of imaginary movie starlets. They are flappers with lush lips, beauty marks, heart & arrow tattoos, garter belts & ever-distant, dreamy eyes. Arguably naive in execution, the drawings nonetheless convey the unique personality of a young woman enthralled by popular culture & the imagination of an amateur artist who made its visual language distinctly her own." They also are presenting, "a selection of silver print photographs by Portland photographer, Bobby Abrahamson, who spent the better part of a year shooting Polaroid Type 55 portraits of the people he encountered on the streets of St. Johns, a distinct neighborhood in North Portland where Abrahamson lives. The show coincides with a larger exhibition of the same work at Blue Sky here in Portland during July." Opening Reception: June 27 | 6-9PM Ampersand Gallery & Fine Books 2916 NE Alberta St., B, Portland, OR 97211 Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 27, 2012 at 9:51 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 06.22.12 Collisions in June  Victor Maldonado and Jonathan Leach @ SOUTHERN/PACIFIC Gallery Homeland's SOUTHERN/PACIFIC travels to Portland for its second iteration. The Lawndale Art Center hosted the first in Houston and the last will be somewhere in Marfa. Participating artists are working closely together to produce new and exciting arrangements that are informed by their shifting contexts. galleryHOMELAND says "breaking beyond the white walls SOUTHERN/PACIFIC branches out into the art world and into the public. With the main exhibitions creating the foundation, film screenings, panel discussions, performances, and workshops will be happening throughout the duration of the show." From what I can tell, artists in Houston have thrived under city-wide (financial) support of works that extend 'beyond the white walls' in a manner quite unlike the puppy-friendship-bracelet-and-kitten flare of artists here. It's always fun to see worlds collide and partnerships form. Participating artists include John Calaway, Calvin Ross Carl, Joseph Cohen, Jillian Conrad, David Corbett, Arcy Douglass, Sean Healy, Hana Hillerova, Roxanne Jackson, Jeff Jahn, Terrell James, Jonathan Leach, Victor Maldonado, Julian Mock, Ann Marie Nafziger, Alyce Santoro, and Von Tundra. SOUTHERN/PACIFIC June 22 - July 30 Opening Reception | June 22 | 6-9PM | 2505 SE 11th Avenue (More: Research Club's possibly last brunch, PICA's symposium) Posted by Tori Abernathy on June 22, 2012 at 12:43 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 06.19.12 MSHR at Appendix for the Solstice  MSHR instruments We tend not to cover performance art much being a visual art focused site but MSHR's performances look to be as much interactive sculpture/installation as performance... that and what better way to celebrate the summer solstice than at Appendix? Here's the PR: "MSHR is a collaborative project by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper from Oregon Painting Society. The duo harnesses elemental forces to nurture ecstatic cybernetic ecosystems. Their sculptural human-electronic interfaces offer visitors interactive ocular/aural experiences within an augmented reality of mirrored glowing sand glyphs, sonic ancestral rainforest codes and misty laser feedback corridors. In two presentations, MSHR will ritualistically engage a trans-dimensional organic synthesizer to unfold earthly doors to terrestrial transcendence." Oh yeah... well don't cross the streams! Solstice opening: Wednesday, June 20th Opens 7PM | performance 9PM Last Thursday closing June 28th Opens 7PM | performance 9PM Video Screening: Sunday July 1st MSHR curates a 45-minute compilation of influential video art, 9PM Appendix Project Space south alley between 26th and 27th Avenues off of NE Alberta Street Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 19, 2012 at 22:06 | Comments (2) PermalinkFriday 06.15.12 Getting Physical in June 
Video still: Dance by Type A (Adam Ames & Andrew Bordwin) Possibly the first promising group show of the summer is PLACE's "Let's Get Physical," where all of the artists assay the kinesthetic aesthetic. Featuring Rachel Ellison (Chicago), David Horvitz (NY), Lilly McElroy (LA), Elaine Miller (Chicago), Heidi Schwegler (PDX) and Type A (NY), all of these artists, "address and utilize the physical self, movement and action as an integral instrument and method in their visual works. They ask-- how does the body adapt, protect, resist, control or relinquish control, react and express in a self-designed and self-enclosed performance or action." Curated by Mariana Tres (2006 Oregon Biennial and one of Portland's brightest artists); you should check this out. LET'S GET PHYSICAL Opening Reception | Saturday June 16th | 5-8 PM PLACE | 700 SW 5th Ave | Pioneer Place Mall, Atrium, 3rd (more... Saul Steinberg @YU and Ellsworth Kelly @PAM) Posted by Tori Abernathy on June 15, 2012 at 14:03 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 06.13.12 Paul Clay at Recess 
RECESS presents How to Immigrate to the United States of America, a new series of video works by Paul Clay. "How to Immigrate to the United States of America is a surreal and dry-humoured series of video works that questions ownership of national and linguistic heritage and our attachments to geography and place. Creating alternate realities through digital video doctoring, special effects, and 3D renderings, the videos walk with the gringo-latino divide that polarizes perceptions, identities and communities in the USA. Canadian-Irish American, Paul Clay draws heavily from his experiences in and around Hispanic culture and from his reverence of the natural and digital world. He has written and produced several music albums, one entirely in Spanish. Clay received a Bachelor of Arts in Art from Reed College, Portland, Oregon." RECESS Opening Reception: Thursday, June 14 | 7:00-10:00 PM 1127 SE 10th Ave Regular Hours: June 14th - 31st | Wednesday - Saturday | 1:00-5:00 PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 13, 2012 at 13:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 06.08.12 Weekend planner, umlauts optional  The North Coast Seed Building, home to some of of Portland's best artist studios It is time again for one of the best open studio events in Portland, The North Coast Seed Building's annual affair... This year they have germanized its spelling with OPEN HAÜS. Who are you to stand against the fury of their capitalized umlaut? Seriously though, with over 30 studios (some used by the best artists in town) it is a great event. Last year over 400 people attended... and that was without umlauts! So get yer lederhosen on and check this out. "Participants range from Illustrators to Painters to Visual & Product Designers to Wood Workers to Photographers and Performers. Please join us for food, wine, art and a stroll through the historic North Coast Seed BUILDING and the artists' studios that inhabit it." North Coast Seed Building OPEN HAÜS Saturday, June 9th, 4 - 10 PM 2127 N Albina Ave. ... (more Jenene Nagy at PDX and Perceptual Control at Worksound) Posted by Jeff Jahn on June 08, 2012 at 11:22 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 06.06.12 First Thursday June 2012  Chase Biado's Enter: The Troll at PSU's EXIT MFA thesis exhibition AB Lobby space This month, there are too many talented people receiving their BFAs and MFAs to mention here. The majority of this will come from PNCA. Although it might seem like an overwhelming constellation, it will be well worth wading through. I recommend starting in PNCA's Swigert Commons at the main PNCA building and working your way outwards. The sparkling diamonds in the rough, though, will come from the BFA show Exit at PSU. Chase Biado will be in the AB Lobby, Andre Fortes and Ross Farrier are in the MK Gallery, and the Autzen features the work of J.P. Huckins, Chloe Womack, Krystal South, and many others. It might be a good idea to start there, because the show will end promptly at 8 p.m. EXIT | The 2012 PSU BFA Thesis Exhibition | various PSU galleries Exhibition Dates: Thursday, June 7, 2012 - Monday, June 21, 2012 Opening Reception: Thursday, June 7, 2012, 5 - 8 p.m. Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday: 10-5 p.m. PNCA's MFA in Visual Studies Thesis Exhibition First Thursday reception June 7th 6-9PM | May 21 - June 8th Swigert Commons | 1241 NW Johnson St. ... (more: Germans at Blue Sky and Victory galleries + Alex Felton at PICA for one night) Posted by Tori Abernathy on June 06, 2012 at 11:57 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 05.31.12 First Weekend June 2012 Cracked Memex, Carl Diehl, 2012, desk retrofit with audio patchbay, incoming audio-visual feeds, monitor, contextual datums Although the lovely little holes below the Imago Theatre are still charmingly pristine, Half/Dozen will host their last exhibition tonight in Left/Right. They happen to be closing on a high note (or should I say frequency) exhibiting the fantastically fictoquizzical works of Carl Diehl. "In this exhibit, Carl Diehl draws from the rich history of UFO lore to develop speculative models of Drone Kitsch. At once a repository for technological anxiety, the darling of postwar science fiction and a stylistic mentor to the UAV, Diehl uses the UFO rhetorically as a means for imagining nostalgic objects from an estranged futurity." Drone Kitsch | Carl Diehl Closing Reception | June 1st | 6-9PM Half/Dozen | 722 E Burnside Basement, Entrance on SE 8th Ave. (Also, Guts at Ditch Projects and Andre Filipek at FOCO gallery) Posted by Tori Abernathy on May 31, 2012 at 22:36 | Comments (0) PermalinkFor Heaven's Sake Arnold ...and the likely winner of this year's Joseph Kosuth award for minimalist PR is:
Arnold J. Kemp | FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE MEΣ(s) A Project Space 923 SE 13th Ave. Apt.#4, Portland, OR 97214 RECEPTION: THURSDAY, May 31 | 6 - 9PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 31, 2012 at 11:08 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.30.12 Feral Children turned loose on Last Thursday 
Video still from Children's Games by Seth Nehil (2011) Well it is a video of feral children (and would a real pack of feral children really be that surprising on Last Thursday?)... So here is the PR for Gavin Shettler's inaugural video window featuring Seth Nehil's Children's Games. Here is the PR: "Seth Nehil's Children's Games looks at Brueghel's 1560 oil painting of the same name to imagine a world without adults. These short video pieces imagine a self-created society of runaway teens, hidden deep in the woods. Isolated from society, they lose their use of language, play timeless games and invent ritual interactions. Children's Games continues Seth Nehil's interest in performance systems and sonic environments." Reception: Seth Nehil's Children's Games | 6-9 PM Thursday, May 31st Last Thursday at Living Room Realtors | NE Alberta Office 1422 NE Alberta St, Portland OR Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 30, 2012 at 23:43 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 05.29.12 Olaf Breuning Lecture  Still from Home 3 footage, Olaf Breuning, 2012 Olaf Breuning's talk tomorrow will prove invaluable for all of those attracted to sardonic undertones embedded in video and performance work. Home 3 continues to unravel the result of homelessness, fetishization, tourism, and "cultural" conditioning on the Global citizen. "Swiss-born artist Olaf Breuning makes art that combines a large dose of dark humor with a critical eye for present-day faux-pas and missteps. In Home 2, a hapless protagonist caricatures the Western obsession with the authentically "exotic" through a series of awkward travelogues. Home 3, Breuning's most recent film, continues his series, focusing on the relationship between modern man and his technological environment." Home 3 | West Coast Premier & Artist Talk Co-presented with PSU MFA Studio Lecture Series May 30th | 7pm | Free 5th Avenue Cinema | 510 SW Hall Posted by Tori Abernathy on May 29, 2012 at 13:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.25.12 Last Weekend of May 2012 
Christian Oldham at Appendix The notifications sent out attracting people to Christian "Megazord" Oldham's Chat with Flowers at Appendix typically give little away. It might be frustrating to stab in the dark, but I implore you to make the jaunt up North to investigate the work of my favorite of the ultra-trendy-90s-core-net-based-dudes whose work is maturing faster than Erin Jobs. Although the boys have little to say about the show at the moment, we were left with this lovely little link. Chat with Flowers May 29 - 30th and June 1st - 3rd | 7-10 P.M. Appendix | south alley between 26th & 27th, off NE Alberta  Warm for Your Form, Bobbi Woods, 2011, Enamel on Poster You won't have to sift through as many layers of shadowy "conceptualism" (or at least yard debris) to get to Bobbi Woods' opening at Fourteen30 tonight, but you will be confronted with some form of obfuscation. Here, the view of 1970s-era posters is almost totally covered by blankets of enamel. Fourteen30 writes, "Through an environment of repetition, in which the viewer is able to move easily between correlative works, Woods creates an experience predicated upon visual pleasure, desire, and obfuscation." Warm For Your Form Opening Reception | Friday, May 25th, 6-8pm May 26 - July 15th, 2012 Fourteen30 | 1501 SW Market St. Posted by Tori Abernathy on May 25, 2012 at 17:19 | Comments (1) PermalinkWednesday 05.23.12 From Portland to Houston, Madrid, Berlin and Back 
Though Portland's media reportage for culture can be insulated and frequently decades out of touch, the Portland art scene itself gets around quite nicely as ever more important art hubs always tend to behave. Perhaps, let's discuss the way we frame the discussion... instead of wondering "whether"... simply pay attention to what is already going on. Here's a prime example... Paul Middendorf's Gallery Homeland has already done projects in Istanbul, Berlin and Houston. Yet a lack of support (& credit, aka attaboys) perhaps drove him to move to Houston where he's working on another branch of the organization while keeping the Portland office open too. Now Paul is back for the week and leading a discussion at Froelick Gallery tonight called From Portland to Houston, Madrid, Berlin and Back. Here's the PR: "Please join us for an impromptu discussion about the current FROELICK exhibitions and comparisons of contemporary art scenes in Portland, Texas & Europe. Take part in an ongoing dialogue between artists Terrell James, Laura Ross-Paul & Victor Maldonado with Paul Middendorf, co director of Gallery Homeland & curator of Southern Pacific. Please RSVP by email to rebecca@froelickgallery.com" To foreground a difference I find very important, Houston has a very coherent... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 23, 2012 at 12:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 05.22.12 Rumblings of the Eff-ing volcano at Gallery Homeland 
Tonight is the night for Rumblings and I highly recommend it! In the past Gallery Homeland has hosted major portions of Portland's Experimental Film Festival and it has always been an exciting/well attended event. So it is time to "Rumble" tonight and the lineup is heavy on programming that could be considered either video art and video installation art as a form as experimental film. Frankly making the distinctions between those three terms is exasperating but I can say that video installation is a major strength of the Portland art scene that gets international attention. Here is the lineup: Cathy Fairbanks: Transference is a Tough Row to Hoe Lydia Greer: A Self-Made House Jason Gutz: Sequence Shawn Patrick Higgins: Fortune Ajna Lichau: ON DEMAND Neil Ira Needleman: Loud Loop Julie Perini: Video Projection with Movement Kelly Rauer: POV (reflexive) Christina Santa Cruz: Gorgeous Media Performances by Weird Fiction and Future Death Toll and this exhibition is sponsored in part by The Historic Ford Building, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Ford Food and Drink, and RACC's Project Grant RUMBLINGS @ galleryHOMELAND Opening: May 22 6 - 9PM 2505 SE 11th Ave. Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 22, 2012 at 10:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.18.12 Saturday options  
PLACE gets in on the EFF-ing action and in collaboration with Grand Detour presents EFFPortland: FISSURE VENTS featuring San Francisco based experimental filmmaker Kerry Laitala, Brent Coughenour and Portland's Leo Daedalus who will premiere Low Mass in Screen. Here's the PR: "This summer, we've invited Grand Detour's EFFPortland to transform our Black gallery into a showcase of stunning and ambitious video work. FISSURE VENTS features three installations that deconstruct, reconstruct, and send up familiar and found footage, creating hallucinatory and immersive environments of light and sound as provocative as they are seductive." Opening, May 19th 5-8 PM PLACE | Pioneer Place Mall atrium building 3rd floor 
Tom Cramer's latest at Laura Russo Gallery For you early risers there is a Tom Cramer talk at Laura Russo Gallery. Yes 11:00 AM is early for the tragically hip crowd in Portland, though it might have more to do with holding down 2-4 jobs than being party animals??? Either way Tom is the artist who connects the newer waves to the older 60's scene in Portland and therefore his work is nothing like that from either demographic (when will the LR gallery finally look at some of the later waves, some who have been here for 15+ years?). Anyway, hear Tom talk about his latest show, which contains some of his most accomplished works to date. Artist Talk: Tom Cramer Laura Russo Gallery 805 NW 21st Ave. May 19th, 11:00 AM Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 18, 2012 at 12:17 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 05.15.12 Paul Pfeiffer lecture at PSU  Paul Pfeiffer's Vitruvian Figure (2009) The Paul Pfeiffer lecture on Thursday looks like a winner for Portland artists interested in architecture and multimedia technology (a large portion of the scene), here's the PR: "New York-based multimedia artist Paul Pfeiffer will deliver the final presentation in the inaugural lecture series, titled 'Firsts,' given by the Department of Architecture, Portland State University. Paul Pfeiffer will speak on Thursday, May 17, at 7pm, at Shattuck Hall Annex (at SW Broadway and Hall Streets) on the Portland State University campus. The lecture is free and open to the public. Paul Pfeiffer is a New York–based artist whose groundbreaking work in video, sculpture and photography uses recent computer technologies to examine the role that the mass media plays in shaping consciousness. Pfeiffer prompts audiences to reconsider attitudes about the body, race, identity, faith and architectural space in contemporary society. His work has been exhibited internationally at renowned museums and galleries and is in private and public collections worldwide. He is the recipient of numerous awards and, notably, he is the inaugural recipient of the Bucksbaum Award, given by the Whitney Museum of American Art (2000)." Artist Lecture: Paul Pfeiffer PSU Department of Architecture Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 7:00pm Shattuck Hall Annex Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 15, 2012 at 11:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 05.10.12 Chase Biado at PSU's White Gallery  Chase Biado has a truly enigmatic sense of delivery and it comes through in his work. A while back he presented a video of a hilarious talking mushroom performing a long, off the wall diatribe (by Tom Cruise) at 12128 so I'm very curious to see his latest solo show at PSU's White Gallery, Spider Veins. There is an opening tonight 5-8PM. To give you the flavor here is his Press release statement: "I've been seeking out a certain line, a vein. It's a squiggly line ~~~~~ an uneconomic line, like an excess of time allowed for the line to be dragged. The pencil is held with slack. The line meanders towards its destination. The spider vein is the wandering line that is too old to care ~ that has lost a destination and keeps going. The spider crawls up the wall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ spider dance. The spider makes a line that is not necessarily choice. The drawn squiggly is not necessarily a choice, but tension held in the body. I've tried to draw a line like veins crawling up the legs of old men and old ladies in their old swimsuits on the old beach, getting older. This is not a streamline. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There's a relationship in the line between time and tension. The spider vein is on vacation time. Its tension is drawstring tension. The line defines the relationship: body to out-of-body, bound-self to unbound projection. The line says, 'I am the spider, you are the web.' varicose ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ varicose ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ varicose Spider Veins Artist's Reception: May 10 5-8PM Littman & White Galleries| Portland State University 1825 SW Broadway #250 | 503 725-5656 Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 10, 2012 at 12:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 05.09.12 Monograph turns two 
Sure Portland has some great big bookstores but there's this little one just off NE Alberta that has my heart... So join Monograph Bookwerks for their second anniversary. There will be Prosecco beverages and snax, book giveaways, friends and cheer to celebrate Monograph as it enters its "terrible twos"... never grow up little one and may everyone be lucky enough to witness an art book tantrum! Monograph Bookwerks B'Day Party: Thursday May 10th 7-10PM 5005 NE 27th ave at Alberta Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 09, 2012 at 20:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 05.04.12 First Friday Picks May 2012 
Nathaniel Thayer Moss in progress at Worksound's Perceptual Control We've been waiting for three months for Worksound's latest show Perceptual Control and it has been worthwhile seeing it develop over a series of talks... but it's time to see where this residency with, Nathanael Thayer Moss, Emily Nachison, Kyle Raquipiso, Jamie Marie Waelchli and PORTstar Amy Bernstein all ends up. The theme of, "exploring transcendence and perception," seems right on time. Opening Reception: 7:00PM - 10:00PM | May 4th Worksound 820 SE Alder Street ... (more: Customary Clothing and Dan Gilsdorf at 12128) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 04, 2012 at 11:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 05.03.12 First Thursday Picks May 3rd 2012 Tori is a little busy graduating from Reed right now so I'll take this round of picks... you'll be seeing more of her sparkling contributions in the near future. From last month there are some very strong holdovers like Day Job at PNCA and Laura Fritz's Entorus. Here is what is new:
History lesson, in 1999 Heidi Schwegler's kinky work was the star of the most influential art show in Portland's recent history, the 1999 Oregon Biennial curated by Katherine Kanjo (it included video and installation art and made old timers crazy because there wasn't enough whittling, other stars Storm Tharp, Kristan Kennedy, Tom Cramer, Nan Curtis, Jacqueline Ehlis, Sean Healy etc. took part... it remade Portland's scene). Later, Heidi made a splash at the most ambitious Pearl District gallery Portland has ever seen, Savage. Then she kinda disappeared, much to my chagrin. Lately, she's turned up at the Hallie Ford Museum and snagged a well deserved Ford Fellowship. Which is all a round about way to say, welcome back to the Pearl District with this new tourism driven show The Known World... After April, The Pearl is a place that sorely needs any show that doesn't sport an endless barrage of landscape paintings. Chambers@916 Opening Reception: 6-9 PM | May 3rd May 3rd - June 23rd 916 NW Flanders (...more with; Light, Ryan Pierce, Tom Cramer and LITE BOX) Posted by Jeff Jahn on May 03, 2012 at 13:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 04.26.12 Mayoral Candidate's Forum at PNCA 
Saturday from 3-5PM at PNCA, the Pacific Northwest Science and Technology Foundation and the MFA in Collaborative Design program are presenting a forum with three mayoral candidates; Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith, moderated by Peter Schoonmaker, Chair MFA in Collaborative Design. Question is, will these three finally distinguish themselves from one another for the likely pivotal cultural community vote? (not that THAT vote is one monogenic group. Their first forum on the subject was without Smith so I'm curious to see how they've distinguished their positions from one another since the first rather incomplete panel.) Also, if I didn't know better I'd say PNCA itself was trying to run for Mayor of Portland for the past decade. Here's the PR: "Portland has a reputation as a center for creativity, technology, and design. From software to apparel to green technology, the opportunities for developing a vibrant creative economy are expanding. What specific actions can the City of Portland and our next mayor take to support and enhance Portland’s science, technology, and creative communities? Join the Pacific Northwest Science and Technology Foundation and the MFA Collaborative Design program at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) for a forum with mayoral candidates Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales, and Jefferson Smith. MFA in Collaborative Design Chair Peter Schoonmaker moderates a conversation on what Portland's next mayor should and can do to support the science-tech-creative sector in Portland." Mayoral Candidates Forum | Swigert Commons (free) PNCA | 1241 NW Johnson April 28th 3-5 PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 26, 2012 at 14:32 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 04.25.12 Ditch Projects presents Mike Pare 
New Mexico based Mike Pare is interested in subcultures and creates paper-based works that expand the narrative of such intense but fringe movements. For his first solo show titled New Believers at Springfield's Ditch Projects Pare has chosen the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Movement, which famously usurped the small Oregon town of Antelope, as his starting off point. "In this work, constellations of Rajneesh's narrative expand beyond rational investigation, and mutate into entirely new forms. Rajneesh Things is an artwork in the form of an open edition tabloid Newspaper. The twelve page black and white tabloid contains articles, artwork, and designs based in investigations of the material culture of the Rajneesh Movement. Modeled after the original movement publication Rajneesh Times, Pare's newspaper visually mimics the style of underground press publications of the 1970s and 80s. The work functions as a platform for art making and journalism, but also serves as a coded fictional text and an object of material culture itself capable of everyday dissemination through its expendable form as a free paper. Free copies will be available at the exhibition. The body of work entitled Devotional Goods is an exploration of material anomalies and the potential of art practice transcending a topic. working with the familiar drawing materials of graphite and paper, Pare creates large dark tie-dyed pieces that hint at melancholy and decay even as they radiate intense acid-drenched colors." Ditch Projects: Mike Pare | New Believers 303 S. 5th Avenue #165 | Springfield OR 97477 Exhibition dates: April 28 - May 19, 2012 Opening reception: Saturday, April 28, 7pm - 10pm Gallery hours: Saturdays 12 - 4 | info@ditchprojects.com Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 25, 2012 at 15:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.24.12 Elena Buszek Lecture  Marianne Jorgensen and the Cast-Off Knitters, Pink M.24 Chaffee 2006. (Photo Barbara Katzin) Craft has definitely become an integral part of the contemporary art lexicon and I'm always fascinated by where the sometimes tense border lines between craft and serious art are drawn. Elena Buszek's lecture on April 25th at MoCC should fire off a few shots in every direction or is this discussion so 2006? What new developments have there been since craft stopped becoming a dirty word in serious contemporary art? (Hint: it coincided with the realization that art from Los Angeles has been the equal if not superior to New York since the 60's and last year's PST... or we can blame Dave Hickey's The Invisible Dragon essays for making "beauty" as an intellectual construct supportable again). Her lecture Wednesday at the Museum of Contemporary Craft is part of the CraftPerspectives Lecture Series and the 2011-2012 Graduate Visiting Artist Lecture Series. "Maria Elena Buszek is a scholar, critic, curator and associate professor of art history at the University of Colorado in Denver. Her recent publications include the books, Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture and Extra/ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art. She has also contributed to the anthologies It's Time for Action (There's No Option): About Feminism and Blaze: Discourse on Art, Women, and Feminism and Contemporary Artists. She has written for the popular feminist magazine BUST since 1999." Presented by Museum of Contemporary Craft and the MFA in Applied Craft and Design (PNCA + OCAC). Lecture: April 25th | 6:30 - 8:30 PM Museum of Contemporary Craft The Lab | 724 NW Davis St. | 503 223-2654 Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 24, 2012 at 12:10 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 04.21.12 Saturday Openings and Happenings  Lorna Bieber at Reed's Cooley Gallery It's been up for a few weeks but it's time for a reception with the artist for Lorna Bieber's, Image Myths at Reed's Cooley Gallery tonight. Bieber produces her images through; collage, paint, copier and computers, as well as traditional and non-traditional photographic techniques. She describes this as altering the "root" picture to create new "branches" whose archetypal narratives are completely changed from the original, yet due to their sources and treatment appear as a kind of memory. Carl Jung's collective unconscious comes to mind, except Bieber is the archetypal intermediary and filter here. Artist's Reception: April 21st 5PM Lorna Bieber, Image Myths | April 10 - June 3rd Douglas F. Cooley Gallery | Reed College 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.  Images from Wayne Bund's Mimesis @ PLACE Portland artists continue to occupy Portland's Pioneer Place Mall with several lew shows: MIMESIS: Fantasy and Friends - Wayne Bund Within the Ephemeron - J. Brown The Weighing of Souls - Georganne Watters Crying, Feeding, Touching - Heather Zinger High School Football Memories - Phillip Bone & BT Livermore Opening receptions 5-8pm | April 21st PLACE @ Pioneer Place Mall | 700 SW 5th | 3rd floor placepdx@gmail.com  It's your last and only chance to catch Damien Gilley's Data Systems Plaza at PCC Sylvania this weekend from 1-4 Saturday. "Data Systems Plaza appropriates and transforms the gallery into a temporary showroom exhibiting sculptural experiences from a fictitious company. Drawing influence from science fiction and technology developments of the early digital era, the works reference an industry that posits advanced, speculative, and futuristic products and phenomena. Within a meandering architectural framework, the works allure the viewer with controlled visual spectacles while rendering the experience of materiality ambiguous. The exhibition aims to expand upon the ephemeral characteristics of information systems through the employment of compartmentalized areas, perceptual structures, and the concept of hidden architecture." Special Saturday Hours | April 21st 1-4 North View Gallery | Data Systems Plaza Reception/Artist Talk: Wednesday, April 4, 2-4pm Dates & Hours: April 3 - 27 | 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday Portland Community College Sylvania | CT Building 12000 SW 49th Ave Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 21, 2012 at 0:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.17.12 Pure Clear closing reception  Pure Clear at Appendix Although not wholly realized, Alex Mackin Dolan's Pure Clear at Appendix offers up some tantalizing mimesis and outright readymade examples of boho and industrial design tropes that conjure "purity", while inviting in a Smithson-esque sense of entropic infiltration or even outright pollution. He's definitely onto something and tomorrow night is your last chance to catch the show. "Using 'clear' as an initial password, Dolan chooses objects based on their deployment of specific color sets and materials, using them to investigate various 'eco-aware' memes and connections." Appendix Project Space Closing Reception: 8:00 PM | April 18th south alley between 26th and 27th Avenues off of NE Alberta Street Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 17, 2012 at 12:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 04.13.12 Weekend Picks Besides Glen Fogel's show + the unveiling of PICA's new space (more later today) Here are my picks for the weekend:
Amy Berstein in progress at Worksound On Saturday at Worksound for its Perceptual Control (a five artist/writer/curator residency and in process exhibit), PORT's own Warhol Art Writing award winner Amy Bernstein will talk about ''Form and Absence" and Emily Nachison will discuss her process which draws on anthropology, geology, and the decorative arts. In the past 9 months or so Bernstein has become one of the most watched painters in Portland. Here's the PR: "'Speech is the replacement of a presence by an absence and the pursuit, through presences ever more fragile, of an absence ever more all sufficing.'- Maurice Blanchot Amy Bernstein will discuss the ideas surrounding form as language. Culled from a history of philosophy and art theory, Bernstein will support her ideas through citing examples of the semantics of artistic choices. Form as signifier and as catalyst are the bases of all language, yet the creation of formal language in a contemporary context and within specific cultures becomes culture itself. Are these ideas cannibalistic, self propagating, or revolutionary? What freedoms do we embody in making art that will push culture forward? How free is this freedom? The answer is in the making. Organic/Synthetic is the topic of Emily Nachison's talk. She discusses her making process and influences. Drawing from anthropology, geology, and the decorative arts, Nachison’s sculptures and installations are a hybrid of synthetic and natural accumulation. Mythology and New-Age idealism become starting points for an investigation into the cultural creation of landscape. Her process mimics organic growth and geological sediment, resulting in experiential installations using a variety of materials including glass, wood, cardboard, and foam. Artist Talks | Saturday April 14 7-10PM Worksound | 820 SE Alder Portland OR. Perceptual Control | Residency/Exhibition |February 3rd through May 31 2012 ...(more: PLACE and Joe Macca at Art Gym) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 13, 2012 at 12:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 04.11.12 Lost at PSU's Littman Gallery 
It is Portland Photo Month and one of the most promising exhibitions is Lost curated by the wry, stylish and wily Horia Boboia. A play on the slippery nature of images today where the "personally significant" becomes very public accruing various levels of significance. Whether looking at a meme or simply the issue of control, I like the amount of trouble this show seems to traffic in. Featuring; Horia Boboia, Sean Carney, Alex Mackin Dolan and Rebecca Steele LOST promises to highlight, "some of the contemporary transformations of the 'photograph'. For this exhibition four artists compiled a series of images gleaned or collected from the vast anonymous pool found on the Internet, in magazines, advertisements, or other public sources and represent them as valid artifacts. These images were found, lost and found again..." Lost | Portland State University | April 5-27, 2012 Monday-Friday 12-4 pm Opening Reception: April 12, 5-7 pm Littman and White Galleries | 503 725 5656 1825 SW Broadway, Smith Center Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 11, 2012 at 12:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 04.09.12 Lorna Bieber at Reed  Lorna Bieber, Two Trees, Gelatin silver print, 68 x 42 in., 2004, Courtesy of the artist. Reed College's Cooley Gallery presents Lorna Bieber, Image Myths. Long before photoshop's ubiquity, Bieber has been reinterpreting genre style found images using any means available. She produces her images through; collage, paint, copier and computers, as well as traditional and non-traditional photographic techniques. She describes this as altering the "root" picture to create new "branches" whose archetypal narratives are completely changed from the original, yet due to their sources and treatment appear as a kind of memory. Carl Jung's collective unconscious comes to mind, except Bieber is the archetypal intermediary and filter here. Bieber's work has been exhibited or collected by; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fogg Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, LA County Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and PS 1. Lorna Bieber, Image Myths | April 10 - June 3rd Douglas F. Cooley Gallery | Reed College 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Artist's Reception: April 21st 5PM Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 09, 2012 at 10:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 04.06.12 Weekend Picks April 2012 
Adam Ekberg, Arrangement #1, 2009 @ Light Structures @ False Front Don't miss Light Structures at False Front this weekend, a group show curated by Laura Hughes. It will be interesting to see the works chosen by one of the city's favorite light-play artists herself. False Front says, "exploring light as subject, concept, material or effect, these artists illuminate ways to engage with our visible surroundings: challenging our perceptual boundaries and the divisions separating habits of modern culture from the potential to see more". Artists: Adam Ekberg (Tampa, Florida), Laura Fritz (Portland, Oregon), Sydney S. Kim (Brooklyn, NY), Cay Horiuchi (Portland, OR), Scott Rogers (Glasgow, Scotland) Opening reception | April 7th | 7-10pm False Front | 4518 NE 32nd Ave. 
Zoë Clark at RECESS RECESS presents a new project by 12128 co-founder Zoë Clark. Their first solo show to date, R&B songs is an evocative installation intended to cloud your view of the space itself. Clark writes "R&B songs are exceptional in their ability to transform our perceptions and mood. Although lyrically they may be simplistic, often bordering on cliché, they are able to transport us out of our everyday life and into our vision of love". Opening Reception | April 6th | 7 - 10:30 PM April 6th - 20th RECESS | 1127 SE 10th Ave. (More: Nan Curtis and Archer Gallery) Posted by Tori Abernathy on April 06, 2012 at 11:56 | Comments (0) PermalinkMilgrim and Senju at Japanese Garden 
Milgrim and Senju at the Portland Japanese Garden Spring is in full swing and Portland's Japanese Garden is one of the most stunning places to contemplate the change. If that isn't enough consider this exhibition of world renowned Chado or tea ceremony ceramics by Richard Milgrim and Zen ink paintings by Hiroshi Senju. "Chanoyu, the practice of preparing tea in this manner (Chado), requires a tranquil setting and meticulous attention to detail. A long history of creating exquisite environments in which to conduct these events resulted in the production of marvelous crafts-tea bowls, scoops, whisks, jars, containers, and braziers-as well as fine hanging scroll paintings and calligraphy. Richard Milgrim is one of the rare non-Japanese potters who has reached the heights of recognition not only in the U.S. but also in Japan, where his work is highly sought after. Milgrim's work has been lauded by the grand master of the prestigious Urasenke School of Tea in Kyoto. This exhibition of his tea ceramics is part of the 2012 Art in the Garden series that explores the theme of Healing Garden with exhibitions and lectures that focus on the Japanese approach to health and well-being. To complement Mr. Milgrim's tea utensils, we are most honored to show a selection of hanging scrolls by the internationally acclaimed painter Hiroshi Senju, whose famous waterfall paintings hang in many of the great museums around the world. Mr Senju divides his time between his studio in New York and his work as President of the Kyoto University of Art and Design. During the run of the exhibition, the Garden will offer two presentations of the Chado each Saturday and Sunday in the Pavilion. These will take place at 1 & 2 p.m. and will be prepared by members of Kashintei Kai, the tea society associated with the Garden's Kashintei Tea House. Visitors who wish to try a bowl of the frothy matcha tea may purchase a $5 ticket at the Admission Gate. Entrance is included with Garden admission and the exhibition will be open in the Pavilion during Garden hours." Meditative Moments Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Avenue April 6 - 29 Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 06, 2012 at 11:08 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 04.04.12 First Thurday Picks April 2012 
By and large, young and emerging artists in this economic climate are in debt. Fortunately, many negotiate clever solutions to the lack of so-called 'studio time' while tinkering away in the cubicle, classroom, lab, etc. Day Job, originally exhibited at the Drawing Center, NY in 2010, highlights a group of these artists capitalizing off the byproducts of their daily grind. "Rather than subscribing to the idea that non-artistic work is by definition disruptive to an artist’s practice, Day Job looks at the ways in which the information, skills, ideas, working conditions, or materials encountered in the work world can become a source of influence". Day Job is curated by the cunningly whimsical Nina Katchadourian and organized by Mack McFarland. Curator Walkthrough followed by Reception | April 5th | 5:30 - 9 pm Philip Feldman Gallery at PNCA | 1241 Northwest Johnson Street ...(more with Jason Florschutz, Laura Fritz, Michael Brophy and Eva Speer) Posted by Tori Abernathy on April 04, 2012 at 12:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 04.03.12 Gilley and Schenk at College Galleries Installation art is perhaps Portland's strongest genre but it is usually up to non profit spaces to make it possible. In the past 10 years there has been an explosion in alternative spaces but it has also been accompanied by a deepening commitment of college galleries to adventurous programming. This week two of Portland's best outlying college spaces are hosting large scale installations by two of Portland's most promising artists, Damien Gilley at PCC Sylvania and Crystal Schenk at Linfield College.
 Damien Gilley Since taking over PCC Sylvania's wonderfully brutalist North View Gallery director, Mark Smith has imbued the program with a sense of adventure (which we experienced last month with Arcy Douglass). This month Damien Gilley, another artist of great expectations takes his turn with Data Systems Plaza, presenting large-scale sculptural works, wall drawings, and architectural structures. According to the PR: "Data Systems Plaza appropriates and transforms the gallery into a temporary showroom exhibiting sculptural experiences from a fictitious company. Drawing influence from science fiction and technology developments of the early digital era, the works reference an industry that posits advanced, speculative, and futuristic products and phenomena..." ... (more details on Gilley and Schenk) Posted by Jeff Jahn on April 03, 2012 at 2:23 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.27.12 Gazed Upon 
April is photo month in Portland but Ampersand is out of the gates early with Gazed Upon, opening this Thursday. Curated by Amy Elkins the show features work by Jen Davis, Cara Phillips & Stacey Tyrell. Meet Elkins and Tyrell at the opening with drinks courtesy of Ninkasi Brewing Company. Opening Reception & Book Release on March 29, 6- 10PM Ampersand : 2916 NE Alberta St. March 29 to April 24, 2012 Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 27, 2012 at 16:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.22.12 Last Weekend picks March 2012  "Perceptual Control" Resident Artist's Talk #1 @ Worksound Worksound presents the first round of artist talks for their "Perceptual Control" residency program. Participants Nathanael Thayer Moss and Kyle Raquipiso will give presentations on their work. If this is anything like the series of lectures that accompanied the group of artists in "Shred of Lights", it'll be a Friday evening well spent. Also, this is a good chance to hear the elusive PNCA grad, Kyle Raquipiso, speak about his often enigmatic yet enthralling work. Moss @ 7pm; Raquipiso @ 8pm. Artist Talks | March 23rd | 7 - 9 pm Worksound | 820 SE Alder ...(More: Half/Dozen & Appendix) Posted by Tori Abernathy on March 22, 2012 at 8:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.20.12 Dr. Katz on the culture wars  David Wojnarowicz Today Reed College presents a very interesting talk, Twelve Seconds out of 120 Years: Anatomy of a Culture War. "In this talk, structured for a general audience, Dr. Jonathan D. Katz will address the stakes of the U.S.'s repeated cultural skirmishes over the depiction of same sex desire. Katz explores the very different valence of homoerotic desire in early 20th century America, and, deploying numerous images from the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, traces the key shifts in that understanding up to the present day. He will conclude with a showing of the exhibition's censored film by David Wojnarowicz, A Fire in my Belly, and address why the conflict took the form that it did, turning on the question of anti-Catholic bias instead of homophobia. Paradoxically, Katz will argue that the refusal to frame the objections to the film in terms of sexuality is a kind of victory, but also a telling indicator of the newest front in the ongoing U.S. culture wars. On March 17, the Tacoma Museum of Art opened Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, the first queer exhibition at a major museum in U.S. history, sponsored by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Katz wrote the eponymous book accompanying the exhibition. Katz is a queer studies scholar of post war art and culture, is director of the doctoral program in visual studies at the University at Buffalo, and president of the newly opened Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York, the world's first queer art museum. He cofounded the activist group Queer Nation, San Francisco, and founded the Queer Caucus of the College Art Association, and the Harvey Milk Institute in San Francisco. Dr. Katz's lecture was organized by Assistant Professor of Art History and Humanities Michele Matteini." Lecture: Dr. Jonathan D. Katz Tuesday, March 20, 5 p.m. Reed College Chapel Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 20, 2012 at 11:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.13.12 Betty Feves: Generations 
The Betty Feves retrospective opens at the Museum of Contemporary Craft on Thursday, adding to an already wonderful series of retrospectives weve already been treated to this year by Nauman and Rothko. Feves, a ceramicist who studied with Clifford Still isn't terribly familiar to me so I relish this chance. Apparently, she is pretty much THE driving cultural force for the Pendelton area and even its current leading light James Lavadour owes a great deal to her. The woman left a modernist legacy 50 miles wide. Maybe its the research of the curator or perhaps it is the uncovering of a life's work but few things get me up in the morning like a good retro of an opinionated woman who redrew the cultural landscape in the region. Here's the PR: "In Generations: Betty Feves, Museum of Contemporary Craft situates Feves and her work within the context of the overlapping arenas of Modernism, American Regional Art, and the American Craft Movement. The exhibition connects her functional and sculptural work to the community, music, mentors and advocacy for higher education that influenced and marked her career. This retrospective, which is supported by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and which marks the close of the Museum's 75th Anniversary year, honors the significant cultural and artistic impact of an under-appreciated regional artist. It traces Feves' formal and conceptual evolution through her sculptural work, her sketchbooks, her exploration in experimental firing processes and her deep roots in the community and landscape around Pendleton, Oregon." Exhibition | Betty Feves: Generations March 15, 2012 - July 28, 2012 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY CRAFT 724 NW Davis Street, Portland, 97209 Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 13, 2012 at 23:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.08.12 Helen Molesworth lecture 
For the past couple of years the 80's have been of new interest to scholars and culture vultures alike and Helen Molesworth might just be one of the best on the subject. Catch her lecture today at the U of O's White Stag Campus in Portland. "Helen Molesworth is the current chief curator at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. She has served as the head of the department of modern and contemporary art at The Harvard Art Museums where her exhibitions included "Long Life Cool White: Photographs by Moyra Davey" and "ACT UP New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987-1993." She is also known for her work organizing Hauser & Wirth's reinterpretation of Allan Kaprow, Yard happening with William Pope. L, Josiah McElheny, and Sharon Hayes. Prior to joining Harvard, Molesworth was chief curator of exhibitions at the Wexner Center for Arts in Columbus, Ohio. She holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from Cornell University. A distinguished scholar, writer and curator, Molesworth will present her lecture, "This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980's." Thursday, March 8, 2012, 5:30p.m. | Reception to follow University of Oregon in Portland White Stag Block | Event Room 70 NW Couch Street | Portland Oregon 97209 For more information, contact Kirsten Poulsen-House, 503-412-3718, email kpoulsen@uoregon.edu Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 08, 2012 at 5:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.02.12 First Weekend picks March 2012 Well this will likely go down as one of the more epic vis arts weekends in Portland history with the already announced Reed Arts Week lineup and the must be there to support Blake Shell's short-sightedly cancelled but much lauded program at The Archer Gallery on Saturday night. Here are my other picks:
Ralph Pugay's Chicken Pox Orgy @ Rocksbox Rock's Box is easily Portland's most irreverent and hard hitting alternative space, glad the programming has returned for Spring. Here is the agitRockprop: "Night-tide Daytripping at Rocksbox Contemporary Fine Art features works inspired by the progressively darkening atmosphere that is produced by the present-day state of our political, social and economic systems. A struggle towards brightness is evidenced in many of the works—embodying a need for clarity with regards to the ways that language, mythology, and belief influence the current condition of our lived realities. Ralph Pugay creates visual works that are formulated through the mash-up of ideas mined from philosophical inquiries, themes of the everyday, and binary thought processes. The groundwork for Pugay's practice is rooted in the hybridization, mistranslation, and over-literalization [sic], of various meanings and symbols; leading to the creation of absurd situational propositions. His appropriation from a multiplicity of sources such as popular media, game theory, proverbial sayings, and art history; result in works that attempt to convey deeper humanist concerns. Born out of introspection, Pugay's work is an investigation of empirical truth's influence on the perception of lived experience -- a depiction of the psychological gridlock that results when collective conviction goes on a highway rampage, resulting in a head-on collision with man's search for a purer form." ROCKSBOXCONTEMPORARYFINEART | 6540 N. Intestate March 3, 2012 - April 22, 2012 Opening Reception: Saturday, March 3, 2012, 7-11 p.m. Performance: Saturday, March 3, 2012, 7-11 p.m. ... (more Ford Bldg, H/D, Black Box Gallery) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 02, 2012 at 15:06 | Comments (1) PermalinkThursday 03.01.12 First Thursday March 2012 picks March is always a funny month for shows in Portland (this year it's pretty good though). In fact, at least two of the very best shows from last month by Joe Thurston at Elizabeth Leach Gallery and the current show with B. Wurtz at PNCA's Feldman Gallery are still up for the month of March. Also, if you don't already know about the Rothko or Nauman shows either... well it's good timing to emerge from your hibernation cave. Here's what's new:
James Lavadour's Rose (2012) PDX presents James Lavadour's Interiors, which I'm pretty sure constitutes the fieriest show of paintings I've yet to see from this Northwest icon. Also, for the first time on exhibit, a new sculpture work cast at the Walla Walla Foundry. Opening reception • March 1st • 6 - 8PM PDX Contemporary • 925 NW Flanders • 503.222.0063 ... (more: Maertz, Hayward and Buswell + Miyoshi) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 01, 2012 at 0:50 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.29.12 Rupture: Reed Arts Week vis art picks 2012 This year's Reed Arts Week, Rupture through March 4th, has a lot of interesting visual arts related programming. Here are my 3 top picks:
 Rainy Lehrman,Labor Byproduct, west end of Eliot Hall "Brooklyn based Rainy Lehrman creates grass sculptures that protrude from the ground, showing layers of dirt, sawdust, and earth material, creating a veritable rupturing of the earth. The effect is a defamiliarization of space, inciting a new understanding of quotidian geography and providing a new understanding of the physical references from which we base our experience of time."... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 29, 2012 at 22:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 02.28.12 The Infectious Corruption of Color  Left: Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Right: Mike Womack On Saturday it is time to toast the artists in The Infectious Corruption of Color; Calvin Ross Carl, Laura Hughes, Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Amanda Wojick, Mike Womack. It is likely another worthy group show from the Archer Gallery... the gallery with perhaps the best group show track record in the past three years. I'm personally terribly disappointed that Director Blake Shell's run is coming to an end in June due to budget problems (more on this at the end, first let's discuss this show). The PR says, "Color is messy; it is corporeal. It bleeds and overwhelms. It opposes the contained, neat, and clinical. It may show us the natural world in comparison to the manmade, or, in turn, it may become the hyper-real and psychedelic in our perception... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 28, 2012 at 0:21 | Comments (3) PermalinkMonday 02.27.12 Extra Credit: Rothko and Nauman Maybe you were or are one of those students who always took the opportunity to learn a little more and get a few extra points... if so these events are for you:
 Red at PCS So, you haven't overdosed on Rothko yet with the retrospective and are very interested in how his time growing up in Portland might have effected him? Tonight at 7:00PM at Mcmenamins Kennedy School for "Portland and the Art of Mark Rothko" join PORT's own Arcy Douglass (who penned this important historical look at Rothko and Portland) in conversation with Daniel Benzali the actor portraying Rothko in the fictional historization that is the play Red now running at PCS. Arcy is very aware of Rothko's well documented disdain for entertaining the wealthy and anything that wasn't 100% serious so this should be an interesting and difficult dance. (P.S. PAM's Chief Curator Bruce Guenther and I will be on OPB's Think Out Loud radio show discussing Rothko on Wednesday at 9:00 AM).  Eleanor Antin For February 28th and 29th at 7:00PM check out, Is It My Body: Conversions, Transgression, and Representations. The series was curated in response to the current exhibition BRUCE NAUMAN: BASEMENTS on view at the Cooley Gallery. The program includes work by Vito Acconci, Denise Marika, Ursula Hodel, Eleanor Antin in addition to early video by Nauman. It's in the Pearl at 937 NW Glisan and it's free. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 27, 2012 at 16:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.22.12 Edgar Arceneaux lecture 
Edgar Arscenaux's "The Algorithm Doesn't Love You" (2010) Today, Edgar Arceneaux visits PNCA as part of the 2011-2012 Graduate Visiting Artist Lecture Series. I tend to think of his very contemporary work as a mutant cross pollination between present tense anthropology and surrealism. The presser says, "Los Angeles-based artist Edgar Arceneaux's conceptual program uncovers meaning in unexpected adjacencies of past and present and of history and memory. He uses drawing, photography, sculpture and filmmaking for the unorthodox installation scenarios he has developed and refined over the last decade. His work resists simple explanations, creating sets of relationships that arent easily resolved as a way of wrestling with randomness." Artist Lecture | February 23rd 6:30-8:30 PNCA Main Campus | Swigert Commons 1241 NW Johnson St. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 22, 2012 at 23:55 | Comments (0) PermalinkTen Thousand Things at PCC Sylvania  At PCC Sylvania's Northview Gallery PORT's very own Arcy Douglass is certainly interested in systems of vastness, his last solo show sported a video that would take trillions of years to watch in its entirety. Now he's filling the vast Northview Gallery with Ten Thousand Things (it has a huge bay window co-opting a view of treetops in the distance.) Here's what the press release says: "The North View Gallery presents a new large-scale video installation by Portland artist Arcy Douglass. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, February 23rd from 2-4 PM, and Saturdays, March 3rd and 10th from 12-4 PM. The show will run through March 23rd, 2012. Arcy Douglass' Ten Thousand Things uses the repetition of a simple formal vocabulary to reflect the complex structure of natural systems. Resembling the depth and expanse of the starlit sky or the gridded streetlights of an urban metropolis, Ten Thousand Things presents a field of lit points perpetually emerging into and escaping from our vision. Complimenting the exhibition, PCC dance students under the direction of instructor Heidi Diaz will be performing improvisational responses to Arcy's installation on Tuesday, February 28th and Thursday, March 1st from 2-3:20 PM, Tuesday, March 6th from 12:30-3:20 PM and Thursday, March 8th from 12:30-3:00 PM. Arcy Douglass earned a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 2007 and attended the Arts Student League in New York from 1999-2000." Receptions: February 23rd 2-4 PM | March 3rd and 10th from 12-4 PM North View Gallery at PCC Sylvania Campus 12000 SW 49th Ave. Portland Hours: Monday - Friday | 8-4:00 PM, and by appointment Through March 23rd Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 22, 2012 at 12:07 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.17.12 Weekend Picks  A view of the Rothko retrospective (photo Jeff Jahn) The Mark Rothko retrospective at the Portland Art Museum opens to the Public Saturday February 18th. I've seen it and YES it lives up to expectations for the profound and even throws in a painting or two that have never been shown in retrospectives before. No it doesn't break much art historical ground (it could have and other institutions are developing that scholarship, some of which originates from PORT articles). I'll delve into into a more detailed discussion soon but for now I'll quell any fears you might have. First off, about half of the show consists of major late period works installed nicely. Yes the layout allows both a chronological walk through and a more intuitive path, both are musts for any aspiring artist of any genre since they show a somewhat talented but uniquely driven mind at work relentlessly trying to unlock the potential of not only himself but art in general. PORT has easily covered Rothko in more depth than any area publication and these two posts on; Rothko's connection to Portland and some aesthetic sensitivities as a consequence of that upbringing are the best places to prep for the exhibition. It's an auspicious homecoming which moves PAM into a new phase and fulfills some of the heightened expectations that the museum now enjoys and must consistently live up to. That's the thing about greatness, it places demands on viewers, patrons, institutions and discourse. In those respects Rothko both delights and challenges all of us in a way that has been a long time coming. Mark Rothko a retrospective at The Portland Art Museum Through May 27th  Kyle Thompson's SONIC REDUCER / SCALAR COUPLING Yes, without Rothko it would seem like Kyle Thompson month here at PORT but he does have an opening tonight at Half/Dozen for SONIC REDUCER / SCALAR COUPLING. "Thompson will present documentation of a two-day performance that... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 17, 2012 at 12:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.15.12 Slifkin on Bruce Nauman 
"Bruce Nauman Going Solo," a lecture by Robert Slifkin, Friday, Feb. 17, 7 p.m. at Reed College is a must attend event. I don't know how much prodding PORT readers need (Basements is one of the best shows I've ever seen at Reed) but to sweeten the deal everyone who attends Robert Slifkin's lecture on Bruce Nauman also receives a free book. This will be packed so plan on arriving early. Robert Slifkin was a Reed College Assistant Professor of Art History and Humanities (2007-10) and is currently Professor of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. His lecture is in conjunction with the exhibition Bruce Nauman, Basements, Early Studio Films,1967-69, on view at the Cooley Gallery through March 9, 2012. The gallery will be open additional hours from noon to 9:30 PM on the 17th as well. "Slifkin's lecture is being published in book form—the first in a new series of pocketbook readers published by the Cooley under the imprint Companion Editions, designed by Heather Watkins in Portland, OR." Lecture: Friday, February 17, 7 pm | Reed College Chapel + Public Reception at the Cooley Gallery after Free and open to the public, the Chapel is located in Eliot Hall. The Cooley will be open Noon to 9:30 P.M. ON February 17th Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 15, 2012 at 10:37 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 02.09.12 Bailey Winters & Jenny Vu at PSU PSU's Littman & White Galleries present: "New and Old Work" by Bailey
Winters + Jenny Vu' s "From Life"
 Bailey Winters' Trudge 2012 Because even Bailey Winters' old work is worth seeing again at PSU's Littman Gallery he presents, "New and Old Work features paintings from three previous shows as well five new paintings which continue to demonstrate his interests in narration, the figure, and comic book art. Work that first appeared in Class (2008), Green Oregon (2009), and Ambush: The Story of the TDA (2010) borrows from political iconography and depicts situations of highly charged human interaction. Executed using a combination of techniques taken from both pop art and realism, the tightly rendered figures are precise in contrast to the surrounding bright, flat color shapes. Showing alongside these are Winters' latest pieces. Here, his small cast of characters appears in a visual science fiction where intricate line drawings and opaque hypercolors replace photo realistic fleshes. In the future, Winters will draw from these new paintings and create a short animated film. Bailey Winters grew up in Santa Cruz, California and received his BFA from the California College of the Arts in 2003. He now lives and paints in Portland, Oregon. His interests include photography and film and these heavily influence the subjects of his paintings."  Jenny Vu Jenny Vu: From Life at PSU's White Gallery According to the press release Jenny Vu has, "concentrated on drawing from life for the past few years. This show is a selection of my best work from 2011. Each piece was completed within a single sitting, ranging from a few minutes to a couple hours. My subjects are often people that I know well and feel free to draw without hesitation. I do not stage my subjects or begin with a complete image in mind. The resulting piece is not preconceived but rather born in the present moment. Jenny Vu was born and raised in the small southern city of Niceville FL. Vu attended Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota FL. During her third year of school she participated in a semester long residency program in Brooklyn NY. Vu received her BFA in painting in 2010; shortly after, she moved to Portland, OR where she now lives and works. Vu has a studio in SE and works for a non profit after school arts program for kids. She plans to live and work in Portland for the next few years, before applying to graduate school or living abroad." Openings: 5 - 8 PM | February 9th | On view through February 23rd Littman & White Galleries Portland State University Second floor Smith Memorial Student Union 1825 SW Broadway | 503 . 725 . 5656 Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 09, 2012 at 10:50 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.08.12 Travis Fitzgerald + Gary Robbins at 12128 
There isn't any press info for Trav-man and Robbins (yes do think about the Batman theme song) exhibition if it is a crown it means it belongs to a king but I'm willing to go out on a limb, or boat as it were to suggest this. Let's just see what Travis Fitzgerald and Gary Robbins bring? 12128 presents if it is a crown it means it belongs to a king Opening Reception | Thursday February 9 | 8-11pm 12128 is moored at: Multnomah Yacht Repair | 12900 NW Marina Way Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 08, 2012 at 11:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 02.06.12 Richard Shiff Lecture  Paul Cezanne, The Card Players, 1890–92, Oil on canvas. 25 3/4 x 32 1/4 in. (c) Metropolitan Museum of Art Bequest of Stephen C. Clark The latest of Reed College's fantastic Stephen E Osterow Distinguished Vistors in the Arts lecture series (probably the best in the city) is art historian Richard Shiff. The talk is titled "Paul Cezanne, Loss of Subject." The title alone is interesting since art historians are often measured by the subject of their research. To wit, Shiff has completed tomes on Paul Cezanne, Donald Judd, de Kooning and a catalog raisonne for Barnett Newman, all A-listers. He's also the author of Critical Terms for Art History, so for once this will be a lecturer who can make a presentation without using jargon words like "authentic" or the slightly more meaningful but even more overused "notion." Here are Shiff's own words, which points to the real reason Cezanne is such a pivotal art historical figure, "Perhaps volatile feeling has the final say, not structured reason. Life is manifold, messy, inherently anti-ideological. This is the truth that at least some of Cezanne's early admirers believed his art confirmed. It made them tolerant of the singular opacity-or the utter banality-of images like the Card Players, where marks and their colours attracted more interest than the theme." ...and Reed's press release states, "Art historians usually classify images like Cezanne's Card Players as genre pictures: views of daily life that may reveal attitudes toward a class of society or a set of cultural practices. Can such pictures be abstractions? And if so, abstractions of what? Shiff's lecture investigates the fact that Cezanne's earliest viewers evaluated his Card Players as if they were abstractions, and by this interpretive route, the paintings gained a special social significance." Lecture: Tuesday | February 7 | 7:00 p.m. Reed College | 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. | Vollum lecture hall Free and open to the public The Cooley Gallery will remain open until 7 p.m. Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 06, 2012 at 10:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 02.03.12 First Weekend Picks  Joseph Beuys, Blitzschlag mit Lichtschein auf Hirsch (Lightning with Stag in its Glare), 1958–85. Cast Bronze, Iron, and Aluminium, Overall dimensions variable, Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa GBM2001.2. (c) 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn It doesn't have an opening reception but the first Joesph Beuys show in the nearly 12 years I've lived here opens tomorrow in the atrium space at the Portland Art Museum. I've heard a constant string of complaints about PAM not doing anything of interest for younger relational aesthetics artists so Im not going to be delicate... Shut your pie hole and get on down to PAM this weekend. As the most important artist in the entire relational aesthetics canon this is a not to be missed show and marks the second in PAM's series of important Post War European artists. First one was Martin Kippenberger so this is some very cogent programming. Will the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards and Apex programming ever dovetail anbd complete the circle... if not people will still have a reason to complain. Till then, see it. Portland Art Museum | February 4 - May 27 
(on view in Hypercorrection) Recess presents Hypercorrection, featuring; Paul Clay, Sokhun Keo, Krystal South, Ross Young. A show exploring misinformation and the conventions of making decisions on said information the press release states, "The artist’s use of mimicry, material transformation, and dissimulation to incite... (more: featuring; Gabe Flores, Wendy Given and a big multimedia group show) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 03, 2012 at 13:43 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 02.01.12 First Thursday February 2012 Picks  Joe Thurston's Nothing Leading Anywhere Any More Except to Nothing (photo Jeff Jahn) Joe Thurston unveils a completely new body of work, Nothing Leading Anywhere Any More Except to Nothing. I find the way it packs up his world refreshing, because after 32+ years of unpacking the world with deconstruction it's about time somebody went the other direction... (more: Martin Kersels, Jim Neidhardt, Matt Connors and Northwest Modern) Posted by Jeff Jahn on February 01, 2012 at 22:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 01.30.12 Ligorano/Reese Lecture at PAM  Tomorrow, catch the latest of OCAC's interdisciplinary Connection lecture series with, Ligorano/Reese who will discuss, "50 Different Minds: Art and Design in the Age of Crowdsourcing," presented in conjunction with the Portland Art Museum. Last year I considered OCAC's Alfredo Jaar talk the best lecture of the year. "The collaborative interdisciplinary art team of Ligorano/Reese selects unusual materials and industrial processes to test the impact of art on social and political systems. Utilizing limited edition multiples, videos, sculptures and installations, they move easily from electronic art and computer controlled interactive installations to dish towels, underwear and snow globes, conveying vital, even urgent, commentary with a touch of humor. OCAC's lecture series, Connection : Intersecting Tradition and Innovation, is a program of guest makers and thinkers invited to Portland to explore and articulate the relationship of craft to other disciplines and fields." Lecture: 50 Different Minds: Art and Design in the Age of Crowdsourcing with Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese Tuesday, January 31 from 7:00-8:30pm Portland Art Museum | Mark Building Marion L. Miller Gallery | 1219 SW Park Avenue Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 30, 2012 at 17:39 | Comments (0) PermalinkMatt Connors Lecture and Exhibition at PSU  Matt Connors' studio PSU's MFA Studio Lecture Series starts up again for 2012 with Matt Connors, who also has a related exhibition Dark Rooms, which opens a day later (also at PSU). It should be of interest to all the reformed formalists (deformed-alists?) that Portland is chin deep in. "Matt Connors is a New York based artist who uses painting and abstraction to pursue an open ended and informal dialogue between form, style, material and meaning; exploring questions, problems (and problem solving) and propositions rather than assertions or solutions. Drawing from the history of painting as well as from non-fine art fields of language, music and design, Connor's work and it's subsequent installation creates embodied and at times theatrical instances of materialized thought. Selected exhibitions: Gas... Telephone... One Hundred Thousand Rubles, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany (2011); Line Breaks, Veneklasen / Werner, Berlin, Germany (2011); You're gonna take a walk in the rain and you're gonna get wet, Luttgenmeijer, Berlin, Germany (2011); Concentrations 54: Matt Connors and Fergus Feehily, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (2011); Matt Connors, Four Boxes Gallery at Krabbesholm, Skive, Denmark (2010); Dromedary Resting, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA (2010); You Don't Know, CANADA, New York, NY (2010)." Matt Connors Lecture: Wednesday February 1st 7:00 pm Portland State University: Shattuck Hall Room 212 1914 SW Park Ave C-O-O-L ART Presents MATT CONNORS - DARK ROOMS February 2 - February 27, 2012 Opening: February 2, 5 - 7 PM 2000 SW 5th Ave. Portland, OR 97201 Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 30, 2012 at 14:08 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.26.12 Bruce Nauman Basements at Reed 
Bruce Nauman's Wall-Floor Positions, 1968, 60 min., B & W, sound, 16 mm film transferred to digital video displayed on monitor. (c) 2012 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS) In 1968, while living in Northern California, Bruce Nauman signed with the Leo Castelli Gallery, which helped fund an important series of performance/video works. The latest show at Reed College's Cooley Gallery, Basements, explores this crucial period in Nauman's groundbreaking career. To discuss this period on February 17th, Nauman scholar and NYU professor Robert Slifkin lectures on the artist's early film and video work. Cooley Gallery • January 27 - March 9 (all events free) • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd Hours • Tuesday through Sunday 12 - 5 PM Slifkin Lecture and Reception • February 17 7:00PM Curatorial Conversation & Walk-Through • March 3rd 12PM with Stephanie Snyder Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 26, 2012 at 10:19 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 01.24.12 Artist | Architect John Holmes 
It's crazy world with architects who think they are artists, artists who think they are critics, critics who think they are curators and curators who think they are architects. Yes there is a point to made there but truth is, there is no reason one can't be very proficient in multiple disciples (Michelangelo, da Vinci, Judd, Irwin etc. all did it well indeed). The latest case in point is John Holmes (one of the principles at Holst Architecture, most recently responsible for the Bud Clark Commons.) According to sources, "His artwork is about transformation - a natural process we see in nature and in our own inner lives. By transforming wood from solid to gas through fire and recording on paper, the patterns created reveal the astonishing Beauty hidden within natural phenomenon." Ah, so he's an alchemist as well! Opening reception • Thursday January 26th 6pm - 8pm Holst Architecture • 110 SE 8th Portland, OR 97214 Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 24, 2012 at 16:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 01.20.12 Weekend Goings On 
Catch a special screening of !Women Art Revolution a film by Lynn Hershman Leeson at the NW Film Center on Sunday with a special introduction by Reed College's Stephanie Snyder. Screening • January 22 • 4:00 PM NW Film Center • $9 general $8 members • free to students and faculty Portland Art Museum • Whitsell Auditorium Sponsored by: Pacific Northwest College of Art, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland State University, Reed College, Northwest Film Center and Elizabeth Leach Gallery. ...(more after the jump: Peter Halley and PLACE) Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 20, 2012 at 22:44 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 01.19.12 Interior Margins Conversation II 
Interior Margins (1st guided conversation last December) photo Jeff Jahn Like a dinner party with a theme (which did in fact instigate this project)... the predominantly white, black and grey (or at least color muted) dress code tips viewers off that Interior Margins isn't so much of a comprehensive or even super tight survey of Northwest abstraction as much as it is a salon conversation starter amongst 11 ladies with a close connection to drawing (+ toasting Leonie Guyer) in their work. Curious about that that conversation? Join curator Stephanie Snyder and Interior Margin's artists Saturday for another guided conversation at the Lumber Room. The first talk was looooong winded yet worthwhile. Guided Conversation • 11am-1pm, Saturday • January 21 lumber room • 419 NW 9th • info@lumberroom.com Posted by Jeff Jahn on January 19, 2012 at 14:59 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 01.18.12 10th NW Biennial at Tacoma Art Museum Opens It is an even numbered year and like clockwork 2012 is predictably a giant survey
show year. The first of them, the 10th
Northwest Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum opens Saturday and explores the
multinational region from Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Washington States as well
as the British Columbia Territory of Canada. In fact, it is the first time the
Canadians have been invited to play and let's hope it spurs on more trans-border
exhibitions (it's true that it is easier for humans to cross the US/Canadian Border
than it is for art). Of the 30 artists 13 are from Portland (including myself,
look I did try to dissuade/dare them I
have a history of disliking these shows). In March Hide/Seek
will open in the next galleries over so there is an interesting programming confluence
here... by not being in Portland, Seattle or Vancouver BC perhaps Tacoma can sidestep or at least juggle
some very local politics? Designed by Antoine Predock TAM's is the best Museum building in cascadia.  Sean M. Johnson's Family Portrait (2008) According to TAM, "The 10th Northwest Biennial will examine the vital questions of who we are as residents of the Pacific Northwest, what we look like, and what are our aspirations for our communities. The Biennial will seek artworks that address the critical issues that underpin the larger issues of identity and community including the fluidity of regional identity in an age of global capitalism, increased urban migration, and the virtual diffusion of a discernible regional style. Because of the extraordinary complexities of these issues, The 10th Northwest Biennial will focus on the newly revitalized and resurgent forms of interdisciplinary art practices." Yes I've seen the show in an unfinished state and I'm happy to report there are at least 5 large installation pieces of which at least 3 of which are new works and there is a lot more video than we've seen in recent TAM Biennials. Importantly, being focused on “ interdisciplinary art” a good deal of it is not traditionally craft or landscape oriented but with this many artists you know it is going to be a bit of a zoo of a show. It is also important that many participants are not represented by galleries (though their presence is felt). Most prominent Northwest galleries tend to be a bit conservative and relying on them for bleeding edge trend analysis is not the best idea. Artists: Cynthia Camlin (Bellingham, WA), Pamela Caughey (Hamilton, MT), Dana Claxton [Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux] (Vancouver, BC), Harrell Fletcher (Portland, OR), Flicker Art Collabratory [Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic (Vancouver, BC), Wynne Greenwood (Seattle, WA), Wendy Given (Portland, OR), Gray & Paulsen [Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen] (Portland, OR), Laura Hughes (Portland, OR), Allison Hyde (Eugene, OR), Abraham Ingle (Portland, OR), Ariana Jacob (Portland, OR), Jeff Jahn (Portland, OR), Sean M. Johnson (Seattle, WA), Susie J. Lee (Seattle, WA), Benjamin Love (Boise, ID), Kirk Lybecker (Portland, OR), Jeremy Mangan (Fife, WA), Matt McCormick (Portland, OR), Kelly Neidig (Portland, OR), TJ Norris (Portland, OR), Paul Pauper (Seattle, WA), Juliette Ricci (Tacoma, WA), Paul Rucker (Seattle, WA), Reza Michael Safavi (Pullman, WA), Seattle Catalog LLC [Gretchen Bennett, Matthew Offenbacher, and Wynne Greenwood] (Seattle, WA), Henry Tsang (Vancouver, BC, Matika Wilbur [Swinomish/Tulalip] (Seattle, WA),Jin-me Yoon (Vancouver, BC), Joshua Zirschky (Portland, OR) Opening Reception • Janua |