PORT - Portland art + news + reviews

Cloepfil's Anne Sachs building in NW Portland

Tonight, local starchitect Brad Cloepfil will be the guest for Portland Spaces' bright lights discussion series. It all goes down at 6:00 at Jimmy Mak's, no cover... Doors open at 5:30 (get there early). Will Cloepfil and Gragg jam out? ....on kazoo's? ...or at least have a drummer for wise-ass rimshots?

Let's hope the increasingly bleak design outlook for the I-5 interstate bridge is addressed. We need a serious architect to shepherd this increasingly penny-wise pound foolish project... the only way to insure the billions of dollars spent on the largest new bridge project on the west coast doesn't simply become a XXL overpass. How... (more)

Harry Widman, "Mother and Daughter"

PCC's ArtBeat Week starts next Monday. The annual festival, which has run since 1989, boasts over 80 events on PCC's five campuses, all of which are free and open to the public. This year's featured artist is internationally recognized painter Harry Widman, whose work Mother and Daughter (above) has been added to PCC's permanent collection.

The festival runs May 12 - 16 on the Cascade, Rock Creek, Southeast Center, and Sylvania campuses. For a list of artists and activities and a schedule of events, visit the ArtBeat website.

TJ Norris, "Infinitus" (still)

The next Couture exhibition opened this week at NAAU. TJ Norris' Infinitus, the third and final component to the installation series Tribryd, is a "multimedia video lounge" that asks you to experience "the entire globe manifesting itself through interconnected man-made mini malls." The show runs May 7 - June 22, with an opening reception this weekend.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • May 10
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny St. • 503.231.8294

Jess Collins

Reed's Cooley Gallery presents an exhibition of work by seminal Beat Generation artist Jess Collins, known simply as "Jess" (1923-2004). Originally a chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project, Jess abandoned science and became an artist to protest nuclear weapons. Jess: To and From the Printed Page explores his relationship with printed materials, "as food and inspiration for his literary, esoteric vision." The traveling exhibition was organized by iCI.

Exhibition • Tue-Sun 12-5pm • May 9 - July 20
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Reed College

Also: Don't miss the artist talk by Margot Voorhies Thompson at Laura Russo, in conjunction with her Inventing/Adapting exhibition.

Artist talk • 11am • May 10 •
Laura Russo Gallery • 805 NW 21st AVE • 503.226.2754

Leigh Ledare

Opening this week at Small A: Every Picture Tells a Story... Or At Least is a Picture, curated by Jo Jackson and Chris Johanson, featuring the work of twelve contemporary artists.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • May 8
Small A Projects • 1430 SE 3rd • 503.234.7993

Justine Kurland

Photographer Justine Kurland is lecturing at PNCA this week. Kurland became well known after her participating in the 1999 group show Another Girl, Another Planet, in which she displayed "large tableau pictures of neo-romantic landscapes inhabited by teenaged girls." Her work continues to explore issues of feminine identity, including her PICA exhibition in 2005. We're lucky to have Kurland around these parts quite frequently.

Artist lecture • 12:30pm • May 7
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

Also: Roger Ballen is lecturing in conjunction with his exhibition at QPCA.

Artist lecture • 7pm • May 7 • $5
PICA • 224 NW 13th AVE

Heejung Kim, "Karma"

This Monday, two exhibitions curated by Midori Yoshimoto are opening at OSU's Galleries. The combination of Heejung Kim's series The World Between and Sarah Pucill's video installation Stages of Mourning creates "an unexpected, cross-cultural encounter of two women artists." Kim's sculptures and handmade books, in the Fairbanks Gallery, use unusual materials to create objects that explore Buddhist symbolism and Kim's own meditations on the great questions: meaning of life, meaning of death, meaning of existence... In the adjacent West Gallery, Pucill's video installation takes a Western approach to the symbolism of death, exploring the depth of psychological anguish one experiences when trying to cope with the loss of a loved one.

Opening reception • 11:30-1:30 • May 5
Fairbanks Gallery • 106 Fairbanks Hall • OSU Campus

Curator lecture • 6pm Reception 7pm Lecture • May 7
LaSells Stewart Center • 100 LaSells Stewart Center • OSU Campus

Joe Glasglow

Newspace presents Peripheral Vision by the Inner Light Group. Founded in 1986 by Shedrich Williames, the photography group now includes over 20 members working in a wide variety of styles. This exhibition explores the physical and metaphorical possibilities when considering our visual periphery: "Does it exist only in the mind of the photographer? Or is seeing with peripheral vision a physical process that keeps one alert to all that may be happening in the corners and around the edges of an image."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • May 2
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

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Werner Herzog film still

During the month of May, the NW Film Center will be featuring A Quest for the Sublime: The Films of Werner Herzog. A central figure in the 1970s New German Cinema movement, Herzog has risen to prominence with acclaimed films from his early Aguirre to the more recent Grizzly Man. His films are characterized by his "disregard [for] the distinction between narrative film and documentary in pursuit of a more profound truth."

The series begins on Friday, May 2nd with his 2007 film Encounters at the End of the World, an exploration of Antarctica in "all its stark beauty." The film airs at 7pm in the Whitsell Auditorium.

For the full schedule and ticket purchasing information, visit the NW Film Center site.

Roger Ballen, "Untitled"

South-Africa based artist Roger Ballen will present the U.S. debut of nine images from his new series this month at QPCA. Acclaimed for his documentary portraits of the small villages of South Africa, Ballen has recently begun taking a more directorial approach. In addition to his new images, Ballen will be showing select works from his Outland and Shadow Chamber series, in which he initially began to explore the theatrical methods that allow his subjects to become active participants in the making of his photographs. There will be a book signing in the gallery following Ballen's May 7 lecture at PICA. For those up north, visit the QPCA website for the Seattle lecture date.

Opening Reception • 6-9pm • May 1
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060
Artist lecture • 7pm • May 7 • $5
PICA • 224 NW 13th AVE

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The 2008 PDX Experimental Film Fest starts this week. Check out our review of last year's festival right here. For a full schedule of film fest 2008 events, visit their website.

The festival will open with a reception at Gallery Homeland for the installation Surreal Systems. Curated by Mack McFarland and Stephen Slappe, the installation features work by 13 artists "[e]xamining networks of colonialism, nature, motion, observation, pyramid schemes, and memory." Other PDX Experimental Film Fest events at Gallery Homeland include Proving Ground with Travis Wilkerson on May 1, and The First Ever Experimental Filmmaker Karaoke Throwdown on May 2.

Opening reception • 6:00pm - 12:00 AM • April 30
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th AVE • info@galleryhomeland.org

Coming up this weekend: The Fifth Annual Stumptown Comics Fest! This year's guest of honor is Mike Richardson, writer and publisher at local favorite Dark Horse Comics. Other exhibitors include Nicholas Gurewitch, Scott McCloud, Craig Thompson, and many more. And don't miss the opening party, put on by Spark Plug Comics.

Opening party • 8pm-late • April 25
Guapo Comics & Books • 6416 SE Foster Rd. • 503.772.3638

Comics Festival • 10am-7pm • April 26 & 27 • Tickets Required
Lloyd Center Doubletree • 1000 NE Multnomah

Chris Haberman

The Goodfoot is opening a duo show this week for Last Thursday featuring Chris Haberman and Mario Robert III. The two artists share a colorful, "folk"-like style, created on and with a variety of untraditional media. Haberman is a highly prolific local artist and curator, and Robert III hails from El Paso, TX, with a background in carpentry.

Opening reception • 5-11pm • April 24
The Goodfoot • 2845 SE Stark • 503.239.9292

Rudolph M. Schindler, "Lovell Beach House," Newport Beach, CA, photographed by Marvin Rand

The NW Film Center presents German experimental filmmaker Heinz Emigholz's Schindler's Houses. The latest in Emigholz's series Architecture as Autobiography, the film explores "a selection of buildings designed by the Viennese architect Rudolph M. Schindler," who completed his most important work in the 1920s in Los Angeles.

Film Showing • 7pm • April 23 • $4-$7
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

Setareh Shahbazi, "Secret Affinities"

PICA and the PSU Monday night lecture series present a talk by influential curator Regine Basha, who has worked for the past 15 years in Montreal, New York, and Austin. Her career has primarily focused on "realizing context-specific situations for the production of new work," including her work in the 90s with artist collectives Mayday Productions and the Brewster Project. Her "recent and upcoming exhibitions include an exhibition about listening with Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello (Lora Reynolds Gallery), an exhibition with Berlin-based Setareh Shahbazi (Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara [see above]), and a town-wide sound sculpture project in Marfa, Texas called The Marfa Sessions (Ballroom Marfa)." Read more about Basha here.

Curator lecture • 7:30-8:30pm • April 21
PSU Lecture series • 5th Ave Cinema • 510 SW Hall

Jeff Jahn, "Eutrophication" (detail) site specific installation

PORT's own Jeff Jahn will be speaking next week on his site-specific installation, Eutrophication. Jahn will discuss his wide artistic influences, including Robert Irwin, Robert Smithson, Donald Judd, Paul Klee, Sol LeWitt, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as his relationship to architecture and the aesthetic effects of his musical interests.

Artist talk • 7-8pm • April 22
PNCA • 825 NW 13th• Manuel Izquierdo Gallery (3D building)

On Saturday April 19th @ 7pm, The Video Gentlemen present "Media Archeology," the second in-studio live broadcast as they continue to program their BYOTV installation at NAAU. Featuring research and analysis, questions and answers from Stephen Slappe and a really intriguing presentation by art historian Kate Mondloch (come to the gallery and phone in your ?'s):

Static Age: The Early Years of Television Culture A presentation by Stephen Slappe
This program of archival 16mm films examines the early years of television as a technological and cultural phenomenon. The program includes behind-the-scenes glimpses at television studios as well as references to television in popular culture from the 1930's to the 1960's.

Look at This: The Problem of Participation in 1970s Video Installation A presentation by Kate Mondloch
Look at This scrutinizes how media objects and their customary viewing regimes actively define the relationship between bodies and screens in media installation art. The talk complicates the notion of an inherently progressive, liberatory "spectator participation" that is celebrated in most accounts of media installation by detailing the ways in which screens are also capable of generating oppressive viewing conditions that strictly delimit the viewer's interaction with the work.

Mondloch states: "As in everyday life, screens and their illuminated moving images can offer a sort of siren song-calling spectators to largely involuntary behavior, begging them to look and pay attention, and to discipline themselves and their bodies in the process. The talk analyzes a series of influential closed-circuit video installations that intentionally explore the "architectures" of media spectatorship, including Frank Gillette and Ira Schneider's pioneering Wipe Cycle (1969), Bruce Nauman's video corridor works (1969-72), and Dan Graham's Present Continuous Past(s) (1974). I analyze how these early video works employ two apparently contradictory processes. Artists underscore the coercive nature of screen-based viewing by varying the arrangement of cameras and monitors-combining live and pre-recorded feedback, inverting viewers' images, divorcing cameras from their monitors, introducing time delays, and so on. Simultaneously, however, the technological apparatuses themselves arguably impose precise kinesthetic and psychic effects upon their audiences. This discrepancy between active and passive viewership presents an unresolved paradox for the artform's criticism."

The new Milepost 5 building is launching its arts programming this week with Self Projections. Video, film, sound and installations by 19 artists will be exhibited throughout the first floor of condos. Curated by Gary Wiseman, the show explores the idea that perception is innately personal and unique, and that art is in many ways about sharing that perspective.

The venue itself is an interesting Portland development. Milepost 5 is a new condominium development in far-out NE that is styling itself as "affordable and sustainable live/work spaces for artists in a supportive and interactive, community setting" - that is currently being pushed by Gavin Shettler. With the economic and real estate situation being what it is, one has to wonder if selling condos to build an artist's community from scratch might be even an more ambitious project than the recently closed Portland Art Center. It's another intriguing idea... But is it viable? I suppose you can come to the opening and find out.

Opening reception • 8pm-midnight • April 18
Milepost 5 • 900 NE 81st AVE • 503.724.6933

Nan Curtis

In True Colors, Nan Curtis uses quotidian objects such as cotton, lighters, and carpet to explore "family, social taboos, sex, and pregnancy." At once playful and slightly unnerving, her work challenges the social conventions that we rely upon to approach these touchy and yet utterly human subjects.

Opening reception • 6pm • April 16
Linfield Gallery • 900 SE Baker St. McMinnville • 503.883.2804

chris bennett at chambers

Chris Bennett, "Fence (diptych)"

Chambers presents New Antiquarians, a group photography exhibition. Five artists toy with 19th century "antiquated" photography techniques, updated with modern sensibilities and aesthetics. Featured artists include Leanne Hitchcock, Rachel Heath, Christine Laputa, Chris Bennett, and Sika Stanton.

Opening reception • 5:30-8:30pm • April 17
Chambers Fine Art • 207 SW Pine St. #102 • 503.227.9398

Marie Watt, "Space Between Clock and Bed"

PSU has launched a radio program to complement their Monday night lecture series. From 12-1pm each Monday on KPSU, hosts Alex McCarl and Cyrus Smith will be interviewing the visiting artists from the lecture series. (Note: You can stream KPSU broadcasts live from their website.) Tomorrow's guest will be Marie Watt.

Check the schedule and learn more about the interviewees on the ArtTalk Blog.

MidTown Arts Center, Eugene, OR

In 2005, Carole Zoom purchased a building in Eugene with the goal of providing a shared space for non-profit arts organizations. By offering them highly reduced rent for three years, the organizations were able to raise sufficient funds to purchase the building from her, and it is now the Eugene MidTown Arts Center (above), home of the Eugene Ballet and 7 other arts organizations.

Zoom is interested in creating a similar space in Portland. It would follow a similar model: She would purchase the building, non-profit arts organizations could move in for very low rent, and over time the building would be purchased from her. This is an excellent opportunity to create a much-needed hub for non-profit arts in Portland, but Zoom needs to assess interest in the project before she can go forward.

To that end, she will be hosting an informal meeting to discuss the project at 6pm on Wednesday, April 16. For more information about the project and the location of the meeting, please contact Carole Zoom at carolezoom@mac.com.

Jenene Nagy & Stephanie Robison, "Sitelines" (detail)

Sitelines, a joint exhibition by Stephanie Robison and PORT's own Jenene Nagy, explores ways that painting and sculpture can intertwine and reinvent the gallery space.

Opening reception • 3-5pm • April 13
Gallery talk • 12pm • April 30
Art Gym Main Space • Marylhurst University, 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy 43) • 503.636.8141, ext. 3383

pdx oregon bikes

Oregon Handmade Bicycles at PDX Airport

Ten custom bicycles are currently on display at PDX airport's artOBJECTS showcase in Concourse E. The bikes are all handmade in Oregon, and "demonstrate [the] combination of engineering skills, precision metal craftsmanship, cutting edge design, and passion for cycling" that has made Portland (& Oregon)'s bike culture so legendary. Because the bikes are only viewable by passengers, a short video about the exhibit and participating framebuilders will be available at the RACC's website. You can also view pics on bikeportland.org.

Ongoing exhibition • April 3 - early October
PDX International • 7000 NE Airport Way

Damien Gilley in the Portland Building

Damien Gilley, "PlusMinus" (detail)

Damien Gilley's PlusMinus is currently on view at the Portland Building. The large-scale installation uses vinyl tape to create elegant architectural drawings on the walls, playing with "the phenomenology of perception."

Ongoing exhibition • On view 7am - 6pm, M-F • April 7 - May 2
Portland Building • 1120 SW 5th AVE

Joe Thurston, "Strenuous Life"

This Friday, the Jupiter Hotel is hosting the Buckman Bash, an art auction and benefit for Buckman Elementary, Portland's own arts elementary school. The event features emcee Andrew Dickson and solo musical performances by James Mercer (The Shins) and Stephen Malkmus (The Jicks), as well as a student art show including animated shorts. Some excellent local artists have donated their work, including Storm Tharp, Joe Thurston, Scott Wayne Indiana, Marlana Stoddard Hayes, Eugenia Pardue, PORT's own Jenene Nagy, and more.

Buckman Bash • Doors at 7pm • April 11 • $50
Jupiter Hotel • 800 E Burnside

Can't make the bash? Swing by the school for the 18th annual Art "Show & Sell":
Friday, April 11 • 5-9pm
Saturday, April 12 • 10am-5pm
Buckman Elementary • 320 SE 16th AVE

Ken Shores at Museum of Contemporary Craft

Ken Shores, "Feather Fetish"

Generations: Ken Shores opens this week at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. The exhibition "seeks a new understanding of Shores' work in the context of his role as a student, teacher, leader, artist and foundational figure in the American Craft Movement," placing his work in the context of his "home, travels, and experience."

Exhibition • April 10 - July 23
Artist Lecture • 2pm • May 4 • Free, in The Lab
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis St. • 503.223.2654

MoCC's next "Excellence in Craft" lecture is also happening this week. Paul Smith, Director Emeritus of the American Craft Museum (now Museum of Arts & Design), will speak on Reflections: Twentieth Century Studio Craft Movement - Current Observations.

Lecture • 7pm • April 10 • $5
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis St., The Lab • 503.223.2654

Storm Tharp, "The Duke of Albuquerque"

Storm Tharp will be lecturing tonight as part of the ongoing Monday night MFA lecture series at PSU.

Artist lecture • 7:30pm • April 7
PSU Lecture Series • 5th AVE Cinema • 510 SW Hall

Lauren Clay, "Prism Pile"

The Archer Gallery at Clark College presents Dialogue: A group exhibition of six artists whose work "spans the divide between two-and three-dimensional art, creating a dialogue on image and form." Many of the artists are Seattle-based, which adds a more buttoned-down formal quality to the show than the more energetic Portland-based work.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • April 8
Archer Gallery • Clark College, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA • Penguin Union Building (PUB) attached to Gaiser Hall

Matt McCormick, from "The Problem of Machines that Communicate"

As part of the Northwest Tracking series, the NW Film Center presents An Evening with Matt McCormick. The Portland filmmaker will be present at the screening of two of his recent films, The Problems of Machines that Communicate (2008 - premiered at SXSW), and Future So Bright (2007), as well as a series of short music videos and experimental projects.

Film Showing • 9pm • April 9 • $4 - $7
NW Film Center • Whitsell Auditorium • 1219 SW Park AVE

Kate Simmons, "Storm Warning"

The PSU graduating MFA exhibition series begins next week. The shows run in two week cycles, and feature "work ranging from obsessive marks on paper to video and mixed-media installation ... that demonstrate[s] intellectual rigor and aesthetic diversity." There will always be two shows running simultaneously, in the Autzen and MK Galleries. The first run is from April 7-18 (opening receptions listed below). You can view the full list of future exhibitions on the art dept.'s website.

Kate Simmons • Opening reception • 6-8pm • April 10
Autzen Gallery • PSU, Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, 724 SW Harrison St.

Amy Steel • Opening reception • 6-8pm • April 10
MK Gallery • PSU, Art Building, 2nd Floor rm 210, 2000 SW 5th Ave.

Chris Held, "Overstock," installation view

"o•ver•stock v: 1. vti to stock more of something than is necessary or desirable 2. vt to graze an area with more livestock than it can support n an excessively large supply of something."

Chris Held explores the quasi-religion built around the modern commodity in Overstock, on view this month at Jáce Gáce. Positing that in modern culture, products have replaced the promise of love and happiness that once came from religion, Held has created an immense shrine of boxed goods, topped with a microwave in place of a religious figure.

Opening reception • 6pm-midnight • April 4
Jáce Gáce • 2045 SE Belmont • 503.239.1887

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24 hour drawpocalypse at cosmic monkey comics

David Chelsea

It's a comic marathon! Comic artists from all over the region will gather this weekend at Cosmic Monkey Comics to create a 24 page collaborative work in 24 straight hours of work. Come watch, cheer them on, enjoy refreshments, and get pumped up for the upcoming late April Comics Fest.

Comic Marathon • 10am - 10am • April 5 - April 6
Cosmic Monkey Comics • 5335 NE Sandy Blvd • 503.517.9050

Eva and Franco Mattes, "Jenna Varun"

On view this month at the Augen Gallery is Eva and Franco Mattes' Avatars and Other Images from Alternate Universes, an extension of their recent exhibition 13 Most Beautiful Avatars. The prints emerge from avatars built in the Mattes's exploration of Second Life, an online virtual world where users can create the ultimate idealized self. Borrowing from Pop Art sensibility, the Mattes have brought Warhol's influence into the 21st century, "scrutiniz[ing] simultaneous concepts of 'beauty' and 'reality', [and] pointing to the heightened relevance of a post-20th-century cult of superficiality."

Opening reception • 5-8:30pm • April 3
Augen Gallery NW • 716 NW Davis • 503.546.5056

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Katherine Ace, "Animals on the Inside"

The 19th Annual CAP art evening and auction is happening this Saturday. The auction, which features artist Katherine Ace amid many wonderful works, benefits the Cascade AIDS Project. This year's theme is Cirque (whimsical), and the event will also feature the finest in Portland food and entertainment.

Art auction & social • Doors open at 5pm • April 5
Oregon Convention Center • 777 NE MLK Blvd. • Exhibit Hall C

Jenene Nagy

Jenene Nagy will be lecturing on her APEX show at PAM this Sunday. The talk will explore "her working practice, its history, and inspirations."

Artist talk • 2pm • March 30 • Free to members, or with cost of admission to the museum.
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park AVE • Andrée Stevens Room

Coming up at PAM: The next Miller Meigs show will be Ed Ruscha - on loan from the Broad collection. As PORT pointed out when everyone was all in a tizzy over the Broad revelation, LACMA's loss is already turning out to be our gain.

Brittany Powell & Jill Bliss

Opening on Last Thursday is Brittany Powell & Jill Bliss's project Califoregon. Powell is a native Oregonian and Bliss is a native Californian. After meeting at CCA and both finding themselves landing in Portland (it's the northern expansion!), they decided to unite their native aesthetics and bring us this collaborative exhibition of drawings, cut-outs, screen prints, and more - all celebrating the growing hybrid that is Califoregon.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • March 27
Office PDX • 2204 NE Alberta • 888.355.7467

Make sure to check out the review of BYOTV below.

If you like what you read, come down to NAAU this week for the following Week One transmissions: "From infomercials to local news, genre westerns and classic sitcoms, familiar forms are aflutter. Amplified to the point of distortion, these audio-visual vernaculars are rewired by: Linda Austin, Lili White, Nerve Theory, Jesse England and Taly & Russ Johnson. This week's offerings also include abstract illusions from Marchi Wierson and elusive allusions from Ryan Dunn. And don't miss Bosko Blagojevic's typo-corrected rendition of Richard Serra and Carlotta Fay Schoolman's famous media critique Television Delivers People."

New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

The Living Room Theater is launching Art Spark: Every third Thursday, interested parties gather in their lounge to chat about art. It's a private business looking to break into the art scene, but it sounds like it could be a promising event. Each month there will be a different host from the local art scene, who gets "6@6" - 6 minutes at 6pm to say or do whatever they want, followed by open discussion. March's host is Arts & Culture Commissioner Sam Adams. The event is free, but space is tight, so they ask that you RSVP.

Creative discourse • 5-7pm • March 20 (and every 3rd Thursday)
Living Room Theaters • SW 10th & Stark

ellen lupton at museum of contemporary craft

Ellen Lupton

In conjunction with PNCA, the Museum of Contemporary Craft presents a lecture by Ellen Lupton. Theorizing that design is a form of creativity that is accessible to all, Lupton's The Design-It-Yourself Revolution "explore(s) how technology is combining with social movements to create greater access to design tools and creativity."

Excellence in craft lecture • 7pm • March 20 • $5
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • The Commons

The first exhibition in NAAU's Couture series opens next week with The Video Gentlemen's BYOTV. The show is in response to the U.S.'s decision to end all analog television broadcasting in February, 2009: "Pre-empting the scheduled program of obsolescence, The Video Gentlemen's BYOTV network launches a six-week season of special reports engaged with this technocultural turn." The signal will be broadcast from NAAU, and visitors are encouraged to "Bring Your Own TV," or borrow one from the gallery, "intercepting transmissions from their immediate airspace."

Exhibition • March 19 - April 27
Update! Opening reception • 5-8pm • March 22
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

If you're looking for a little more action this weekend, check out these events:

k sims fashion at pancake clubhouse

K Sims

The Pancake Clubhouse presents local designer K Sims' recycled fashion show. She'll be debuting designs that explore "deconstruction, luxury, reincarnation, beauty, and individuality," all accompanied by a saw and theramin performance.

Fashion show • 8pm • March 15
Pancake Clubhouse • 906a NE 24th Ave • pancakeclubhouse@gmail.com

UCA theater

Gallery Homeland will be hosting the United Church of America, a traveling political theater group, featuring the constitutional Prophet "BCG" and his newest political sermon "Make America." GH invites you to "Come celebrate your country with a Constitutional Communion!"

Political theater • 7pm • March 14 & 15 • $6
Gallery Homeland 2505 SE 11th AVE • info@galleryhomeland.org

Dave O'Johnson, "Loiter"

Rocksbox presents Man Friends Forever, a joint-show with California's Dave O' Johnson & Brian Wasson. Rumor has it there will be a pig roast at the opening!

Opening reception • 7-11pm • March 15
Rocksbox Fine Art • 6540 N Interstate AVE • 971.506.8938

Anissa Mack's The Last Full Weekend Each September is opening this weekend at Small A. The show collects pieces from Mack's Durham Fair and Durham Fair (10th Anniversary Edition) series. Having grown up attending the Durham Fair, for these projects Mack created pieces to enter in all 73 craft categories at the fair, exploring and interrogating American craft rituals and traditions. This show is the first time these pieces have been exhibited outside the fair.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • March 8
Small A Projects • 1430 SE 3rd AVE • 503.234.7993

In conjunction with the exhibit, Mack will be speaking for this Monday's (March 10) PSU lecture series at 7:30pm at the 5th Ave Cinema, SW 5th & Hall.

Ann Ploeger

Pushdot Studio is celebrating the gallery's official reopening in their new location with Ann Ploeger's In Between. The series reinvents the self-portrait, exploring "uninhabited spaces... in which stillness lends itself to the specificity of being there." The photographs encourage the viewer to reflect on how these images represent moments in the artist's life and self, while using light and color to create a sense of location that invites the viewer into the moment.

Opening Reception • 6-9pm • March 7
Pushdot Studio • 1021 SE Caruthers • info@pushdotstudio.com

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laura fritz at quality pictures contemporary art

Laura Fritz, still from "Interspace"

QPCA will be unveiling their fourth "Qproject." Interspace is a "fully immersive" video installation by Laura Fritz. The installation continues Fritz's exploration of what happens inside the viewer's mind as expectation and perception are manipulated by a "purposeful and provocative vacuum."

mark hooper at quality pictures contemporary art

mark hooper at quality pictures contemporary art

Mark Hooper, "Untitled (from the series There:Here)"

Also opening at QPCA: Mark Hooper's There:Here, an exhibition of large-scale photographs that "use metaphorical events and tools to address enabling and predicting change on the physical, psychological or spiritual level."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • March 6
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

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Nubar Alexanian, "Man on the Box (recreation)"

Join curators Stephanie Snyder, Stuart Horodner, and Mack McFarland this Saturday for a walk-through of the latest exhibition in PNCA's Feldman Gallery & Project Space. Untraceable explores "artists' responses to political control, violence and torture."

Artist & Curator walk-through • 11am • March 1
PNCA • 1241 NW Johnson St. • 503.226.4391

French Philosopher Jacques Ranciere's lecture at PNCA promises to be the heaviest talk we will experience in 2008. He's pretty much the art world's favorite intellectual these days. To familiarize yourself a tiny bit here's what he thought of Guantanamo Bay and here's a decent interview related to his book "The Politics of Aesthetics."

According to PNCA's press release, Ranciere as emeritus professor at the University of Paris VIII, is considered "one of the five leading intellectuals in the world today." (Either that or he has one of the five best publicists...) Ranciere will be making his first visit to Portland to speak as part of FIVE Idea Studios, and will speak on the subject of "What Makes Images Unacceptable." I rather doubt he will discuss what makes philosphers unacceptable though.... (kidding aside, this should be good.)

PNCA
February 29, 2008, 6:30pm, Swigert Commons

Fresh Impressions: Letterpress Printing in Contemporary Art @ OCAC
Opening reception on Thursday, February 28 from 4:00-7:00pm

Curated by artists Inge Bruggeman and Heather Watkins, the show explores the relevance of letterpress printing in contemporary art, while seeking to define its significance to current art making practices.

The exciting lineup of participating artists include Abra Ancliffe, Jan Baker, Amy Borezo, Sarah Bryant, Macy Chadwick, Julie Chen, Wendy Fernstrum, Heather Green, Carl Haase, Diane Jacobs, Alicia McKim, Heidi Neilson, Erin Newell, Amy Pirkle, Robin Price, Harry Reese, John Risseeuw, Regula Russelle, Wilbur Schilling, CB Sherlock, Amy Sterly, and Rachel Wiecking (an artists to watch).

OCAC's Hoffman Gallery
8245 S.W. Barnes Road
Portland, OR 97225

Miguel Rio Branco, "Blue Panther"

This weekend, Quality Pictures is hosting a lecture/brunch. Curator Erik Schneider will discuss the concept, technique, and market behind the photographic exhibition The Man Show. Admission is free, but space is limited, so RSVP to info@qpca.com or 503.227.5060. Note: It will also be your last chance to check out Brian Ulrich's Thrift.

Artist lecture & brunch • 10:30-11:30am • March 1
Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060

Happening further south this weekend in LA: Portland's own GLARE Quarterly is having the release party for issue #3 this Saturday at MOCA @ 4:30PM (Pacific Design Center).

Happening tonight: Photojournalist Joel Preston Smith will be lecturing at Newspace on the four months he lived in Iraq in 2003, documenting "Iraqis' daily lives, rituals, and struggle to survive-both before and after the U.S. invasion."

Artist slide lecture • 7pm • February 26 • Free
Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th AVE • 503.963.1935

Later this week, Newspace will be hosting their third annual silent auction. The proceeds benefit their educational programs and "contribute to the strength of the organization." The auction is on February 29, and is $10 at the door for non-members. For more information, visit their website.

Reed is also hosting the final lecture in the Working History series. Kianga Ford will discuss her Counting installation, which "examines racial identity through an intermingling of textual narrative and abstract mathematics." The lecture will be followed by a closing reception for the exhibition in the Cooley Gallery.

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • February 27
Reed College, Eliot 314 • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

Stephen Scott Smith, "gorillasmith series"

For their final exhibition in their space below the Wonder Ballroom, the Mark Woolley Gallery presents ALPHABET SOUP: Labeling, Identity, Stigma, Pride. They're still looking for artists to submit work that explores "the external and internal dimensions of the sexual labels G, L, B, T, Q, I, A, SGL, 2S and more." The exhibition will also include a non-juried wall for all artists to express themselves on the subject.

Click here for submission guidelines. The deadline is March 1, at 5:30pm.

Opening reception & dance party • 5pm - late • March 8
Woolley at Wonder • 128 NW Russell St. • 503.224.5475

Closing party / Goodbye to the space • 5pm - late • March 21

WNTR WRKS drawing

PICA and Cartune Xprez present an animation festival with "the last breaths of winter." There will be screenings of videos by Takeshi Murata, Bruce Bickford, Josh Mannis, and more, as well as music/video/theater performance featuring Hooliganship and others, and musical interludes by DJ Beyonda.

Animation festival • 9pm • February 24 • $6, 21+
Holocene • 1001 SE Morrison

Installation Shot of Io Palmer & "Janitorial Supplies" 2007-8

Continuing the Working History lecture series, Io Palmer will speak this Friday at Reed College. Her installation Janitorial Supplies "explores the history of African American labor, class, and physical adornment."

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • February 22
Reed College Eliot 314 • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

Faith Ringgold will also be lecturing at Reed on her work Marlon Riggs: Tongues Untied, A Painted Story Quilt on Sunday, Feb. 24, at 3pm in Kaul Auditorium.

Philippe Blanc, from "Limelight"

There will be a curatorial talk on Limelight this weekend, featuring PORT's own Jeff Jahn. Check out the gallery website for statements on smelly cheese, video, and the excellent body of work that makes up this exhibition.

Curator talk • 2pm • February 24
Alexander Gallery • 19600 Molalla AVE, Oregon City • 503.657-6958

roadside attraction at PSU autzen gallery

Stephanie Robison, "Cloud Cover with Bricks"

On Monday, Stephanie Robison and Paula Rebsom's Roadside Attraction will be opening at PSU's Autzen Gallery. Using landscape photography and studio sculpture, Roadside Attraction "explores ways in which we, as a culture, mediate our interactions with nature. "

Opening reception • 5-7pm • February 18
Autzen Gallery • PSU, Neuberger Hall, 2nd Floor, 724 SW Harrison St.

The reception is immediately before the Monday night MFA lecture series. This week, the Center for Land Use Interpretation will be speaking.

Jenene Nagy false flat at Portland Art Museum

Jenene Nagy, from "False Flat"

PORT's own Jenene Nagy will be bringing her site specific installation work to PAM's APEX series. Open through June, the exhibition pushes Nagy's exploration of "the need to invent idealized spaces ... that blur the boundaries between built and natural environments." PORT reviewed her breakout False Flat show last fall.

Exhibition • February 16 - June 22
Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park AVE • 503.226.2811

Nick Cave, installation at the Chicago Cultural Center

One of the artists from Working History (previously reviewed here) is speaking this week at Reed. Nick Cave will discuss his Sound Suit installation, a series which was originally inspired in 1991 by the beating of Rodney King. The lecture is the first of four lectures from the exhibition. There will be a reception held after Cave's talk.

Artist lecture • 6:30pm • February 15
Reed College Vollum Lecture Hall • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Opening reception • 8-10pm • February 15
Cooley Gallery • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

While you're there: Don't forget to check out Laura Fritz's Caseworks 13, which closes February 17.

Liz Obert

The Linfield Gallery will be showing Liz Obert's Observations from the Nicoya Peninsula. This is the first exhibition of Obert's work inspired by her travels to Costa Rica - and a chance for chilly Portlanders to fantasize a little about warmer cultures and climes.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • February 13
Linfield Gallery • 900 SE Baker St. McMinnville • 503.883.2804

Whether or not you're sick of the bumper sticker campaign, this is a great opportunity to bring the quirky side of Portland art to the politicos. Keep Portland Weird is looking for work for a March exhibition in City Hall. There is no submission fee, and the deadline is Friday, February 15. Visit their website for more info.

Art on Alberta Annual Meeting

If you're more interested in talking about how to keep Portland weird (or just artistic), come to the annual Art on Alberta meeting, featuring keynote speaker Commissioner Sam Adams. Buffet is $5.

Meeting • 6:30-8pm • February 13
Zaytoon in the Alberta Arts District • 2236 NE Alberta St. • info@artonalberta.org

Army Private First Class John E. Brown of Troy, Ala. (left) was killed in Iraq on April 14, 2003, Private First Class David N. Simmons of Kokomo, Ind. was killed on April 8, 2007 in Baghdad (right) Images courtesy of Kent Gallery, NYC

Ok, I must admit... I'm easilly annoyed by a lot of political art that simply rides a wave of dissatisfaction (most war art is just propoganda) but maybe Emily Prince has found a way to keep from merely "taking dictation" from the nightly news and making one-dimensional art. Sure, she makes drawings of servicemen killed in Iraq but there must have been more to this than just that if Robert Storr had decided to put her in the Venice Biennale last year. Storr is notoriously wary of political art as this pre-biennale interview points out.

5th Ave Cinema | Monday, February 11th, 7:30pm | 510 SW Hall St. (free)

Richard Deacon's Dead Leg, 2007

In 1987 Richard Deacon won Britain's prestigious Turner Prize, tomorrow he will speak on his work and concerns as they relate to his wonderful current installation in the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. Deacon's show is part of the Miller-Meigs series (aka the best curatorial programming arc the city of Portland [or Seattle, only the Frye come close] has ever experienced... considering weve already seen Roxy Paine, Damien Hirst, Richard Rezac, Kehinde Wiley, Pierre Huyghe, Ursula von Rydingsvard and Sophie Calle. In other words, this is a must see... and you can hear the artist this time.

February 8th
6:00 PM @ Portland Art Museum's Whitsell Auditorium
$5 members - $10 nonmembers

The 31st Portland International Film Festival starts today! This 17 day festival, hosted by the NW Film Center, includes award winning film from all over the world, showing at several venues around the city. For more information, including film listings and schedule updates, visit the PIFF website.

Motoya Nakamura, "Hoop"

23 Sandy presents March Fourth, an exhibition of Motoya Nakamura's photography of the beloved Portland marching band. The highly cinematographic images explore the band performing and behind the scenes, providing a lush insight into the circus-like world of March Fourth.

Artist reception • 6pm • February 8
Slide lecture • 7pm • February 20
23 Sandy Gallery • 623 NE 23rd AVE • 503.927.4409

Cherie Hiser at 23 Sandy

Cherie Hiser, "1972"

While you're at the gallery, head back to the slide room to check out Visions of One. Cherie Hiser has been "model and muse" for many of photography's legends, from Ruth Bernhard and Jerry Uelsmann, to Lee Friedlander, Judy Dater, and Stu Levy, and this exhibition showcases her collection of portraits.

Opening reception • 6pm • February 8
23 Sandy Gallery • 623 NE 23rd AVE • 503.927.4409

In pursuit of beauty and social commentary, IGLOO presents the mixed-media work of Modou Dieng. !Hey Lover combines painting, photography, found objects, and installation to explore the "humanity, topography, and pastiche of forms" in contemporary life.

Opening reception • 6-10pm • February 7
IGLOO • 325 NW 6th #102 • 503.724.7300

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Since First Friday came so quickly this month, a couple of galleries decided to bump it to First Wednesday. Opening this week:

Michael Patterson-Carver at Small A

Michael Patterson-Carver, "1967 School Children's March"

This month, Small A Projects will be featuring the drawings of Michael Patterson-Carver. State of the Union explores the history of social injustice and protest in the United States. Each drawing displays a group of protesters fighting one of the many battles that has shaped American history. By contrasting drawings of such historical groups as the suffragettes with modern illustrations of the "state of the union" (and his own struggle against the Patriot Act), Patterson-Carver seeks to highlight the dark hypocrisy at work in politics today. However, the smiling faces on the protesters reminds us that with action, there is hope.

Opening reception • 6-9pm • February 6
Small A Projects • 1430 SE Third • 503.234.7993

Julia Gardner at Vino Paradiso

Julia Gardner

A more local history can be found at Vino Paradiso. Julia Gardner will present her (literally) layered personal view on the buildings and spaces that have shaped Portland and its history. Beginning with industrial urban photographers, Gardner uses resin to layer found objects, paint, and ink, creating a uniquely Portland narrative within each work.

Opening reception • 7-9pm • February 6
Vino Paradiso • 417 NW 10th AVE • 503.284.4471

Kate Pocrass is a social practice artist from San Francisco who uses a telephone messaging service to direct people to "off the beaten path" destinations. She prefers to make people "stop and look with intention, not going from point A to B quickly." An alumnus of the Bay Area Now 4 triennial it should be interesting to hear about any off the beaten path destinations in Portland.

5th Ave Cinema | Monday, February 4th, 7:30pm | 510 SW Hall St. (free)

Lucy Orta

Designer and artist Lucy Orta will be lecturing next week at Reed College. In projects such as "Refuge Wear," "Body Architecture," and "Nexus Architecture" (1992-2002), Orta's work explores ways to visualize the concept of "Social Link." She's a pioneer in the development of "socially driven and sustainable design solutions, alternative systems, and products."

Artist lecture • 7pm • February 5
Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. • Vollum lecture hall

This group exhibition, curated by Todd Johnson, examines "the mythology and romanticism of the American western frontier." What lingering effect does the notion of the pioneer and Manifest Destiny have on the making of contemporary photography? The artists in this show explore what is still captivating about "the legends and myths of the Wild Wild West."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • February 1
Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th AVE • info@galleryhomeland.org

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Philippe Blanc, from "Limelight"

This weekend, Limelight, curated by PORT's own Jeff Jahn, is opening at the Alexander Gallery at Clackamas Community College. The show explores the tricks and techniques that artists use to catch the eye - and, more importantly, how an artist goes about holding the viewer's attention.

Opening reception • 4-6pm • February 2
Alexander Gallery • 19600 Molalla AVE, Oregon City • 503.657-6958

Opening this week at Rererato: Two Thousand Kilometers in Two Weeks: Photographer Michael Cogliantry Takes on India in a Rickshaw. In December 2006, Cogliantry traveled from the Malabar Coast of Cochin (Kochin) to Hyderabad, documenting his travels along the way. For this exhibition, Cogliantry presents a series of self portraits taken during the trip, forming a "unique narrative" that expresses his journey of self discovery through the eyes of a fictional character. There will also be a book signing at the opening.

Opening reception • 7-10pm • January 31
Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd AVE • info@rererato.com

Johann Neumeister

This weekend, ROCKSBOX presents Austrian artist Johann Neumeister's Psychopsychoanalysis. For this installment of the project, Neumeister will be focusing on the concept of "mother." On opening night he will be available as Dr. Herbert Dreadful, setting up office in the gallery for free Psychopsychoanalytical sessions. Neumeister cites chance, improvisation, connecting people and working with his surroundings as influences on his work.

Opening reception • 7-11pm • January 26
ROCKSBOX • 6540 N Interstate AVE • 971.506.8938

Jesse Hayward at Tilt and Tilt 2 Year Anniversary

This weekend, Tilt is celebrating two fabulous years as an increasingly integral part of the Everett Station Lofts. The party features excellent food, drink, and company, and the closing reception for Jesse Hayward's One None Done.

Anniversary party + closing reception • 7-11pm • January 25
Tilt Gallery & Project Space • 625 NW Everett #106 • 908.616.5477

Nice Trim at IGLOO

While you're in the neighborhood, swing by IGLOO for the closing reception of Nice Trim, a group show featuring animation and works on paper.

Closing reception • 7-10pm • January 25
IGLOO • 325 NW 6th AVE #102 • iglooarts@gmail.com