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Portland art blog + news + exhibition reviews + galleries + contemporary northwest art
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Tuesday 07.31.07 First Thursday Picks August 2007 
Joe Thurston, "Correspondence" For the month of August, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery presents Then, Quite Suddenly, We Were Simply No Longer Anywhere, an exhibition by Joe Thurston. Thurston's painstakingly hand-carved relief paintings expose the labor of the relief process, while exploring the tactile possibilities of the painted surface. Opening reception • 6-9pm • August 2 Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th Ave. • 503.224.0521 (more) Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 31, 2007 at 9:21 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 07.30.07 Psst, artists! Behind the cut, a breadth of opportunities: Grants, a national juried show, and recycled fashion!
Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 30, 2007 at 11:02 | Comments (0) PermalinkMark Rothko gets the Schama treatment tonight at 10:00PM Pacific on OPB  Simon Schama's Power of Art series winds up today on OPB with Portland's most famous art world personage, Mark Rothko. Rothko attended Lincoln highschool (as did Matt Groening, Mel Blanc and Elliott Smith... a pretty sarcastic bunch) and had his first solo show at the Portland Art Museum in 1933. Schama's other programs have been a mixed bag; Van Gogh was a sad dry run for a made for TV movie and Picasso was a boring basic art historical regurgitation but his episode on Bernini was brilliant. His episodes on Rembrandt, Turner and David all offered great scenery and compelling stories that I found inspiring despite the requisite dramatizations. Rothko is a fitting end to the series and I have no idea whether the program will acknowledge that Rothko grew up in Portland. The effect of Portland's dramatic skies on his sense of color and use of grey are pretty undeniable, yet sadly the biggest gap in PAM's collection is indeed a major Rothko (he is depicted in a Milton Avery in the collection though). We do get see some major loaner Rothkos here from time to time though (like his Homage to Matisse last year). The city was beginning as a sad kind of cultural coma when Rothko left so nobody today questions his decision to leave. Back then you hd to go to New York, these days New Yorkers tend to want to move here. It's very different today and it always strikes me how much Rothko's writings remind me of certain Reed alumni I run into at Portland coffee houses. HDTV people can see it at 7:00 PM everone else has to wait until 10:00 PM. I know a lot of Portlanders who dont even bother to own TVs so maybe we can all meet at a Pearl District sports bar and do the unthinkable, subject the monday night crowd to cultural programming! Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 30, 2007 at 9:00 | Comments (7) PermalinkSaturday 07.28.07 David Eckard's Liveries (summer stock) at Mark Woolley Gallery  installation view (L to R) Proxy (beer bust), Bon bon bon & Bride (full bloom) This last winter David Eckard, arguably the premier Portland sculptor of his generation, surprised us with an interesting series of paintings at Chambers Gallery. That work resembled geological forms, bound flesh and clothing in an essential flattened space that had everyone asking, what does this mean for the sculpture? The question was further complicated by a recent residency in Rio that took place after the paintings had been created. The sense was the Eckard was restless and had some major changes afoot. More definitive answers came quickly with Eckard's show at the Mark Woolley Gallery, Liveries (summer stock), which delivers an important new shift to his work ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 28, 2007 at 8:49 | Comments (1) PermalinkFriday 07.27.07 Weekend Events 
Rererato presents Zzzzz... (Between the Sheets), a group show exploring sleep and dream related art. The opening reception this Saturday features several local Portland bands, and promises not to be a sleepy affair. Opening Reception • 4-9pm • July 28 Rererato • 5135 NE 42nd Ave. • info@rererato.com Tonight! Don't miss the screening of Odds and Ends 2 at the Rake Gallery. Curated by Karl Lind, this is a follow up to last winter's popular video collection Odds and Ends at Gallery Homeland. Friday, July 27, 8pm. $7 suggested donation. 325 NW 6th Ave. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 27, 2007 at 12:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkContemporary Northwest Art Awards list shortened Well the list of 28 artists for the 2008 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards
is out and 3 to 5 of them will make up the exhibition next June. One will be
awarded the $10,000 Arlene Schnitzer Prize...(more)
Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 27, 2007 at 10:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.26.07 Talking about nature  Naoto Nakagawa, "Forest of Eden" Naoto Nakagawa is lecturing tomorrow at PAM. Nature Up Close: The Landscape Reinvented will explore the history of Nakagawa's work since the 1960s, and his unique expression of the natural world. Friday, July 27, 5:30pm. The lecture is free, but reservations are required as seating is limited. Find out more here. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 26, 2007 at 9:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.25.07 Craft PDX Block Party - attracts and engages many One more DeSoto Project posting from PORT. As you may know by now, the Museum of Contemporary Craft hosted Craft PDX: A Block Party
this past Sunday. This event attracted and kept crowds throughout the entire 7.5 hour event, ending on fine musical notes of 3 Leg Torso. - Photo essay by Sarah Henderson -     Posted by Sarah Henderson on July 25, 2007 at 19:39 | Comments (0) PermalinkPerspectives on Desoto project and history lesson  Museum of Contemporary Craft exhibition space photo by Sarah Henderson Ok now that the big opening weekend has ended let's give the Desoto project some more sober analysis beyond the not underserved fawning weve already experienced...(much more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 25, 2007 at 13:35 | Comments (6) PermalinkMonday 07.23.07 The Material World- APEX :Wes Mills at the Portland Art Museum and Wes Mills: Drawings at PDX  Wes Mills Travel Box 1998-2004 at APEX: Wes Mills at the Portland Art Museum A pencil, some white powdered pigment, a couple of pieces of paper and an open mind. You can't get much simpler than that, but when Wes Mills started drawing again in the early 90's that was as good a starting place as any, because what he was looking for was within. Starting with a limited palette of raw materials, and therefore fewer variables, Wes felt like he could get closer to the experience of art. When I look at his drawings, I am reminded of the Zen archers who find that they are aiming at themselves in the center of the target. In Wes' case, I think he finds himself in his materials...(more) Posted by Arcy Douglass on July 23, 2007 at 15:19 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 07.21.07 The Poet's Nature Lab: Camille Solyagua at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art  "Three Seahorses" 1998 Camille Solyagua The birth of a new era is upon us within Portland's Pearl. The opening of the Desoto building this Sunday gathers the forces of a number of the Pearl's galleries in a space akin to airline hangers and origamied kites. Light floods this space and lifts it. . .(more) Posted by Amy Bernstein on July 21, 2007 at 9:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.20.07 From Daisy Kingdom to DeSoto Project: Portland's New Art Cluster - Photography by Sarah Henderson -  Blue Sky photography. Preparators and contractors continue their install for the re-opening of Museum of Contemporary Craft.  Charles A. Hartman Fine Art features elegant photographic works by Camille Solyagua. Posted by Sarah Henderson on July 20, 2007 at 12:49 | Comments (0) PermalinkUshering in a new era? 
There's been a lot of buzz surrounding the opening of the new DeSoto arts building in the north park blocks (and don't worry, PORT is working on its own). The Museum of Contemporary Craft will inhabit the core of the building, with four major Portland galleries filling the beautiful spaces along the block: Froelick Gallery, Augen Gallery, Charles Hartman Fine Art, and Blue Sky Gallery. Well, the moment is finally here, and to celebrate, they're having a block party. Come by on Sunday to inaugurate the new spaces, take in some panel discussions and artist demonstrations, and rock out to some great local music. The party runs from noon until 7:30pm, and is centered at 724 NW Davis. Check out the complete schedule of events, and this short video on the Museum's transition to the new space. To drum up further support for their grand reopening, the Museum of Contemporary Craft is also having a (sold out) benefit gala Saturday night. Attendees will be wined and dined while they preview the Museum's first exhibition in their new space and bid on a variety of cultural goodies. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 20, 2007 at 8:48 | Comments (1) PermalinkThursday 07.19.07 Cook'n with PAM (and a look at the latest acquisitions) 
One of PAM's latest acquisitions: Judy Chicago's Pasadena Lifesaver, Blue Series #4(1969-70) Acrylic lacquer on acrylic It is pretty clear now that the Portland Art Museum is a very different institution than it was in 2005. PAM has taken a decidedly more intellectually engaged turn since Brian Ferriso took over. Here are some scoops and other info nuggets regarding PAM's new Director, CNAA, programming and latest acquisitions.... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 19, 2007 at 14:50 | Comments (2) PermalinkTuesday 07.17.07 Interesting combinations & feedback The Guardian reports that Saatchi has teamed up with an auction house to provide free admissions.
Steven Holl's new Nelson-Atkins Museum expansion has people raving, be it from Paul Goldberger to Tyler Green. I keep thinking somehow that the failure of the Bellvue Art Museum in Seattle cost Steven Holl the MoMA gig and we all lost out with a rather conservative museum. Hell, even the new Seattle Art Museum (which is basically a lil MoMA) seemed to be created in the shadow of BAM's sad sad failure. The very best living museum architects are (in no particular order): Herzog & de Meuron, Tadao Ando and Renzo Piano because they all seem to be able to create iconic architecture that is also ideal for viewing art (Koolhaas, Libeskind and Gehry are way more idiomatic). Is Holl about to crack into the top tier by being both fresh and subtle? PORT pals Ultra PDX do what we don't do here, focus on PORT staff outside of art making or relevant art opinions. Their latest Ultra Q focuses on PORT business manager Jenene Nagy. In the past they've asked some blond PORT people a few questions as well. Also, I Dont Know (an excellent site I just became aware of) found what I had to say about Bryan Shellinger useful for discussing Tomma Abts. I definitely had her in mind as well but I had to draw the line somewhere in that orgy of abstract painter namedropping. Always exciting when there is a little intellectual feedback, thanks... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 17, 2007 at 17:10 | Comments (2) PermalinkGender Reflections  Philip Iosca, Untitled Through September 1, Chambers will be exhibiting the work of Jenny Strayer and Philip Iosca, united in the exploration of gender. Iosca's Holy Glory, My Private Parts Public, My Public Parts Private re-contextualizes words, images, and objects, challenging themes of masculinity and sexuality. Strayer will present 20th Century Women, a series of photomontages from 1930s and 1940s ephemera that highlight the highly stereotyped femininity of that era. Opening Reception • 5:30-8:30pm • July 19 Chambers Fine Art • 207 SW Pine St. #102 • 503.227.9398 Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 17, 2007 at 9:51 | Comments (4) PermalinkMonday 07.16.07 Make art, make a statement! International design competition Cut & Paste has announced its call for entries for the September 21st Portland competition. They're looking for Portland's top designers to "battle it out live in an iron-chef-like head-to-head design competition." Submissions are due July 17, so HURRY!! For more information, and to apply, click here.
Exit Art is seeking proposals for its Environmental Performance Actions (E.P.A.) exhibit. E.P.A., the first exhibition in Exit Art's new Social-Environmental-Aesthetics (S.E.A.) series, is looking for documented performance art exploring contemporary environmental concerns. Submissions are due August 3rd. Visit their programs page for more information. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 16, 2007 at 9:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 07.15.07 Sue Taylor on The Birds at PSU, July 17th  Here is a chance to hear noted Art Historian Sue Taylor's very popular lecture on Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Sue is a corresponding editor for Art in America and the cornerstone of Portland State University's art department. She often focuses on psychoanalytic elements of artist works, having published books on Jackson Pollock as well as Hans Bellmer in, "The Anatomy of Anxiety" published by MIT press. She is currently working a monograph on Grant Wood. If you can make this free mid-day lecture I highly suggest it. Tuesday July 17th 12:00 PM, free PSU's art building room # 200 Corner of SW Jackson and 5th Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 15, 2007 at 12:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.13.07 Michelle Ross at Elizabeth Leach Gallery by Ryan Pierce  Ross' Outpost I Michelle Ross' new paintings, on display through July 28 at Elizabeth Leach Gallery, constitute a subtle and sublime travelogue through Italian landscape and architecture. A recent stint as a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome has led to a suite of oil paintings and related works on paper that are even more understated and essentialized than we have come to expect from this veteran Portland abstractionist...(more) Posted by Ryan Pierce on July 13, 2007 at 15:23 | Comments (3) PermalinkOut and About Sunday, July 15: Roxanne Jackson is giving an artist talk at the Portland Art Center in conjunction with her show Lost Wisdom. It starts at 2pm, and there is a $2 fee for non-members.
Monday, July 16: The Back Room Anthology release party! 6:30pm at Podkrepa Hall, featuring live music, an open mic, and the brand new Anthology of the Back Room publications. Admission is $8, or free with the purchase of the book, and tickets can be purchased here. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 13, 2007 at 10:00 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.12.07 Keeping Busy Artists! Rererato, a shiny new NE Portland gallery run by Adam Keller and Stephanie Simek, is announcing an open call for submissions. Go here for submission guidelines.
Art lovers! PICA's annual TBA is looking for volunteers. Perks include free access to some performances, night events, discounted merch, etc. Check out their call for volunteers here. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 12, 2007 at 10:52 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.11.07 Wiley Lectures at PAM (rescheduled)  Kehinde Wiley, "Entry Into Paris of the Dauphin, the Future Charles V" This Saturday, Kehinde Wiley will lecture on "The World Stage" in conjunction with his exhibit at PAM's Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. Saturday, July 14, 2pm at the Whitsell Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for members, $10 for non-members, and can be purchased here, or at the museum box office. This event is air conditioned. *Update: The lecture has been canceled due to an illness Wiley picked up in India this week (he is being treated in New York though). The lecture will be rescheduled before August 19th and any tickets purchased will be honored or refunded. **Update: The lecture has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 18, at 2pm, still in the Whitsell auditorium. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 11, 2007 at 14:53 | Comments (3) PermalinkTuesday 07.10.07 Bryan Schellinger at Quality Pictures 
Schellinger's PDX-#9,07,2007 With 10 identically sized, cool-toned stripe paintings, an ice sculpture of the artist's head and a floor filled with black jaw breakers, Bryan Schellinger's New Works at Quality Pictures was the definite standout of First Thursday shows this month. Finally, a main Portland gallery is willing to challenge a show's homogeneity through related, but initially chaos inducing elements. ...elements that in this case inform one's understanding of the paintings. This show is a good thing for the First Thursday crowd, as previously one had to go outside the main Pearl District venues to experience anything that didn't just politely hang on a wall or sit on a floor. It is also an exciting debut of an artist whose work has grown considerably since leaving Atlanta for Portland over a year ago. ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 10, 2007 at 1:24 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 07.09.07 Milepost 5 I toured the Milepost 5 facilities few months ago and this could be great, yes there are rental units as well.
By providing both affordable condos and afforable live/work space this could be a model development. What is nice is they have opted to not over define what all of the common spaces will be used for. Of course the real trick will be how they determine who gets in. Bad gatekeeping (aka petty and tasteless cronyism) would be disasterous and good gatekeeping (smart people with open minds, good taste and not much pointless drama) could make this a model development. ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 09, 2007 at 15:37 | Comments (0) PermalinkMidday Art Break  Manuel Neri, "Mujer Pegada Series No. 8" Work downtown? Spend your lunch break at PAM this Wednesday and get a guided tour of the Manuel Neri exhibition by curator Bruce Guenther. Wednesday, July 11, 12:15pm. Tour meets at the front entrance. Free to members, or included with museum admission. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 09, 2007 at 12:17 | Comments (1) PermalinkSaturday 07.07.07 Rembrandt Lecture at PAM  Rembrandt, "Self-Portrait as St. Paul (detail)" In conjunction with the ongoing Rembrandt exhibition, the Portland Art Museum presents "Rembrandt True and False," a lecture by Walter Liedtke, curator of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The lecture will explore the attribution confusion that arises between Rembrandt and his followers. The lecture is on Sunday, July 8 at 2pm. It's free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Visit the PAM calendar for more information. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 07, 2007 at 13:11 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.06.07 Transformation Ok we are nearing the end of the conceptual phase of PORT's redesign and moving into the actual site redevelopment. The funny thing is it won't look that different when it is done but the refinements and flexibility it will offer us will be quantum.
You should see it by the end of summer and yes we will have bash as an unveiling
+ a somewhat belated celebration of our 2 year anniversary.
Till then check out these interesting bits: This VIP garden in Slovenia is frankly awesome, something about plants and architecture really works. A restaurant or lounge like this would go over really well in Portland. Ok so the Hanging Gardens of Babylon provide a pretty good template for this type symbiotecture. This New Yorker review of the must miss but must discuss Transformers movie is most certainly a better use of your time than the actual movie. I want Wes Anderson to do a Gobots movie with David Bowie as Leader1 and Lyle Lovett as Cy-kill. Um, yes... a musical, does it deserve any less? Lastly Jerry Saltz did a good thing by avoiding the opening hooplah of the Venice Biennale and his take points out a new direction for him, having the last word rather than the first. Also, Saltz's recent take on Biennial culture is almost as funny as the whole transforming robot obsession. Jerry how about a your first broadway musical?.. call it "Biennial." Kelsey Grammar, William Shattner, Courney Love and maybe Nicholas Cage would all be good people to play curators. Allright, I've abused the whole lets turn it into a musical meme enough now. Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 06, 2007 at 10:38 | Comments (0) PermalinkWaffles, Videos, and Zines, oh my! Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 06, 2007 at 10:26 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.05.07 First Friday Picks July 2007  John Mann, 1st Place The Newspace Center for Photography presents Among Us and Curious, their 3rd annual national juried exhibition, curated by Darius Himes. In the chaotic world of 21st century photography, where the multiplication of technology has led to a proliferation of images from anyone, anywhere, Among Us and Curious has sought to restore the critical filter and deliver a strong, cohesive body of work. Neither focusing on the most diverse nor the most technically proficient photographs, the jurors selected images that possessed an "enigmatic script" that would contribute to the overall unity of the show. Himes suggests that "playfulness, mystery, fauna, fancy, and the presence of others among us" should resonate throughout the exhibition. Opening Reception • 7-10pm • July 6 Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th Ave. • 503.963.1935 (more) Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 05, 2007 at 13:01 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.03.07 First Thursday Picks July 2007  Gabriel Manca, "To Rise or Raise in the Air in Apparent Defiance of Gravity" For their final show in their 2nd AVE space, Froelick presents Gabriel Manca's New Work. In his return to Froelick, Manca is exhibiting a series of new work featuring collage, found objects, and repurposed commercial art. He uses subtractive techniques to create surreal landscapes out of reused mass-market lithographs and encaustic wax. Opening reception • 5-8:30pm • July 5 Froelick Gallery • 817 SW 2nd • 503.222.1142  Bryan E. Schellinger makes his Portland debut Quality Pictures presents Bryan E. Schellinger's New Works, his premier solo exhibition in Portland. Schellinger's highly formal, layered paintings take their influence from the minimalist and op art movements of the 60s and 70s, returning to the notion that the process of painting, rather than the product, is an end unto itself. The opening reception will feature ice sculptures, introducing an element of immediacy. Opening reception • 6-9pm • July 5 Quality Pictures Contemporary Art • 916 NW Hoyt • 503.227.5060 (more) Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 03, 2007 at 12:11 | Comments (3) PermalinkMonday 07.02.07 New Venue: Rock's Box opens on the 4th of July, be there  Patrick Rock is one of those really rare Portland artists, he's from Portland. With an MFA from SFIA in new genres this is the infamous guy who showed the 30 foot inflatable wiener at Fresh Trouble and co-curated the rambling Haunted show last year, so we will see how well the chaos serves his latest effort. It should be a good move to have a tight exhibition space like this, fewer options usually = better, more concise decisions. More people should be doing this sort of alt-space thing. The first show at his new alt-space, Rock's Box... comes with the perfect title, "Portland? Fuck Portland!" (July 4th- August 13th). Hopefully it adds a little something to the ubiquitous summer group show. In this case it maps the influence of Oregon on Oregonians. Yup each of the 13 artists in the show grew up in Oregon and about a quarter of the artists in the show no longer live in the state. With names like Storm Tharp, Malia Jensen, Joey Macca, Natasha Snellman, Jeanine Jablonski, Molly Vidor, Donald Morgan and PORT's own Katherine Bovee, etc... it should be worth the trek to the new North Interstate Arts District (ok it's just Rock's Box and a really great Arco gas station). Opening: July 4th 5-11PM Location: 6540 N.Interstate ave. @ Portland Blvd/Rosa Parks Way. Mass Transit Directions: Take: Max Yellow Line towards Expo Center (aka North) get off at the Portland Blvd. stop... it's the black concrete building on the east side of the street, right next to the Yellow Line stop Gallery Hours: Sat-Sun 12-6 / or by appointment at: #971.506.8938 Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 02, 2007 at 10:21 | Comments (13) Permalink |
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Site Design: Jennifer Armbrust | • | Site Development: Philippe Blanc & Katherine Bovee | |