|
|
|||
|
Portland art blog + news + exhibition reviews + galleries + contemporary northwest art
|
||||
|
Monday 03.31.08 Between Heaven and Earth: The Work of James Lavadour  James Lavadour Star House, 2008 oil on panel 24" x 30 "My main interest has always been about the properties of paint, what paint does. One of the things that paint does is that it is organic and does the same sort of things that dirt does, anything in the natural world does. It has the same processes: erosion, sedimentation, flow... I saw in that microcosm of a landscape. I saw the same processes in watercolor settling in on a piece of paper as rivers and mountains. That was the first principle that struck me early on and I realized that ever since I was a child I was fascinated by those particular processes. I realized that I had two basic things that I work with in my paintings: the first is organic flow which is the landscape. The second was an architectural grid or abstraction which is based on the human perception or response to the natural world. Those two ideas have always been my right hand and my left hand. They were polar opposites of one another. I used to do either abstracts or landscapes. At this point, they intersected in this collision. After that I had no idea what was going to happen then. The abstracts became more like landscapes and the landscape became more like architectural structures with a cellular structure that had spaces within spaces within spaces. When I experienced that microcosm of the cosmos, everything else just fell away. (More) Posted by Arcy Douglass on March 31, 2008 at 20:29 | Comments (1) PermalinkCAP Auction  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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 31, 2008 at 14:17 | Comments (1) PermalinkCauduro scholarship for PNCA, Portland invests in the future but loses a Warhol 
Oregon's single best art collector, Ed Cauduro... and arguably the best eye north of San Francisco has given PNCA a 1 million dollar scholarship endowment. When he was active he tended to collect early and presciently and his collection has included the likes of Warhol, Judd, Schnabel, Terry Winters, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons and Basquiat (who even did a portrait of the elusive collector). Cauduro has given many important works to PAM (like the Peter Young etc.) but none of the listed heavy hitters are currently in PAM's gap-filled collection. Cauduro also owns Short Stop, John Chamberlain's first crushed car sculpture... something every art museum on the planet is interested in (Cauduro is 81 and must be slightly annoyed with the dynamic sets up). In response he's been setting up a lot of charities, including this incredibly generous scholarship endowment for PNCA. I've known about this for a while and it's a major benefit for the college and the art community. PNCA is on a roll with its 511 building, Hallie Ford gift (FIVE program) and MK Guth in the 2008 Whitney Biennial. The Ed Cauduro Fund for Pacific Northwest College of Art of The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) will provide up to four $10,000 annual scholarships, beginning with two scholarships for the 2008-2009 school year and one in each of the following two years. The endowment will also provide approximately $5,000 annually for students to use in purchasing art supplies and materials they would otherwise be unable to afford. Having a scholarship like this helps PNCA compete with other schools for particularly promising students... many might not realize this but it is a competitive advantage they have been lacking....(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 31, 2008 at 11:49 | Comments (12) PermalinkSaturday 03.29.08 Portland Funbook 3  Psilo Design Psilo Design is soliciting entries for the third edition of the Portland Funbook. The Funbook (which will be oversized at 11x17 this year) features clever "entertainment" by local artists and musicians, as well as quirky articles on Portland heritage, and proceeds go to charity. The deadline for submitting a page is June 25. Go here to learn more and download submission guidelines. Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 29, 2008 at 15:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.28.08 Last weekend round the corner reviews There are lots of interesting solo shows coming down this weekend and a few of them deserve a little more critical attention. Conveniently all are within 2 blocks of eachother:
 Adam Satushek's Puddles (2005) at Rake Gallery One exciting discovery is Adam Satushek at Rake Gallery. His large format photographs of decay, debris and human activity comprise one of the tighter solo shows in Portland for the month of March. It satisfies my need to see photography do more than just depict the more pleasant aspects of civilization and nature and much of it is unintentional earth art...  Raphael Goldchain at Bluesky Gallery... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 28, 2008 at 12:38 | Comments (1) PermalinkNagy APEX lecture  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. Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 28, 2008 at 8:50 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 03.26.08 PAM acquisition: Tom LaDuke 
The latest contemporary addition to the Portland Art Museum, Tom LaDuke's Private Islands (2007), is now on display on the 4th floor of the Jubitz Center for Contemporary Art, nearby the recent Tanya Batura acquisition. LaDuke has been getting a lot of attention lately from Tyler Green and other museums and his work first appeared in Portland in PAM's New In Town exhibition back in 2002. The thing that has always struck me about LaDuke's work is how there is always a phantom presence... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 26, 2008 at 13:35 | Comments (0) PermalinkCaliforegon  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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 26, 2008 at 11:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.25.08 More on BYOTV 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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 25, 2008 at 12:21 | Comments (0) PermalinkIt's how one lives not "in what" that is defining  Jean Nouvel's 100 11th Ave. in Chelsea Last weekend Nicolai Ouroussoff opined about the rash of preening new condos in New York. One telltale problem is how the interiors are extremely conventional... there was a time when ground breaking design actually pushed those who lived inside to reconsider how they lived (whereas this is just a surface form of avant-garde). The only project that seems truly inspired is Jean Nouvel's 100 11th ave project which sets up a generous visual rhythm externally that actually carries into the interior spaces. In contrast to most of these "surface" projects I've been photographing the Belmont Lofts building by Holst Architects in Portland a lot lately and it strikes me that that condo building doesn't turn its back to Belmont street, it is semi-permiable and urban ... it isn't a barrier, fortress or some status symbol, it's emblematic of an engaged civic lifestyle and very Portland. Also, the recent Casey project in Portland is more notable for its platinum LEED rating than its novel but slightly dull exterior. Also last week, More Ways to Waste Time did her own art tour of Portland, and managed to find way more nooks and crannies in the art scene here than say the New York times has in their frequent stalkings of Portland. She ate a lot of stuff too... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 25, 2008 at 12:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkSaturday 03.22.08 Elegy to Analog: BYOTV at The New American Art Union  SuperPaint System in 1973 Image Courtesy Computer History Museum Dear (Video) Ladies and Gentlemen, The death of an era is upon us. On February 17, 2009 the FCC will terminate the broadcast transmissions of analog signals in favor of an entirely digital broadcast system. To receive these new signals, one must own either a digitally receptive television or purchase an analog converter, for which the government has issued coupons and for which may be applied through various FCC websites. Such a change will mark. . .(more) Posted by Amy Bernstein on March 22, 2008 at 12:05 | Comments (1) PermalinkFriday 03.21.08 Thinking about The Living Room at MoCC 
Ornamental Modern at MoCC January 2008 This weekend marks the last for the Museum of Contemporary Craft's The Living Room, which ends March 23rd. With a novel cutaway layout, the show has had 3 different iterations, Mid-Century Modern, Ornamental Modern and the current Eco-Modern. My favorite is the current Eco-Modern, which sports a great 1970's weaving by Mike Walsh and an excellent Peter Voulkos or 2. Lately with Dwell, Ikea, Design Within Reach and the mass appeal of Target's ad campaigns, modern design has enjoyed a pretty amazing resurgence. One of my favorite baristas refers to Dwell as yuppie porn but I think curator Namita Wiggers is going beyond the "simplify your hectic life" dream that seems to be fueling the interest. Instead, she looks at the links between craft and modernist furnishings and how the modernist aesthetic was mostly a "truth in materials and production" movement. She also mixes the new with vintage. Here are two of my favorite living rooms: ...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 21, 2008 at 11:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkCongratulations Michael Patterson-Carver 
Bush visits Portland, 2007 Congratulations to Portlander Michael Patterson-Carver who is one of the recipients of the 2008 Altoids art prize, he gets 25,000 and a joint show at the New Museum. Previous recipient Harrell Fletcher was one of the *nominators. The award is somewhat unique in contemporary art as artists select other artists for the award, hence the reason the award doesn't have the musty and necrotic smell that most art world prizes have... that and Altoids sponsors it. Carver is represented by Small A where you can see more of his work. *clarification Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 21, 2008 at 10:48 | Comments (4) PermalinkThursday 03.20.08 PAM's latest contemporary acquisition: Batura + some guests  Tanya Batura, Sourire en Bois, 2007. Clay and acrylic. 10 in x 17 in x 10 in. Portland Art Museum. The Portland Art Museum's latest contemporary acquisition, Tanya Batura's Sourire en Bois is on now display on the 4th floor of the Jubitz Center for Contemporary Art. The title translates as, "to smile out of wood." The double entendre is probably intended, but it also references how the sculpture has a wooden texture where the torso normally would start... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 20, 2008 at 17:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkPNA  Carol Barnett, "Northwind," 2007 winner U of O is seeking submissions for their Pacific Northwest Art Annual. The exhibition has been happening for forty years, and each Annual culminates with the "Best in Show" being purchased for their permanent collection. They're only interested in NW artists, and work must have been completed in the last five years. Submissions must be postmarked by April 1. For more information, and to download the submission form, visit their website. Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 20, 2008 at 9:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 03.19.08 ArtSpark  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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 19, 2008 at 13:21 | Comments (5) PermalinkTuesday 03.18.08 Ellen Lupton Lecture  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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 18, 2008 at 14:36 | Comments (1) PermalinkMonday 03.17.08 Artists! Listen Up There are a million opportunities for artists right now, so make sure to "Read More"!
 Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare" (1932) Newspace is asking for entries for their 2008 Juried Exhibition. The theme this year is inspired by Bresson's famous description of his photography capturing "the decisive moment." They're looking for entries that explore fleeting environmental moments that "change our perspective slightly... [as] we become witnesses to the gestures of time." Artist and curator TJ Norris is running the exhibition. Selected entries will be shown in a group exhibition, and the winner will have a solo exhibition and receive a $500 award. Entries from anywhere in the world, made within the last two years, will be accepted. The deadline is May 2nd. See their website for more details on how to enter. (Tons more calls for artists below the cut!) Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 17, 2008 at 12:10 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.14.08 Carson Ellis at PCC Rock Creek  Carson Ellis, original artwork for the The Decemberists' The Long and Short of it Tour (detail) It is no secret that Portland has an impressive music scene nor is a secret that the art scene is equally robust, what isn't talked about much is how often they are entwined in each others affairs. The two have grown up alongside and supported eachother. Take for instance one of my favorite local artists, Carson Ellis and her work for The Decemberists. Way back in the old days 2001/2002 (before Portland actually believed something was going on) Ellis got my attention for her sure hand and novel wit. Later, her ghost ship painting was used for The Decemberists Castaways and Cutouts album and the rest is history. Soon she'll have a show in Chelsea, but till then there is small but wonderful retrospective of her The Decemberists work at PCC Rock Creek up for the month of March.... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 14, 2008 at 11:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkBYOTV  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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 14, 2008 at 11:01 | Comments (1) PermalinkThursday 03.13.08 Performative If you're looking for a little more action this weekend, check out these events:
 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  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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 13, 2008 at 11:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 03.12.08 Rothko in Portland 
Marcus Rothkowitz, Landscape (View of Portland), ca. 1928 courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery The Portland Art Museum is host to yet another distinguished guest, in fact it's a work painted in Portland by our most famous local artist, Marcus Rothkowitz (aka Mark Rothko). The painting is currently on display in the third floor of the Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art. The ca. 1928 oil painting "Landscape (View of Portland)" was made long before his signature style of the late 40's and depicts the then new Ross Island Bridge from Pill Hill, a moody grey sky and Mt Hood. Overall, it is most strongly influenced by Cezanne... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 12, 2008 at 12:08 | Comments (3) PermalinkMan Friends Forever  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 Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 12, 2008 at 9:32 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 03.11.08 PNCA gets the 511 building 
In what will probably be the biggest Portland art news of 2008, PNCA has announced they have been given the green light to acquire the historic 511 building by the GSA and Department of Education. PORT reported in detail on this last fall (and were the first to recognize the importance of it to the local art world). PNCA is tied to both Portland's hot new design economy (Ziba, Allied Works, W+K etc)and the West Hills money that recently funded PAM's 100,000,000+ expansion and continuing endowment campaign... so yes they can do it. This is a major investment in Portland's future not just an art school realestate opportunity. What this likely means: -Big new Brad Cloepfil project in the architect's home town... we were just discussing his Clyfford Still Museum last week. Im about 99.9999999% certain Cloepfil will get the job, he's the campus' master planner. Hell his office even overlooks the 511 building a lil. -More public galleries on the North Park Blocks giving Portland an opportunity to extend the Park Plocks in the future into a world class cultural enclave.... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 11, 2008 at 10:05 | Comments (1) PermalinkWhitney Biennial Backlog 
Ok, the typical Whitney rigmarole has given New York something to talk about again (though it seems quieter and less engaging than usual, the Whitney needs to radically change the show to increase its relevance). Frankly it doesn't excite me at all, but so far Ben Davis on Artnet has done the best job of capturing the issue at hand. His best summary, "the whole thing does seem to represent an interest in homeopathic medicine! That is, it offers to simulate a negative effect to cure the larger disease; as if to fend off harsh critical attacks, the show embraces a defensive self-abasement. It is willfully half-baked." Though his Neo-Hippie tag isn't quite news...truth be told the last 4 (including 2008) have all been Neo-Hippie late 60's and early 70's fests. One could point to the adoption of Devendra Banhart into the art world as making it rather official (and therefore dead). That nostalgia also underscores why people aren't that whipped up over this Biennial show, there is no real shift at work here. Despite that, Portland's own MK Guth is racking up all sorts of critical notice doing the important thing in any group show, standing out (Davis and the New York Times single her out as a favorite). Though Holland Cotter's Times piece labeling of her work as "new agey" seems like a New Yorker projecting funny expectations on a Portlander. Truth is MK pisses a lot of Portlanders off because she isn't very dippy-hippy newagey, she's often hard core but romantic with an eye for entropy and not new agey at all.... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 11, 2008 at 9:30 | Comments (0) PermalinkSunday 03.09.08 The weekend art openings in video Portland has a very active art scene that continues to expand... blah blah.. you know this already.
I also think last weekend was the first time in recent memory that First Friday/Saturday competed on all fronts with First Thursday. Here were some highlights. The second iteration of FWD: Dudes Night Out at Gallery Homeland (here's a review of #1) was yet another sprawling group show... it's forgivable since it was a last minute addition when March's orginal show needed a bit more time. These shows are mixers for the artists more than anything else and allow them to debut new ideas and get critical feeback (from one another). They are generally good for taking the pulse of things but solo shows are where the big statements are made...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 09, 2008 at 22:28 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 03.07.08 Anissa Mack opening at Small A  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. Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 07, 2008 at 15:34 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 03.06.08 First Friday Picks March 2008 
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 (more) Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 06, 2008 at 9:58 | Comments (1) PermalinkWednesday 03.05.08 More Cloepfil/Still and More of everything else  Brad Cloepfil's latest Clifford Still Museum design Portland's top starchitect Brad Cloepfil has unveiled a more finalized design of his Clyfford Still Museum. We saw an early model of it here and it looks like the heavy basalt-like look has been retained. There are two Cloepfil's, heavy Brad (Weiden + Kennedy HQ) and dematerializing light Brad (1 Columbus Circle). Heavy Cloepfil is way better and after spending some time at Kahn's Salk Institute last Fall... I understand why... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 05, 2008 at 8:14 | Comments (3) PermalinkTuesday 03.04.08 First Thursday Picks March 2008  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, "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 (more) Posted by Megan Driscoll on March 04, 2008 at 11:55 | Comments (1) PermalinkMonday 03.03.08 Whitney Time - Yawn, Guth Time - Yeah! It's Whitney
Biennial time again... and Portland has had someone in 3 of the last 4.
The 2008 show opens Thursday and even PNCA is doing an event in New York.
This year the Portlander is MK Guth, whom PORT interviewed in depth earlier this year. Joseph Gallivan just did a nice piece on Guth for the Tribune...we will surely miss Gallivan's contributions to that paper. His accessible but engaging arts writing made most of the other newsprint in town look tragic. It's true some worship the WB as some sort of art career Deus ex Machina while the show's overall importance has waned as of late. Still, some 2-5 artists seem to emerge from each iteration and artists like David Altmejd, Forcefield, Chris Johanson and Harrell Fletcher have all gone on to make more serious contributions after the show. My point is the Whitney B in itself isn't as important as the follow through after. In many ways Portlanders are simply over being excited about The Whitney but we love the fact that MK gets to do her thing. I also keep thinking that a west of the Mississippi Biennial might be in order some day as well. Posted by Jeff Jahn on March 03, 2008 at 12:30 | Comments (1) Permalink |
| s p o n s o r s |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Site Design: Jennifer Armbrust | • | Site Development: Philippe Blanc & Katherine Bovee | |