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Portland art blog + news + exhibition reviews + galleries + contemporary northwest art
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Saturday 07.30.11 Laurie Herrick retrospective  Detail of Laurie Herrick's Crater, 1969 (all photos Jeff Jahn unless otherwise noted) This Summer I sense that many Portlanders feel a little robbed... no it is not the Juneuary we just experienced. Personally, I'll take 65-72 degree days that over the blast furnace much of the country has experienced. Instead, it's the lack of a strong, in depth look at the arts that are the hallmark of major museums. In fact PORT's writers have been traveling to other cities to catch great shows like Lee Ufan at the Guggenheim or Picasso/Braque at the Modern Fort Worth, etc. So now that Summer is finally here in the very manageable 80's we still want to dive into a museum for some cool contemplation. What are the options?  Exhibition view: Laurie Herrick Weaving, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow This is the last day but the Museum of Contemporary Craft has pretty much the only game in town with it's very engaging retrospective of mid 20th century designer and weaver Laurie Herrick (1908-1995). Design was always important for the young, initially LA based Herrick who first developed men's neckties and worked as a ... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 30, 2011 at 10:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.28.11 but liquor is quicker  Tom Marioni, "Café Society," San Francisco, 1979 YU presents Tom Marioni's The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art. The event caps YU's first Preview Project and is the latest iteration of Marioni's long-standing weekly salon, which he first installed in 1970. Marioni will be in attendance, as will empty beer bottles from three previous rounds of drinking. You may ogle them as you fill your cup. Closing reception • 4-7pm • August 30 • $5+ YU Contemporary • 800 SE 10th • 503.236.7996 Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 28, 2011 at 15:25 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.27.11 10th Northwest Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum 
The Tacoma Art Museum has announced the details for its 10th Northwest Biennial (see our 2 part discussion of Northwest surveys from last week). Relevant Details: This year includes British Columbia... finally! Though the border is difficult to move art works across, this show may help streamline the process (every curator I know who has shipped across that border has ridiculous stories to share). TAM's statement, "The 10th Northwest Biennial will examine the vital questions of who we are as residents of the Pacific Northwest, what we look like, and what are our aspirations for our communities. The Biennial will seek artworks that address the critical issues that underpin the larger issues of identity and community including the fluidity of regional identity in an age of global capitalism, increased urban migration, and the virtual diffusion of a discernible regional style. Because of the extraordinary complexities of these issues, The 10th Northwest Biennial will focus on the newly revitalized and resurgent forms of interdisciplinary art practices." To these eyes it seems like this Biennial's goals seem more driven by engagement with contemporary issues. That is good if it pans out...(more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 27, 2011 at 17:26 | Comments (3) Permalink75 Gifts for 75 Years  Heidi Schwegler, "More than Simply Made," 2009 The Museum of Contemporary Craft presents 75 Gifts for 75 Years. "To celebrate the Museum's 75th Anniversary and role as one of the nation's oldest institutions dedicated to craft, collectors from the Pacific Northwest and beyond have generously donated and promised gifts to the Museum's permanent collection." The works fill important gaps in the museum's ouevre and include traditional craft media as well as animation, drawings, and limited production tableware. Exhibition • July 28 - February 25, 2012 Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis • 503.223.2654 Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 27, 2011 at 16:15 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.26.11 Last Thursday July 2011  Nik Pence Appendix Project Space presents Nik Pence's in, "a collection of double mementos poised between a remote context and a lost referent." Starting with a body of hand-carved tools, Pence "gradually brought the residency site into focus around a series of externalized memories... The result is a porous space permeated with inaudible information." Right down the alley, Hay Batch presents Yearning, Burning and Churning, a live-dairy action skit by Cathy Cleaver. Using an exercise bike cleverly modified to churn cream, Cleaver will huff and puff her way to exhaustion or butter— whichever comes first. Opening reception and performance • 7pm • July 28 Appendix • south alley between 26th & 27th, off NE Alberta (After the jump: Stephanie Simek at False Front.) Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 26, 2011 at 10:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 07.25.11 New York links Architizer has announced its
pop up chapel winners.
Don't tell Michael Heizer about this (ie DO tell him) but there is a giant drill being left under Manhattan. Jules Verne meets Michael Heizer! And here is an interview with Lee Ufan who has an excellent retrospective at the Guggenheim right now: Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 25, 2011 at 11:12 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.22.11 Eddie Soloway at Newspace 
Image courtesy of artist Newspace presents "Memories, Moons, and Imagination," a lecture tonight by landscape photographer Eddie Soloway. Soloway, who harnesses the intuitive and emotional in his own work, will use behind-the-scene peeks to discuss "pushing sight into a world of abstractions, reflections, layers, and movement." Artist lecture • 7:30-9pm • July 22 Newspace Center for Photography • 1632 SE 10th • 503.963.1935 Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 22, 2011 at 15:04 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.21.11 Surveying Northwest Regional Surveys Part II 
Whenever several institutional curators get together to talk about regional art and curating it, the discussion nearly always turns out the same (a discussion of familiar institutional minutiae and curatorial preferences)... so I avoid them. Well, except when I sit on them like I did in 2008 on OPB or 2003 for Core Sample with Michael Darling (then still at MoCA), Elizabeth Brown (The Henry), Randy Gragg (then at the Oregonian), Jane Beebe (PDX Contemporary) and myself. The point I made for this panel (by getting up from the genial table and walking with the mic) was that Portland was in a state of change and upheaval and any show that didn't address that energy wasn't relevant. It wasn't a brilliant statement simply a true one that in hindsight has been validated on an international level... (much more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 21, 2011 at 13:13 | Comments (0) PermalinkForest for the Tree Farm (Part I) 
PAM hosted a panel discussion July 17th with the title "Northwest Awards & Biennials." The short blurb on PAM's website read: Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson moderates a lively discussion about Northwest art and how best to recognize the art and artists of the region. This followed a series of Tweets I had a couple weeks prior with @pamcollections about this topic... (more) Posted by Patrick Collier on July 21, 2011 at 12:32 | Comments (1) PermalinkMonday 07.18.11 Boundary Crossings PNCA is offering a series of public events as part of Boundary Crossings: An Institute of Contemporary Animated Arts. If you missed Monday's kick-off lecture by Norman Klein, catch openings, artist talks and screenings through the end of next week.
 from Boundary Crossings 2009 (more: full schedule.) Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 18, 2011 at 15:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkDorothea Rockburne  Dorothea Rockburne's Saqqarah (1979) at The Portland Art Museum One of my favorite slightly under the radar but still having relevant shows at MoMA etc. artists is Dorothea Rockburne. Here is an interview with her in the Brooklyn Rail. The Portland Art Museum actually has an excellent Rockburne "Saqqarah." The title is direct reference to the Saqqara necropolis in Egypt, which is home to many pyramids including the very first one, the step pyramid by Djoser. In particular, I appreciate the drawn plum lines (on the canvas and wall) which bring up the conflation of surface and support within the work... which in a way mirrors the way the ancient Egyptians lived for the afterlife (life as the staging ground for the afterlife). As a formal exercise is is a highly satisfying study in triangular devices, with hints of planning and execution that remind me a little of Agnes Martin but a lot more dynamic. Though it is primarily made of canvas it is more related to dance, drawing, architecture and installation art. Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 18, 2011 at 14:46 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.15.11 weekend roundup 
from Smoke and Shovels Ditch Projects presents Bruce Conkle's Smoke and Shovels. Conkle, whose work straddles ecological and comic concerns, is a recent Hallie Ford Fellowship recipient. Tom Greenwood's History Publishing Company also opens tomorrow. Opening reception • 7pm • July 16 Ditch Projects • 303 S 5th Ave #165, Springfield, OR Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 15, 2011 at 19:21 | Comments (0) PermalinkA Segal at the Met's revival  Arthur Segal's wonderful and still fresh Strasse auf Helgoland II (1924) at the Met. I noted the painting 2 years ago but Arthur Segal's Strasse auf Helgoland II is enjoying a bit of a revival with a shout out from Roberta Smith. In sychonicity, others like Minus Space's Matthew Deleget have just conducted some private and social media conversations about this gem from 1924 as well. I was thinking about it last week myself as one of my favorite things in The Metropolitan Museum. Besides the obvious (that we all have impeccable taste) why the revival? For me it is partly it's context within... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 15, 2011 at 13:48 | Comments (0) PermalinkThursday 07.14.11 friday happenings  Megan Murphy, "Deliverance," 2010 John Grade and Megan Murphy speak about their work and lead a tour of the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards exhibition. Artist talks • 6pm • July 15 • $5-12 Portland Art Museum • 1219 SW Park • 503.226.2811 Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 14, 2011 at 12:09 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.13.11 Paths of Destruction: Neidhardt, Picton and Verbeisen  Marieke Verbiesen's Plan 10 at PNCA's Feldman Gallery It's rare when there is a theme amongst some of the better shows in Portland but that is just what is happening this July. Maybe it is a sign of our turbulent times or the simple fact that a few galleries want to put the screws to viewers during the normally happy go lucky Summer but July brings a trio of shows with destructive tendencies by Jim Neidhardt, Matthew Picton and Marieke Verbiesen... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 13, 2011 at 22:16 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.12.11 Eleventh Hour: Opening at White Box  Fill the abyss of your Tuesday evening with an architextural experience. Robert Mantho and Michael Wenrich present LOCUS: CHANGING PLACE, a full-bodied inquiry into "primary spatial relationships." The artists speak at 7pm tonight. Opening reception • 6-8pm • July 12 White Box Gallery • White Stag Building • 24 NW 1st Posted by Kelly Kutchko on July 12, 2011 at 15:14 | Comments (0) PermalinkMonday 07.11.11 Monday Links  Light Screen, Darwin D. Martin House, Buffalo, NY, 1903. Leaded glass. Dimensions: 44 3/4 x 29 5/8 (Courtesy of Chazen Museum, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Art Collections Fund and Alta Gudsos) Looking for some lost Frank Lloyd Wright windows. I actually grew up copying some of his stained glass designs when I was 7-9 years old. PORT's own Alex Rauch is cycling to grad school in Chicago from Portland. It has already been an eventful trip. Edward Winkleman discusses the unseemly numerical quantification of a great artist. Yes PORT has a new calendar person, Kelly Kutchko, keep sending your press releases to the same old place: calendar(at)portlandart.net at least 2 weeks in advance for consideration. Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 11, 2011 at 13:03 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.08.11 ...and thanks for all the fish As you may have noticed, I'll soon be leaving the lovely PNW for sunnier pastures. I'm heading down to UCLA for graduate school this fall, so it's time for me to pass the torch along to a new faithful calendar-keeper for PORT.
Thank you for four(!) years of the irrepressible community & creativity that makes the Portland art scene so alive. ~megan Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 08, 2011 at 13:45 | Comments (1) PermalinkThursday 07.07.11 Second Weekend Picks July 2011  Laura Hughes, "Untitled (Light Beams I)" Gallery Homeland presents Body of Knowledge Part I: Vision, which "seeks to exhibit and examine the evidence of the continual process of searching, synthesizing, and learning." Body of Knowledge is a 3-part series curated by Research Club and hosted by Gallery Homeland. Featured artists in Vision include Laura Hughes, Michael Iauch, Vanessa Kaufman, and Bradley Streeper. Opening reception • 6-9pm • July 8 Gallery Homeland • 2505 SE 11th #136 • info@galleryHOMELAND.org (More: Poemophone at Worksound, Lunation at Nationale & an open house at YU Contemporary.) Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 07, 2011 at 16:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkSpiral Jetty lease land grab?  Spiral Jetty and environs (photo Jeff Jahn) When The Dia was somehow not allowed to renew the lease last month on the land that one uses to access the Spiral Jetty things got weird. Now things are getting more complicated and Tyler Green has the story. Here's my take. It is true that water levels do effect the iconic earthwork and yes Smithson built entropy into the work's design. Entropy is part of the piece, but I don't think the Dia Foundation's stewardship of the work should be allowed to enter a similar entropic spiral. I'm unsure if any other organization would understand just how... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 07, 2011 at 14:27 | Comments (0) PermalinkWednesday 07.06.11 artists: online "representation" and new media projections TurningArt is seeking new artists for their roster. In a nutshell, they allow subscribers to view the work of artists in their stable, choose which images they'd like to "sample" in their homes or offices, and eventually make a purchase. They promote it as a representation service that can be "parallel" to gallery representation and that doesn't cost anything to artists. Learn more about how it works here and view the artist application here.
The (sub)Urban Projections festival in downtown Eugene is seeking submissions of digital, new media, and video works to be projected this November in a new "ongoing forum for time-based public art in Eugene." In addition to inclusion in the festival, there will be three juried cash awards. The deadline is September 12, and you can learn more about submitting here. Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 06, 2011 at 8:55 | Comments (0) PermalinkTuesday 07.05.11 First Thursday Picks July 2011  From Intermation In conjunction with Boundary Crossings, the July interdisciplinary institute on animated arts, PNCA presents Intermation. Featuring work by Jacob Ciocci, Cassandra C. Jones, and Marieke Verbiesen, the exhibition "examines the relationship between the animated image and the screen and proposes new utility between or among the traditional apparatus of animation." Opening reception • 6-8pm • July 7 PNCA Feldman Gallery • 1241 NW Johnson • 503.226.4391 (More: Joe Bartholomew at Chambers@916, Blake Shell at the PDX Contemporary Window Project, Matthew Picton at Pulliam, David Oresick at Blue Sky.) Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 05, 2011 at 17:29 | Comments (0) PermalinkCy Tombly dies at age 83  Cy Twombly" Cold Stream", White wax pencil on canvas (1966) Cy Twombly has died at age 83 in Rome. Portlanders were lucky enough to enjoy this major artist's work a year ago at the Portland Art Museum. “A pinnacle of the post–abstract expressionist generation, Cy Twombly redefined the parameters of painting. Fascinated by the immediacy of history and ancient myth, he created works rich with reference—Homeric myth, place, and intimate emotions. Twombly developed a vocabulary of signs and marks intended to be read metaphorically a world unto itself of picaresque scribbles, agitated sgraffito, and clotted, scatological impasto that ultimately defines a vast Elysian field of pleasure. I am forever seduced by the pull of gravity, the unpredictability of emotion, and the fluidity of his line as it conflates time—then is now, present is past. “ -Bruce Guenther Chief Curator, Portland Art Museum New York Times obit LA Times obit My feelings for Twombly are very personal. Twombly was the bridge between Paul Klee's poetic yet controlled automatism, Jackson Pollock and the next generation personified by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, then onto Basquiat, Carroll Dunham, Terry Winters, Philip Taffe and even Ryan McGginnis or Julie Mehretu. For a Portland connection there is Jessica Jackson Hutchins. Overall, Twombly's work was a revelation to me, like uncovering a lost city. Twombly has always been an artist's artist, pervasive in his influence rather than the signal of a new paradigm. In fact, Twombly was there... (more) Posted by Jeff Jahn on July 05, 2011 at 16:06 | Comments (0) PermalinkFriday 07.01.11 Whose Logic?: Richard Barnes at Blue Sky Gallery  "Giraffe", California Academy of Sciences, 2005, Richard Barnes The exhibition 'Animal Logic' up at Blue Sky Gallery is a question in the quirkiness of the human species. Rendered in large photographs, framed delicately and deliberately behind glass, these works are specimens in themselves. . .(more) Posted by Amy Bernstein on July 01, 2011 at 7:45 | Comments (0) PermalinkFirst First Friday, July 2011 Since it's a holiday weekend, some galleries are delaying their openings, but here's something to check out tonight:
 Timothy Scott Dalbow, "Ménage à trois" Half/Dozen Left presents Timothy Scott Dalbow's Pro from Dover, about which Dalbow notes: "This exhibition is dedicated to my father, Dr. David George Dalbow, PHD. I would also like to thank everyone I've ever met." Opening reception • 6-9pm • July 1 Half/Dozen • 722 E Burnside basement • info@halfdozengallery.com Posted by Megan Driscoll on July 01, 2011 at 7:41 | Comments (0) Permalink |
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