It is always interesting how August plays out in Portland's visual art scene. In most art cities in the northern hemisphere August is kind of dead but Portland gets a lot of visitors from the Bay Area and elsewhere during this often hot month so there is a summer camp vibe that oozes indie charm. Here are my picks for the weekend:


Michael Trigilio at 12128

12128 Boatspace continues its Precipice Funded (in residence) series with Michael Trigilio, a video and performance artist from San Diego who took part in the 2008 Whitney Biennial. If you want a summertime art adventure the trip to this crab boat as an alt space is tough to beat and a sound performance at 8:00 should contribute to the vibe.

Michael Trigilio | Augst 1 2014
Reception : 6 - 9PM (performance at 8PM)
1 2 1 2 8
12900 NW Marina Way
(be careful in Linnton's speed trap and be sure to park in the lot)


... (more Falsefront & HQHQ)

We have some amazing interviews coming your way (we are 3 deep right now) but till then here are some links for your Monday:

Artist sues American Eagle for using his work without compensation.

The International Space Station gets its first sculpture... made from meteorite. Is that the best they could do?

How to be supportive of an artist? Well, definitely don't sugarcoat things and make decisions for long haul sustainability (living situations etc). Don't overreact. Don't assume anyone cares until they actually make it clear you have some kind of audience.

European museums are straining under the crush of crowds... The new MoMA redesign seems to serve this crowd more than the art, which has everyone thinking some is definitely wrong in the state of Denmark.

Last week we pointed out C3: Initiative as an all new alternative space to watch in Portland. It's partly because they have a great space (inside and out) and want to work with independent curators. Well here is your chance to check things out and introduce yourselves. It is also the closing for their Blue Moon Camera staff photography show (St. Johns does have a wealth of working artists and studio spaces and is easy for those West Hills recluses to visit).

C3: Initiative | July 26th Open House 10AM - 7PM
10-11AM: Outdoor papermaking
11AM-12: Live music from Mike & Olyn
12-2PM: Live music from The Ragshakers
2-5PM: Shanti Om Yoga class with live music and a potluck
5-7PM: Live music from Joe Little, Pulp & Deckle pulp spraying demos, and snacks.
7326 N. Chicago Avenue

RACC just announced that two pieces, Jorge Pardo's Streetcar Stop for Portland and Inversion +/- by Lead Pencil Studio were cited as two of 37 outstanding public arts projects completed in the United States in 2013.


Streetcar Stop for Portland (detail inside at night) photo Jeff Jahn

Both projects certainly were site considered works that went far beyond last year's Nepenthes travesty, also commissioned by RACC for its, "Quirkyness." I've been writing about it for a L O N G time but quirky just isn't good enough in Portland anymore (yes you too Art Beat) and as PORT's interview with Pardo explored last year... doing something excellent and successful is never an accident. Pardo's project is the most successfully ambitious public art project in RACC's history.

Im more reserved about Inversion +/-. I feel like the ghost warehouse idea is... (more)

The top art story this weekend had to be the Mana Contemporary project in New Jersey. In many ways it isn't dissimilar from what the Portland Art Museum did with the Francis Bacons and other works... only this project is an ultra ambitious approach to redeveloping lower valued real estate. PAM is just being a museum (borrowing important works and presenting them), whereas Mana is providing a storage option and creating a museum... which will then bolster real estate. I'm very surprised nobody has seen the potential in Portland as Oregon does not have sales tax (like New Jersey).

I'm not certain I buy this argument about Scotland remaining part of Great Britain as keeping it from being culturally cut off. But it is interesting that someone is forwarding the idea that nationalism = xenophobic regionalism. The Scots are a bright people with excellent arts... I cant see independence doing anything but make them try harder to assert themselves as presenter independent of England?

US museums provide emergency support to curators in Syria in anticipation of a cultural cataclysm.

Often, performance comes off as self congratulatory attention mongering... BUT the fact that Jordan Wayne Long's "Impact Piece #1" comes with a warning against bringing any children is a good sign. Also, the fact that is is at 12128, everyone's favorite alt-space crab boat means that just the location alone is worth the trip. JWL's work comes from his his participation in 12128's micro residency program funded in part by the groundbreaking Precipice Fund. Show up and see if it is worthy enough to justify using the middle name professionally.

Jordan Wayne Long | July 19 2014
Reception : 6:00PM (performance at 7)
1 2 1 2 8
12900 NW Marina Way
(be careful in Linnton's speed trap)

A healthy art scene identifies and welcomes new talent but we should also be keeping an eye out for new presenters, who often have the hardest job of all... that of not only opening new doors... but also keeping them open.

At PORT, we take seriously the role of identifying new talent early on... not simply jumping on a bandwagon after new artists and spaces are established (but I also want to see if there is staying power). Thus, it is time for another installment of our New Faces series, focusing on new leaders to the art scene because it is precisely these early beginnings where being a talent scout can do some good.

Every few years we seem to have a sea change where some familiar spaces shut down (in the last few years it was Worksound, Place and Appendix) and it leaves holes which some enterprising new faces seek to fill (Place was forced to transition to Surplus Space and both Adams and Ollman and Upfor Contemporary have added to the gallery scene but what gets me up in the morning are discovering what those "wildcard", unproven new personalities might accomplish). Although nobody is doing anything the size (ie a large industrial space) and the consistently international scope of Worksound it looks like there is definitely a new crop in the works.



HQ Objective is (L to R) Johnny Ray Alt and Andre C Filipek

In April 2014 Andre C Filipek and Johnny Ray Alt inaugurated the HQ Objective's project space, titled HQHQ (think HQ squared) in the depths of the venerable Oak Street Building in the heart of Portland's Central Eastside Industrial District. It is an industrial neighborhood where so many alternative spaces and warehouse shows have taken place but HQHQ with its faux wood floors make it feels far more more polished than previous efforts. Filipek and Alt are both recent PNCA grads with an aesthetic reminiscent of the now shuttered Appendix Project Space. What's different is a somewhat more design-y and an early international outlook they have taken, including an artist from the UK in their May show. Definitely a space to keep one's eyes on.

HQHQ
232 SE Oak St. #108





Lindsay Jordan Kretchun and Jessica Breedlove Latham at Duplex Collective

Duplex is another art and design minded alternative space headed by the whipsmart duo of Lindsay Jordan Kretchun and Jessica Breedlove Latham.

...(more, C3: initiative, Hap & Muscle beach )

James Lavadour will be in the upcoming State Of The Art survey, congrats... a great painter.

Don't be so shelf-ish? Haim Steinbach's takeover of the Menil looks like it is worth braving Summer in Houston. With so many artists making use of shelves and 1980's design for their work today it makes perfect sense to pay more attention to the 80's shelfmeister.

Millennium Park is 10 years old now and what was once seen as wasteful has proven itself. I discussed it a bit with civic/landscape/art historian Mark Treib last year. It is very related to Portland of course ,which is a city of parks... but we haven't had the same grand intentions... which PAM's current Tuileries Garden show seems to be prompting a discussion of. It leaves us to ponder what would a showcase park devoted to great civics look like in Portland?

Sad news On Kawara has died. It's the rigorous humor of his extremely dry work that set it apart but the addition of oxygen in his installations fascinated me the most... as a way to subtly influence the viewers conscious state.

LACMA is definitely throwing down a gauntlet for MoMA, which just doesn't seem to have its hierarchy of goals in the right order by comparison. How LA is it to have a museum that one window shops by driving by? They are also planning a similar residential tower.

Portland Architecture looks at the pressures that threaten classic residential homes here.

Painting is hard but Amy Sillman makes the challenges her subject matter. There is something about making an art historical standoff your own that points towards success in painting.

The perils of showing the photos that Garry Winogrand took but never selected. In his case since he wasn't a complete control freak I think this is ok, gone are the days when artists were expected to have no changes in their late career.

All the shiny Jeff Koons reviews distilled into a poem... yes he's good and I like the work, but has he peaked during his own lifetime? And this:

First Thursdays in July are often my favorites. Partially because the openings are so low key and the hometown vibe with all the group shows and recent graduates makes for many unexpected surprises. This year July looks like it has some serious cultural firepower... it used to be mostly a month for group shows consisting of second and third stringers.

Shirley Tse at PNCA

My top pick has to be Quantum Shirley at PNCA's Feldman Gallery. Quantum Shirley is Shirley Tse's attempt to partially rebrand relational aesthetics with the relativism of physics as her jam but one can't blame her for trying. It promises to be the mixed media, genre bending melange that Tse originally became famous for before it was the art world's default mode of art production 5 years ago or so. For that alone it is worth checking out as artists are always trying to create implausible realities where their rules somehow gain traction.

Quantum Shirley | June 19 - August 10
Opening Reception: July 3, 6:30 - 7:15PM
PNCA | Feldman Gallery
1241 NW Johnson


... (more, including Jesse Hayward and recent graduates)

Guggenheim Palazzo in Venice

The NYT's reports that the suit to have Peggy Guggenheim's Palazzo in Venice displays returned to a configuration she had them in during her lifetime has been rejected by a French court. This is interesting because the heirs do have a point, but it is all how the gift of the Palazzo to the Guggenheim Foundation was set up. Would Peggy want it to be a mausoleum to her collection and nothing else? ...I find that doubtful but the heirs have a point in that other patronage pandering seems to be seeping into the displays. The question is one of degrees of exclusivity and serves as a cautionary tale for those giving whole collections (and a building) to one institution. I believe the family's outrage comes from the intensive sometimes ham-fisted placement of other "living" patrons works but the foundation has a point... they are not required to keep it as a shrine. Hopefully a middle ground can be found, one where new works are rotated in on the merit of the conversation with Guggenheim's collection that their presence prompts.