Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916), Oannes et le Sphinx, 1910, oil on wood, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Edwin Binney

The next artist talk at the Portland Art Museum will feature Emily Nachison this Thursday May 12 from 6-7PM.

I'm a particularly big fan of PAM's artist talks on works from their collection and not just because I've done one of them. There is something important about creating living relationships with art of the past so I'm especially happy that Nachison has chosen Odilon Redon's Oannes et le Sphinx. It is a lovely little gem in the collection that matches up well with Peter Doig, Katharina Fritsch, Anselm Kiefer and Chris Ofili's contemporary penchant for mysticism. In fact, Portland's art scene is full of all sorts of allusions to sorcery (there is a reason Grimm is shot here too, another obvious curatorial theme that never gets discussed) so I'm curious what she teases out.