May 3 Westside Art Openings

Photographs and Video by Dinh Q. Lê

The most potentially engaging opening this evening are the works of Dinh Q. Lê. Born in Viet Nam in 1968, Lê's psychological landscape of the Vietnam War was constructed ex post facto by American popular films and journalists' war photographs. He emigrated to the US at a young age and immersed himself in the school art library. There he found the photographs in art books allowed direct experience without language barriers. Attracted to photography, he sliced photographic prints of the Vietnam experience as distilled by Hollywood and the press and wove the visual samples together. In this period, he worked with iconic war images such as the photograph of an execution on the street, children napalmed, and stills from The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Born on the 4th of July and The Quiet American. Later Lê used the same technique with samples of Buddhist iconography in a series "The Commodification of Buddhism".

Vietnam is changing rapidly as manufacturing shifts there from China. Lê's current work adds to his weavings the bright imagery of consumer brands and disposable packaging flooding his country.

He also shows a two channel video piece "From Father to Son: A Rite of Passage", closely matching action between Vietnam War films Platoon, staring Charlie Sheen; and Apocalypse Now, staring Martin Sheen. The multi dimensional and generational parallels between the unspeakably brutal Belgian colonialism in the Congo, the disaster of the Vietnam War, blind self destruction, moral crux and Iraq are inescapable.*

Lê's work is in the permanent collection of the NY and SF Museums of Modern Art, LACMA and the Norton Family Collection. He has shown extensively in Asia and Europe, at the Asia Society and the Venice Bienniale.

On Saturday, Lê and art historian Moira Roth from Mills speak at 11AM. Between 1 and 5PM Lê shows a three channel video "The Farmers and the Helicopters" juxtaposing the dreams of self taught mechanics who build their own helicopter for humanitarian aims and historical war helicopter footage.

www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th

*Filmmaker Oliver Stone resented that privilege bought deferments from the Vietnam-era military draft (Cheney, Bush), so he dropped out of Yale to enlist in the Army at age 21. He served in Vietnam in front line combat, wounded twice. Stone's resulting film Platoon was lauded by journalist Halberstam as "painfully realistic".

Photographs of Tourism Lost and Found

Quality Pictures overlaps J Bennett Fitts "No Lifeguard on Duty", images of sadly abandonded motel swimming pools, with Stuart Hawkins "Customs", "Appearing In" and video "Souvenir". Hawkins lives in Nepal where she stages images juxtaposing ironic elements and the practical landscape of a developing country. The post ironic work is energetic and a touchpoint for contemplating tourism's impact on the social landscape. In Souvenir, Hawkins treks Nepal, ever the tourist seeking to find the last Nepali untouched by Western culture.

Quality Pictures www.qpca.com 916 NW Hoyt

Stumptown

Sculptor, painter and installationist Marty Schnapf shows at Stumptown downtown. Schnapf last showed large paintings there themed on landmine explosions. He has worked extensively with Monster Squad creating environments for their modern dance works. Stumpown 126 SW 3rd

PNCA

PNCA shows "Portland Collects" and a juried show of art made by the school's students. The value of "Collects" is that it demonstrates that key collectors here are able to take aesthetic risks. Next year, PNCA launches their MFA program. Several of the students in the program chose PNCA over top art schools elsewhere. www.pnca.edu NW Johnson and 13th

Real Superheros

P:ear kids this month have worked with duct tape collage artist Mona Superhero. Her graphic work references pop culture and Pop Art, with an aesthetic feel of the 1970's and 1980's. www.pearmentor.org 809 SW Alder


Bright and Odd

PDX Window Project shows bright constructions of spray foam by Midori Hirose. See it 24x7. www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Street

If you are out, the Everett Lofts and Compound are recommended. Trish Grantham shows at Genuine Imitation.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Yang and Yin. After heavy dude Le, it gives great joy to discover the things lost so easily, like childlike optimism. That is exactly what you will find in the bold show this month at Valentines.

Valentines shows art by Rose Gibian and Oscar Radon-Kimball.

Gibian "presents an elaborate, whimsical universe of her own invention. Populated with flying cats, costumed animals, and so-called "mixed-up creatures", this world is host to a range of unlikely scenarios: Delirious hippos gorge themselves on landscapes of junk food. Kitty scientists perform experiments in laboratories of gurgling test tubes. Birthday parties are plagued by Raccoon bandits. Rose began making art in preschool, and since then has been extremely prolific, often generating several drawings a day. She produces work in a variety of formats, including paintings, short books, comics, and dioramas."

Radon-Kimbell "is a multimedia artist and writer who has been working in various media for the past 13 years. He has studied filmmaking at the Northwest Film Center and through Project Youth Doc. In 2005, Oskar sold out of many of his comics at the Stumptown Comic Fest. He's worked on many comics for the past five years although he made his first hero, Star Man, when he was six. His main characters are the hero, Sock Man and his witty assistant, Bootie. Currently he is writing a novel called Gemelle. He enjoys reading, writing, myspace, and awesome."

Best thing: Rose is 8 and Oscar 13. Don't lose that youthful enthusiasm!

Valentines 232 SW Ankeny Kids until 9.