Kendra Larson and Kurtiss Lofstrom show at Gallery Homeland. Larson is a Northwest native inspired by our dark forests. She channels that in pencil and charcoal drawings that have overlaid brightly colored geometric images - very mystical! Lofstrom works in collage of found image, particularly brightly printed magazines. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division
Fourteen30 Gallery has a show themed on Winter. It includes artists Sebastian Gogel, Leipzig; Matthew Green, Portland; Frank Haines & Francis Heinzfeller, Brooklyn; Alex Hubbard, Brooklyn; Arnold Kemp, Portland; Alicia Love McDaid, Portland; Thomas Moecker, Leipzig; Jo Nigoghossian, NYC; Sven Stuckenschmidt, Berlin; and Portland's Molly Vidor. At Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 1430 SE 3rd 6PM-9
Pop painter Corey Smith relocated from Portland to Los Angeles. He's back with the copywriting award of the month: "We’ve seen the future, and it only looks good in hardware specs. Amid famine, collapse, and massacre, we dream of freedom. From the pyramid to the moon shuttle, man’s greatest endeavor has always been to subjugate death and the dreams of sleep—to own them, control them, escape there—to paint our own new futures onto the blank slate of unfilled coordinates.
In Obsolete Dreams, artist Corey Smith confronts the hulking physicality of these useless masters of dreams and death: Cold-War stealth bombers, moon shuttles, astronauts, the unholy engine fueled by the American flag. But Smith remakes them according to their own dream logic, that alien symbolism of deflective curve and angle that is both perfect and perfectly incomprehensible to the life that is always right here in front of us.
So in Smith’s work, silent death comes in the bright colors of advertising, and bombers swing lovely as children’s models on wires. The grim, grey haze of a satellite photo takes on a more intense reality than the one you know, because it comes from that high, floating future. Even if the art of science is war and escape, there’s nothing more romantic than chasing the zero all the way down. And space is where you dream, when you dream on empty.
Corey Smith’s Obsolete Dreams calls out to the primal dreams themselves: Long live the dead dreams, long after their masters have forgotten how to dream." At Worksound 820 SE Alder
Grass Hut has a group show of prints by some familiar artists including Studio Folk, Scrappers, Shawn Wolfe, Chris Johanson, Tim Biskup, Little Friends Of Printmaking, Ian Lynam, Yellena James, APAK, Brad Simon and Mauro Gatti. At Grass Hut www.grasshutcorp.com 811 E Burnside
Newspace has a annual themed show, curated from international submissions. This year the theme is Carnival. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th
Pushdot has Traci French, Sarah Kamsler, Nicole Linde, Mulysa Melco, Kim Oanh Nguyen, Ann Ploeger, Georgia Stylou, and Tatiana Wills. At Pushdot Studio www.pushdotstudio.com 1021 SE Caruthers
Down and Out is an international group show of photography curated by the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. It's a large contemporary cross section, including Portland photographers Chris Bennett, Heidi Bertman, Jeffrey Krolick and Duc Ly. At 23Sandy www.23sandy.com 623 NE 23 at Sandy 5PM-8
Nemo Design has a big bike event this evening. There is a show of bike themed photos, custom frames, roller sprint races and a tricks competition in the parking lot. There is a fee to compete and prizes, but otherwise it's all free! The event continues Saturday at Liberty Hall. At Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free
Artists like fun. And they organize it themselves in the most creative way possible. Artists Jenny Hoyston and Sarah Gottesdiener are starting a regular wind up to First Friday openings. There will be video art by Melanie Valera, music by TJO and Marisa Anderson, and a dance performance by Allison Halter. There will be DJ's and dancing. At Branx 320 SE 2nd 9PM-2 $5
