What a perfect place for an art installation: an historic cemetery. Adventurous clay and media mixing sculptors Jacomijn Schellevis and Micki Skudlarczyk have worked together in Mexico, Europe and now in Southeast Portland. Her previous work captured the butchering of a cow in the small Mexican village of her art residency. That was followed by a stunning installation using the delicate tracery of the blood vessels defining our bodies' membranes, dried and preserved. All have touched the endless cycle of life and death. The work this evening are sugar sculptures installed in the cemetery. There is a group of boats, sailing West, in the part of the cemetery thought to have once held Chinese graves. The remains were likely disinterred and moved to China. Elsewhere in the cemetery is a tangle pile of coiled DNA model forms. They are offered to be broken by the audience into pieces to be consumed, or taken home. Very smart work, outstanding network of supporters, international, the perfect setting. More of this please, Portland. Park respectfully in the neighborhood, no parking in the cemetery. In collaboration with the Alicia Blue Gallery www.aliciabluegallery.com At Lone Fir Historic Cemetery, enter at the corner of SE 20th and Morrison. 5PM-10 Free
The Image is Invisible is a collaboration by Rebecca Steele and Posie Currin in sculpture, photography and video. At New American Art Union www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny 6PM-9ish Free
Newspace Photo is one of Portland's important gathering places for photographers. They have a rental studio for shooting, equipment, classes and a gallery. They are supported by members who have a chance this evening to show their work. It's at Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Free
Paula Keyth opens a perfect spooky dream October show of painting. At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back Free
REDUX hosts their second annual Halloween show, Skulls and Crossbones. Artists include: Erin Jane Laroue, Johnny Murder, Brett Superstar, Penny Nickels, Barbara Feathers, Mary Tapogna, Pamela Davis, Beau Berkley, Ryan Berkley, Adam Burke, Beth Myrick, Richard Fox, Molly Wolfe, Cathy Pitters, Alea Bone, Juanita and D.R. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside Free
Car Hole continues combining smart curation with matching writing. This month is …ships passing in the night that neither signal nor recognize each other by Patricia No and Andrea Glaser. It's a rich metaphor presented in a dark intimate space.
"What must art works say, at night, moored to the walls of a gallery, facing one another? Some kind of discourse, some dialogue takes place between works when we are present, but can we imagine these romantic relationships to exist on the occasion of our absence? For these events, we are no longer the medium through which these interactions occur, rather, replaced by the darkened atmosphere that must transmit a visual communication. Or, must works of art rest and wait for someone to receive them? And what kind of reception will they receive when they are no longer solitary, but at home?
The title of October's programming at Car Hole Gallery derives from chapter 318 of Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet. Calling attention to the solitary nature of oceanic voyages, the single sentence chapter not only recalls human relations, but an epistemological solitude in the midst of objects and of time. Andrea Glaser's installation, Mick Eez(2010) takes as its focus the haunting and joyous countenance of Mickey Mouse. A project that began several months ago, Glaser developed Mick Eez by asking her friends to draw the cartoon mouse from memory. The collection, displayed as wallpaper, framed originals, fractals and fleshy, painted beer bottles, creates a mnemonic environment at the heart of advertising and influence, marking with humorous misrepresentations, the portrait of originality that remains a valuable commodity in our commercial culture. And, despite the archetypal Mickey to which the millions of reproductions aspire, they only create a Platonic library of off-products, always downstream from the face of Disney's promotional Frankenstein.
Patricia No's How to make a book (2010) is an ongoing series of works reconfiguring the production, distribution and insinuation of books. Cardboard box tops pasted with their photocopied surfaces or painted completely white displace a
viewer's initial recognition of an object, pairing the process of signification with the object itself. These works address a state of becoming, a simple mythology of self-recognition that comes from the process of representation and artifice, rather than the solitude of one's own reflection. ...ships passing in the night that neither signal nor recognize each other. finds within objects and images the constant, painful and humorous renegotiation required in the generation of new knowledge, a process of understanding that many do not seek, but all are subject to. " - Sam Korman
At Car Hole Gallery 114 SE 12th x Ankeny Free
I'm not deep into book arts and this blog doesn't focus on them. But how interesting to discover there is an international society dedicated to pop up books. It's the Movable Book Society. They cosponsor a show of pop up books at 23 Sandy this month, Pop-Up Now! With Portland's paper art madness, it could be a good research stop for people interested in making in this medium. At 23Sandy www.23sandy.com 623 NE 23 at Sandy 5PM-8 Free
Nemo Design has a motorcycle themed photo show Heavy Metal Heart. The photographers include Mark Welsh, Scott Pommier, Jon Humphries, Benji Wagner, Molly Quan, Jake Stangel, Phil Stern, Roger Seliner, Ray Gordon, Wez Lundry and Pasha. At Nemo Design www.studionemo.com 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free
