The YU art center smartly draws itself in analogy to PCVA, a revolutionary art center in its day. To understand the relation, YU offers a show of some of the PCVA documentation. With smart artists a curators then, the center picked artists to show that today have been firmly acknowledged by history. The art world is more complicated now: professional curators v artist curators, gallery representation v self representation, commercial curation & art fairs v non-commercial international bieniale, local v international, social work v material work, and more. So a non-collecting art center today will be different. Tonight YU shows some of the PCVA documentation archive, shows off the start of a new art library and launches an issue of friends' Veneer Magazine. At YU Contemporary www.yucontemporary.org 800 SE 10th 6PM-9 Free
Global Alien has landed at Gallery Homeland! These artists in residence: Youngjoo Cho, Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen, Lizza May David, Marte Kiessling, Namsee Kim, Kuo-Wei Lin, Jakob Schaible and Jae-Hyun Yoo, investigate The American Dream with their project Hope and Failure. Well worth the trip to Homeland's website for more and a visit to the gallery tonight. At Gallery Homeland www.galleryhomeland.org 2505 SE 11th x Division 6PM-9
In the 811 building
Golden Rule continues adventurous curation with Blisskreig, by Violet Aveline and Matthew DelBello. And Golden Rule gets the copywriting award for the month: "The coactive spectacle finds root in a fascination with mythology and folklore and emerges from a modern composition and electric color palette. The nontraditional figures and landscapes depict a somewhat paradoxical friendly violence. Nightmares of charm take shape in a post-industrial wilderness of a controlled disorder.
A wife and mother of two small boys, Aveline, who also enjoys experimenting with guitar, drums, flute and electronics, is working on soundscapes to accompany the vision she and DelBello have created. Also available this month: a fort to sleep in, screenprinted and designed by Aveline herself. Guests are invited to stay the night in the fort to get the full enchanting dream world experience. Stop by to register at your own whimsy.
Golden Rule’s object/artifact curation will marry carnival with classic--a well-tempered vintage collection paired with a retrospective: adult versions of the clothing you stole from Mom and treasured in your variant of a fort/circus tent/makeshift cave, as well as a healthy dose of Sunday bests".
At Golden Rule Gallery www.goldenruleportland.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 122 in the back
Black Box has Field Work, quite nice ironic landscape photography. Recommended. At Black Box Gallery www.blackboxgallery.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 212 upstairs 5PM-8:30 Free
Nationale has poet-painter Paulus Kapteyn with The Pursuit of Happiness, with a theme of "unchecked corruption,... political upheaval and social perversion". All very topical. At Nationale thenewnationale.com 811 E Burnside Map
Redux has Greg Brenden and Jim Mullen, both working in 2 1/2-3d with reused materials. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside
All at 811 East Burnside Map
Lille has Ruth Shively with First Impressions, portraits of women spanning cultures, perfect for mothers' day. At Lille Boutique www.lilleboutique.com 1007 E Burnside
Newspace Photo splits its show tonight between their home space and Biwa. Biwa has Jason Carlisle and the home space has Maureen Drennan & Sarina Finkelstein. Tonight when you are expending intense energy arting, stop at Biwa to refuel. Tasty Japanese snacks, drinks and meals. 10% of tonight's proceeds go to support scholarships at the excellent Newspace education program. Newspace Photo: www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Biwa: biwarestaurant.com (menus) 215 SE 9th. Newspace until 9ish, Biwa until midnight
The Stables is the reincarnation of a previous artist workspace with an active and inexpensively-priced figure drawing and painting program. Tonight they have a 3 day show by Ramlah Yavar. At The Stables www.thestablespdx.com 910 SE Taylor 7PM Free
Nemo is a branding and communication agency. They present art shows from time to time that relate to their creative projects which are often extreme sports or urban-style themed. Tonight is Skulls and Tentacles by snow/skate board artists RYNO and Quincy Quigg. It's illustration-style work, a little rougher and more raw than usual skate graphics. Musical accompaniment by Wildildlife from Seattle, described as "heavy, heavy space rock". At Nemo Design HQ www.nemohq.com 1875 SE Belmont 6PM-10 Free
Disjecta has an early instance of the next months' art school thesis shows with UofO's MFA grads and their show Momentary Interruption. Sharing the space is Nickolaus Typaldos' Solitaire and the Unknown. At Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 6PM-10 Free
Milepost5 also has things going on if you are out that way. At Milepost5 www.milepostfive.com 900 NE 81st (go by MAX) 6PM-9 Free
