Alfredo Jaar is one of the world's greatest living interventionist artists. Some pieces are stunning and others are too obvious. So it's fitting that his lecture tonight is entitled "It's Difficult".
Trained as an architect, Jaar has explored Africa, globalization, genocide, homelessness and immigration as well as other topics through photography, installation, performance, sculpture and film.
Representative works and their themes include Chilean politics with Studies on Happiness; 1981; gold mining in the Amazon with Gold in the Morning, 1985; vacant media gaze in Untitled (Newsweek) 1994; immigration policy and national identity with One Million Finish Passports, 1995; the responsibility journalists in war and crisis, in this case Sudan, with Sound of Silence, 1995; Africa in the media in Searching for Africa in LIFE in 1996; Rwanda with the stunning The Eyes of Gutete Emerita in 1996; geography and cartography in A logo for America 1997; the genocide in Rwanda with Let There Be Light in 1998 as well as many other projects in years since on the topic; homelessness with Lights in the City, 1999; a comment on children and play in the context of a lost generation in Playground, 1999; the separation of families across the US-Mexican border in Cloud, 2000; the lack of museums in Africa in Culture Boxes, 2000; freedom of information and ownership in Lament of the Images, 2002; South Africa in Hope, 2003; Italian Fascism in The Gramsci Trilogy, 2005; economic problems in the German reunification with Requiem for Leipzig, 2005; poverty in oil-rich Angola in Muxima, 2005; immigration again in Escalera el Cielo; 2006; the formation of cultural identity using advertising tools in Questions Questions / Domande Domande, 2008; globalization with The Marx Lounge, 2010; a park for contemplation of atrocities of the current centuries with Park of the Laments, 2010; AIDS with Emergencia, 2010; the missing in Chile in The Geometry of Conscience in 2010; truth and war news in the group show Seeing is Believing with May 1, 2011 in 2011; global media and the art viewer gaze in Three Women, 2011; the value of civilization in remote locations and the value of education for children in Dear Marcus 2011; and documentation of Occupy in 2011.
Jaar's work travels together with Ai Wei Wei, subject of an upcoming documentary, Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry. Jaar is more overstated; Wei Wei more veiled and subtle. But the antiparallels between where each makes work are something to think about.
Jaar speaks at Blue Sky Gallery (unless they move to a larger space) tonight. Sponsored by Oregon College of Art and Craft. Reservations 971-255-4165. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 7PM Free
Paul Gilding speaks about his book The Great Disruption on how society could respond to climate change, if it was viewed as a crisis. Gilding, from Australia, a country leading thinking on climate, has lead environmental organizations and consulting groups as a social entrepreneur. Gilding speaks at PNCA www.pnca.edu 1241 NW Johnson 6:30PM Free
