Augen has a whole stock of minimalist prints. This they make a show of some including from Joself Albers, Donald Judd, Sol Lewitt, Robert Mangold, Frank Stella & others. An art history lesson, for free! At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis early close 8
The Nine Gallery has an installation by Ellen George and Jerry Mayer, Spine. It is entirely of paper, so apropos with trees and paper mills surrounding us. At the Nine Gallery inside Blue Sky.
North Portland Polaroids is a show by Bobby Abrahamson. A new resident of the Portland neighborhood St Johns, Abrahamson shot portraits of neighbors. The original images were made on Polaroid 55 which has been discontinued for a few years. It's a slow film with the equivalent of over 370 megapixels per frame. The monochrome images, with subjects straight posed and no smiles, lends the work and Arbus to Lange feel. I'm not sure about how I feel about the work, I hope it has created enduring positive relationships with neighbors and not the reverse. Here is also hoping some narratives in the subjects' own words accompany the work. Also photos of Philadelphia by Daniel Traub. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 6PM-9
Maybe It Takes a Loud Noise? is a new collection of gallery work by Anna Gray & Ryan Wilson Paulsen. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Map early close 8PM
Get Your Flag On is a group show in honor of July Fourth. At Grass Hut in Floating World. www.grasshutcorp.com 400 NE Couch
Graeter is known for lively openings of often urban edge-influenced work. This month's show is a richly themed motorcycle show. Well known urban illustrator collagist Dan Ness and photographer Corey Smith join Anthony-Michel Mautemps, David DeLong and Randell Swann showing bike theme art. The space will also be filled with vintage machines, cycle clothes and a photo booth where you are encouraged to dress 'bike. Events continue throughout the month. At Graeter Art Gallery www.graeterartgallery.com 131 NW 2nd Map 5PM-midnight
Lisa Gronseth has a show, Dubai - دبي, landscape paintings of the new city's skyscrapers. She captures an impression of the light, the promise and the facade of a city built on an ancient civilization and even more ancient fossil energy deposits, modernizing in some ways and in some ways not. At Chambers Gallery www.chambersgallery.com 916 NW Flanders Early close 8:30PM
Too Far Gone is a show of individual and collaborative works by Kenji Nakayama & Dana Woulfe, sign painter and abstract painter respectively. They make their home in Boston. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com 19 NW 5th Suite 208. Through the lobby of the arched brick entry, up the stairs and to the back. Very upper floor Japan-style.
Map 6PM-10
Reading Frenzy has The Axiom Absurd by Harlan Mahaffy. The gallery describes it better than I: "Inspired by tacky wallpaper from the Victorian era, and its modern digital resurrection, Harlan Mahaffy humbly presents a new take on a familiar aesthetic. At first glance, one's eye is simply pleased to see a nicely matching color palette in this symmetrical, easy-to-swallow format. Yet upon any length of inspection we see that things are not entirely as they should be. There is a malicious hand behind these seemingly decorative patterns. Narratives begin to unfold, symmetrically around the center, then expanding outward across the page with strange implication." At Reading Frenzy www.readingfrenzy.com 921 SW Oak
Cuba can be photogenic, so why not take advantage of that? Portland photographer Jeff Amram has. His show Cuba Architecture Now is at the American Institute of Architects-AIA 403 NW 11th 5:30PM-8:30
The Everett Lofts are recommended as always. It's easier for you to see them all than for me to write suggestions. Some close as early as 9PM. At the Everett Lofts 625 NW Everett. Bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th Map
