Alternative art spaces in Portland are often a narrative past. We are inventing the future in Portland, Oregon, US now. So alternative art spaces are a narrative future too.
Alternative art groups, in their time, resulted in the Portland Art Museum. Portland Center for Visual Arts (1972-1988) had its past sun-in-moment. Many, many past influential alt spaces, meetups and one-time events have each contributed greatly to the Portland cultural foment.
Spanning past and now, art and culture, is Disjecta. Disjecta has had its share of landlord negotiations. And it has landed in a low key space in Kenton that is thriving. Throughout its time and spaces, it has attracted in town and out of town emerging, recognized and established artists. If you are interested in visual arts and performing arts, Disjecta should be on your radar.
Tonight is Disjecta's annual art auction fundraiser. Artist donations to non-profits and the value of art are a serious question in need of discussion. But if you look at the artists participating tonight, you will see some of Portland's best voting with their feet by walking in.
Those artistic labors of love mate with lovers of art tonight. If you have some spare duckets and fall in love with a work that would give you pleasure gracing your walls, do it. If you want to meet artists and lovers of the arts come. If you want a well curated survey of most of Portland's top contemporary artists come.
At PortlandORUSNow, we are all about artists. So we laud Disjecta providing links to each artist. They are Delaney Allen, Corey Arnold, Hayley Barker, Avantika Bawa, Mike Bray, Wayne Bund, Ben Buswell, Vanessa Calvert, Calvin Ross Carl, Lea Cetera, Sang-ah Choi, Deville Cohen, Claire Cowie, Alex Dolan, Daniel Duford, David Eckard, Tia Factor, Leiv Fagereng, Eric Fischl, Melanie Flood, Chris Fraser, Damien Gilley, Daniel Glendening, Sean Healy, Vlatka Horvat, Grant Hottle, Chris Johanson & Jo Jackson, Courtney Kemp, Eva Lake, Ruth Lantz, Kendra Larson, Marne Lucas, Shana Lutker, D.E. May, Jeffry Mitchell, Akihiko Miyoshi, Donald Morgan, Emily Nachison, Jenene Nagy, Virginia Overton, Jacob Pander, Virginia Poundstone, Ralph Pugay, Paula Rebsom, Blair Saxon-Hill, Heidi Schwegler, Susan Seubert, Jeff Sheridan, Marie Sivak, Ashley Sloan, Adam Sorensen, Eva Speer, Whiting Tennis, Nathanael Thayer Moss, and Jen Wall. Music by DJ Cooky Parker.
At Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 7PM-10/11/12 $25 online $30 door
If you would like to get your prefunk on, I would strongly suggest you get to Place tonight. The Portland MAX Yellow Line is a direct connect. Place has Dreamscapes, Big Booty Bounce, Essentially Didactic, Retritus and Dark Element. You can't go wrong based on the implied narrative of the titles. But there is more.
Artist, curator Tori Abernathy combines social practice into curation and art making. Dreamscapes is a documentation of dreaming, or its prohibition, in public places.
J.P. Huckins mixes visual production and performance. J.P. is not afraid of risk, unlike 99.99999 percent of Portland, and 99 percent of humanity. He is undertaking an endurance performance in booty shaking. Twerk on!
Mark MartÃnez has Essentially Didactic, a meditation on identity. And finishing out earlier running shows are Karah Bruce-Larkin with Retritus on collecting the physical object and Emily Nachison's Dark Element from one of Portland's finest idea-based installationists.
At Place, www.placepdx.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall along with the People's art of Portland and the Woolley Gallery. If the mall appears closed, enter the film theater building adjacent, travel through the tunnel to the Place mall, and take the elevator to the 3rd floor, sometimes the bridge on the 3rd floor is open too. 700 SW Fifth. 5PM-9 Free
At the same location, the Mark Woolley Gallery and People's Art of Portland may have events. Free
