Friday, April 24, 2015

April 26 Laraaji Six

The dislocations, triumphs, tragedy, increased travel and communication of the early the 20th Century birthed many artistic innovations, continuing to today, and tomorrow. One was musique concrète, leading to expanded definitions of music, and music made by layered studio processes in expanded non-linear time, pioneered by Les Paul.

That lead to minimalism by Terry Riley. Brian Eno named ambient music, gathering all those tributaries.

A notable experimental musician in that realm is Laraaji, Edward Larry Gordon. Laraaji, like Riley, became interested in Eastern mysticism which influenced his electronically processed acoustic music. Brian Eno found him playing in a park and produced his breakthrough recording, Day of Radiance in 1980.

Laraaji presents a rare special performance tonight, preceded by Eternal Tapestry and Lyrels. Laraaji will also be at Xhurch Monday. www.facebook.com/events/1556584107927101 Seminal electroacoustic music. At S1 www.s1portland.com 4148 NE Hancock Map 8PM $10



Six is eight. Yes, eighth year of an evening of electronic music composed and performed for six channels. It is a free form experience over hours, come, go, move around. Bring your blanket and a pillow to relax into the music with the audience on the floor in the center of six speakers. The musicians this year are Solenoid, Burke Jam, Reliqs, Christi Denton, No Parades and Jatun + Mike Jedlicka. At PNCA www.pnca.edu 511 NW Broadway Map 6PM-10 Free

April 25 Over and Back Sum Meat Vibrations Are In No Great Hurry

Over and Back, abstractly themed on a basketball rule, is a group show by Terry Boyd, Carolyn Castaño, Amanda Leigh Evans, Greg Hayes and Hand2Mouth Theater. There is a talk by the artists at 11AM at Likewise. The show itself is in the evening at Surplus Space.

Over and Back overandback2015.wordpress.com at Likewise www.likewise.website 3564 SE Hawthorne 11AM Free

And at Surplus Space www.surplusspace.info 3726 NE 7th 6PM-10 Free



Conversations with Artists for the Sum of Its Parts show continues this afternoon with sculptor Ellen Wishnetsky-Mueller. At Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art www.jeffreythomasfineart.com 2219 NW Raleigh Doors 3PM, talk 4 Free



Damien Gilley presents a one night installation and releases a book, Vibrations. Gilley is known for mathematically-driven large scale architectural graphics. You may have seen at Little Big Burger. At Carl & Sloan Contemporary www.carlsloan.com in the Disjecta building. 8371 N Interstate Ave #1 Map 6PM-10 Free



HQHQ complete a three week residency, The Chicken and the Hog, by John Knight. The project is based on the measurements reported on the weight and value of pigs slaughtered for food. Pigs are smart and they can uncurl their tails. Between elephants, whales, dolphins on through food fish, cows, chickens and shellfish, all of which we delight in ending, they are probably far above the median in the great chain of being. Knight based his work on the National Daily Base Lean Hog Carcass Slaughter Cost reported by the United States Department of Agriculture. The description on the HQHQ website is much more surreal. Tonight is the closing reception. At HQHQ Project Space hq-objective.info 232 SE Oak St #108 6PM-9 Free



In no Great Hurry - 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter is a documentary interview with the photographer-painter artist. Leiter worked as a fashion photographer. He also made contributions to street photography in the art world. The world only became aware of his paintings late in his life. He passed in 2013. The Ampersand website has a more eloquent description of his work and the film, sure to be poignant. What is sad is that respect has come posthumously, fully exploited by the art-making machinery. At Ampersand Vintage Printed Material www.ampersandvintage.com 2916 NE Alberta, Ste B. Map 7:30 Free

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

April 24 Wut The Yes Man

Composition Gallery does good things. When they do something first Thursday in the Everett Lofts, we don’t list it - up to you to explore and find!

They do venture out in the world and an example is their wut guise project. It’s a mix of movement, video, clothing design, visual art and gender exploration. They present it in the Gallery Homeland space in the Ford Building.

They close the event tonight with a talk by Lief J Lee - Fabric: a contemporary queer resistance.

At the Composition Gallery compositioncomposition.com at Gallery Homeland in the Ford Building, SE 11th and SE Division. 4PM-5 Free



The Yes Men are children of Adbusters, related to earlier Cacaphony Society, Fluxus and Dada artistic and culture jamming movements. Igor Vamos AKA Mike Bonanno, cofounder, began his culture jamming at Reed. He is famous for his reverse peristalsis political protest in which participants ate mashed potatoes colored with food coloring to vomit red white and blue; for his Barbie Liberation Front, exchanging talking Barbie and GI Joe voice boxes, then reverse shoplifting them into stores; and for changing the signs on Front Avenue, subsequently named Naito Drive, to read Malcolm X Street, amidst the public debate over renaming Union Avenue Martin Luther King Blvd.

With Jacques Servin AKA Andy Bichlbaum, the Yes Men continued on a grander scale, exploiting the public relations, press and media machine to announce ironic faux news with an aspiration towards how the world could be if corporate persons practiced the values of real persons.

They have had many spectacular successes, captured in documentaries and online video.

Igor is also a cofounder of RTmark, using a corporate share model to fund art projects. That has been carried forth to the Yes Lab.

Igor Mike Vamos Bonanno speaks today as part of the PSU Art + Design lecture series. In the Shattuck Hall Annex, 1914 SW Park Avenue, at the corner of SW Broadway and Hall on the PSU campus. 7PM Free

April 23 See the Sights

Photolucida is one of those world class Portland things. Tonight is the public portfolio review.

Photographers apply and are selected. Their portfolios are reviewed by curators, photo editors and art directors. The public is welcome too. It is an opportunity to see a lot of photography. Good photography.

The Photolucida Portfolio Walk at the Portland Art Museum Fields Ballroom in the Masonic Temple Building 1219 SW Park 6PM-9 Free


April 22 Fail!

Failure. It's a thing. For all the aversion to risk in business today, it is refreshing when agencies talk "fail harder", early failure and iteration is mainstream in design, and books by Henry Petroski are taught in engineering school.

Narrative is a human tool forming culture. Our brains work for it. So narrative is a fine format to explore failure.

Tonight Fredrik Averin (Razorfish
), Scott Erickson (Artist), Eric Corey Freed (International Living Future Institute
), Hunter Marshall (Liquid Agency
), Gabe Paez (WILD
), Mark Shapiro (Laika) and Kjell van Zoen (Plywerk) tell stories of failure on stage, no net. Design story hour a'la Moth.

It is a story hour presented by virtual museum, the Portland Design Museum. www.designmuseumfoundation.org/portland/blog/2015/03/23/story-hour-design-fail/ Advance registration required. At the Village Ballroom 700 NE Dekum Street 6:30PM Free

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

April 21 Trust No Word

That is the thesis of Gus Nicklos. He speaks about typography and visual language underlying words in print and on screen, tonight. A presentation of the Curiosity Club, you can tune into the free live webcast, see the video archive on the Hand Eye Supply website, or visit the talk and demonstration in person at Hand Eye Supply www.handeyesupply.com/pages/curiosity-club 427 NW Broadway 6PM Free

Sunday, April 19, 2015

April 19 Forbidden Pure ESP

Pure Surface, a collaborative performance of a moving image maker, a dance performer and a writer, monthly, instantiates tonight, #15. It is Simon Boas, film; Jin Camou, dance and Robert Duncan Gray, text. Pure Surface www.puresurface.info at Valentines valentinespdx.com 232 SW Ankeny. Doors 6:00PM, performance 7 sharp Free



ESP TV is an online property, the future, as dinosaur broadcast networks lemming to oblivion. They travel the country, making a show before a live audience, like you. In Portland. Tonight.

Marcus Estes, Hits, MSHR, Ashby Lee Collinson and Goodwin are hosted by Matt Carlson, with videos by Sabrina Ratté, Peter Burr, Jeremy Rotsztain and Jeremy Couillard. (I have to say that TV, video, taping, filmmaker and broadcast are words in my writing here that are under review) More details at https://www.facebook.com/events/1561498604104964/. At S1 www.s1portland.com 4148 NE Hancock Map 8PM-11



We would be remiss to not mention a showing today of a favorite (of many) film, Forbidden Planet. A 1956 science fiction film, it combines a thoughtful narrative with old school gender tropes, charming in a way for their datedness. It is an interpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the prototype for the Star Trek series. Distress call, arrive at planet, seems charming, danger, gets more complicated, resolved, leave, happy, but thought-provoking ending.

In this case, the complicated is the challenge we face as we engage more machine systems and AI in our lives.

It is the first with an all electronic soundtrack, includes backgrounds by Disney animators, the ultimate straight man, Robby the Robot, and monsters from the id.

The film shows on the OMSI bigger than big screen as part of their science fiction series. At the OMSI Empirical Theater www.omsi.edu 1945 SE Water Noon $7

Friday, April 17, 2015

April 18 Sum Bodies World Is Not a New York Box

Conversations with Artists for the Sum of Its Parts show continues this afternoon with Ben Buswell & Sean Healy, represented by Upfor and Elizabeth Leach Galleries respectively. At Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art www.jeffreythomasfineart.com 2219 NW Raleigh Doors 3PM, talk 4 Free



Melanie Flood Projects continues hosting artist Justin James Reed with his Shining Bodies Project. This instance is an installation at S1 for one night. At S1, formerly Multiplex, www.s1portland.com 4148 NE Hancock Map 7PM-9



The World Is Not the Earth show opens today with James Castle, Austin Eddy, John O'Reilly, Blair Saxon-Hill and Timmy Straw. Stroll in the afternoon, audience a performance by Timmy Straw in the evening. At Adams and Ollman Gallery, the second of two members of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, www.adamsandollman.com 209 SW 9th Show 3PM-6, Performance 7 Free



The Mark Woolley gallery guests New York artists, some from Portland. They are Noah Rice, Nathan Rice, Patrick Arias, David Hanlon and Kyle Rudd. At the Mark Woolley Gallery www.markwoolley.com a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. 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

People's Art of Portland has Outside the Box, 3D art. They are adjacent to Woolley and open the same hours. Free

April 7 Blair Shining House

Blair Saxon-Hill has a new show opening tonight. At the first of two members in Portland of the New Art Dealers Alliance www.newartdealers.org, Fourteen30 Gallery www.fourteen30.com 1501 SW Market Street Map 6PM-8



Justin James Reed opens Shining Bodies, tonight with an installation tomorrow at S1. At Melanie Flood Projects 420 SW Washington St #301 6PM-8



Tending Home ends tonight with artist talks. At Surplus Space www.SurplusSpace.info 3726 NE 7th 7PM

Saturday, April 11, 2015

April 11 Music Conversation

Ben Buswell & Sean Healy are artists in the Sum of the Parts show. They speak about their works and art-making today. At Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art www.jeffreythomasfineart.com 2219 NW Raleigh Doors 3PM, talk 4 Free



Xperimental advanced listening music presenters Xhurch have Water Diego, Abronia and Electro-Kraken. At an intimate home church. Early arrive, speak outside quietly, park conveyances politely. Do not bring down the venue for neighbor dissatisfaction over noise. At Xhurch xhurch.net 4550 NE 20th 8PM Donation would be nice.

Friday, April 03, 2015

April 3 Eastside Art Openings

Isn't taxidermy disturbing? Yes. There are a few artists who use it as an art ingredient. Loved to Death is a show of taxidermy and taxidermy-themed art by Brooke Weston. At the Splendorporium and Art4Life Children's Gallery 3421 SE 21st 5PM-7 Free



Eutectic has Fluid by Bobby Silverman and Peter Christian Johnson. At Eutectic Gallery www.eutecticgallery.com 1930 NE Oregon 6PM-9 Free



Natural Selections are constructed landscapes by Teresa Christiansen. At Pushdot Studio www.pushdotstudio.com 2505 SE 11th Avenue Suite 104 6PM-9 Free



Portland photographer Jake Shivery has Contact, photographs spanning a career. At Newspace Photo www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th Map 6PM-9 Free



Illustrator Jessie Fox-Nystrom has beauty-beast relations works and What-if hybrid creatures. At Redux www.reduxpdx.com 811 E Burnside 6PM-10 Free



Taking Pictures is a varied group show. At Black Box Gallery www.blackboxgallery.com 811 E Burnside, Suite 212 upstairs 5PM-8 Free

Thursday, April 02, 2015

April 2 Westside Art Openings

Susan Seubert presents The Fallacy of Hindsight. The photographer is known for minimal idea-driven work, often in classical photographic processes. The show is in parts: 100 Memories are 100 images made over 25 years of the artist's photographic life. High Arctic Fast Ice images arctic Svalbard as global warming breaks vast ice fields into units, melting. Twinka Entwined is an image of the famous photographic model and writer, now 70, living in Portland. Recommended. At Froelick Gallery www.froelickgallery.com 714 NW Davis early close 8



Photographer, writer, mover Intisar Abioto presents Contents. She has gathered the images and stories of people she meets. She views storytelling as a spiritual experience. You can get a sense from this video from Portland Creative Mornings. Highly recommended. At Duplex Collective www.duplexcollective.com 219 NW Couch 6PM-9



On African Time is a show of photography made in East Africa by Christopher Rauschenberg. David Hilliard has photographs, Our Nature. Having spent a little time in East Africa, I recommend. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map 6PM-9 Free



Colleen Plumb has Animals Are Outside Today, a meditation on the relationship of humans and animals, it could improve, though we rarely think about it. It accompanies a stunning video work Thirty Times a Minute.

It documents a display of mental illness in elephants only found in captivity. It manifests as rhythmic walking, pacing, rocking or trunk motion. Our human treatment of these animals in almost every case, poaching, breaking family units for relocation, zoos and circuses is a crime.

Natural Findings is a show Cheryle St. Onge, selected by the very competitive Photolucida Critical Mass award.

At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th 6PM-9 Free



Hide In My Brain is illustration work by Hideyuki Katsumata. At Hellion Gallery www.helliongallery.com through the lobby of the arched brick entry, up the stairs and to the back. Very upper floor Japan-style. 19 NW 5th second floor. Map 7PM-10 Free



Deviant Cartography is a project by Doug McCune. He uses public data to make creative maps of crime and disaster. Burglaries, prostitution, murder, natural disasters, more. At Diode Gallery for Electronic Art www.diodegallery.com 514 NW Couch 6PM-9 Free



Grove is a group show themed on the wild nature around us. At Pond Gallery http://pondpdx.com/ 920 West Burnside 6PM-10 Free



Adams and Ollman, UofO White Box, Upfor and PNCA continue fine exhibitions from last month.



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 closing ranges from 9PM-10:30ish

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

April 1 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The tech world was shocked when Facebook acquired Kickstarter Oculus at 20X cash in for $2 billion. That has activated experimentation and innovation in virtual reality glasses, stereoscopic video displays that shut out a view of the real world around. It is only the last few years that it has been possible to recompute the stereo view of a scene in real time to conform to head movement. It is yet imperfect, with scene lag and motion sickness, dependent on the scene, viewer, and time in experience. It is anticipated they will be big in gaming. But as simulation develops, they will become commonplace, after overcoming the geeky valley.

The original Oculus Rift used a single display about 3 by 6 inches, viewed in halves by each eye through focal length-correcting lenses. Rival Google has distributed plans for a cardboard frame, Google Cardboard, which can hold a mobile phone to provide the same functionality.

Local creative concern Instrument has invited artists and designers to decorate these cardboard frames with images inspired by dreams. The frames will be sold as a benefit for the P:ear Mentor program.

The artists are Bakers Son, Jon Contino, Hannah Chloe Lee, Tron 444, Olivia Obritz, Whoopi, Audrey Davis, Craig Wheat, Gavin Potenza, Cameron Stewart, Osmose, David Wien, Kiriko, Kristin Reiter, Natalie Woo, Adam R Garcia, Hoang Nguyen, Jarrett Reynolds, Tina Le, Amy Ruppel, Toby Grubb, Kelly Purkey, Justin Morris, Anh Nguyen, Jason Sturgill and Aaron Rayburn.

One night only, with online sales beginning tomorrow. Dreams Incarnated www.dreamsincarnated.com by Instrument www.instrument.com at 2319 NE Glisan 6PM-9 Free