Saturday, July 29, 2023

July 30 Wandering Floating

The Daipan Butoh Collective in Seattle present their annual outdoor, Wandering & Wondering, in Seattle's Kubota Gardens.

Kubota is the original family home and nursery of Fujitaro Kubota. https://kubotagarden.org/fujitaroremembered.html It is now a city park and free. If you are in Portland, the Portland Japanese Garden curator has been advising them and his rock work is identifiable by sytle.

The butoh players have a favorite spot and usually signs to guide you to it. Parking can be fierce, so share those rides. Bring a blanket or lawn chair, sunscreen and a hat.

The companion performance is August 3 in the Seattle Japanese Garden in Washington Park.

Daipan Butoh present Wandering and Wondering https://www.daipanbutohcollective.com/event-details/wandering-wondering-by-kogut-butoh-at-kubota-garden at the Kubota Garden https://kubotagarden.org/ 55th Avenue South, Seattle, WA  Map  12:20PM-3 Free


Feels Like Floating is a multi-city presenter of ambient and slow music. In LA they present Laraj. In Portland they send out music through the Leach Botanical Garden trees.

This afternoon you can tap the deep vibes of Spencer Doran of Visible Cloaks alongside noted Portland music curator Jed Bindeman of Tunnels. Bring a blanket or lawnchair and a picnic if you like.

Tickets & more: https://www.feelslikefloating.com/rsvp?recordId=recniee2StQxGex83

July 29-30 Lumber Rose

Photographer Justine Kurland is a strong protagonist in the Yale School.

Gregory Crewdson was a Yale photography grad who returned to teach. He gracfully narrated his arc in an art talk arranged by Matthew Stadler in collaboration with Stephanie Snyder and the late Ripe Family dinner. From that talk, you can understand the Yale School of observation and fiction. Crewdson has continued to build elaborate sets and scenes as would a movie, making momentary images suggesting a narrative before and after that time zero.

Crewdson, with collaboration by Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, famously promoted some students in the Another Girl Another Planet show in 1999. In that show, Kurland launched her narrative of women in landscape. We all know the Mark Twain story of Tom Sawyer and Huckeberry Fin, young vagabonds living freely and having adventures. What if women did the same with no fear?

Kurland was part of the late Linda Ferris' Seattle Contemporary Art Project. Kurland has shown in Portland galleries, most recently the Elizabeth Leach Gallery. She collaborated with Jon Raymond on a small book Old Joy in 2004 and was guested by old PICA in 2005. In the pandemic, she created a new body of work, SCRUM Manifesto, sutting up photo books in her personal collection. It's a peowerful observation worth reader's look. Today she generously has curated a show, The Rose, with the Lumber Room.

"The Rose considers collage as a subversive action and a feminist strategy. The title borrows its name from Jay DeFeo’s seminal painting and refers to her iterative practice, where one thing turns into something else, gathering rotational gravity as it orbits."

The artists include Ruth Asawa, Natalie Ball, Lee Bontecou, Vija Celmins, Philo Cohen, Jay DeFeo, Mary Beth Edelson, Tatiana Florival, Vanessa German, Bean Gilsdorf, Janice Guy, K8 Hardy, Leslie Hewitt, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, AK Jenkins, Baseera Khan, Kiki Kogelnik, Tarrah Krajnek, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jacky Marshall, Aspen Mays, Qiana Mestrich, Helina Metaferia, Shala Miller, Joiri Minaya, Rachelle Mozman-Solano, Wangechi Mutu, Yamini Nayar, B. Ingrid Olson, Frida Orupabo, Gina Osterloh, Olivia Reavy, Deborah Roberts, Martha Naranjo Sandoval, Sally Saul, Keisha Scarville, Gwen Smith, Pamela Sneed, Lorna Simpson, Lau Wai, Della Wells, Hannah Wilke, and Francesca Woodman. Strongly recommended.

Sunday Kurland speaks with artist Keisha Scarville and gallery director of Higher Pictures https://higherpictures.com/ Kim Bourus. Higher Pictures, operating since 2007, is now in Brooklyn.

They are friends in the art world and real life with a strong perspective on photography now.

Seating is limited. The event will be recorded and available for viewing on the Lumber Room website in due time.

Talk at 2 Sunday. Opening Saturday 4-7.

At The Lumber Room  https://lumberroom.com/exhibitions/2023/the-rose 419 SW 9th, above Liz Leach Map  4PM-7 Saturday 2PM-3 Sunday Free

July 29 Massive Projects

The independent Biomass pop-up curated by Jeff Jahn hosts its second artist talk with participating artists Eva Lake, Epiphany Couch and Kendra Larson. Biomass at 608 NW 13th, #102 3:30PM talk Free

Sator Projects has a big day today in collaboration with Wave Contemporary, Walk In Gallery, Stelo Arts, and Aftertime Collective.

3PM-4 there is a panel discussionfollowed by a paper mache workshop. From 5PM-10 is a party. Deets on their socials including insta credit drops.

At Sator Projects https://www.satorprojects.com/ 1709 SE 3rd. 5PM-8 Free

July 29-30 Mermaid Croquet

Una the Mermaid presents the Portlandia Mermaid Parade. It starts at Noon at Poet's Beach and travels along the waterfront to the Japanese memporial in Waterfront Park. Mermaids are very intelligent and they like to be close to the water, especially on heated days! Family friendly. Mermaid Parade https://www.portlandiamermaidparade.com/ Noon Free


The 26th annual Croquet World Championships and Mad Hatter Picnic brings its wonderland to the Park Blocks. The croquet is played with sledgehammers and bowling balls. The costune theme is proper whites, light colors of steampunk, or Alice themed. Think tea and cucumber sandwiches. The Croquet World Championships and Mad Hatter Picnic https://mondocroquet.com/2022/09/2023-mondo-croquet-world-championships-and-mad-hatter-picnic-july-30th-2023/ NW Park and Everett Noon-5 Free

Thursday, July 27, 2023

July 27 Northeast Art Openings+

Antler hosts Just Like Honey, a group painting show on hexagonal panels. Ceramic works by Corinne Lent and painters Herb Smith and Anthony Solano fill the space. Talon has Chicago paintern Pizza in the Rain, folky urban landscapes and message realism printings by Ariel Parrow. At Antler & Talon Gallery www.antlerpdx.com 2714 NE Alberta 6pm-9 Free


Blind Insect has a group show Stories Untold. At Blind Insect 2841 NE Alberta 6PM-9


Nucleus continues their current show. At Nucleus Portland http://www.nucleusportland.com 2916 NE Alberta 3PM-8:50 Free


Pianofarm drops another Poems at sunset out a window. Israel Nebeker joins from Astoria. Bring chairs and blankets. Livestream @themoraledept. At 3425 SE Yamhill 7:58PM Free

July 27-30 Seattle Art Fair

Seattle has more money so it has more art. They are far down on the great art chain of being. But they have their own art fair child of the Allen family.

Seattle galleries, some Portland ones, and a few national/international galleries present. It is privatey curated by the individual for-profit galleries, unlike a nonprofit group show.

Portland galleries Atler, PDX Contemporary, Russo-Lee are there. Portland artist Sharita Towne has an offsite event. Forest For the Trees has a residency in Seattle so they are hosting an after party. Converge 45 is hosting an event. That and more is at https://seattleartfair.com/2023-around-town/.

Many of our Portland projects offer free passes on request. If you want to experience a commercial art fair, this is probably the closest. It's about a quarter mile walk from Amtrak.

The Seattle Art Fair https://seattleartfair.com at Lumen Field Event Center, 800 Occidental Ave S, Seattle Thurs 6PM-9, Fri/Sat 11AM-7, Sun 11-6 $65 to Free

Sunday, July 23, 2023

July 23 Tomorrowland Yesterday

Nam June Paik, 1932-2006, is a revolutionary gentleman of the neo-Dada Fluxus and a world citizen of Seoul, Tokyo, many cities in Germany, New York, and Miami. He studied 20th Century music, and applied that aesthetic to video as art.

He remixed content, circuit bent the box, built sculptures of TVs, incorporated television into performance, and built TV art robots. He was in the downtown art crowd of the 1960s; influenced, influencer, and collaborator.

Paik's Robot K-456 participated in many performances. https://cyberneticzoo.com/robots-in-art/1964-robot-k-456-nam-june-paik-korean-shuya-abe-japanese/


Based on the Intergalactic Network idea of J.C.R. Licklider in 1962, the concept of the Internet emerged. Portlander Ivan Sutherland, seminal in computer graphics, was in that mix at MIT. Sutherland was advisor to Alan Kay, originator of the Dynabook concept we use today. In 1969, the first 3-location Internet was completed by a small team; a friend of mine made the hardware. Contemporaneouly, Gene Youngblood's Expanded Cinema, published in 1970, included Paik as an influence. In turn, Youngblood's ideas were an influence on thinking of the Internet, pre-its scale-out, as a cultural and artistic, medium and force. If you can find it, Youngblood's Mass Media and the Future of Desire, 1977, is a read on the topic. That essay mentions a book, never completed, in collaboration with Maturana and Varela who incluenced Flores. Flores collaborated with Winnograd, AI pioneer. Winnograd was the faculty advisor of Larry Page. As a coda, Paik is credited with coining the phrase "electronic superhighway."


Unfortunately post-his death, a split developed between the estate and Paik's gallery, the Carl Solway Gallery. Fortunately his works have been cradled by museums, he has been the subject of many retrospectives, and has been reprised in documentaries.

A new one, 2023, is Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV .

It is in the collection of Movie Madness and the Hillsboro Library. It's on the big screen tonight too https://hollywoodtheatre.org/tickets/21795/ at Hollywood Theater 7:30PM unfortunately Sold Out

Saturday, July 22, 2023

July 22 Massive Bio

Biomass is an indepentently curated pop up. It includes direct animal themes. It opened as the international Animal Behavior Sociaty conference closed here. Artists Sean Healy, Morgan Buck and Renee Zangara speak there today. Curated by Jeff Jahn and Lark Lo Sontaghe, the show runs July 12 - August 27 and open 12:30PM - 5 Saturdays or otherwise noted on the Jahn Insta. Unique, no roster, no labels, direct experience. Biomass at 608 NW 13th, #102 3:30PM talk Free


One Grand opens their Gardent Gates show. 6PM-9

Sunday, July 09, 2023

July 9 Mod Butte

Modular on the Spot #2 for 2023 occupies Rocky Butte. It is one of informal series of modular synth concerts outdoors en plein air.

Trust Anchor, Production Unit Xero, Jill and Thomas Fang, Meagan Jane Marron, Limanjaya and Akemie.

No restrooms or water. Parking can be a challenge. At Rocky Butte summit, 6PM Free

Saturday, July 08, 2023

July 8-9 Marine Art

The Unkles family is one of Portland unsung art patrons for renting space for artist studios.

Today is a rare opportunity to look inside one, the NW Marine Art Works. For these events, the artists usually straighten their studios. And, for this one, guest artists will bring work from the Seed Building, River Studios and Carton services deemed not suited for large events by the City. Of course you are encouraged to buy art direct and experience the narratives of each artist. It's family friendly with live music, food and drink. Open studios at NW Marine Art Works 2516 NW 29th. 10AM--4 Free

Friday, July 07, 2023

July 7 Eastsdte Art Openings

Dan Lam opens drippy sculptires along side abstract pintings by Emily Wise. At Stephanie Chefas Projects www.stephaniechefas.com 134 SE Taylor, Ste 203. Map. 5PM-8 Free


All the other First Friday are on their respective social media.

Thursday, July 06, 2023

July 6 Westside Art Openings

Leach, The Writers' Block, and A&O continue.


Cuban painter, Orlando Almanza, has his first show here, along with painter, Andrew Alba, from Salt Lake. At Froelick Gallery www.froelickgallery.com 714 NW Davis early close 5PM-8 Free


Eric Rue has abstract paintings, Immersive Echoes. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis 5PM-7:30 Free


Notes for Tomorrow, is an international show by ICI - https://curatorsintl.org/learning/categories/59-curatorial-intensive. 30 curators in 25 countries bring it. At Parallax Art 516 NW 14th 5PM-9 Free


Rebecca Marimutu from Baltimore brings Portraits, Adhered, multi-image portraits and Erik Östensson all the way from Norway, brings surreal framings, Tjärnen

Painter Laura Ross-Paul has the the Breast show. At the NINE Gallery (inside Blue Sky Gallery) 122 NW 8th Avenue She is at the Nine Gallery inside Blue Sky.

At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org Map 122 NW 8th 5PM-7:30 Early Close Free


PNCA has openings and talks. At PNCA www.pnca.edu 511 NW Broadway Map 5PM-8 Free


Ko Kirk Yamahira has The Front to the Reverse to What is in Between and James Allen Has Human / Nature. At Laura Russo Lee Gallery www.russoleegallery.com 805 NW 21st 5PM-7 Early Close Free


WAVE Contemporary and After / Time gallery have Generative Performance System by Nicholas Moler-Gallardo and Chris Ticas having to do with mobile phone location services. At After / Time gallery, located at 735 SW 9th #110 6PM-8 Free


Blackfish Drawing The Line a group show of line. Hot Pink Justice Gia Whitlock is mixed media on family stuff. ’s searing portrayal of an acutely painful childhood seduces with vibrant color and collaged childhood artifacts, including Teddy bears, dollhouses and balloons, that belie her serious subject matter. Corey Pressman has Dusk, waxed powder paintings. At Blackfish Gallery https://www.blackfish.com/ 938 NW Everett Map 5PM-8 Free


Ephemera by Angelita Surmon, landscpae paintings, are at Waterstone Gallery www.waterstonegallery.com 124 NW 9th 5PM-8 Free

Saturday, July 01, 2023

July 1 Bunnies are everywhere

Guava is a group show with Bunny Presse! reading poetry. Artists Zach Ozma, Kristen Diedcrich, Robert Fernandez & Ashley Yang Thompson. Are there with readings from Jessie Carver, Kristen Diedcrich, Ashley Yang Thompson and Arda Collins. At 1122 Outside Gallery www.1122gallery.com 7629 SE Harrison 6PM-10 Readings 7 Free

July 1 Northside Art Openings

Oregon Contemporary has an art book fair Form.a. Many bookshops are tabling, check the Oregon Contemproary socials. Friends of noise bring the Noche Libre DJ collective. Stello brings a satellite screening of their Una Palabra de Lucha project. At Oregon Contemporary nee Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.oregoncontemporary.org 8371 N. Interstate Map Books 2PM-8, DJs 4PM-8 Free


Ondrea Bell Levey has drawings and sculptures. Sally Jablonsky has paintings. At Well Well Projects www.wellwellprojects.com in the Disjecta building 8371 N. Interstate Map  5PM-8 Free


Friend of a Friend is a group exhibition by members of Wave Contemporary and their friends. At Carnation Contemporary www.carnationcontemporary.com in the Disjecta building 8371 N Interstate. 5PM-8 Free


Jeanne Steffan has paintings opening. At the Red-e Cafe 1006 North Killingsworth 4PM-7 Free