The Xhurch is for sale. This year the Xhurch NTVTY is at the mall.
This year is NTVTY XI, the first was 2010. The format this year is a sculpture garden and votive shrine with artist collaborators. Many of the set pieces are nativity scenes with computers or technology as the baby messiah.
Xhurch and NTVTY have set up at the Mall. Find it "in the former Lady Foot Locker, second level, above Zumiez and Hot Topic," by Animal.Plant.Mineral.
In past years there have been musical collaborators.
Check their socials for hours ongoing, more interactive art, and more experimental music into the new year.
NTVTY XI https://www.xhurch.net/photomatrix.html at Lloyd Mall Suite B216. It is in the former Lady Foot Locker, second level, above Zumiez and Hot Topic. For now, check their socials. The mall doors are locked at 7, mall cleared around 8:30. Saturday 3PM-7+, Sunday 11PM-7+ Free
Friday, December 22, 2023
Monday, December 11, 2023
December 14 Neuroscience and Dance
I'm analytical so I need things to balance life in direct experience which resists analysis. I fell into the Portland modern dance crowd early. Modern dance girlfriend and all. After a few years, it lost its newness to me.
Then I discovered butoh through Sankai Juku and a Montreal performer with Zoviet France.
That Montreal performer combined butoh, Hindu temple dance and Hawaiian dance in her own style. It was a big impact on me. I had to speak to her and did. Her first language was French, and I have no French. But backstage she told this story I relate as shorthand for the koan that is butoh. Her teacher had this image. Imagine your body as only its bones. The bones are made of glass. In each joint is a flower. Improvise on that.
To Sankai Juku, unbeknownst to me, a friend was the producer of Sankai Juku in Pioneer Square, Seattle. My exposure to Sankai Juku was the second in their comeback post-Pioneer Square. At the end of the performance I felt an imediate visceral response across my scalp of chills and sparks; the entire audience was up in a standing ovation. It was not the usual few and checking to see if you should join the ovation. There was a collective rise by everyone. Somehow Pioneer Square was subliminally encoded in their performance. I did not even know that story at the time.
I always try to see Sankai Juku in Seattle because the audience has a strong emotional relationship. You feel it in the audience. I went on to study butoh in the flesh in Seattle, Japan, Portland, and San Francisco and see performances in each adding NYC and Denver.
Vangeline https://www.vangeline.com/ is a French butoh player in NYC. She has written a book on feminism, neuroscience https://www.vangeline.com/research, and butoh. It is a good read and complement to my discussion with Kazuo Ohno in Kyoto.
He said that the male originators were so engrossed in creation, they could not comprehend how women performers would bring their body experience to it. They were discovering butoh in their own male bodies.
Women did and do, ongoing. Many of us know trans persons who will bring their own to movement.
Even in the early days women such as Nakajima Natsu who works with intellectually disabled performers today; Yoko Ashikawa who brought a warm tone to butoh - she suggested an image our senile grandmother; Hiroko Tamano, who brings the darkest images to cute; Eiko Otake from NYC, who had a live-work in the World Trace Center and made free commemorative performance from that - she also suggests, with family, teach them to pretend to be sleeping to get them to sleep, then in butoh, dance as if you are asleep; Yumiko Yoshioka bringing butoh to a castle in Japan. I've studied with each. There are many American and international women in butoh. The Tamano legendary sushi restaurant, I patronzed in the Mission, and their home, was creative cradle to many female butoh friends.
One of my favorates, Dairakudakan is half women performers. I will travel to see them, have done, and have taken a workshop with Maro which challened me. I was also Portland host to Akira Kasai.
For whatever reason, Portland dance producers have been allergic to butoh. Bringing a group from Japan is expensive, but Seattle, SF, LA, Denver, NYC, and Vancouver BC do it.
Today Vangeline gives a free Internet talk - "Where the arts meet neuroscience - A virtual expert talk with Prof. Dr. Judith Revers and artist Vangeline."
"What happens inside our bodies and minds while performing and participating in the arts, and what are the mental and psychological benefits of it? In this last virtual lecture of the year, Prof. Dr. Judith Revers, Medical School Hamburg, dives into the field of performance art and dance with New York-based artist Vangeline, who’s involved in artistic research with neuroscientific methods around the Japanese artform Butoh. Together, they will be investigating interdisciplinary research in Arts and Neurosciences and its implications for the Arts Therapies."
"The Slowest Wave/Butoh and The Brain is an art-science performance-research study. This new study investigates the brain dynamics of dancers while they are performing Butoh, a postmodern dance style that originated in Japan, through the use of electroencephalography (EEG) to record the participants’ brain waves. The study is a collaboration between the New York-based Vangeline Theater dance company, the Laboratory for Noninvasive Brain-Machine Interface Systems, IUCRC BRAIN Center, The Rockefeller University, and the Neurobiology of Social Communication Lab (funded by the City University of New York, Rockefeller University and New York University). In collaboration with neuroscientists Sadye Paez and Constantina Theofanopoulou, neuro engineer Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal, and composer Ray Sweeten, Vangeline choreographed a 60-minute ensemble butoh piece, which is uniquely informed by the protocol established for a scientific pilot study researching the impact of butoh on brain activity. For the groundbreaking art-science study, dancers' brain activity will be recorded at the University of Houston, Texas, with real-time visualization by multimedia artist Badie Khaleghian of the dancers' neural activity. Results will then be disseminated in scientific journals.
Vangeline and Sweeten have built on a 20-year history of creative collaboration with a soundscape that is informed by techniques of brainwave entrainment (techniques that affect consciousness through sound). The Slowest Wave investigates through the use of scalp EEG how brain waves during butoh dancing compare to those emitted during other conscious or unconscious motor behaviors, such as speaking or meditating. Moreover, the study will elucidate the functional neural networks of the dancers and the neural synchrony within and between them. This project is meant to foster connections and understanding between dancers, artists, scientists, engineers, and audiences from around the world."
Butoh is not for everyone to like. The Blackwood Productions documentary Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis is an accessible introduction. Portland's Mizu at Headwaters theater is retiring. Seattle's Daipan Butoh has events several times a year.
Modern dance and neuroscience talk online. It is https://www.arts-and-social-change.de/virtuelle-kurzvortraege/ which your browser can translate. They are using Microsoft Team viewer. Teams Meeting-ID: 388 741 885 184 Code: yC9wdR.. 8:30AM Pacific time. Free
Then I discovered butoh through Sankai Juku and a Montreal performer with Zoviet France.
That Montreal performer combined butoh, Hindu temple dance and Hawaiian dance in her own style. It was a big impact on me. I had to speak to her and did. Her first language was French, and I have no French. But backstage she told this story I relate as shorthand for the koan that is butoh. Her teacher had this image. Imagine your body as only its bones. The bones are made of glass. In each joint is a flower. Improvise on that.
To Sankai Juku, unbeknownst to me, a friend was the producer of Sankai Juku in Pioneer Square, Seattle. My exposure to Sankai Juku was the second in their comeback post-Pioneer Square. At the end of the performance I felt an imediate visceral response across my scalp of chills and sparks; the entire audience was up in a standing ovation. It was not the usual few and checking to see if you should join the ovation. There was a collective rise by everyone. Somehow Pioneer Square was subliminally encoded in their performance. I did not even know that story at the time.
I always try to see Sankai Juku in Seattle because the audience has a strong emotional relationship. You feel it in the audience. I went on to study butoh in the flesh in Seattle, Japan, Portland, and San Francisco and see performances in each adding NYC and Denver.
Vangeline https://www.vangeline.com/ is a French butoh player in NYC. She has written a book on feminism, neuroscience https://www.vangeline.com/research, and butoh. It is a good read and complement to my discussion with Kazuo Ohno in Kyoto.
He said that the male originators were so engrossed in creation, they could not comprehend how women performers would bring their body experience to it. They were discovering butoh in their own male bodies.
Women did and do, ongoing. Many of us know trans persons who will bring their own to movement.
Even in the early days women such as Nakajima Natsu who works with intellectually disabled performers today; Yoko Ashikawa who brought a warm tone to butoh - she suggested an image our senile grandmother; Hiroko Tamano, who brings the darkest images to cute; Eiko Otake from NYC, who had a live-work in the World Trace Center and made free commemorative performance from that - she also suggests, with family, teach them to pretend to be sleeping to get them to sleep, then in butoh, dance as if you are asleep; Yumiko Yoshioka bringing butoh to a castle in Japan. I've studied with each. There are many American and international women in butoh. The Tamano legendary sushi restaurant, I patronzed in the Mission, and their home, was creative cradle to many female butoh friends.
One of my favorates, Dairakudakan is half women performers. I will travel to see them, have done, and have taken a workshop with Maro which challened me. I was also Portland host to Akira Kasai.
For whatever reason, Portland dance producers have been allergic to butoh. Bringing a group from Japan is expensive, but Seattle, SF, LA, Denver, NYC, and Vancouver BC do it.
Today Vangeline gives a free Internet talk - "Where the arts meet neuroscience - A virtual expert talk with Prof. Dr. Judith Revers and artist Vangeline."
"What happens inside our bodies and minds while performing and participating in the arts, and what are the mental and psychological benefits of it? In this last virtual lecture of the year, Prof. Dr. Judith Revers, Medical School Hamburg, dives into the field of performance art and dance with New York-based artist Vangeline, who’s involved in artistic research with neuroscientific methods around the Japanese artform Butoh. Together, they will be investigating interdisciplinary research in Arts and Neurosciences and its implications for the Arts Therapies."
"The Slowest Wave/Butoh and The Brain is an art-science performance-research study. This new study investigates the brain dynamics of dancers while they are performing Butoh, a postmodern dance style that originated in Japan, through the use of electroencephalography (EEG) to record the participants’ brain waves. The study is a collaboration between the New York-based Vangeline Theater dance company, the Laboratory for Noninvasive Brain-Machine Interface Systems, IUCRC BRAIN Center, The Rockefeller University, and the Neurobiology of Social Communication Lab (funded by the City University of New York, Rockefeller University and New York University). In collaboration with neuroscientists Sadye Paez and Constantina Theofanopoulou, neuro engineer Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal, and composer Ray Sweeten, Vangeline choreographed a 60-minute ensemble butoh piece, which is uniquely informed by the protocol established for a scientific pilot study researching the impact of butoh on brain activity. For the groundbreaking art-science study, dancers' brain activity will be recorded at the University of Houston, Texas, with real-time visualization by multimedia artist Badie Khaleghian of the dancers' neural activity. Results will then be disseminated in scientific journals.
Vangeline and Sweeten have built on a 20-year history of creative collaboration with a soundscape that is informed by techniques of brainwave entrainment (techniques that affect consciousness through sound). The Slowest Wave investigates through the use of scalp EEG how brain waves during butoh dancing compare to those emitted during other conscious or unconscious motor behaviors, such as speaking or meditating. Moreover, the study will elucidate the functional neural networks of the dancers and the neural synchrony within and between them. This project is meant to foster connections and understanding between dancers, artists, scientists, engineers, and audiences from around the world."
Butoh is not for everyone to like. The Blackwood Productions documentary Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis is an accessible introduction. Portland's Mizu at Headwaters theater is retiring. Seattle's Daipan Butoh has events several times a year.
Modern dance and neuroscience talk online. It is https://www.arts-and-social-change.de/virtuelle-kurzvortraege/ which your browser can translate. They are using Microsoft Team viewer. Teams Meeting-ID: 388 741 885 184 Code: yC9wdR.. 8:30AM Pacific time. Free
Thursday, December 07, 2023
December 7 Westside Art Openings+
Leach continues shows. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th Map 5PM-7 Free
Russo-Lee has a group show. www.russoleegallery.com 805 NW 21st 5PM-7 Early Close Free
Paul Missal and Eddie Reed have paintings. Missal was a cofounder of blackfish and trained generations of painters at PNCA; they have two group shows too. The whole show is on the website. At Blackfish Gallery https://www.blackfish.com/ 938 NW Everett Map 5PM-8 Free
PNCA-Willamette is reasserting its space in the First Thursday ecosystem. They are doing cross-promotions with other spaces throughout the month.
At PNCA www.pnca.edu 511 NW Broadway Map 5PM-9 Free
Ada Trillo has La Caravana Del Diablo, documenting the Honduran exmigration to Texas. She gives a gallery talk at 6 tonight. The late Zaharia Cușnir left a film archive exposed in Moldova 1950-1980. Moldova is South and West of Ukrane and North of Romania. Most countries relished independence from the Soviet Union, including Moldova. It is bordered by the wierd proxy immaginary country of Transnistria.
Bill Will os a great sculptor installationis provocateur at the Nine Gallery.
At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org Map 122 NW 8th 5PM-8 Early Close Free
Writers Block has Marci Marsden bright impressionist plant paintings. 818 NW Flanders 5PM-8
There is a group show at www.waterstonegallery.com 124 NW 9th 5PM-8 Free
Arless Day has paintings of interior settings. Ad-man turned artistic provocateur has Two Wars in One. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis 5PM-7:45 Free
What the Crow Knows is an archive show from the late Native American artist Rick Bartow. At Froelick Gallery www.froelickgallery.com 714 NW Davis early close 5PM-8 Free
Some Everett Station spaces were open last month.
After/Time has paintings by Gina Herrera, After Image. At After/Time Collective www.aftertimecollective 735 SW 9th Ave #110 6PM-9 Free
It is strange to me when competing events schedule against well established events events by their friends. You can look up the next cycle Precipice Fund announcement and party on the PICA website.
Russo-Lee has a group show. www.russoleegallery.com 805 NW 21st 5PM-7 Early Close Free
Paul Missal and Eddie Reed have paintings. Missal was a cofounder of blackfish and trained generations of painters at PNCA; they have two group shows too. The whole show is on the website. At Blackfish Gallery https://www.blackfish.com/ 938 NW Everett Map 5PM-8 Free
PNCA-Willamette is reasserting its space in the First Thursday ecosystem. They are doing cross-promotions with other spaces throughout the month.
At PNCA www.pnca.edu 511 NW Broadway Map 5PM-9 Free
Ada Trillo has La Caravana Del Diablo, documenting the Honduran exmigration to Texas. She gives a gallery talk at 6 tonight. The late Zaharia Cușnir left a film archive exposed in Moldova 1950-1980. Moldova is South and West of Ukrane and North of Romania. Most countries relished independence from the Soviet Union, including Moldova. It is bordered by the wierd proxy immaginary country of Transnistria.
Bill Will os a great sculptor installationis provocateur at the Nine Gallery.
At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org Map 122 NW 8th 5PM-8 Early Close Free
Writers Block has Marci Marsden bright impressionist plant paintings. 818 NW Flanders 5PM-8
There is a group show at www.waterstonegallery.com 124 NW 9th 5PM-8 Free
Arless Day has paintings of interior settings. Ad-man turned artistic provocateur has Two Wars in One. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis 5PM-7:45 Free
What the Crow Knows is an archive show from the late Native American artist Rick Bartow. At Froelick Gallery www.froelickgallery.com 714 NW Davis early close 5PM-8 Free
Some Everett Station spaces were open last month.
After/Time has paintings by Gina Herrera, After Image. At After/Time Collective www.aftertimecollective 735 SW 9th Ave #110 6PM-9 Free
It is strange to me when competing events schedule against well established events events by their friends. You can look up the next cycle Precipice Fund announcement and party on the PICA website.
Saturday, December 02, 2023
December 3 Heaven Earth Sand
Nona Faustine has photographs She was a culmination of all things in Heaven and Earth. They are from her series White Shoes spanning 2012 to 2021 and her series Mitochondria.
At The Lumber Room https://lumberroom.com/exhibitions/2023/em-nona-faustine-em 419 SW 9th, above Liz Leach Map 2PM-5 Free
Naoshi https://nao-shi.com/ is a Japanese artist in LA. She came to Portland with the always excellent Hellion Gallery. She makes sunae, sand paintings. You can think of them as Tibetian sand mandallas with kawai themes and the colorful sand glued down. She brings a book, and offers a sand art workshop. Details - nucleusportland.com.Everything you need will be provided. You can choose 1 of 3 designs at the event.
At Nucleus Portland http://www.nucleusportland.com 2916 NE Alberta 1PM-4 Free
At The Lumber Room https://lumberroom.com/exhibitions/2023/em-nona-faustine-em 419 SW 9th, above Liz Leach Map 2PM-5 Free
Naoshi https://nao-shi.com/ is a Japanese artist in LA. She came to Portland with the always excellent Hellion Gallery. She makes sunae, sand paintings. You can think of them as Tibetian sand mandallas with kawai themes and the colorful sand glued down. She brings a book, and offers a sand art workshop. Details - nucleusportland.com.Everything you need will be provided. You can choose 1 of 3 designs at the event.
At Nucleus Portland http://www.nucleusportland.com 2916 NE Alberta 1PM-4 Free
December 2 On A Journey After Outer
Of course we need small works of arts and crafts by Shelley Turley, Alison Jean Cole, Chanel Conklin, Midori Hirose, Erica Eyres, Jackie Stewart, Stephanie Simek, Elmeater Morton, Julia Barbie, Jake Deering, Anne Greenwood, Martha Daghlian, Camila Oliveira Fairclough, Olga Soft, Jessica Hickey, Beck Alfaro, Noah Greene, Andy Heck Boyd, Petra Poffenberger, Lena Lutz, Ruby Webb and more.
They have them at Helen's Costume https://www.costumeintl.com/ 7706 SE Yamhill Street Opening today. 11AM-4PM Free
Neo baroque ceramicist Jeffry Mitchell opens Elefant Medium. It's at PDX Contemporary. They require an email RSVP to info at pdxcontemporaryart.com.
At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 1825 NW Vaughn Map 3PM-5 Free
On Kawara is a Japanese minimal conceptual artist who lived from 1932 to 2014, including New York in the 1960s. https://www.guggenheim.org/video/on-kawara-date-paintings is an example. Julie Perini https://julieperini.com/ is a local filmmaker minted at Cornell and SUNY Buffalo. She has a special focus on social justice; she got to see it not working up close in the tragic Critical Art Ensemble case. The Critical Art Ensemble came across the Northwest radar as part of the Henry Gene(sis) show https://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/henry_art_gallery_case_study.pdf curated by the excellent Robin Held who posted a few years at the Schnitzer Collection at Washington State University Pullman.
It all comes home with an event presented by Zena Zezza - Sandra Percival. She is an international curator who came to Portland to lead the Yale Union https://yaleunion.org/ pre-the building being gifted to the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation https://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/center-for-native-arts-and-cultures.
Perini will speak about On Kawara at the Zena Zezza collection today at 4, followed by a reenactment of Kawara's One Million Years (Future) performance at 5. Perini does daily videos as Kawara made daily paintings.
Probably the art event today with the most protein, Perini on On Kawara at Zena Zezza zenazezza.org, 1857 Hallock McMillan building. It is the red door on SW Oak by SW Naito Parkway. 1PM-6, talk 4, performance 5. Free
Ralph Pugay has new paintings, The Longest Journey, opening today.
They definitely wins the copywriting award of the day: "From vampires pumping iron to ravers being airlifted to safety by helicopters, to a group of meditators battling each other at a meditation competition, Pugay paints his errant thoughts and draws his non-linear narratives to extreme ends. The title of the exhibition, The Longest Journey, is a metaphor for self-discovery and has been referenced in literature and in movies, as well as in a video game from the late 1990s where the protagonist maneuvers between realities. In this exhibition, Pugay considers the tropic quality of the phrase with its range of meaning and use—something that, for Pugay, is critical to understanding the interplay between the flow of information and human perception as he considers the effects of the external world and its technologies on our internal world, our daydreams, and our relationships.
Pugay’s painted propositions are the result of the artist’s careful study of the human condition—particularly religion, specifically Catholicism, and history; his curiosity with contemporary culture as filtered through TikTok and other social media; and his critical engagement with ideas of class, race, gender and queer culture. The resulting works are characterized by bright colors, playful compositions, and patterning. Our popular trends, viral news stories, consumer fads, and all other manner of social phenomena are poignantly examined with great clarity and humor, locating the moments of tension in the collective unconscious."
At Adams and Ollman Gallery, the second of four members of the New Art Dealers Alliance newartdealers.org/members, www.adamsandollman.com 418 NW 8th 1PM-4 Free
Josh Stover, Portland artist and sign painter of studio Variety opens After Hours. They are Portland nightscapes after closing. At Nucleus Portland http://www.nucleusportland.com 2916 NE Alberta 4PM-6 Free
Oregon Contemporary has musical performances along with their currently-running shows. Jamondria Harris brings project Meroitic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8NtfKba7Os and Christi Denton brings a 4 channel project. They will be emplaced with Marcus Fischer's What Was Lost and What Remains themed on mass shootings and the Nat Turner Project: Drinking Gourd Fellowship 2.
At Oregon Contemporary nee Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.oregoncontemporary.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 5PM-8, performance 6 Free
Jessi DiTillio has curated a group show, A Very Queer Thing. They are competing for the copywriting award you can read at https://www.wellwellprojects.com/a-very-queer-thing.
At Well Well Projects www.wellwellprojects.com in the Disjecta building 8371 N. Interstate Map 5PM-8 Free
Carnation has a group show. At Carnation Contemporary www.carnationcontemporary.com in the Disjecta building 8371 N Interstate Map . 5PM-8 Free
Outer Voice is new arriver to the space, and have gathered a node of artists to watch. They have a performance and video in the Platform space nee Marie Watt's studio from 3PM-4. Their gallery space in Studio 4 will be open their regular hours with Show 01 by Claire Barrera, Roland Dahwen, Erin Boberg Doughton, Rubén García Marrufo, Sarah Rushford, Ash Stone, and Qi You.
At Outer Voice www.outervoicepdx.com/ in the Disjecta building 8371 N Interstate Map . Noon-5 Free
If after that, if you have the capability for more visal stimulation, Blue Moon has their annual customer show. Blue Moon is a mecca for vintage film photography. They sell film, old cameras, and they develop and print film. They also have typewriters. From their developing flow, they print images they like and display hundreds at this show.
It is spread across 45th Parallel Wines, Revolutions Bookshop, and Leisure Public House. 45th Parallel Wines 8527 N Lombard, Revolutions Bookshop 8713 N Lombard; and Leisure Public House. The show is 7PM-9, and 45th Parallel Wines goes to 11. Free
They have them at Helen's Costume https://www.costumeintl.com/ 7706 SE Yamhill Street Opening today. 11AM-4PM Free
Neo baroque ceramicist Jeffry Mitchell opens Elefant Medium. It's at PDX Contemporary. They require an email RSVP to info at pdxcontemporaryart.com.
At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 1825 NW Vaughn Map 3PM-5 Free
On Kawara is a Japanese minimal conceptual artist who lived from 1932 to 2014, including New York in the 1960s. https://www.guggenheim.org/video/on-kawara-date-paintings is an example. Julie Perini https://julieperini.com/ is a local filmmaker minted at Cornell and SUNY Buffalo. She has a special focus on social justice; she got to see it not working up close in the tragic Critical Art Ensemble case. The Critical Art Ensemble came across the Northwest radar as part of the Henry Gene(sis) show https://www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/henry_art_gallery_case_study.pdf curated by the excellent Robin Held who posted a few years at the Schnitzer Collection at Washington State University Pullman.
It all comes home with an event presented by Zena Zezza - Sandra Percival. She is an international curator who came to Portland to lead the Yale Union https://yaleunion.org/ pre-the building being gifted to the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation https://www.nativeartsandcultures.org/center-for-native-arts-and-cultures.
Perini will speak about On Kawara at the Zena Zezza collection today at 4, followed by a reenactment of Kawara's One Million Years (Future) performance at 5. Perini does daily videos as Kawara made daily paintings.
Probably the art event today with the most protein, Perini on On Kawara at Zena Zezza zenazezza.org, 1857 Hallock McMillan building. It is the red door on SW Oak by SW Naito Parkway. 1PM-6, talk 4, performance 5. Free
Ralph Pugay has new paintings, The Longest Journey, opening today.
They definitely wins the copywriting award of the day: "From vampires pumping iron to ravers being airlifted to safety by helicopters, to a group of meditators battling each other at a meditation competition, Pugay paints his errant thoughts and draws his non-linear narratives to extreme ends. The title of the exhibition, The Longest Journey, is a metaphor for self-discovery and has been referenced in literature and in movies, as well as in a video game from the late 1990s where the protagonist maneuvers between realities. In this exhibition, Pugay considers the tropic quality of the phrase with its range of meaning and use—something that, for Pugay, is critical to understanding the interplay between the flow of information and human perception as he considers the effects of the external world and its technologies on our internal world, our daydreams, and our relationships.
Pugay’s painted propositions are the result of the artist’s careful study of the human condition—particularly religion, specifically Catholicism, and history; his curiosity with contemporary culture as filtered through TikTok and other social media; and his critical engagement with ideas of class, race, gender and queer culture. The resulting works are characterized by bright colors, playful compositions, and patterning. Our popular trends, viral news stories, consumer fads, and all other manner of social phenomena are poignantly examined with great clarity and humor, locating the moments of tension in the collective unconscious."
At Adams and Ollman Gallery, the second of four members of the New Art Dealers Alliance newartdealers.org/members, www.adamsandollman.com 418 NW 8th 1PM-4 Free
Josh Stover, Portland artist and sign painter of studio Variety opens After Hours. They are Portland nightscapes after closing. At Nucleus Portland http://www.nucleusportland.com 2916 NE Alberta 4PM-6 Free
Oregon Contemporary has musical performances along with their currently-running shows. Jamondria Harris brings project Meroitic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8NtfKba7Os and Christi Denton brings a 4 channel project. They will be emplaced with Marcus Fischer's What Was Lost and What Remains themed on mass shootings and the Nat Turner Project: Drinking Gourd Fellowship 2.
At Oregon Contemporary nee Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.oregoncontemporary.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 5PM-8, performance 6 Free
Jessi DiTillio has curated a group show, A Very Queer Thing. They are competing for the copywriting award you can read at https://www.wellwellprojects.com/a-very-queer-thing.
At Well Well Projects www.wellwellprojects.com in the Disjecta building 8371 N. Interstate Map 5PM-8 Free
Carnation has a group show. At Carnation Contemporary www.carnationcontemporary.com in the Disjecta building 8371 N Interstate Map . 5PM-8 Free
Outer Voice is new arriver to the space, and have gathered a node of artists to watch. They have a performance and video in the Platform space nee Marie Watt's studio from 3PM-4. Their gallery space in Studio 4 will be open their regular hours with Show 01 by Claire Barrera, Roland Dahwen, Erin Boberg Doughton, Rubén García Marrufo, Sarah Rushford, Ash Stone, and Qi You.
At Outer Voice www.outervoicepdx.com/ in the Disjecta building 8371 N Interstate Map . Noon-5 Free
If after that, if you have the capability for more visal stimulation, Blue Moon has their annual customer show. Blue Moon is a mecca for vintage film photography. They sell film, old cameras, and they develop and print film. They also have typewriters. From their developing flow, they print images they like and display hundreds at this show.
It is spread across 45th Parallel Wines, Revolutions Bookshop, and Leisure Public House. 45th Parallel Wines 8527 N Lombard, Revolutions Bookshop 8713 N Lombard; and Leisure Public House. The show is 7PM-9, and 45th Parallel Wines goes to 11. Free
December 2-3 Marine Art Layer
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
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, December 01, 2023
December 1 The Fridays
Back from Covid readers may enjoy open studios at the Falcon Art Community. 5415 N Albina 5:30PM-9:30 Free
The First Friday events are populated on their socials; 1FPDX is their insta, there are many possibilities. Chefas and Pushdot are some. Free
The First Friday events are populated on their socials; 1FPDX is their insta, there are many possibilities. Chefas and Pushdot are some. Free
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