Donald Lloyd Morgan is the cofounder of Ditch Projects and professor at the UofO. If you know Ditch, his usually abstract drawings would fit right in there and he does playful sculpture too.
The show: "Tomorrow was Yesterday includes recent drawings and a sculpture that create a visual language of corroborating evidence, pulled from the overflowing storage locker of information that lives behind our eyes. Morgan often starts drawings by tracing the outlines of the cover of a paperback book, providing a familiar form to anchor viewers. Tools, shapes and signs, known to the artist, accumulate like notes or a tune in an improvisational context. They are then let loose on the page, like giving over to the impulse of just doing without overthinking. In this compressed time frame, there are often forms that have a visual connection to the structure of short-form stories, poems or three-minute songs. In other instances, a more imaginary and chaotic adaptation is applied to the pieces.
Drawings not intentionally responding to the structure of poems or emphasizing visual alignment with the mood of a short story develop in ways where such connections to the source material are less evident. These works explore figure-ground relationships, creating contrasts between different patterns and textures, and the interplay of flatness and illusory depth. This consistent push-and-pull builds a lyrical quality or syntax into the compositions, leaving viewers questioning how they perceive the page.
The themes in Morgan’s work—including humor, mortality, and superstition—are extensive but have a unique ecology that shepherd us toward exploration. This sense of discovery and uncertainty is part of understanding what it means to be human while acknowledging that human-ness is ever shifting and never gospel."
At at SE Cooper Contemprary https://www.secoopercontemporary.com/ 6901 SE 110th Map 1PM-5 Free
Lowell is a shop with art shows. Today Water Memory, paintings, by Jesi Jordan & Nick Carter, opens.
"Nick Carter approaches his work from a fiber, craft, & sculpture background, using traditional methods like Shibori dyeing & machine embroidery as a framework for abstract painting. Nick hand-works familiar materials into vibrant, patterned pieces that are at once comforting & psychedelic, balancing between object & image.
Jesi Jordan creates surreal, figurative paintings through a process of automatism & metamorphosis. Jesi’s works connect vivid imagery of the cosmos & nature with emotional introspection & psychic transformation in repeating forms of women, celestial bodies, fruit, & flowers.
shown together, Nick & Jesi’s divergent mediums continually shift our perspective & vision, while reciprocating color & form in delightful & surprising ways."
At Lowell https://www.lowellshopgallery.com/ 2136 E Burnside 4PM-6 Free
Secret Room Press is a zine, small press, and Riso shop. They are having their aniversery celebration and a book release and reading of Sleepy's Delay by Erin Tanner. At Secret Room Press 3225 SE Division 6PM-9 Free
