Gallerist, curator, and force-to-be-reckoned with, Laurel Gitlen, of Small A Projects and The Affair @ The Jupiter Hotel answers the ultra Q wherein we ask Portland’s movers and makers a number of pressing questions.
At her Small A Projects, Laurel Gitlen–gallerist, curator, and force-to-be-reckoned–consistently puts on interesting shows with work by younger artists (mainly imported, and that’s the interesting part) with some conceptual depth, artists you’ll be hearing more about in years to come. Meanwhile, she has been co-producing the art fair that’s putting Portland on the map—The Affair @ The Jupiter Hotel—with Stuart Horodner (in absentia) for the last two years. She took time out to answer the ultra Q.
Qualities you most admire in design:
elegance and humor
Qualities you most despise in design:
gimmicks
Reading:
The New York Times, Artforum (geez, I’m soooo predictable)
Listening to:
Vybz Kartel, R. Kelley and Jay Z, Mariah Carey . . . changes weekly?
Dream project:
Small A Projects (that was easy)
Favorite virtue:
riding my bike!
Favorite vice:
watching bike racing (or law and order) on TV, fancy beer, Newman O’s, Higgins’ burgers, there are so many . . .?
Tragic flaw:
major neuroses (it’s genetic)
Secret superhero power/tragic flaw:
I’m brutally honest (and also totally transparent)
That which keeps your afterburners firing:
the smell of success? Well actually, I’d like to say something sappy like love and community
What you’d like to be when you grow up:
less anxious . . .?
Portland’s best kept secret:
the Reed College Library (and maybe Taqueria Pardo - is it still a secret?)
Portland heroes (sung or un-):
my dog tupper, all of the farmers/chefs/artisans that keep us so well fed, optimists
WHAT TO DO NOW?