If illustration-based and folk (or outsider) art-infused visual art is seeing its star rise (think Chris Johanson, Marcel Dzama, and locally Troy Briggs, Jen Corace, and Carson Ellis), Evan B. Harris is poised to rise with it.
Harris’ work is most aptly described as knowing folk art, employing a folk art stylistic naif idiosyncrasies but with an air that says I know you know. It’s willfully nostalgic work sharing with Ellis both a palette (tea-stain washes, charcoals, and roses) and frequently historical subject matter.
At its best, it is both smart and beautiful, as his series of birds captioned thus…”Wood Thrush in a silk crepe de chine envelope chemise neatly trimmed in front with rows of lace insertion,” “Bay-Breasted Warbler in a velveteen jacket and a yoke topped sicle pleated skirt trimmed with pearl buttons,” and “Bobolink in a hills jean sport suit” which you won’t see in his current show at OFFICE, but appeal to us for reasons obvious and not so.
Tonight, Thursday, March 29, OFFICE (2204 NE Alberta) opens a show of Evan B. Harris’ work with a reception from 7-9 PM.
POSTED: March 29th, 2007 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: art | No Comments »
You know Fred Flare as a retailer of the modern, cute, and cheeky. Affordable and fun, Fred Flare is a less suburban Urban Outfitters with a sense of humor. For a couple of years now, Fred Flare has done this Next Big Thing search for makers of Fred-esque wares. The chosen ones have come from all over the US. Time for Portland to represent.
What are they looking for? They’re open to jewelry, clothing, accessories, printed matter, CD’s and DVD’s, home items, and more characterized by what they call “surprising awesomeness.” You’ll get an idea by looking at past winners. (Cute works.)
What’s in it for you? Well if your work is chosen, Fred Flare places a wholesale order for it. And they generously link to your website giving you exposure + sales. And this year, one entrant will get a $1000 prize. Nice.
POSTED: March 27th, 2007 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: art | No Comments »
The arc of our evening encompassed two white rooms conceived of by European women, one a Dutch choreographer and one a German expatriate.
Uli Beutter’s four-screen video installation “White” at the Everett Station Lofts was wall-to-wall with visitors (more coming all the time) early in the evening. A short piece on loop, one almost wishes we could have lingered longer on the arresting stillness of the twenty-some actors of all ages and varying ethnicities painted head-to-toe white in this white room (it’s such a beautiful image) before Beutter introduces her colorful false catalyst whose choice, made quickly and with surprising consequences, leaves unaltered the white stasis. The coating, dripping white paint was another unforgettable image…especially coupled with the very faintest smell of paint in the room. Don’t forget to look up. The work is on view again today from 2-4 PM and on First Thursday from 7-10 PM.
The second white room was the set of “Rebound” by Rotterdam-based choreographer Conny Janssen Danst at PSU’s Lincoln Hall. Previews of the piece emphasized the set (the lighting too was a terrific actor in the piece), but the story last night was that of the five brilliant male dancers who powerfully executed Conny Janssen’s exploration of all that it is to be a man interacting with men: challenging, dominating, joking, one-upping, going along with the crowd, and breaking away. There are ten thousand ways this could have gone wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
POSTED: March 25th, 2007 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: art | No Comments »
Gaining momentum well before their official launch, Sandymontana is the label for a group of directors (Alec Cohen, Kurt Nishimura, and Uli Buetter) who create music videos, short films, indie features, documentaries, video installations and commercials. You’ve likely seen the video Cohen and Buetter recently did for COPY’s remix of the Fleshtone song ‘GFM’ which took first place at the 2006 Portland International Short Short Film Festival, and may have read that Buetter’s short “Splash” won the Tropicana Fresh Take Film Contest (you can still see Google’s cached page of it here) or that Nichimura won a Decemberists Music Video Contest for MTVu.
Sandymontana’s official launch is this Sunday at Holocene (1001 SE Morrison), 8 PM with video screenings and music by COPY.
But why wait, you can see a Sandymontana production live and in person tonight, March 24 from 6-8 PM as Uli Buetter premieres her installation “White” at what is at least for now being called the White Gallery (625 NW Everett #104) in the Everett Station Lofts. See you there.
POSTED: March 24th, 2007 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: art, event | No Comments »
Cosmic Yeti, Megan Whitmarsh via motelgallery.com
Today, Jennifer Armbrust marks the fourth anniversary of her gallery, Motel (19 Northwest 5th Avenue, Suite C). On NW Couch between 5th & 6th, Motel has been one of that neighborhood’s pioneers as an arts destination along with neighbor Katsu Tanaka and his Just Be/Compound across the street. They’ve seen the coming of the Portland Art Center, Organism’s temporary space, Upper Playground’s art shows, and more. And soon the Winkler project a few blocks west, housing four galleries and the Museum of Contemporary Craft, will bridge the gap between their contemporary art outpost status and the galleries of the Pearl.
Meanwhile, Armbrust has made change in Motel as well. Intially one-part gallery and one-part little shop with a carefully curated selection of handmade goods, Armbrust transitioned to gallery-only and began representing a handful of emerging artists, many illustration-based in a Dzama-like fashion. With a keen eye and smart business sense, she has taken chances on next-gen artists and taken Motel to art fairs like Aqua in Miami, developing relationships with non-PDX collectors to the point that most of the work she sells will not hang in Portland. Along the way, Armbrust co-founded PORT, Portland’s top-notch visual art criticism weblog, and Forty Under Forty, a networking group for young creative entrepreneurs. Whew.
In honor of the anniversary, check out the new Motel website.
POSTED: March 18th, 2007 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: art | No Comments »
