What we know: Jeff Jahn (critic/curator/PORTer) has put together a group show, Volume , that Jahn says is a, “a survey of how Portland’s art scene addresses, redirects, abuses and redefines space… as the city itself undergoes a transformation.” Intriguing. The artists include Sean Healy, Nathan Shapiro, Joe Thurston, Salvatore Reda, Laura Fritz, Stephen Funk, Ellen George, Arcy Douglass, Jesse Hayward, Josh Smith, Adam Sorenson, Karl Burkheimer, Stephen Slappe, Damien Gilley, Stephanie Robison, Philippe Blanc. So what to make of the idea of volume/space/city? Why ask Jahn when we can speculate ourselves…more fun.
Regardless of Jahn’s city reference, because of the artists curated into the show, the space referred to ultimately seems to be that inside the gallery or installation space (exception might be Douglass’ current (beautiful) work that is Carl Andre meets Andy Goldsworthy) in contrast to the volumes (!) of art lately being made in or responding to the built environment: the Artists-in-Residence at the South Waterfront, the incoming Halprin City Dance project, and Justin Gorman’s work for TBA come to mind. From Sorensen’s landscape paintings encasing exterior space in a rectangular plane to Stephanie Robison’s excellent installations we see the idea of space is loose…loose enough that the party includes plenty of Jahn favorites, some of whose engagement with space is typically focused on placing a studio object in it. Regardless, it’s bound to be a good show.
Volume opens August 30 at Worksound (820 SE Alder). There will be a lecture on September 25, Mark Rothko’s 105th birthday. More details when we get them.
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