To dig into Ben Stagl’s tour-de-force solo show, the best place to start is at its center. Unfolded, like all exhibitions at Gallery HOMELAND, flows through an angular lobby that twists through the Ford Building (SE 11th & Division).
In the heart of the building, in the main space on the north wall, is a piece called “First Snap.” And if your daddy was a carpenter, you’ll immediately recognize the single straight-if-splattered line as created by a carpenter’s chalk line. It hovers diagonally, simply in the center of a long sheet of paper. And its import as metaphor is central, because anything built is only as good as the first snap and its perpendicular. Read the rest of this entry »
POSTED: June 23rd, 2009 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: alison heppner, art, ben stagl, calvin ross carl, gallery homeland, matthew allen woolridge, openwidepdx, portland artist, review | No Comments »
My experience of Gilles Deleuze is through the writings of the brilliant experimental poet Steve McCaffery. Portland-based artist Ben Stagl uses Deleuze’s notion of the fold as a jumping off point for a new body of work he describes as a “playful examination of both the architectural and philosophical concepts surrounding the fold and the act of folding” while also touching on Edo era origami and (new to me, yeah!) Chinese paper folding traditions of Zhe Zhi. Unfolding, new sculptural, print and video work by Stagl opens tonight at Gallery HOMELAND in the Ford Building (2505 SE 11th) Friday, June 5th with a reception from 6-9 PM. The exhibition also includes collaborations with Alison Heppner, Jon Springer, Angela Dawn, and Matthew Allen Wooldridge.
Stagl’s sculptures, installations, and performances combine visual impact, thoughtfulness, and a level of ambition and rigor that keeps me coming back for more. Catch Stagl’s work now before he heads out for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s MFA program.
POSTED: June 5th, 2009 | AUTHOR: charlotte | FILED UNDER: art | TAGS: ben stagl, exhibition, gallery homeland, installation, portland artist, video, visual art | No Comments »