PORT (10 unread)

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  Rumblings for EFF at Gallery Homeland

  Posted: 24-May-2012, 10:53pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  I've always liked the video installation art shows that the Portland Experimental Film Festival has done each year because there is nothing like a big dark crowded room full of video screens and projections. This year is no exception and though nothing strikes me a particularly outstanding this effort put on by Gallery Homeland and Grand Detour is very solid affair.
  
  
  Wierd Fiction performing at Rumblings
  
  What's more it has all the frenetic yet soldid energy everyone seemed to want from the 2011 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards and the Portland2012... but did not get. What's more with a bag of Bollywood (chutney flavored) popcorn this show delivered the kind of festival atmosphere/art that larger scale art scene's like Portland require (17,000+ artists last I heard) of its institutions. It is a kind of social "get out of the studio" mixer that such rambling group shows become venues for.
  
  Here are some thoughts:
  
  
  Gorgeous Media by Christina Santa Cruz at EFF
  
  Christina Santa Cruz's Gorgeous Media would have been just another merchant of nostalgic 50's kitsch with it's retro booth of classic furniture and television if I didn't like the stop motion animated video of a flood sweeping through a typical American town so much. Obviously the flood waters were a metaphor for the invisible waves that surround, delight and drown us in information every day. In the days of television before the internet this was a homogenizing force, now it is much less so. Here the overall effect was similar to Michael McMillan's installations one of which Reed showed many years ago, very nostalgic, somewhat cozy and more innocent than things have become where extremely customized content panders to the viewer's every whim and taste.
  
  
  Julie Perini at Rumblings for EFF
  
  My favorite piece was Julie Perini's Video Projection with Movement. The simple visual motif of dried leaves, a few wind making fans and a piece of paper flapping in the breeze acts as a kinesthetic feast in this somewhat difficult space. The piece of paper, perhaps the ultimate blank slate... calls to mind the viewers own constant state of agitation being pushed and pulled every which way in this video festival environment. The leaves themselves present an off season sense of Fall calm.
  
  
  Fairbanks at Rumblings for EFF
  
  Nearby Catherine Fairbanks' Transference is a Tough Row to Hoe, dealt in images of mated pairs. In this case two actors in bird suits doing whatever a couple might do in a lake. It was well presented though the sound at the opening was difficult to hear. The production and busy melancholy of companionship were well executed.
  
  
  Rauer at Rumblings for EFF
  
  Similarly I liked Kelly Rauer's P.O.V. (reflexive) reminded me of works by Jenine Antoni and early Pipilotti Rist for it's stark and multifaceted view of the body in motion. It was very kinesthetic and the non-flat screen TV's gave the whole thing a slightly nostalgic feel. It looks a bit dated in a knowing way though.
  
  
  Future Death Toll
  
  Performances by Wierd Fiction and Future Death toll made use of repeating barrages of images. Wierd fiction dresses up in somewhat Wes Anderson-esque costumage and then inserts the proceedings into their projections with green screen glitchery while echo-y surf-ish music drones on. I didn't catch FDT's actual performance but by using matching orange overalls as a costume it turns their every action into a performance. Every city simply must have a performance group that runs around in Devo-esque coveralls?
  
  I wasn't terribly fond of Lydia Greer's A Self Made House which seemed like an excuse to use one of those excellent golden glitter curtains and Ajna Lichau's On Demand was yet another exploration of the media's demands upon women's bodies with the text projected onto her naked body. It's a move I've seen hundreds if not thousands of times and requires a bit more to stop being an anonymous sociopolitical move. Also, Neil Ira Needelman's Loud Loop was yet another exercise in pulsing op art forms... meh but not the worst thing in the show which I wont even point out.
  
  Overall though it is a solid show so don't let that lone total stinker deter you. Go see Rumblings at Gallery Homeland through June 13th.
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  From Portland to Houston, Madrid, Berlin and Back

  Posted: 23-May-2012, 10:48pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  
  
  Though Portland's media reportage for culture can be insulated and frequently decades out of touch, the Portland art scene itself gets around quite nicely as ever more important art hubs always tend to behave.
  
  Perhaps, let's discuss the way we frame the discussion... instead of wondering "whether"... simply pay attention to what is already going on. Here's a prime example... Paul Middendorf's Gallery Homeland has already done projects in Istanbul, Berlin and Houston. Yet a lack of support (& credit, aka attaboys) perhaps drove him to move to Houston where he's working on another branch of the organization while keeping the Portland office open too.
  
  Now Paul is back for the week and leading a discussion at Froelick Gallery tonight called From Portland to Houston, Madrid, Berlin and Back. Here's the PR:
  
  "Please join us for an impromptu discussion about the current FROELICK exhibitions and comparisons of contemporary art scenes in Portland, Texas & Europe.
  
  Take part in an ongoing dialogue between artists Terrell James, Laura Ross-Paul & Victor Maldonado with Paul Middendorf, co director of Gallery Homeland & curator of Southern Pacific. Please RSVP by email to rebecca@froelickgallery.com"
  
  To foreground a difference I find very important, Houston has a very coherent plan which sets the expectation that every project, especially one which receives significant public and private dollars promotes Houston as an "Arts Hub." In Portland the expectations are lower, especially from public money, which generally doesn't make a point of using simple but loaded words like "Excellence." Instead, the word "Community" is used as a catch all... we should be asking for more details like, "what kind of community?" Is it one that supports excellence or the internationally newsworthy edgyness of Portland's Alternative Spaces? It's a question of Portland understanding its own relevance on the international stage not just its local fetish for process process process. I contend we need to look at the outcomes as well as the process.
  
  I'll have detailed thoughts and options in my followup to my Op Ed earlier this year in the Tribune sometime in the near future. Till then let's just say Portland's public policy has been one of benign neglect and it will be a key point of contention for Mayoral candidates Jefferson Smith and Charlie Hales as well as the City Commissioner race between Amanda Fritz and Mary Nolan.
  
  Here are some key questions to table. Are private funders insisting on excellence in Portland and how do they learn what is excellent? Are there mechanisms like major awards and media coverage that highlight and reward those who are doing internationally worthy work as artists and curators? Overall the quality of work and thinking is here in Portland but it isn't always heralded, yet it gets outside validation from frankly sharper and more discerning eyes and minds elsewhere beacuse they understand the value of what is happening in Portland better than many of our institutions/gatekeepers do.
  
  Yes, Portland does many things very well but the city is on the cusp of a new phase. It could mean greater prosperity or continued somewhat chaotic neglect that gains success by being validated elsewhere, though it is created/developed here. Come ready to discuss.
  
  
  Froelick Gallery | 714 NW Davis Street
  Discussion: Wednesday, May 23rd | 5:30 - 7:30pm
• 

  Rumblings of the Eff-ing volcano at Gallery Homeland

  Posted: 22-May-2012, 8:06pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  
  
  Tonight is the night for Rumblings and I highly recommend it! In the past Gallery Homeland has hosted major portions of Portland's Experimental Film Festival and it has always been an exciting/well attended event. So it is time to "Rumble" tonight and the lineup is heavy on programming that could be considered either video art and video installation art as a form as experimental film. Frankly making the distinctions between those three terms is exasperating but I can say that video installation is a major strength of the Portland art scene that gets international attention. Here is the lineup:
  
  Cathy Fairbanks: Transference is a Tough Row to Hoe
  Lydia Greer: A Self-Made House
  Jason Gutz: Sequence
  Shawn Patrick Higgins: Fortune
  Ajna Lichau: ON DEMAND
  Neil Ira Needleman: Loud Loop
  Julie Perini: Video Projection with Movement
  Kelly Rauer: POV (reflexive)
  Christina Santa Cruz: Gorgeous Media
  
  Performances by Weird Fiction and Future Death Toll and this exhibition is sponsored in part by The Historic Ford Building, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Ford Food and Drink, and RACC's Project Grant
  
  
  RUMBLINGS @ galleryHOMELAND
  Opening: May 22 6 - 9PM
  2505 SE 11th Ave.
• 

  Art and Real Estate links

  Posted: 21-May-2012, 9:07pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  The New York Times covered the out of the way Maryhill Museum. Interesting comparing the writing on it in the local paper. The O certainly has its work cut out for it when all this local stuff is of national interest... i.e. look sharp and never ever use irrelevant terms like "Big City"... Look, the area has an idiosyncratic appeal so pay attention to those aspects which are making them stand out nationally/internationally. Basically, beware of familiarity breeding contempt. We have natural advantages here but you have to be looking for them to see how special they are to outsiders. Basically don't take the area's pioneering pluck for granted, sometimes it is much more valuable than simple dollar signs.
  
  And speaking of idiosyncratic museums, collections and benefactors Christopher Knight gets right down to it on the whole Barnes Foundation debacle.
  
  Oh and with everything else going on I forgot to link to Brian Libby's discussion of PNCA's new residence hall on the North Park Blocks.
• 

  Saturday options

  Posted: 18-May-2012, 10:17pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  
  
  PLACE gets in on the EFF-ing action and in collaboration with Grand Detour presents EFFPortland: FISSURE VENTS featuring San Francisco based experimental filmmaker Kerry Laitala, Brent Coughenour and Portland's Leo Daedalus who will premiere Low Mass in Screen.
  
  Here's the PR:
  
  "This summer, we've invited Grand Detour's EFFPortland to transform our Black gallery into a showcase of stunning and ambitious video work. FISSURE VENTS features three installations that deconstruct, reconstruct, and send up familiar and found footage, creating hallucinatory and immersive environments of light and sound as provocative as they are seductive."
  
  
  Opening, May 19th 5-8 PM
  PLACE | Pioneer Place Mall atrium building 3rd floor
  
  
  
  
  Tom Cramer's latest at Laura Russo Gallery
  
  For you early risers there is a Tom Cramer talk at Laura Russo Gallery. Yes 11:00 AM is early for the tragically hip crowd in Portland, though it might have more to do with holding down 2-4 jobs than being party animals??? Either way Tom is the artist who connects the newer waves to the older 60's scene in Portland and therefore his work is nothing like that from either demographic (when will the LR gallery finally look at some of the later waves, some who have been here for 15+ years?). Anyway, hear Tom talk about his latest show, which contains some of his most accomplished works to date.
  
  
  Artist Talk: Tom Cramer
  Laura Russo Gallery
  805 NW 21st Ave.
  May 19th, 11:00 AM
• 

  Heidi Schwegler's The Known World at Chambers

  Posted: 17-May-2012, 8:23am CEST by Jeff Jahn

  "He did not think of himself as a tourist; he was a traveler. The difference is partly one of time, he would explain. Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he felt most at home." Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
  
  
  That passage from the Sheltering Sky remains the penultimate dissection of the varied perceptual vortex of travel. It also provides a good deal of insight into Heidi Schwegler's purposefully disconnected solo show The Known World at Chambers 916. All of which is is poetic because it marks her return to the Pearl District after a long silent period and then a series of uneven non profit exhibitions. I've been watching her closely since she was the star of the 1999 Oregon Biennial (the most influential group show in the Portland Art Scene's history because it also showcased/introduced; Storm Tharp, Kristan Kennedy, Brenden Clenaghen, Tom Cramer, Nan Curtis, Jacqueline Ehlis and Sean Healy).
  
  
  (FG) This is You, (BG right) Popular Delusion
  
  Before I dive in, it is important to understand that Schwegler's unevenness is part of her way of achieving the flashes of brilliance that this show sparingly brings (and other recent ones by her haven't so much). There's something about her work that isn't comfortable in its own skin and compared to all of the other work in the Pearl District right now that hallucinatory awkwardness feels edgy and honest in a way that is unfortunately rare this month.
  
  In The Known World there is no escape and that's the point. The literal centerpiece of the show is This is You, a vibrating lamb tchotchke (ewe/you pun) that evinces a chuckle partly for its behavior similarities to a sex toy and in a not unrelated kind of solipsistic behavior that tourists seem to traffic in... namely the hurried glance and move to the next thing on that day's list. It's a series of self fulfilling prophecies.
  
  The rest of the show follows the self fulfilling disconnect theme by choking on Schwegler's recent travels to China, Iceland, Argentina and Southern California and it's that weird touristy gag reflex that is interesting. The exhibition dwells in indeterminate kitsch but by doing so reminds me of every touristy moment I've ever experienced because they are so universal and difficult to place. Think of it as Music For Airports as an art show. It is more than a little dull and yet oddly compelling in a POMO/relational aesthetics kind of way?
  
  It also asks us to tease out her process in a way that most Pearl District shows simply spoon feed us.
  
  For example the first photo titled Distant Relative, depicts a fly and echoes that sense of vulnerability that tourists have while evoking a creature that all travelers inevitably encounter and do not like. All of those who travel become flies on the wall and it also echoes the viewer themselves in the exhibition. The piece shows just how sophisticated Schwegler can be. Yet that illusion of sophistication is only to be dashed by the next piece, Popular Delusion, a handcrafted white birch simulacra of a mattress.
  
  Simulacra of mattresses are perhaps some of the most hackneyed of all postmodern art objects and the title indicates that Schwegler knows it. It's another bad pun on the object, which is a literal illustration of the popular tourist nugget, "it's like sleeping on a board." Adding the "handcrafted" in the image description also gives it an additional wink since Schwegler teaches at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and needlessly calls attention to its origins just to say, yes this is art. It is a double blind that knows it was unnecessary. Still, it is the worst piece of art I've ever seen her make and I get the distinct feeling that was Schwegler's goal.
  
  Other purposefully horrible Gordon Matta Clark ripoff moments like the holes in the drywall homages to Holmes and Rahe are also emphasize a point... instead of a great show Schwegler is merely shooting for an overall good one with two flashes of brilliance that indicate she can do better if she wanted to. I've already discussed the first piece "This is You" but at this halfway point the balance for the show is in the red (probably scaring anyone who isn't a careful observer away).
  
  
  still from Sadly Optimistic
  
  But I persevere because I enjoy Schwegler's perverse plot thread here. Which is rewarded by her video Sadly Optimistic (what an appropriate title for this part of the show). It features a series of singular moving objects in a stationary world. There are poetic ribbons flapping in the breeze off a car's side view mirror, a workman working and an oscillating fan, you guessed it oscillating. It is a study in the solipsistic gaze... and of expectations being met and nothing more. But my favorite part is when the scooter/bike/car is driving alongside a long mural with mountains and the camera shakes uncontrollably the whole time, just like the This IS You sculpture. It is a great tie-in even if the video as a stand alone isn't that strong.
  
  
  Augenblick
  
  Then there is Augenblick, droopy red safety cone enameled with white and shredded. It's glossy whiteness and ready made aspect calls Duchamp's urinal to mind. Augenblick translated from German means in the blink of an eye, which is all the longer these cones stay in our sight on the road. It's a weird tourist's souvenir and another play on the tourist's short attention span.
  
  
  The Known World No.1
  
  But the real payoff of the show is The Known World No.1. Unlike every other piece in the show I'm not sure what I'm looking at. Is it drapery or a funerary accouterments? It is elegant, mysterious and very finalized. If it were a figure I would say it radiates confidence. It is also rather small, once again reifying the solipsistic sense that we as viewers only know what we know and nothing else, which leads to misreadings. There is a reason the show is titled after this piece and the rest of the show is keyed off it, possibly to make it's presence stronger than it would be otherwise. Sometimes the first "No" tells us as viewers all we need to know about the world.
  
  The last images in the show, The Known World 2-6 and Diasthesis are simply more refuse and unidentifiable places and make me want to leave this show and not play its too cleaver by half game anymore. But I feel that is it's game. By this point the viewer turns to the This is You sculpture one last time and I feel like it's simply shaking its head really fast..... as if to say nnnnnnnnnnnnno. Perhaps one final denial, till I remember that there is another Popular Delusion piece (this one made of concrete and blankets) to navigate. Ah one last popular MFA strategy to reaffirm my feeling that I've just witnessed a good show by a very good artist who makes OK and intentionally horrible art to highlight her most accomplished works and method.
  
  Problem is the best work I've ever seen her do is still from the 1999 Oregon Biennial. Time to up the game and stop gaming the viewer at every turn. Time to stop being a tourist and become a traveler, not that I didn't enjoy most of this effort. It is her best solo show to date.
• 

  Paul Pfeiffer lecture at PSU

  Posted: 15-May-2012, 9:44pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  
  Paul Pfeiffer's Vitruvian Figure (2009)
  
  The Paul Pfeiffer lecture on Thursday looks like a winner for Portland artists interested in architecture and multimedia technology (a large portion of the scene), here's the PR:
  
  "New York-based multimedia artist Paul Pfeiffer will deliver the final presentation in the inaugural lecture series, titled 'Firsts,' given by the Department of Architecture, Portland State University. Paul Pfeiffer will speak on Thursday, May 17, at 7pm, at Shattuck Hall Annex (at SW Broadway and Hall Streets) on the Portland State University campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.
  
  Paul Pfeiffer is a New York?based artist whose groundbreaking work in video, sculpture and photography uses recent computer technologies to examine the role that the mass media plays in shaping consciousness. Pfeiffer prompts audiences to reconsider attitudes about the body, race, identity, faith and architectural space in contemporary society. His work has been exhibited internationally at renowned museums and galleries and is in private and public collections worldwide. He is the recipient of numerous awards and, notably, he is the inaugural recipient of the Bucksbaum Award, given by the Whitney Museum of American Art (2000)."
  
  
  Artist Lecture: Paul Pfeiffer
  PSU Department of Architecture
  Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 7:00pm
  Shattuck Hall Annex
• 

  Barnes Storming

  Posted: 14-May-2012, 10:24pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  
  Interior of the original Barnes Foundation
  
  I've discussed the Barnes Collection numerous times over the years, and now it is open to the public in a new building in downtown Philly. I haven't seen it yet but on principle I believe it is important to weigh in.
  
  Christopher Hawthorne of the LA Times doesn't dig the building. Frankly it was an impossible commission, part of the charm is the destination, the old building smells, creaky floors and less than perfect light.
  
  But even more fascinating is this very well written piece by Jerry Saltz that I nearly completely disagree with.
  
  Though I generally applaud Jerry's sentiment that no collector should dictate the terms for best viewing the art (especially after they die) in this case I can't agree. Very few collectors deserve equal billing with artists but in this case I believe the incredibly idiosyncratic Barnes did. What is lost by creating a pseudo structure that makes the works more accessible is to lose part of the story of modern art and thus the roots of how we decoupled the power of the image (art, advertising etc.) from the institution and the state.
  
  By making it more accessible/institutional and convenient one loses the esoteric sense of pilgrimage and it becomes a sort of Pirates of the Caribbean ride for early 20th century, mostly French art. In short my argument is thus, Art IS the refuge of brilliant crackpots (who therefore are not crackpots at all) and we should celebrate/indulge them when they reach Dr. Barnes' level because it tells a rich historical story that something like MoMA or the Whitney could not ever tell.
  
  The fact that this couldn't be done is sad and probably a very East Coast problem (if the Barnes had been in Oregon or California we would have kept it in its original buildings). West of the Mississippi we like our idiosyncratic art people... Michael Heizer, Donald Judd, Robert Irwin, J.P. Getty, Sam Hill (Maryhill Museum), Armand Hammer, The Oliver Ranch, The Kramlichs, Winchester House, Peter Norton, Henry E. Huntington even Eli Broad for their ability to defy institutional conventions and say, "I'm going to do this my way." Sure, people grumble but that's the point of doing things your way. That inherent insolence is very American and its example goes far far beyond art... though art is perhaps the greatest teacher when it comes to individuality and more importantly original thinking.
  
  Sure, great art like this justifies itself but I seriously doubt that better lighting and less creaky floors have enhanced or changed the standing of those pieces. We have gained access and lost the finer points of the plot by allowing this to happen to the Barnes in the name of tourism. Art history isn't just the art, it is the way esoteric eyes and minds seize on the ideas that these artists articulate so individually. Dr. Barnes was the shining example of the art story that isnt just the artsists. 500 years from now this move will continue to be seen as a tourism driven blunder masquerading in the false guise of populism (which really doesn't serve art anyways).
• 

  Friday Links

  Posted: 12-May-2012, 3:02am CEST by Jeff Jahn

  I have expanded my thoughts on Peter Plagens' article in the Wall Street Journal. The repercussions of which should be felt for years because Portland does a lot of great things as an incubator and needs to consolidate those successes with rethinking its support structure and the way institutions calibrate their eye on the scene's often very unrelated strata.
  
  Tyler Green takes a look at some fantastic Rembrandt self portraits.
  
  Brian Libby looks at the most exciting new building in Portland's skyline... did I just type those words? Yes, Portland actually has an exciting new addition to its skyline.
• 

  Chase Biado at PSU's White Gallery

  Posted: 10-May-2012, 10:45pm CEST by Jeff Jahn

  
  Chase Biado has a truly enigmatic sense of delivery and it comes through in his work. A while back he presented a video of a hilarious talking mushroom performing a long, off the wall diatribe (by Tom Cruise) at 12128 so I'm very curious to see his latest solo show at PSU's White Gallery, Spider Veins. There is an opening tonight 5-8PM.
  
  To give you the flavor here is his Press release statement:
  
  "I've been seeking out a certain line, a vein. It's a squiggly line ~~~~~ an uneconomic line, like an excess of time allowed for the line to be dragged. The pencil is held with slack. The line meanders towards its destination.
  
  The spider vein is the wandering line that is too old to care ~ that has lost a destination and keeps going.
  
  The spider crawls up the wall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ spider dance. The spider makes a line that is not necessarily choice. The drawn squiggly is not necessarily a choice, but tension held in the body.
  
  I've tried to draw a line like veins crawling up the legs of old men and old ladies in their old swimsuits on the old beach, getting older. This is not a streamline.
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
  There's a relationship in the line between time and tension. The spider vein is on vacation time. Its tension is drawstring tension.
  
  The line defines the relationship: body to out-of-body, bound-self to unbound projection.
  
  The line says, 'I am the spider, you are the web.'
  
  varicose ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ varicose ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ varicose
  
  
  Spider Veins
  Artist's Reception: May 10 5-8PM
  Littman & White Galleries| Portland State University
  1825 SW Broadway #250 | 503 725-5656