06:00 PM : Rob's Recommendations @ 1st Thursday

Visual Arts / Architecture Flyered by kmikeym

Rob lives in Portland, Oregon, the center of the known universe. (see full bio below)

March 1-5

Reed Arts Week brings a host of events and opportunities to the Reed community, and you, as Reed's art programs increasingly engage Portland's larger art community. Details at http://web.reed.edu/raw/main.html

to May 28

The Portland Art Museum, after muddling about in 18th and 19th century painting and decorative arts, is getting today. For the next few months, the Museum is running Roxy Paine's Painting Manufacture Unit, a machine for making paintings. This Powerbook controlled, very industrial machine, sprays 16 gallons per minute of specially formulated white acrylic paint on canvas every 2 or 3 hours, building dozens of layers over a period of weeks. Paine in this piece, explores the interrelationships between machine time and materials time, between the program and randomness, between adhesion and gravity, as the heavy flows of paint form canyons and foothills. My only quarrel with the work is that the canvas resembles bland cubicle fabric! Ick.

The gallery shows PMU 24, completed in 2005. Between February 25 and May 28, when the show ends, the machine will make 5 more paintings PMU 25-30. Plan a visit to the Museum for a few hours, check the programmed painting time when you first arrive, and plan your museum wanderings to correspond to the next painting cycle.
www.pam.org
Museum admission has crept up to $15, so find a friend who is a member to get in for free or join, $45 per year for one and $75 per year for two.

March 1

Preopenings (note that some Everett Station Lofts are doing preopenings on the Tuesday of Wednesday before first Thursday)

March 2

Portland hosts the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference this month and so many galleries are showing local ceramics as well as out of town ceramic artists curated by out of towners. I'm am not super interested in ceramics. Portland though is living on the fault line between art and craft, so you are on your own to discover what is out there and form your own opinions. More conference info at www.nceca.net.

Greg Renfrow shows seductive minimalist colorfield flows on plexi panels. Simple and delicious. Elizabeth Leach Gallery until 9PM (417 NW 9th)

Vicki Lynn Wilson shows her installation "Love in the Wild". Wilson, a recent PSU MFA graduate is known for her curatorial chops ("The Locals" September 2004 at Blackfish), her ability to work across media and her wit. She is a smart pixie! In this show, imaginary species intermingle with household appliance-animal hybrids, such as an 8 foot refrigerator-polar bear. Wilson also performs amid the work. Saturday March 4 at 7PM. Blackfish Gallery (420 NW 9th Avenue)

PDX Gallery presents ceramic koosh ball-like sculptures by Bean Finneran. Do not touch, though you know you want too! PDX is hit or miss as far as opening nights, having correctly determined that few sales, but a lot of stress and strife, accompany first Thursday. Besides, PDX-style work is best seen in a quiet gallery. They may be open Wednesday evening. www.pdxcontemporaryart.com (925 NW Flanders)

Kim Ray, PNCA graduate, shows in the Nine installation space in the Blue Sky Gallery. Ray has long been fascinated by Andy Warhol and multiples, fierce conceptual brilliance underlies her work. I've no idea what's up this time, but it may be worth a look.

Reading Frenzy presents a group show And Then You Were Born, curated by brilliant local artist, and PNCA grad, Shawna Ferreira. until about 9 Reading Frenzy (921 SW Oak)

Motel presents "Unnatural World" by Boston Artist Amy Ross. Alexis Rockman's dark future landscapes of plants and animals mutated by pollution recall David Lynch in tone. In contrast, Ross uses Audubon style illustrations of hybrid creatures which may presage genetic engineering gone wild. The significant white space in the pieces allows them to slip past our aesthetic filters like the illustrations in childrens' books. I have often felt that Motel's aesthetic would suit the rooms of children. Perhaps those children will be the ones who wreak these creatures upon the world as adults, or, maybe in high school biology lab. Motel Gallery until 9:30PM (NW Couch between 5th and 6th across the street from Ground Control)

Just Be Design/ Compound Gallery presents Stash and Sense. NY Graffitti artist by Stash is responsible for the Recon stores in NY, SF and Tokyo.
Just Be Design until 9:30PM (107 NW 5th Avenue)

Jessica Bronk shows her dark atmospheric landscapes at Vino Paradiso. This venue, with a new curator, is one to watch. www.vinoparadiso.com until 11PM (417 NW 10th)

The Hot Dish group show opens for three days, March 2-4, at a temporary space. This is the output of respected local painter Jacqueline Ehlis' class, so pot luck. In the old Fashion Incubator space (23 NW 5th).

In our espresso addled regional reality, the concept of an actual coffee pot may seem quaint. But for more pot luck, the Starbucks coffee sponsors a show of art by its employees curated by PICA's executive director Victoria Frey. It's perfectly fine to buy art you like from artists unsigned to the majors. Complementary appetizers and Oregon wine. 6-9:30PM Weiden + Kennedy, 224 NW 13th Free

Pulliam Deffenbaugh shows the ultra baroque ceramic sculptures of Seattle artist Jeffry Mitchell.
www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com closes early first Thursday, about 8PM (929 NW Flanders)

Rm.744 shows Replicating the Object, sculpture including a sea of slipcast fingers by Jennifer Anable. This is a new space, let's see where they go. Show March 2-12 Tue-Sun 12-4 Opening 6-9 at 744 NW 12

Might take a peak in at the work of Judy Hill. In the past, Hill has produced subtle narrative sculpture. Now? At the Bullseye glass gallery 6-9PM (300 NW 13th)

At Blue Sky, Steven Benson shows The Cost of Power in China: The Three Gorges Dam and the Yangtze River Valley, documentary photographs of the area to be flooded by China's huge hydroelectric project. www.blueskygallery.org 1231 NW Hoyt

Butters Gallery, to my taste, presents work much too beautiful for its conceptual and emotional content. Elise Wagner, one of Portland's best encaustic painter makes vaguely, astronomical images. Encaustic is one of those luscious art materials but very tricky to use as it is based on wax, liquid only when heated to near inflammability. Judge for yourself. Until 9 www.buttersgallery.com 520 NW Davis, 2nd floor

The Everett lofts bounded by Everett and Flanders, Broadway and 6th NW will no doubt have something to see. As galleries are priced out of the Pearl district, they are migrating to Old Town. The Everett Lofts will soon be joined by upscale nonprofits across the street in the Daisy Kingdom building.

Valentine's presents Zak Margolis' Moon Babies, comics and diptychs inspired by twins separated at birth. According to the gallery cafe bar's own press release: "In his attempt to create a cohesive story in the gallery setting, Margolis has given us an underwhelming, disjointed show, with each piece seeming more meaningless than the next. Admittedly, the artist does receive points for the number of flaccid penises that appear in these works. There seems to be between 1 and 5 penises in each piece! But then, what else is new with the work of Zak Margolis? Margolis is best known in the art world as a collaborator in the Pacific Switchboard art group which, rumor has it, is on hiatus. It was also reported that Margolis is the recent father of twins - the apparent subject of this abysmal show." until late Valentine's 232 SW Ankeny

The Sugar Gallery, a new gallery, and successor to Gallery 500, is hard at work at establishing its identity beyond party space. We'll see how that develops. This month you can see an installation by Georgia artist Dallas Oliver titled Inflatable Control. Also on view: Now You Know, paintings by Christian DeFilippo and Maria Dixon "exploring the link between the known visible world and things intangible". www.sugargallery.org 420 SW Washington, 5th floor

A Little About Rob, Your Arts and Culture Sherpa:

Little known but true facts of my life include having:

• Worked in a virology research lab with a freezer full of bad things and incubators full of worse
• Swam a class five rapid in a river full of crocodiles
• Been almost kidnapped in the former Soviet Union
• Ensured free and fair elections in a couple spots in Africa
• Translated ancient texts of Chinese philosophy (small parts anyway)
• Having been within 2 blocks of a car bomb explosion, which is definitely not recommended
• Done research on quantum tunneling in the vicinity of absolute zero, -459 degrees F

I am pretty much an optimist, except when I'm being realistic.

I see a lot of art, know what I like and act on it. Portland is a great place for artists now and my recommendations represent my personal opinion of the best. Sometimes recommendations also include great events to meet other artists, as well as other obscure cultural, political and plain strange events.