Thursday April 3, 2008
12:00 PM : Jeff Jahn Installation @ PNCA
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Jeff Jahn's Installation Eutrophication Explores Art's Relationship to the Space That Contains It
EXHIBIT
Eutrophication
April 3 - April 27
Manuel Izquierdo Sculpture Gallery
For the month of April Jeff Jahn's installation, Eutrophication, will inhabit and redefine the space of the Manuel Izquierdo Sculpture Gallery at PNCA. Eutrophication, a biological term referring to an overabundance of life and decay, reflects Jahn's interest in entropic systems (natural environments, civilizations, etc). Concerned with space living upon space, his work represents a departure from the predictable rationalism of minimalism and modernist architectural geometries.
In the last five years, Jahn has produced a series of spatially activated projects in group shows such as the critically lauded, The Hook Up, at NAAU in Portland in 2007, and his most recent small-scale solo show, Romance Languages, at the PDX Gallery Window Project in 2006. His efforts as a curator have been noted for their spatial punch as well as for bringing top international talent such as Cao Fei (who represented China at the Venice Biennale last year) and Hank Willis Thomas to Portland for Organism, a fledgling visual arts nonprofit. Jahn was also recently featured in the November 2007 issue of Art In America, and his distinctive voice appears regularly on PORT, a blog-style arts listings and discussion forum, which he co-founded.
"For years I've been interested in destabilizing both the manmade and so-called natural environments as a way to explore the way they affect us. In this case the Eutrophication occurs in a specific place where the different arterials of the building combine like the mixing chamber of a heart," said Jahn.
Unlike most conventional art exhibitions which use the space as a frame, Jahn's interventions largely take place on top of and below the gallery walls, loading the original space with burgeoning yet entropic space.
Jahn is interested in the destabilization of space as a way to load the viewer's awareness of self, environment and the trappings of civilization. Robert Smithson, Gordon Matta Clark, Frank Lloyd Wright, rebel landscape architect James Rose, Kurt Schwitters and Paul Klee are all major influences. The show is also related to the torsion and destabilization of space in the most daring designs by architects Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel and the writings of Rem Koolhaas.
06:00 PM : Israel Lund, Ryan Jacob Smith, Niles Armstrong @ Stumptown Downtown
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April 3
Group art show, downtown stumptown
Israel Lund, Ryan Jacob Smith, Niles Armstrong
6-9 pm, 128 SW 3rd Ave.
06:00 PM : Paula Rebsom @ Tilt
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Outskirts
new work by
Paula Rebsom
(Portland, OR-) For the month of April, Tilt Gallery and Project Space is pleased to present a new body of work by Portland artist Paula Rebsom. Developed during a month-long residency at the prestigious Ucross Foundation, Outskirts continues Rebsom's investigation into the complex relationships of humans and animals. In this series, a prairie dog town sets the stage for Rebsom to explore issues of urban sprawl and development. Small handmade house-facades were fabricated for each burrow, creating a visual map of the prairie dog town. The images that result act as historical documents, offering a different perspective in the complex relationships that we have developed with animals and nature.
Outskirts will be on exhibit from April 3-26, 2008 at Tilt Gallery and Project Space, 625 NW Everett #106, Portland, Oregon. An opening reception for the artist will be held Thursday April 3, from 6-9pm. NEW spring gallery hours are Thursdays and Saturdays noon-5pm, and by appointment.
Paula Rebsom received her MFA from the University of Oregon in 2004. Her work has been exhibited locally at the Autzen Gallery at Portland State University and Blackfish Gallery. Upcoming projects include a solo exhibit for the Portland Building Installation series. Most recently, Rebsom was the recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship awarded through the Oregon Arts Commission. Her work has been reviewed in the Portland Mercury, the Daily Vanguard, PORT, and Visual Codec. This is Rebsom's second solo exhibition at Tilt.