Tommy Bo in The Great Leap. Alec Lugo As it became a global phenomenon, basketball helped open the world. Introduced to China around 1895, it was eventually chosen as one of the country’s two national sports during the Great Leap Forward—a brutal five-year period starting in 1958 which preceded Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution. In 1979, […]
Andrew Jankowski
Posted inVisual Art
Brett and Moon Westfall See Hope for Humanity in Signs of Life Art & Fashion Exhibition
photo by Andrew Jankowski The strawberries in visual artist and menswear designer Brett Westfall’s signature “Fresh” produce motif are inspired by ten days in 2007 he and a colleague spent stranded in Patterson, California, a rural farming town known for its apricots. Westfall, a friend and collaborator of Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo, studied […]
Posted inHoliday Debauchery Guide 2021
A Sampler’s Guide to Portland’s Best Perfumers
Andrew Jankowski Portland’s scents are among the world’s finest and freshest. Because of the doughnut chain next door, my neighborhood smells like fresh rising dough, confectioners’ icing, and fruit fillings on its best days, shifting savory at night thanks to a score of breweries and coffee roasters. The neighborhood’s base notes shift seasonally, now emitting […]
Posted inHoliday Debauchery Guide 2021
A Sampler’s Guide to Portland’s Best Perfumers
Portland’s scents are among the world’s finest and freshest. Because of the doughnut chain next door, my neighborhood smells like fresh rising dough, confectioners’ icing, and fruit fillings on its best days, shifting savory at night thanks to a score of breweries and coffee roasters. The neighborhood’s base notes shift seasonally, now emitting petrichor, dried […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Scary-Funny Improv Show Murder Mystery Machine Is “Scooby-Doo Meets Saw”
Andrew Jankowski Sarah Michelle Gellar fans who missed Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Musical’s latest run at the Funhouse Lounge, should consider attending the venue’s next installment of their improv pop culture spoof series. Billed as “Scooby-Doo meets Saw,” Murder Mystery Machine takes Scoob and the gang and plops them wherever the audience chooses, solving […]
Posted inFood & Drink Guide 2021
Southeast Portland’s Fermenter Returns With Funky, Briny, Vibrant Vegan Brunch
ANDREW JANKOWSKI Uninitiated Portland diners should take heed of Fermenter’s return. The vegan restaurant and kombucherie reintroduced themselves in October 2020 at Southeast 14th and Belmont, shifting into the space once held by their still-on-hiatus sister restaurant, Farm Spirit. Fermenter’s heated patio was installed in November, and in-person brunch followed this past summer. Mushrooms, smoked […]
Posted inFood & Drink Guide 2021: Eating Sustainably
Southeast Portland’s Fermenter Returns With Funky, Briny, Vibrant Vegan Brunch
Uninitiated Portland diners should take heed of Fermenter’s return. The vegan restaurant and kombucherie reintroduced themselves in October 2020 at Southeast 14th and Belmont, shifting into the space once held by their still-on-hiatus sister restaurant, Farm Spirit. Fermenter’s heated patio was installed in November, and in-person brunch followed this past summer. Mushrooms, smoked tempeh, and […]
Posted inTBA
Photo Essay: Striking Scenes From PICA’s Time-Based Art Festival
Andrew Jankowski Editor’s note: The following are photos from three exhibits at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival (TBA), running now through October 3. Find more of the Mercury’s TBA coverage here and here. A participant in vanessa german’s THE BLUE WALK responds to the poet-artist’s call for rage in an empty […]
Posted inTBA
Photo Essay: Striking Scenes From PICA’s Time-Based Art Festival
Editor’s note: The following are photos from three exhibits at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival (TBA), running now through October 3. Find more of the Mercury’s TBA coverage here and here. {{ image:1 }} {{ image:2 }} {{ image:3 }} {{ image:4 }} {{ image:5 }} {{ image:6 }} {{ image:7 […]
Posted inFall Arts Guide 2021: Art Is Political
Ten, Tiny, Talks Is Expanding Black & Indigenous LGBTQ+ Art In Portland
Performer Link in Lost in a Place Called America, a Ten, Tiny, Talks play written by Marla Darling and directed by James Dixon. Andrew Jankowski Before you delve into what Ten, Tiny, Talks means for sociopolitical representation and visibility, founder Zeloszelos Marchandt would remind you that the new hybrid artist residency and multi-disciplinary festival—with its […]
Posted inFall Arts Guide 2021: Art Is Political
Ten, Tiny, Talks Is Expanding Black & Indigenous LGBTQ+ Art In Portland
Before you delve into what Ten, Tiny, Talks means for sociopolitical representation and visibility, founder Zeloszelos Marchandt would remind you that the new hybrid artist residency and multi-disciplinary festival—with its roster of more than a dozen local and national Black and Indigenous artists who are transgender, nonbinary, or queer—is about honoring artists’ labors with beneficial […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Remembering Experimental Drag-Punk Icon, Phatima Rude
Phatima Rude at a 2016 performance in Portland. Patrick Buckmaster She had many names: Sister Hateful Sow of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Inc., Leigh Pankonin, and Pronoun among them. But there was only one Phatima Rude. She was a transgressive performance artist; a literal staple of San Francisco’s avant garde drag scene since the […]