Art

Raise the Roof OMSI, 1945 SE Water Ave, 797-4537 Raise the Roof is a noisy, pint-sized, hands-on exhibit at OMSI that attempts to make buildings interesting to kids. Imagine the futility of marketing Nest Magazine to the Ranger Rick crowd, and you’ll have an idea of what the show is up against. Besides providing a […]

Hildur Bjarnadottir Pulliam Deffenbaugh, 522 NW 12th, 228-6665 I opened my new Artforum last night and saw that Reykjavik-mania continues to sweep the international art community. It was a pleasant case of synchronicity, I thought, coinciding with Iceland-born/Portland-based artist Hildur Bjarnadottir’s show at Pulliam Deffenbaugh. The Artforum article posited the lethargic thesis that Icelandic artists […]

First Thursday approaches, and by the looks of it, there’s something out there for both the little angel on your left shoulder and the devil on your right. A few exhibitions opening this month promise to cater to your intellectual, ascetic side, and another group looks to serve your ignoble impulses. To begin with the […]

PowerPointillism US Bank Meeting Room, Central Library, 801 SW 10th Wed Feb 5, Thurs Feb 6, 7 pm I am as excited for this event as I was to hear that WrestleMania 19 was going to be in Seattle this year, but sadly, 40,000 tickets sold out for that show while I was trying to […]

David Eckard Tournament (lumens) Marylhurst Art Gym, 17600 Pacific Hwy, 699-6243 The oft-told bio sketch of Portland-based David Eckard is that he grew up gay on the farm in Iowa before attending the Art Institute of Chicago, and that his quasi-functional sculptures are equally influenced by farm machinery and accoutrements of sexual pleasure. While downplaying […]

Su-en Wong Savage Gallery, 416 NW 10th Oh damn, this is a sexy show… mmmm… look at all these hot naked Asian chicks rolling around on the tiger skin rug… mmm… pole dancing Wait, did I actually type all that out? What I meant to say is that Savage Gallery is hosting an exhibition of […]

Brad Adkins Basil Hallward Gallery, 1005 W Burnside I broke one of my own rules this week and talked with an artist to discuss his show before reviewing it. The artist was Brad Adkins, and I contacted him after first seeing Keep moving…there’s nothing to see here at Powell’s Basil Hallward Gallery. At a first […]

Tim Bavington Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, 522 NW 12th I can already hear the lips smacking and purses opening, which means that Tim Bavington’s show at Pulliam Deffenbaugh must be approaching. This is the guy who makes West Coast art critics like Christopher Knight wet their pants and say things like, “These are paintings about the […]

Tableaux: Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz Portland Art Museum For the second time that I’m aware of since fall, the Portland Art Museum has a great show by major American artists, yet somehow failed to give it five dollars’ worth of publicity. A few months ago there was a miniature exhibit of brand new paintings […]

When needlework, stitching, and sewing first entered the fine arts landscape (as opposed to the applied or decorative arts) it was perhaps not surprisingly introduced by a generation of women in the late 1960s. In a time more drastically polarized along the gender lines than now, artists such as Eva Hesse, Bea Nettles, and Lynda […]

Dim Sum Gavin Shettler Gallery When I’m not being an art putz at galleries with a little notepad in my back pocket, I’m a different kind of putz with a notepad–a waiter in polyester pants at a restaurant where I hope never to see any of you art people. Last Thursday night, my occupational worlds […]

After PNCA, 1241 NW Johnson, 226-4391 Looking for good art this week? I know I am, and there actually seems to be a lot of it going around. For the hard-to-please viewer, check out After, the PNCA alumni exhibit. This show speaks volumes about the high caliber of artists who pass through PNCA. I don’t […]