Art

Chavez Ravine, 1949: A Los Angeles Story Blue Sky Gallery 1231 NW Hoyt, 225-0210 Basil Hallward Gallery 1002 W Burnside, 228-4651 Through Sept 1 In 1948, 20-year-old Don Normark trekked to the top of an LA hillside to get a better view of the skyline. In addition to urban grandeur, he discovered a small neighborhood […]

Peter Drake Motion Pictures Elizabeth Leach Gallery, 224-0521 Through Sept 1 This month, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery is filled to the brim with work provided by an ensemble of artists. Within the sizable display, there are a few artists that demand most attention. Sculptor Cris Bruch unveils spectacular new works, Mark Smith dazzles viewers with […]

Art Bubble Brian Borrello Last Thursday “Is there a place to throw my garbage?” someone asked. The response: “Yeah, right behind you.” From the outside, Brian Borrello’s Last Thursday “art bubble” looked a lot like a giant, oblong trash bag. Or a gargantuan womb, with the umbilical cord represented by a generator inflating it with […]

Everyday Sunshine Portland Institute for Contemporary Art 219 NW 12th, 242-1419 Through Aug 25 Harrel Fletcher’s exhibit, Everyday Sunshine, has provoked a bona fide art buzz. In the weeks since the exhibit’s opening at PICA, much has been written and discussed about the Bay Area artist’s menagerie of work. The reaction appears fairly split–some love […]

C to C: Papercuts by Nikki McClure and Beatrice Coron Reading Frenzy Through July 31 Whether through her woodcuts, papercuts, booklets, or song-chanting, Olympian artist Nikki McClure has always been able to channel organic beauty through a method of deceptive simplicity. Her artistic embellishments tend to be simple shapes–lines and swirls, circles and rectangles–yet they […]

Native Spirits Walt Curtis Mark Woolley Gallery 120 NW 9th, 224-5475 Also Showing: Recent Paintings by Anne Grgich Through July 28 For most of his life, Walt Curtis has held a pen in one hand and paintbrush in the other. He has written several volumes of poetry, and also achieved a high level of notoriety […]

The gallery offerings for July are many and varied, though a trend is apparent–Many exhibits favor an indulgence in color and a wealth of abstract mark-making. The following is a short list of shows that promise to seduce viewers with a rich palette and unique painting styles. Portland painter and poet Walt Curtis is most […]

Dissections Laura Fritz Nil Contemporary, 221-3182 Through June 30 Armed with a painting degree from Drake University, Laura Fritz moved to Portland six years ago to unleash her creations. In her latest work, Dissections, on view at Nil Contemporary Art, Fritz bridges the gap between art and science. She approaches her sculptures as an impartial […]

Sean Healy Elizabeth Leach Gallery, 224-0521 Through July 14 The Elizabeth Leach Gallery presents “Nesting Instinct,” a collection of recent work by Portland artist Sean Healy. The exhibit is a nice follow-up to the artist’s past success, and the current work reveals a growth in Healy’s conceptual savvy and a maturation of his technical skills. […]

Dale Chihuly & Tad Savinar Savage Gallery 223-2868 Through June 23 The new Pearl district wonder, Savage Gallery, presents an unlikely combination of artists for its second exhibit. Dale Chihuly, the internationally-acclaimed glass artist from Seattle, unveils a cast of formally intriguing objects and installations, and Tad Savinar shows graphic, text-based prints that insert a […]

Portland Independent Salon Bollenbach Art Lab 630 SE 3rd 998-0422 Through June 30 If you have to cancel dinner with your mom, leave your girlfriend, or sneak out of grandma’s basement sometime this month, mosey on down to the Bollenbach Art Lab. I know it’s a little hard to find, but you can dodge trains, […]

Graffiti is the most misunderstood element of hiphop. Since it involves destruction of property and is therefore illegal (unless you go to the legal graff wall in NE Portland), it’s easy for people to instantly demonize it without bothering to understand it as a form of cultural and artistic expression. J.D. Davis is a Portland […]