The Shows to Know
27 Reasons to stand and applaud the upcoming fall arts season
By Randy Gragg
FINE ART
Raphael’s The Woman with the Veil
Portland Art Museum
October 24-January 3
pam.org
When promoting the Portland Art Museum, executive director Brian Ferriso is a soft violin in the wake of his trumpeting predecessor, John Buchanan. But after a year of negotiations and a little luck, even Ferriso might want to sound the brass a tad over the arrival of Raphael’s painting The Woman with the Veil. It’s more than just important, says Ferriso: “It’s really important.” Among Raphael’s most famous pieces, the painting has rarely left Italy since it was created in 1516; it’s considered to be one of the great works of the Renaissance. The woman in question is rumored to have been Raphael’s lover, the daughter of a local baker, and is also the subject of his provocative nude Portrait of a Young Woman. “It is a great artistic treasure,” Ferriso says, “one that should be appreciated by humanity.” —Kim Winternheimer
The Language of the Nude: Four Centuries of Drawing the Human Body
September 1-Decemeber 5
Cooley Gallery at Reed College
reed.edu/gallery
These 60 rarely seen master drawings of the unadorned human figure are original and unique expressions of how the human body has been drawn over time. Included in the collection are pieces by Michelangelo, Jacques-Louis David, and Albrecht Dürer.
Hayley Barker
September 2-October 10
Charles A. Hartman Fine Art
hartmanfineart.net
Barker uses the idea of monsters to explore the concept of otherness in her exhibition Chimeras. Her style merges the control of representational drawing with a craftsmanship of risk that allows for spatters and drips. The brightly colored, cartoonish ink-and-gouache compositions in the series are simultaneously repulsive and alluring.
October Country is an investigation of this multidisciplinary artist’s life and family. Using photography, film, and written narratives, Mosher considers the nature of human interaction and experience, and the measures we take to find our individual place within contemporary society.
M.K. Guth
September 3-26
Elizabeth Leach Gallery
elizabethleach.com
Guth’s hair-braiding project, Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping, wowed Portland—and New York, when it was shown in the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Her latest installation, Terrain Change, tells the story of a mermaid whose home lake dries up. In it, Guth explores what happens when the elements that define you suddenly disappear.
Donal Mosher
September 5-Octover 25
Disjecta
disjecta.org
October Country is an investigation of this multidisciplinary artist’s life and family. Using photography, film, and written narratives, Mosher considers the nature of human interaction and experience, and the measures we take to find our individual place within contemporary society.
Published: September 2009
