CULTUREPHILE: PORTLAND ARTS

Gallery 903 hosts
Alexandra Becker-Black

These nuanced nudes are getting the gallery treatment Culturephile told you they deserved.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Oct 15, 2010 at 10:01AM 0 Comments

“I told you so.” It’s an obnoxious statement, but occasionally so true.

Case in point:

Last week, Gallery 903 threw a moderately posh First Thursday opening, accompanied by a live flamenco guitarist and a gracious gallery hostess with a hint of a French accent.

I went. And while browsing Allen Stephenson’s golden pastoral landscapes, and admiring Jeff White’s vibrant firey cloudscapes—I was stopped in my tracks by Alexandra Becker-Black’s subtly masterful watercolor nudes. Where had I seen these before?

A quick search of this site * yielded the following post from a July edition of Weekend Picks:

There doesn’t have to be good art on the walls, for me to enjoy my coffee. Coffee shops know this, and so often when they see me coming, they whisk all the good art off the walls and tack up something unremarkable. However: yesterday as I happened into Backspace, I noticed several starkly beautiful pieces by Alexandra Becker-Black. Large expanses of white space and delicate splashes of monochromatic watercolor combined for surprisingly fresh depictions of the most classic subject: the female nude. Part of a show that will disappear at the close of July, these works seem worth visiting—even if you aren’t looking for a latte.

At the time of that post, Ms. Becker Black’s works were displayed—well, rather nakedly. They were hung on the wall poster-style, cringingly close to errant sprays of coffee spatter. Now that these delicate nudes are getting the star treatment they deserve, all the more reason to go see them. Why? Because I told you so.

Gallery 903 is open weekdays and Saturday, 10-5:30, Sunday, 12-5. For a more comprehensive list of upcoming events, visit the Arts & Entertainment Calendar anytime!

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Tags: Art, Portland Art, Museums, Galleries, painting, weekend picks, galleries, nudity

Weekend Picks!

Farm-fresh roots rock, arborial acrobatics, Buddhist revels, and Broadway classics

Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 06, 2010 at 12:00PM 1 Comments

Sand, sailors, and the formidable Bloody Mary, blow through town on a South Pacific Broadway breeze.

First Friday
First Thursday. Last Thursday. It seems every gallery district wants to lay claim to one notable monthly day. In biblical parlance, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first,”—and if too many more neighborhoods do this, Culturephile will cease to know first from last, or head from a**. That said, Central Eastside calls official dibs on First Friday, and invites you to revel in the burgeoning eclectica of its galleries. And it’s actually looking pretty good. Some highlights: Newspace Center for Photography will feature New Work by much-lauded anthropology-minded photographer Linda Connor. Poboy Art will showcase the prolific and intricate rock-poster designs of EMEK, and newly-gilded gallery Golden Rule’s grand opening, will hypnotize with the brightly-colored folk illustrations of Inner Lands by Howard Gillam, which manage to simultaneously evoke Medieval manuscript illuminations, and South-American animal totems.

South Pacific
Culturephile caught this production with an intent to review it. But since Culturephile’s date was too swept-up in beach fantasies to endure any hints at critique, and the production itself will pull out with the tide by the time this weekend subsides (it ends Sunday)—South Pacific lands in Weekend Picks. Suffice to say the production is near-perfect. It breezes into town from Broadway, complete with all amenities: A-level singing, acting, and dancing; photorealistic sets; and a rigorous commitment to the classic material. As an added bonus, this show turns up its tropical heat with High School Musical 2 alum Anderson Davis as Lieutenant Cable, who is every bit as “damn sexy” as the character Bloody Mary’s lines purport him to be.

That said, be forewarned: While it’s easy to be beguiled into island delirium, and while the singing and dancing completely “sell it,” it’s hard to overlook the offhanded xenophobia that comes with the script. Yes, we’re transported to a beautiful beach; on the other hand, we’re deployed into World War II, and hence have to overhear a lot of smack-talk about “the Japs” and watch the story’s romantic heroes battle their own inner prejudices. Picture a carefully-sealed crate on the beach. Upon prying it open, you find museum-quality parcels of vintage dry goods—but tucked among them, perfectly preserved rations of racial tension. What retains the play’s relevance and moves you past the cringes, are the gorgeous and unforgettable songs, from the intoxicating “Bali Ha’i,” to the swooningly romantic “Some Enchanted Evening,” to the winkingly sapphic “Honey Bun.” Classics all, and deftly delivered.

Obonfest
Obon is a 500-year-old Japanese custom of honoring the departed through three days of family gathering and traditionally includes a communal dance of joy known as Bon-Odori. Celebrate Obon in Portland at the Oregon Buddhist Temple where traditional Japanese food will be served, Martial Arts and Tanuki Taiko (a relatively recent art-form of ensemble drumming) will be demonstrated, and activities for all ages abound.*

Art In The Dark
The spinning, swooping sylphs of AWOL Dance Collective attempt once again to suspend your disbelief, as they perform aerial feats in twilit trees at the World Trade Center Atrium.

Pickathon
Head for Happy Valley (an actual place) for three days of exuberant indie roots rock at nearby, far-out, Pendarvis Farm. Earlier this week, Culturephile heard more about the fest and the farm straight from the horse’s mouth, in an interview with founder Zale Schoenborn. Also note: this year marks the Pickathon debut of hometown heroes Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, and Typhoon.

Weekend Picks are published every Friday at noon, and highlight just a few of your local entertainment options. For a more comprehensive list of events, visit the Arts & Entertainment Calendar.

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Tags: Art, musical, pickathon, Last Thursday, music, Weekend Plans, Events, Theater, First Thursday, Museums, First Friday

First Thursday

Still life, simple stones, and surreal painted fables.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 05, 2010 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

Hibiki Miyazaki’s Latch Them Softly makes you yearn for a story. At Augen Gallery.

GALLERY OPENINGS

Augen Gallery
Hibiki Miyazaki

This artist’s name brings to mind author Haruki Murakami (Wind Up Bird Chronicles). Far be it from Culturephile to force a fit, but the heady, disorienting, whimsical feel of Murakami’s writing, would actually be quite nicely accompanied by the images of Miyazaki, which also mix children’s-story motifs with a modern, surreal feel.

Chambers Gallery
Echo Pool, Resting Stones

Please permit a haiku:
seven black stones sit,
gazing on pond’s reflection,
nothing more than this.

Resting Stones chillax beside the Echo Pool, Chambers Gallery

Froelick Gallery
Neptune’s Picnic, Patterns and Memories

Katherine Ace’s masterful realistic still-lifes in oils, seem to bring to light the cheerful entropy of consumption. Overturned glasses and ravaged rind-fruits sometimes perch atop a drifting pile of loose newspaper, and sometimes are submerged underwater.

Katherine Ace paints feasts laid to waste. Froelick Gallery.

Meanwhile, Charles Dazler Knuff’s black bronzes comprised of functional found-object shapes, equally evoke chess pieces, farmscape silos, and factoryscape chimneys.

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Tags: Portland Art, Museums, First Thursday

First Thursday Picks

Gallery openings explore many dimensions, and indie cult faves close the evening.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Jun 30, 2010 at 04:00PM 0 Comments

GALLERY OPENINGS

Blue Sky Gallery
From the Studio of Roy Lichtenstein
by Laurie Lambrecht. Artist Talk at 6:30pm.
Photographer Laurie Lambrecht served a stint assisting the iconic Roy Lichtenstein, and photo-documented his preparation for an exhibition at the Guggenheim (pictured). The result is an “art-within-art” series of photographs that expose the processes and postures of one of the 20th-century greats, in his element.

Laura Russo Gallery
Mel Katz: New Wall Sculptures
Responsible for enough Portland sculptures to be considered a fixture himself, Mel Katz continues his exploration of shape and contour.

Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists: Paintings, Sculpture, Textiles, Works on Paper
Culturephile favorite:
Tom Fawkes and Judith Poxson Fawkes. Between Tom’s photorealistic acrylic paintings of Mediterranean gardens and architecture, and Judith’s massive, intricate, tapestries, this Portland married couple displays mind-boggling mastery of detail and deft, skilled execution. The work of each of these shrewd, crafty Fawkeses will be on display.
Other contributors include:
Betty Merken and Lucinda Parker—Bold, blocky abstracts
Mary Josephson and Gregory Grennon—Naïve folk intensity, hints of Kahlo
Kim Osgood and Henk Pander—Unique slants on still life.
Anne Siems Sherrie Wolfe—Renaissance riffing.
Erik Stotik and Jay Backstrand—Sensory overload iconoclasm.

3-D Center of Art & Photography
Digital Stereo Paintings by Theo Prins
Fourteen digital paintings produced using a graphics tablet, inspired by the bustling marketplaces of Seoul, Saigon, Hanoi, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai.

The Caretaker 3D, starring Dick Van Dyke
In this 3D film, which debuted earlier this year at the Malibu Film Festival, Van Dyke portrays the legendary 1930’s handyman tasked with maintenance and repair of the famous “HOLLYWOOD” sign (which, at the time, read “HOLLYWOODLAND.”)

MUSIC

Mississippi Studios
Ioa & Alan Singley
Amanda Spring, erstwhile known as the pink-haired, pitch-perfect singer and intricate math drummer of the indie-rock combo Point Juncture Washington (a band, not a town) has jumped front and center for Ioa, a lush 7-member lineup supporting her unwavering alto croon and utterly unique songcraft. And if you’re not careful, Alan Singley, affable bandleader of Pants Machine and longtime all-ages house-show hero, will ride his bike right into your heart.

Ground Kontrol Barcade
DJ Diabetic (aka Shepard Fairey)
If rumors—and posters—are true, then Ground Kontrol’s usual lineup of video-game-beep-drowning DJ’s will feature an extra-special guest: guerrilla graphic-art god Shepard Fairey. Think you don’t know who that is? You do. Trust and obey. Even if he’s hunched under a hoody, avoiding everyone’s gaze and spinning terrible tunes, you can boast later about being in the same room.

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Tags: Art, Portland Art, Museums, First Thursday, music

Weekend Picks

Pick your poison—NoPo or Lake O; chamber music subtlety or Broadway flair.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Jun 25, 2010 at 12:00PM 5 Comments

No. Fest
These days, the North Portland/ St. Johns neighborhood is all over the place. Is it the new gay district? The latest plum to ripen for PDC plucking? The last close-in outpost for blue-collar, and “keeping it real?” In the throes of an all-engrossing identity crisis, NoPo, like any healthy adolescent, wants to party. This weekend marks the first annual No. Fest—boasting an eclectic, ambitious schedule, a compilation CD, and headline Bhangra bangers Anjali & The Incredible Kid. Click here for more info and complete schedule, and behold, below, a preview of Culturephile’s top pick, multimedia music/animation duo, ** Billygoat:

Dioscuri Part II from Billygoat on Vimeo.

Lake Oswego Festival of The arts
If the above description tempts you to run for the hills, point your warrantied wheels south toward Lake Oswego, for another Festival Of The Arts. They’ve been hosting theirs for 47 years, thank you—so they’re willing to offer some guarantees, including accessibility to everyone, several art exhibits, a Craft Faire, and a juried art show.

Chamber Music Northwest Summer Festival
Attending a chamber concert is like taking tea with the Queen—simultaneously intimate and grand; punctuated by quiet throat-clearing. Chamber Music Northwest’s 40th summer festival landed its first bow-strokes this last Monday, but will string the festivities out for four more weeks. Click here for complete schedule and ticket information, and whet your appetite with this Bostonian version of one of the weekend’s featured pieces, Adagio For Strings .

RENT
Whether you measure it in minutes, cups of coffee, or torrid, twentysomething love*—the enduring success and relevance of RENT can hardly be denied. The Pulitzer-winning musical that opened in 1996 and dominated Broadway stages ‘til 2008, styles itself as a vivid snapshot of the edgy lives of seven friends in New York’s East Village. But it clearly offers something more universal: a diverse set of characters and a varied spectrum of passionate, complex emotions. At Theatre! Theater! through july 25th.

*Culturephile wonders, should that be calculated in volume, or density?

**Coming up on Culturephile: 5 questions with Billygoat!

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Tags: Museums, Theater, Weekend Plans, music, Festivals, Animation

The Shape of Time at Oregon Jewish Museum

photography show opens new space for museum

Posted by: Lisa Radon on Dec 20, 2009 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Today at 1 PM, the Oregon Jewish Museum (1953 NW Kearney) opens its beautiful new NW space with The Shape of Time a group photography show. The exhibition is guest-curated by Tim DuRoche. Portland-based photographers Bobby Abrahamson, Jeff Amram, William Galen, Stu Levy and Carol Isaak, David Lanthan Reamer and Sika Stanton were invited to make work in response to or inspired by photographs and objects in the Museum’s extensive archive. The works range from Sika Stanton’s elegant and moody tintypes of textiles and laces to Bill Galen’s re-shootings of photos he’d shot around Portland decades ago. Full disclosure: the exhibition was curated by my partner-in-crime, Tim DuRoche.

The goal of the exhibit is to go beyond historical comparisons of familiar locations or architecture. Rather, the work will initiate a dialogue about the specifics of Jewish history in Oregon as it ties to spatial location and public memory. Equally important, we are interested in how a photographic response to archival images might augment, shape or replace an eroded group memory, which never depended on historians in the first place. This step into a city’s and a culture’s well of history and memory helps us to uncover what Dolores Hayden has called “the power of place–the power of ordinary urban landscapes to nurture citizens’ public memory, to encompass shared time in the form of shared territory.” The intersection of private observation and collective memory captured by the photographs and our reactions to them should help us gain new perspectives on change.

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Tags: oregon jewish museum, Art, Photography, Portland Art, Museums