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PREVIEWS
ON DISPLAY
Upcoming Art Shows | by Vanessa Harless, Liz Hummer & Heather Wisner
Chandra Bocci’s “Gummi Big Bang II”
2006 Oregon Biennial
Portland Art Museum
Thru October 8
Now that the anticipation is over and all the excitement
of the opening party (which took place on July
29) has died down, you may be wondering just what
to expect at this year’s Oregon Biennial at the Portland
Art Museum. Touted as an opportunity for the
public to discover current trends and new Oregon
artists, the two-month showcase, started in 1949 as
an annual exhibition, has now become “the most
important visual-arts exhibition in the region,”
according to the Museum. In addition to displaying
works by 34 artists like Chandra Bocci, Michael Brophy,
Ty Ennis and Mariana Tres, this year’s Biennial
is the time for the Museum’s newly anointed curator
of Northwest Art (endowed by Harold and Arlene
Schnitzer), Jennifer Gately, to shine. The former
director of visual arts at the Sun Valley Center for the
Arts in Ketchum, Idaho carefully selected this year’s
Biennial participants from nearly 800 entrants. It is
Gately’s first exhibit as curator, and the transition
has proved to be a balancing act between the past
and a vision for the future. Gately quickly got up
to speed on the local art scene and absorbed the
context of that community while leaving her own
fingerprint on the event. Gately says, “The Biennial
is moving beyond the scope of standard painting
and photography installations and includes a variety
of work ranging from video to drawings.” See for
yourself if she has succeeded in both celebrating
the region’s most eclectic, established and emerging
artists and defining the unique momentum of
Oregon art. —VH
Work by Keith Lowenstein
Keith Lowenstein – “Civilization”
Pushdot Studio
August 2–September 2
Catastrophes are typically commemorated with a
monument to mark the place where they happened,
which is what makes Ground Zero stranger
still–what evokes the events of Sept. 11th five years
later is a conspicuous lack of something, a gaping
vacancy in Manhattan’s skyline as the world recently
knew it. Although many originally decried the World
Trade Center as a monstrosity that would ruin the
landscape, the place became wildly popular. Among
the tallest skyscrapers worldwide, the towers not
only afforded breathtaking views of the city, they
became a focal point within the city. Of course, there
are people who remember a time before the World
Trade Center. Construction began in 1966, and the
towers weren’t opened to the public until the early
1970s. Reminiscent of the area today, surrounding
buildings were demolished and yards of earth
were excavated, leaving a huge hole in the ground.
An estimated 60 people died in building the WTC,
which became a financial hub, but also a magnet for
strange events, such as French tightrope artist Phillipe
Petit’s 1974 perilous tightrope walk between the
towers, or the basement explosions in 1993. Photographer
Keith Lowenstein shot the construction
process, and now, nearly three decades later, has
revisited that time and place with those photos of
buildings and people; some of the images have been
photographically manipulated, while others remain
untouched. Pushdot Studios, which specializes in
digital and graphic arts, hosts the retrospective as
we approach the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11th—it’s
a look back, even as we must inevitably wonder what
lies ahead. —HW
Portland Modern – “Saturation”
Disjecta
Thru August 26
In only two years, Portland Modern has redefined
the art “scene” in Portland. The first semi-annual
free catalog hit the streets in August 2004, founder
Mark Brandau’s new way to spread the word about
local art and artists—“something outside the
staid commercial gallery system and more than an
independent warehouse exhibition,” he explains.
That’s not to say, however, that those two traditional
outlets have been completely discounted; on the
contrary, Portland Modern has become so successful
due in large part to each issue’s simultaneous exhibits
at both established local galleries and underthe-radar
spaces. “I’m very pleased that Portland
Modern seems to bridge some gaps in the Portland
art scene between the commercial and independent
venues,” says Brandau. The current issue, “Saturation,”
came out in May and is the first catalog
focused on a theme and featuring both represented
and emerging artists (as opposed to the focus on a
smaller group of non-represented artists in the previous
three issues). Curated by clear cut press’ Matthew
Stadler and PICA Visual Art Program Director
Kristan Kennedy, the 24 selected artists offer up
thought-provoking photographs, graphic-patterned
paintings, graffiti-inspired screenprints, whimsical
digital art and intricate ink prints—not to mention
the textile PBR-style six-pack. The Disjecta exhibit is
the first literal display of the catalog, showing all the
works published plus a few extras. Two other shows
follow at Tilt Gallery + Project Space (this month)
and Ogle (September), focusing more closely on two
participating artists at each space. “I feel it’s important
for Portland Modern to be a dynamic reflection
of a point and time in our city,” Brandau explains.
Whether you’re a local art aficionado or have never
been to a First Thursday, after a trip to Disjecta this
month, we think you’ll agree that he’s succeeded.
More info at portlandmodern.org. —LH
A painting by Henk Pander
Henk Pander – Watercolors &
Mike Spafford – Paintings and
Works on Paper
Laura Russo Gallery
August 3–September 2
Preeminent Portland painter Henk Pander, whose
work recently received a 2006 Regional Arts Council
grant and who was honored with the retrospective,
“Spectacular Requiem,” at The Frye Museum in Seattle
last year, now shares his vibrant watercolors at
Laura Russo Gallery alongside artist Mike Spafford.
Pander, classically trained in his native Netherlands,
is known for a deft layering of brilliant color and his
direct and immediate painting style. Although he
has worked in oil in the past, producing a variety of
socially-charged paintings, his watercolors by contrast
have a meditative quality that relax into the environments
of Eastern Oregon, coastal landscapes
and that of his studio. This is a unique opportunity
to see Pander’s work in an intimate gallery setting;
his paintings are well collected privately in the
Northwest and are included in many public collections,
including those of the City of Amsterdam, the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Oregon Historical
Society and the Portland Art Museum. Seattle artist
Michael Spafford, whose work is also included in
numerous Northwest collections and who has done
commissions for the Kingdome in Seattle and the
Seattle Opera House, joins the show this month.
Spafford’s paintings and prints depict the battles of
mythic figures. Thematic, iconic and wrought with
archetypal power struggles, his images of Greek and
Trojan wars are based on the Iliad and the Battle of the
Gods and Giants. The paintings pair actions with a flat
simplification of form, heightened by a condensed
palette of reds, blacks and whites, which leave the
viewer with a taut and emotionally-charged exploration
of war. —VH