Definitely walk by and spend some time with Jordan Tull’s art in the PDX Window Gallery…

Jordan Tull in the PDX Window Gallery

Ethan Rose Reflection at PDX Contemporary Art(925 NW Flanders, Portland OR)

Ethan Rose Reflection PDX Contemporary

Detail of speakers on opposite wall at PDX contemporary…

Ethan Rose Reflection PDX Contemporary - speaker detail opposite wall

I really enjoyed the work of Yoshihiro Kitai “Inscribe 01″ at Pulliam Gallery (929 NW Flanders, Portland, OR 97209)

Yoshihiro Kitai Inscribe 01 Pulliam Gallery

… you need to get close… yeah that’s what we like…

Yoshihiro Kitai Inscribe 01 Pulliam Gallery - detail image

Yoonhee Choi’s work at Blackfish Gallery (420 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR)

Yoonhee Choi Blackfish Gallery

definitely spend time with Scott Wolniak’s “Flash Art” at Chambers Gallery @ 916(916 Flanders, Portland OR)

Scott Wolniak Flash Art Chambers 916

Sally Finch at Froelick Gallery (714 NW Davis, Portland OR). Sally also gets a well-earned nod in “Art in America” Jan 2012 edition with a review of her solo show in 2011 at the Froelick Gallery.  Sally, thanks again for you work on the Visual Art Exchange.

Sally Finch Froelick Gallery

Laura Ross-Paul’ Remote also at Froelick Gallery (714 NW Davis, Portland OR).

Laura Ross-Paul Remote Froelick Gallery

Two good shows at Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave, Portland OR), Robert Frank’s “Painkiller” and Karen Miranda-Rivadeneira “Bliss Street.”

Robert Frank Painkiller Blue Sky Gallery

Karen Miranda-Rivadeneira Bliss Street Blue Sky Gallery

Eva Lake’s collage is on target at the  Augen Gallery (716 NW Davis, Portland OR)

Eva Lake Augen Gallery

Also at Augen Gallery (716 NW Davis, Portland OR), is Trish Grantham’s work.

Trish Grantham Augen Gallery

The only thing I wish this month was that there were a few less group shows. Now that 2012 is rolling, I expect that will change soon.

2011 Portland Visual Art Exchange

This year over 50 artists were selected and contributed work this year. Thanks to all of you for sharing your art with each other.

This year Laura Ross-Paul was the top pick of the contributing artists. Because of this she could select any work that she wanted — she picked  my work “One-o.”  Laura, I hope you enjoy!

Top pick Laura Ross-Paul pick's Brad Carlile's One-o

Due to Laura’s pick, I could pick the work that I wanted, I picked Sally Finch’s work — I love it!

Brad Carlile picks Sally Finch's work - thanks Sally for the great art

Other contributors to this year’s Portland Visual Art exchange:

1. TJ Norris created a catalogue of some selections
2. Chris Rauschenberg created a new-and-improved trading system

Participating artists for the 6th annual show:

• Abi Spring
• Alex Hirsch
• Ann Ploeger
• Arcy Douglass
• Becca Bernstein
• Ben Buswell
• Bill LePore
• Brad Carlile
• Briana Linden
• Bruce West
• Cara Tomlinson
• Cary Doucette
• Chris Bennett
• Chris Haberman
• Christopher Rauschenberg
• Cynthia Mosser
• Darrell Williamson
• Dorothy Goode
• Elise Mravunac
• Farouk Hassan
• Felicity Fenton
• Gabriel Liston
• Jim Lommasson
• Jim Neidhardt
• Karen Esler
• Kim Hamblin
• Kimberly Kent
• Laura Ross-Paul
• Linda Womack
• Lisa Kaser
• Liz Obert
• Matthew Cosby
• Matthew Haggett
• Michael T. Hensley
• Mike Suri
• Nan Curtis
• Nika Blasser
• Noah Nakell
• Pat Boas
• Quin Sweetman
• Rebecca Shelly
• Richard Schemmerer
• Sally Finch
• Sara Hertel
• Shanon Playford
• Shawn Demarest
• Shu-ju Wang
• Tamara English
• Tatiana Defiguerdo
• TJ Norris
• Vicki Wilson
• Victor Maldonado
• Wilder Schmaltz

Recommended.

The Independent
530 NW 12th, (12th & Hoyt) Portland Oregon
Show: July 7- August 14 (Just Extended!)
Fri-Sun 12-6PM & by appointment

Eva Lake, the gallery owner/curator writes…

The Independent is pleased to present photographs by Brad Carlile as our inaugural exhibition. Carlile was one of the winners of the 2009 Hearst 8×10 Photography Biennial, an international competition for emerging photographers. The Hearst Biennial judges Peter Lindbergh, Mary Ellen Mark, Steve McCurry, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, & John A. Bennette, III. chose 8 photographers from over 1,000 entries. Works from Carlile’s Tempus Incognitus series will be on view from July 7th through August 7th.

Empty hotel rooms from all over the world form the basis of these works, all shot in multiple exposures over time in slide film, with no post-exposure or digital manipulation. The rooms are electric with acidic color, yet spare and detached by virtue of their transient energy and occupation. The perimeters of shifted space and time are blurred, giving a result both classic and contemporary.

Gallery on Google Maps: (Across from Oba’s — where the “Cultured Pearl” used to be)
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=530+NW+12th,+Portland+Oregon&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.360684,87.451172&z=16

The Independent, 530 NW 12th (12th & Hoyt), Portland OR
http://www.bradcarlile.com
(When you go to my website on your iPhone, iPad, etc, you will be asked if you want the mobile-optimized website — simply touch “OK”. On the first page link to map for you mobile device.)

My new work
http://www.bradcarlile.com/newsletter

THANKS!
Brad

My show was reviewed and recommended in the Willamette Week’s Visual Arts section

recommended. Brad Carlile

BRAD CARLILE This month, two local artists wrestle with divergent but equally mythic conceptions of the great American road. In Tempus Incognitus, photographer Brad Carlile’s striking exhibition at Eva Lake’s new popup, the Independent, the artist conjures a psychedelic nightmare of corporate hotels across the country. Carlile takes photos inside hotel rooms using slide film in multiple exposures that last from a scant 1/500 of a second to a languid 96 seconds. He keeps his camera on a tripod and exposes film throughout the day, which yields fantastical effects, superimposing wildly varying lighting conditions onto the same frame. As the hues overlap, they produce acidic lime greens and chartreuses, fuchsias and ruby reds in wholly unnatural combinations as light emanates from lamps and television screens and bounces off mirrors and windows. Except for the occasional rumpled sheet, there is no trace of human life in any of the prints, lending a dissonance between compositional starkness and chromatic oversaturation.

The hotels themselves are neither skanky nor swanky; they are the kind of middlebrow pabulum palaces that corporate drones deposit themselves in night after night. They are not going to win any awards for design or decor, but they are conveniently located near the airport and the convention center. Carlile is able to intuit and convey the vulgar neon desperation underneath the banal veneer of contemporary business travel. Where are you, America, and who are you—the Marriott or the Mustang Ranch? The only difference, Carlile suggests, is in the length of your exposure.
- Richard Speer, Willamette Week, page 43.

Link to online version:
http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-17723-brad_carlile_rio_wrenn.html

You can see the scanned print edition here:
http://npaper-wehaa.com/willametteweek/2011/07/20/s1/#2011/07/12/?page=42

PDX Contemporary Art (925 NW Flanders, Portland OR) is showing Nell Warren’s new work.

Nell Warren Whale Song PDX Contemporary

Nell Warren - Brink - PDX Contemporary

Elizabeth Leach Gallery (17 NW 9th, Portland OR) is showing Portland Artist MK Guth who’s work was seen at the last Whitney Biennial. Here is a peak in the door, but you must go in!

MK Guth - Elizabeth Leach

SQFT is show Curated by TJ Norris you can see outside Blackfish Gallery (420 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR) in the Fishbowl II – Window. It will be showing August 31 – September 26, 2009.

SQFT is a window-based, traveling exhibition of 2D works by 50 of the most innovative, emerging and established artists in the Northwest. It is intended as a showcase of where we are right now, and many works respond directly to the in-situ nature of being either on public display or behind glass.

Read more about it at my previous blog posting.

Brad Carlile - the race for kicks - SQFT

Inside the Blackfish Gallery (420 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR) I liked Carol Benson’s painting in the back.

Carol Benson - The Internet is the Devil - Blackfish Gallery

Froelick Gallery (714 NW Davis, Portland OR)

Rick Bartow - Arms Crossed Pow Wow - Froelick Gallery

Nine Gallery which is inside Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave, Portland OR) has an installation by Jiseon Lee Isbara called Accumulated.

Jiseon Lee Isbara - Accumulated - Nine Gallery

Jiseon Lee Isbara - Accumulated - Nine Gallery

Augen Gallery (716 NW Davis, Portland OR) was showing Andrew Young’s work.

Andrew Young - Untitled c 188 - Augen Gallery

Here was Port’s posting on first thursday recommendations for September.

Walking around Everett galleries we ran into Tom Cramer,w ho has a show at Laura Russo Gallery (805 NW 21st, Portland, OR) next month, check it out!

SQFT is a window-based, traveling exhibition of 2D works by 50 of the most innovative, emerging and established artists in the Northwest. It is intended as a showcase of where we are right now, and many works respond directly to the in-situ nature of being either on public display or behind glass.

The window will simply include the title of the show and names. The information about the pieces will be on the window ledge inside the window, just in case you go by on 1st Thursday or during the month of September!

SQFT Show

I have a work in that show “the race for kicks”

Brad Carlile - the race for kicks - SQFT

:: PRESS RELEASE ::

SQFT is a window-based, traveling exhibition of 2D works by 50 of the most innovative, emerging and established artists in the Northwest. It is intended as a showcase of where we are right now, and many works respond directly to the in-situ nature of being either on public display or behind glass. All works will be presented unframed, hung with simple bank pins in a grid pattern. The work will travel to several cities, big and small for two years and will be housed in a custom-made crate which will also be placed at each presentation site.  Other locations TBA (Seattle, Vancouver/Victoria BC, Boise, Butte, Spokane, Eugene…). Curator TJ Norris is currently working under an agreement with Gallery Homeland to be the non-profit umbrella organization helping get the show on the road. Norris will also work with regional curators as curatorial site scouts in their regions to locate best sites for the show.

This is an invitational, open to whatever the artists I welcomed decide to do within their own ‘square foot’. Of course, as would be expected, the results have been quite far-reaching. Some stunning works of art, some conceptually sly, some responding to the beckoning call of making reference to the reflectory/in-situ nature of its presentation (Ann Ploeger, Smith Elliott), others completely going into their own lofty post-Dadaist perspectives (Marc Dombrosky). Some pieces are quite intricate (Laura Vandenburgh), some are a melange, mixing the past and perhaps a touch of what’s to come (Jesse Hayward). It’s been a fun show to do, and overlapped nicely within my un/conscious of the whole grid thing. I love to think, curatorially, in sets, patterns, almost like a good game of chess. Making pairs, changing out where something lands, rearranging and keeping with the whole concept that all patterns are interchangeable, how to distort the flat plane with very diverse work in all media.

Other Sites: TBA

SQFT - Blackfish

SQFT - Fishbowl 2 Blackfish Gallery - photo courtesy TJ Norris

Jason Ehlers - All stumps go to heaven

Jason Ehlers - All stumps go to heaven

Erik Palmer had very impressive work.  The opening show had a scene that could have been filmed for movie, if you were there you know what I’m talking about.

Erik Palmer

Erik Palmer

Augen Gallery (716 NW Davis, Portland OR) was showing the amazing collages by Arless Day.

Arless Day - Sounds of Italy - Augen Gallery

Arless Day - The Dream Recreate - Augen Gallery

Laura Russo Gallery (805 NW 21st, Portland, OR) was showing Whitney Nye.

Whitney Nye - Vodopad - Laura Russo

Whitney Nye - Hit Singles - Laura Russo

Whitney Nye - Hit Singles (detail) - Laura Russo

Chambers Gallery @ 916 (916 Flanders, Portland OR) continues to have a good lineup of shows. In August & Sept it is Peter Halasz.

Peter Halasz - 7 Oblique Aerial View of Collapsed Section of the Broughton Flume Skamania Co, WA - 916 Chambers

Elizabeth Leach Gallery (17 NW 9th, Portland OR) wonderful paintings by Chester Arnold.

Chester Arnold - Afterword - Elizabeth Leach

Chester Arnold - The Fall - Elizabeth Leach

Froelick Gallery (714 NW Davis, Portland OR) showed Kelly Kievit’s work.

Kelly Kievit - Taken at the Flood - Froelick Gallery

PDX Contemporary Art (925 NW Flanders, Portland OR) was showing Terry Toedtemeier’s images from around the Northwest.  I’ve love this one of the tracks.

Terry Toedtemeier - PDX Contemporary

Ogle Gallery (310 NW Broadway, Portland OR) was showing installation by Mike Bragg.

Mike Bragg Ogle

Nine Gallery which is inside Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave, Portland OR) has an installation by Kim Ray called Generation.

Kim Ray - Generation - Nine Gallery

Butters Gallery (520 NW Davis, 2nd flr, Portland OR) had a summer group show. Favs included: Monroe Hodder, Michael Kessler, Andrea Schwartz-Feit, and Annette Davidek.

Monroe Hodder - Saint Valentine - Butters Gallery

Annette Davidek - 35-06 - Butters Gallery

First I start out with the mandala-like photo of Christian Rogers, “His & Hers (Predominantly His)”.

Christian Rogers, His Hers (Predominantly His) Blackfish Gallery

Below is the detail from “His & Hers (Predominantly His)”  Here you get a better view of the lozenges that radiate out from the center.  Images so thin they meld in layers.

Christian Rogers, Detail His Hers (Predominantly His) Blackfish Gallery

Next is Patricia Patino, whose work “March 24″

Patricia Patino, March 24, Blackfish Gallery

Finally I loved this one by Leah Morris. Such a wondeful gift of poison for cut little bunnies.

Leah Morris, Gift, Blackfish Gallery

I also liked Sanna-Lisa Gesang-Gottowt “Everything Changes” and Caitlin Ducey “Shapes.”

In the window project at PDX Contemporary Art (925 NW Flanders, Portland OR) is Brennan Conaway’s “In Joyful Anticipation of Catastrophic Ruin…” I didn’t capture the full title, maybe ends with “first colony”(?).  This sculpture is a celebration of a future cultural demise, to facilitate a consumerist-free rebirth.

Brennan Conaway, In Joyful Anticipation of Catastrphic Ruin, PDX Window Project

In the gallery at PDX Contemporary Art (925 NW Flanders, Portland OR) is Wes Mills’ Mondrian’s Forest.  I’m often drawn to work in grids.  The repetition of work with variations continues to build upon itself.  Each individual framed piece is subtle work on paper that is drawn, stained and wrinkled.

Wes Mills is part of the NYC group show Master Drawings New York: Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Wes Mills atDickinson (19 East 66th Street, NYC). He has work in the collections Whitney Museum and MoMA (NYC)

Wes Mills, Mondrians Forest, PDX Contemporary

Detail of Wes Mills’ Mondrian’s Forest.  Here you can see the descending lines and the effects they have on the paper and the effect of the paper on them.  Also at this show is the work “Pie Set” which has sketches of pies/disks with wedges removed from them are superimposed and interlaced.  Again the paper and the drawing effect one another.

Wes Mills, (Detail) Mondrians Forest, PDX Contemporary

Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave, Portland OR), has a strong combination this month. Ferit Kuyas has wonderful beautiful prints – STUNNING WORK.  Colors and images are luxurious and often soft.  But the fog and the massive buildings hit you with what we have wrought by rebuilding our land and smogging our air.

Postscript: According to the artist this is actually fog not smog.  I was mislead by the smog that I saw in Beijing in my trip to China in 2005 (few snaps from that trip).  Read more at the Oregonian about an interview with Ferit Kuyas: http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2009/07/photos_capture_a_foggy_chinese.html

Ferit Kuyas, Restaurant Boats Jialing River Chongqing, Blue Sky

Ferit Kuyas, Cableway Cangbai Raod Chongqing, Blue Sky Gallery

Artist and frequent Blogger Amy Stein is in the back gallery of Blue Sky Gallery.

Her works are modern dioramas set out in our landscape.  These constructed  scenes she writes, “explore our paradoxical relationship with the “wild” and how our conflicting impulses continue to evolve and alter the behavior of both humans and animals.”  She continues, they “…are constructed based on real stories from local newspapers and oral histories of intentional and random interactions between humans and animals.”

Garden was a hilarious look at an American garden that is a comment on  protectionism and created nature.

Amy Stein, Garden, Blue Sky Gallery

Watering Hole is an image of Amy’s that you may have seen around the web.  It is also on the cover of her book “Domesticated” that was the winner of Photolucida’s Critical Mass book award.

Amy Stein, Watering Hole, Blue Sky Gallery

Michael Kenna has another strong show at Hartman Fine Art (154 NW 8th, Portland OR).  His black&white work is powerful as always.  You can see why they grace many museum collections.  But see them here in Portland in a great space.

Eva Lake has a very nice interview of Michael Kenna on KBOO, hear it at: http://kboo.fm/audio/by/title/michael_kenna

Michael Kenna, Huangshan Mountains Study 2 Anhui China, Charles Hartman

Allen Cox work is showing at Augen Gallery (716 NW Davis, Portland OR).  Allen is a well-known Pacific Northwest abstract painter.  Below is the painting “Landslide”.  I was also drawn to “Uncertainty Principle” which I believe is what they used on the show postcard.

I didn’t get any snapshots of Akahashi Murakami’s lithographs, but they are well worth a visit to the gallery in their own right.

Allen Cox, Landslide, Augen Gallery

Butters Gallery (520 NW Davis, 2nd flr, Portland OR) has a show called NEW DISCOVERIES, and two of them are discoveries for me.

Nicolas Guerrero magical color… trippy mandalas.  I liked them a lot.  Bold saturated colors and interesting shapes. These gain extra luminosity since they are face-mounted plexi which gives both a softer and stronger impression.

Nicolas Guerrero, Cromatico, Butters Gallery

Here are two more… Bold primary colors that can fill one’s imagination.

Nicolas Guerrero, Cromatico, Butters Gallery

Also at Butters is Jiro Yonezawa’s sculptures. He combines “traditional Japanese weaving combined with ideas of modern Western sculpture.”

I particularly liked the thin space filling works like the image below.

Jiro Yonezawa, Bond 09 7, Butters Gallery

Matthew Craig paintings were also captivating. He is recent graduate from the University of Oregon.  In this work we have layers of bold geometries with dare I say pin-stripping squiggles.  It works with great effect.

He writes, “The lines shift, the colors recede or advance, the space is at once flat and deep. Both space and color are contingent upon the formal choices Craig makes; color is affected by its surroundings, and the color and structure of the lines creates the space. The structures in the paintings never seem quite stable because of this shifting of space, this vibration of color. The work is very much about the present moment, the viewers direct engagement with the work, and their immediate perceptual responses.”

Matthew Craig, Untitled, Butters Gallery

Below is one more…

Matthew Craig, Untitled, Butters Gallery

It was a good set of 1st Thursday shows. Stop by any of these Portland Galleries and more to really spend some time with these works in person (and without the opening festivities).

Charlie Wilmoth In Dusted Reviews writes, “Extra Life’s ridiculously complex instrumental parts … are sometimes quiet, sometimes brutal, but when they’re at one extreme, there’s always the sense that the other is a possibility.”

Wilmoth goes on to say, “The thing with Extra Life is that their music is about 18 times more accomplished and complex than most math rock bands could ever hope to be. And yet their music isn’t the least bit ironic, and its complexity nearly always sounds like it’s in the service of some broader idea.”

Extra Life’s MySpace page is:

http://www.myspace.com/extralifetheband

Extra Life 2009 tour dates
02.05.09 – Middletown, Conn. (Wesleyan University)
02.07.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Death By Audio) *With Made in Mexico
02.12.09 – Amherst, Mass. (Hampshire College) w/ Little Women
02.13.09 – Toronto, Ontario (The Boat) w/ Little Women
02.16.09 – Chicago, Ill. (Empty Bottle) w/ Larkin Grimm + Lichens
02.18.09 – Minneapolis, Minn. (Nomad World Pub) w/ Vampire Hands
02.20.09 – Vancouver, British Columbia (Peanut Gallery) w/ Certain Breeds + Shearing Pinx
02.23.09 – Portland, OR (the Tube)
02.24.09 – Portland, OR (East End)
02.25.09 – Eureka, Calif. (Auntie Moe’s)
02.26.09 – Oakland, Calif. (The Parkside)
02.28.09 – Los Angeles, Calif. (The Smell) w/ Abe Vigoda
03.01.09 – San Diego, Calif. (Radio Room)
03.03.09 – Denver, Colo. (Rhinoceropolis) w/ These Are Powers
03.04.09 – Lincoln, Neb. (Box Awesome)
03.05.09 – St. Louis, Mo. (Lemp Arts)
03.06.09 – Oberlin, Ohio (Oberlin College)

Started out at the great group show curated by Harrell Fletcher called “Current
Songs from the Treetops” at PDX Contemporary Art (925 NW Flanders, Portland OR). Loved this show! The show “address the idea of constructed landscapes in various forms.”

Wendy Red Star Four Seasons at PDX Contemporary

Kenneth Andrew Mroczck Dumpster Muffin and others at PDX

Chris Johansen and Jo Jackson Large Medium and Small Study at PDX Contemporary

Chambers Gallery @ 916 (916 Flanders, Portland OR) continues to have strong photography shows. Another great one this month. I like the geometry and constructed tessellations in Aaron Yassin images.

Aaron Yassin Impeibochk at Chambers 916

Aaron Yassin Impeibochk at Chambers 916

You must also go in the back to see the video installation, spend some time as it morphs and step into the middle…

Aaron Yassin Impeibochk at Chambers 916

I always like Jerry Iverson’s work. You can see some new work at Pulliam Deffenbaugh (929 NW Flanders, Portland, OR 97209). His creative arc seems to be adding more forms lately.

Jerry Iverson New Work at Pulliam Deffenbaugh

Always been a fan of Debra van Tuinen’s work. Seems to be a broadening of images in her current work at Butters
Gallery (520 NW Davis, 2nd flr, Portland OR).

Debra van Tuinen at Butters

Debra van Tuinen Morning thoughts Butters

Also in the meditative front are two I like at Blackfish Gallery (420 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR). Sandy Roumagoux’s work…

Sandy Roumagoux Stonefield Beach Quartet Blackfish

…and Michael Knutson’s work.

Michael Knutson Cascade Head Blackfish

The meditative continues at ON Gallery. The image below is the strongest of Nicholas Von Grainger show.

Nicholas Von Grainger at ON Gallery

Also in the Everett street lofts is this Jamie Potter(sp?) work at Sugar gallery. This one is strong:

Jamie Potter Frontier Justice in the weirdest way Sugar Gallery

On the more sculptural front is Anne Goodrich work at Ogle Gallery (310 NW Broadway, Portland OR). Organic and shadowy and/or constructed.

Anne Goodrich Incarnate Oogle

Anne Goodrich Incarnate Oogle

Loved Kris Hargis at Froelick Gallery (714 NW Davis, Portland OR)

Kris Hargis Upper Half Charles Froelick

The repeating patters in Pok Chi Lau’s photography at Blue Sky
Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave, Portland OR) drew me to this one.

Pok Chi Lau at Bluesky

Who captures the acquirer? Nine Gallery. Sorry don’t know who created this work.

Nine Gallery

…and when I walk around with the camera between galleries I can’t help but take a few snapshots, here goes…

a snapshot Brad Carlile 2009 copyright

another snapshot Brad Carlile 2009 copyright