Portland’s First Thursday Gallery Openings for January 2008
Jan 4th, 2008 by Brad
The new year starts off some interesting work. This month I was mostly drawn to works with color and abstraction.
Joe Macca’s “slowblivion” is showing at PDX Contemporary Art (925 NW Flanders, Portland OR). On the left is “Instrumental” which can be purchased as a group or individually. This is work that you need to see in person. I was mostly drawn to larger works, but I thought I’d show this grouping for the blog.
Postscript (2-1-08): I was thinking about this show at the MOMA bookstore last night and I couldn’t remember what it had visual connections with, then it stuck me the color work that was part of Anish Kapoor’s “Wounds and Absent Objects, [no title] 1998”.
When I see this sort of color work I often try to spend some time looking at them with “soft focus”. It is a term I first read when reading about Samurai but it also applies to mogul skiing. Basically you train yourself to look at your whole field of vision at the same time. It provides an interesting way to expand your experience of this kind of minimalist work (and you see nice color transitions). Give it a try, I’m not sure that is what Joe intended. But for me it helps take you away from thinking of them as ore than circles of color, they are much more than that.
A strong set of shows at Elizabeth Leach Gallery (17 NW 9th, Portland OR) and a great pairing. In the front room of the gallery is Hap Tivey‘s show “Sands of the Ganges” is on display. “Sands of the Ganges” is based on a Sanskrit metaphor for infinity.
This month we have Tivey’s lightscreen works, examples are “Mahakala Red Again” (above) or “Wavelengths of Speech” shown below. These light sculptures are created with LEDs, acrylic and canvas.
This past summer, some of you may have seen Tivey’s wonderful installation “Building/White Eclipse” (statement) (correction: Hap Tivey’s installation was presented independently by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery and sponsored by Henry Hillman Jr – ).that was part of PICA’s TBA Festival. Or in fact on the outside of the Leach gallery. Or you may have seen Tip’s other work at Guggenheim, MoMA, and PS1.
Paired with this show is Gregg Renfrow’s show. These works are made of polymer and pigment on cast acrylic. You have likely seen examples of his work hanging on the various Leach walls before.
The jpg above shows the works “Red-orange over Indian Yellow” and “Mars Violet-over-Blue”. A great combination.
Maria Inocencio’s “Branches on the way to School” at Nine Gallery was a standout (image below). Nine Gallery is located in Blue Sky Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave, Portland OR). This photograph has the amazing branching patters that remind me of the rays that come from a Telsa coil or locks of long hair dancing in the wind. Intoxicating and fun.
And finally at Sugar Gallery was the New Lemuria show, I particularly liked “New Media in Outer Space” which is on the left.
I walked in to Charles A. Hartman Fine Art without looking at who he was showing. At first glance I thought “man, this work looks like a Aaron Siskind derivative.” Then I saw it was a show of Aaron Siskind’s work 1940’s-1960’s…. boy am I an idiot 🙂 Charles continues to show great work in his gallery. If you are collecting, then you should support this new gallery, you won’t go wrong. (Postscript: see PORT’s review of Aaron Siskind’s Charles A. Hartman show)
In disappointing news, Margo Jacobsen is closing her gallery. You can read about it in an Oregonian Article.
Hap Tivey’s installation was not a part of the Time-Based Art Festival’s offerings, it was presented independently by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery and sponsored by Henry Hillman Jr.
Thanks Kristan, I’ve re-posted with the correction.
Here is a link to PORT’s review of Aaron Siskind’s show at Charles Hartman Fine Art. This is a worthwhile read. The link is also included in the original posting above.
Charles Gardner wrote: (copied this comment from comment on Gregg’s image)
As always, Gregg’s paintings envelope me in a serene cocoon where ideas insist on floating to the surface of my mind. Articulating the ideas usually seems to limit them so best to say I appreciate seeing the progress he has made since I first saw his work in 1985. I feel drawn into the colors in a circling, dance-like movement when I stand in the presence of his paintings. Can’t resist the pull.