Portland’s June First Thursday Gallery Openings
Jun 6th, 2008 by Brad
I started off June First Thursday at Eric Franklin‘s show at the Laura Russo Gallery (805 NW 21st, Portland, OR). Eric’s new show is called “Bifurcations”.
Eric’s organic glass sculptures, are filled with a variety of noble gases, give them a a different soft yet surreal bioluminescent glow. Without touching, try hovering your hands over the image to influence the glow of the sculptures.
On one side, Krypton in the glass provides a blue glow to hint at x-ray like images on a black background. The neon in the tubes on a white background creates a more flesh-like color. These diptyches form contrasting anatomical sketches where we see differences and to contemplate dualities between perception and literal reality.
Eric’s work he finished just before this show was a full human skeleton to scale, you can see Eric standing with that work in this blog posting.
Also at Laura Russo are Tom Fawkes paintings.
They are the work of a master painter who knows how to create interesting meditations on gardens. For me, at about ten feet, the images really come into their own. the highlights the textures become hyper real (in the right ways). I usually like to enjoy work at close distances as well, but Fawkes paintings doesn’t work at that distance. Just stand back a bit and enjoy.
Portland-based artist Holly Andres has her first at Quality Pictures (916 NW Hoyt, Portland, OR).
Her artist statement says, “The “Sparrow Lane” series is about adolescent girls who are on the cusp of acquiring forbidden knowledge – a metaphor for the precarious transition from ‘girl’ to ‘woman’.” This work is along the lines of Julie Blackmon‘s series “Domestic Vacations”, but Holly embraces more of the Nancy Drew book cover aesthetic.
Elizabeth Leach Gallery (17 NW 9th, Portland OR) is showing several interesting shows this month. I really enjoy the creative direction that Chris Rauschenberg is heading with his assembled inkjet prints.
Also at this Leach is the many glass works of Henry Hillman Jr.
If you’ve spotted the trend there is a lot of glass art being shown. This month the Glass Art Society conference is being held in Portland. Many of the Portland galleries are featuring glass artists.
Joe Feddersen had interesting glass work at Froelick Gallery (714 NW Davis, Portland OR). For instance, the work “Urban Vernacular: Tire Firehawk” creates interference patterns with the interlacing of copper, silvering, and gaps. These works are seductive.
Theresa Redinger’s is showing works from YOP! (Yearnings on Portability) at the Blackfish Gallery (420 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR). The image below is shot through a standard door peephole.  Also take a look into the peepholes in the suspended backpacks.
This work reminded me of Cathy Cleaver’s strong installation “Play Houseâ€
I’ll close with a snapshot of my homeward journey.
