Preview – The Gallery Guide – April-May 2007

The Portland Grid Project
MAIN GALLERY, PORTLAND ART CENTER, OR – Apr 5-27 The Portland Grid Project represents the
culmination of an ambitious plan that began in 1995. Christopher Rauschenberg, son of Robert
Rauschenberg and an artist with the Elizabeth
Leach Gallery, organized a group of 15
photographers to document the city of Portland
square-by-square. A street map of Portland was
cut into 98 sections and photographed one
month at a time by a group of changing
participants. Many are members of the Blue
Sky Gallery. A total of 21 photographers were
involved in creating the estimated 20,000 prints
generated by the project. Seven curators from
different institutions then organized the images
into individually focused shows to create an
overall exhibition of 3000 works.
For the photographers, there were no
requirements other than to consistently
preview
www.portlandart.org
David Potter, J8, [Main Gallery, Portland Art Center, OR, Apr 5-27]
photograph the designated grid section. The unintended commonality was the lack of a human
subject in most pieces. Instead, a tension between nature and structure is represented in the quiet
streets, moody skylines, industrials neighborhoods, backyards and waterways that compose this
photographic essay of Portland.
Portions of the Grid Project were shown in 2005 as part of the Contemporary American
Photography exhibit at the Internationale Fototage in Mannheim, Germany. The current exhibition
is the largest to date and on view as part of the Photolucida Festival. Allyn Cantor
within the mundane, each colour photograph
a souvenir of daily practice and
daily life; May 3-Jun 23 Dinh Q. Le,
“From Father to Son: A Right of Passage”,
video and photoweavings.
★ Laura Russo Gallery
805 NW 21st Ave ✆(503)226-2754
www.laurarusso.com
tues-fri 11am-5:30pm sat 11am-5pm
Apr 5-28 Gregory Grenon, “Life is an
Awkward Dance”, paintings on glass
and Plexiglas employ a trademark style
of vibrant colour and vigorous
imagery; Jack Portland, abstract landscape
paintings; May 3-Jun 2 Jay
Backstrand, paintings juxtapose cultural
imagery to reveal irony and profound
meaning; David Hockney, Barbara
Hepworth, Robert Matta, Jules
Olitski, Adolph Gottlieb, Victor
Vasarely, “A Portland Collector: Works
from the Estate of Margaret Labadie”.
www.preview-art.com
★ Portland Art Center
32 NW 5th Ave ✆(503)236-3322
www.portlandart.org
wed-sun 12-6pm MAIN GALLERY Apr 5-
27 The Portland Grid Project, presented
by the Blue Sky Gallery as part of the
Photolucida festival of photography.
3,000 photographs of Portland made
by 21 photographers over the past 12
years, one of the most ambitious
efforts ever undertaken to document a
city by a group of artists: Blake
Andrews, Mark Barnes, Lucy Capehart,
Lisa Gidley, Bruce Hall, Ann
Kendelien, Ann Ploeger, David Potter,
Christopher Rauschenberg, Shawn
Records, Faulkner Short, Steven
Scardina, Paul Sutinen, Bill Washburn
and Bryan Wolf. For more information
visit: www.portlandgridproject.com;
May 3-Jun 1 OCAC Graduate
Student Exhibition, book arts, ceramics,
drawings, paintings, fibers, metal,
photographs and wood work; Alexandra
Opie, “Dialectically Placed”, video
installation; OPEN SPACE COMMUNITY
GALLERY Tom Stoddart, “iWITNESS”,
photojournalist displays humanity and
loss, life moving forward, life stopped
in its tracks, with grace and vision;
LIGHT & SOUND GALLERY Apr 5-15, Apr
18-22, Apr 25-29 Bryan Eubanks, “3
Interiors”, 4 channel sound installation
in 3 parts; Apr 7 8pm Luke Wyland,
Bryan Eubanks, performance is an
improvisation within a pre-determined
sine-wave structure using limited and
notated tones from acoustic instruments;
May 3-Jun 1 Daniel Heila,
“Inter Tidal”, multi-channel video and
electroaccoustic sound.
★ Portland Art Museum
1219 SW Park Ave ✆(503)226-2811
www.portlandartmuseum.org
tues, wed, sat 10am-5pm thurs, fri
10am-8pm sun 12-5pm Admission:
members free adults $10 seniors/students
(19 +) $9, students (15-18) $6.
Thru Apr 15 Mysterious Spirits,
Strange Beasts, Earthly Delights, early
Chinese art from the Arlene and
Harold Schnitzer collection; Thru Apr
22 Damien Hirst, "Four Works from
The Broad Art Foundation”, among the
most celebrated artists of his generation
having evolved a fresh and challenging
attitude and approach to the
production and exhibition of contemporary
art; Thru Apr 29 Elliott Erwitt,
"Personal Best", photographs; Thru
May 27 Chris Johanson, "Apex", paintings,
drawings, sculpture, video and
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