Nov 2011 –Jan 2012 - Preview

www.portlandartmuseum.orgAdam Sorensen, Tabernacle (2011), oil on linen [Portland Art Museum, Portland OR,Sep 3-Jan 1]APEX: Adam SorensenPORTLAND ART MUSEUM, PORTLAND OR – Sep 3-Jan 1, 2012 Portland Art Museum’s APEX is adynamic exhibition program presenting a series of intimate contemporary art exhibits by activelyworking Northwest artists, includingAdam Sorensen. Sorensen migrated toPortland in the late 1990s after graduatingfrom Alfred University, NewYork. In 2003, he was selected to participatein the Oregon Biennial.The six paintings featured in hispart of the exhibit follow the trajectoryof Sorensen’s signature reinvention of agraphic-landscape world. Sorensen’spaintings draw inspiration from manyvisual sources. Pop-culture influenceslike anime inform the cartoon-like sensibilityof his rounded forms anddreamy colours, while 18th- and 19thcenturywoodblock prints by ukiyo-eartists from the Edo period are clearly referenced in the stylized compositions and treatment of space.Sorensen deconstructs the landscape into essential elements of water, land, glacial mass andmountains reminiscent of an untouched, uninhabited place in the natural world. His beautiful andfantastical oil paintings are smoothly rendered with a simple dimensionality resulting from themovement of repetitious forms on the picture plane that imply the illusion of volume and atmosphericspace. Dense candy-land topographies in surreal glowing palettes emerge from the lens of adigital-era perspective.The luminous and majestic scenes feel like an artificial conceptualization of a once-idyllic place:a long-gone utopia where breathtaking waterfalls pay homage to landscape tradition coupled withpostmodern aesthetics that fuse together the real and imagined. Allyn Cantor★ Museum ofContemporary Craft724 NW Davis St ✆503-223-2654www.museumofcontemporarycraft.orgtues-sat 11am-6pm and by appt. Firstthurs 11am-8pm. Thru Feb 25 75Gifts for 75 Years, donated and promisedgifts to the museum’s collection;Northwest Modern, Revisting theAnnual Ceramic Exhibitions of 1950-64, examination of juried exhibitionswith a deeper look into the trends inceramics during the mid-20th centuryalong with original artwork andephemera from the museum’sarchives; Nov 17-Feb 25 Studio H:Design. Build. Transform, artifactsfrom Studio H, the project in ruralBertie County, North Carolina whereEmily Pilloton and Matthew Millerteach design thinking to high-schoolstudents to illustrate how a sociallyengaged design process can result insignificant and positive solutions.Portland Art Museum1219 SW Park Ave ✆503-226-2811www.portlandartmuseum.orgtues, wed, sat 10am-5pm; thurs, fri10am-8pm sun 12-5pm. Admission:members free, adults $15, seniors(55+) and students (18+ with ID)$12 children (17 and younger) free.Thru Nov 13 Tamarind Touchstone:Fabulous at Fifty, 50-year retrospectiveof Tamarind Workshop,one of the greatest independent printworkshops in the world; Nov 25-Jan29 Titian’s La Bella, Portland is theonly stop for this classic portrait of abeautiful woman that was recentlycleaned and conserved and has neverbeen exhibited in the U.S.; ThruNov 27 Ed Ruscha: Recent Works,installation of four recent large-scalepaintings; Thru Jan 1 APEX: AdamSorensen, new works embrace apop-culture aesthetic, meticulouslyexecuted landscape paintings shimmerwith natural and artificial,neon-like colours depicting nature,mountains, glaciers and wateryexpanses; Thru Jan 22 The Artist’sTouch, The Craftsman’s Hand:Three Centuries of JapanesePrints, 250 works from the 17thcentury to the present day from themuseum’s collection of traditionalwoodblock prints, many areextremely rare and are on view forthe first time; SCULPTURE GALLERYChris Burden: Ghost Ships, a trio ofactual sailboats that have beenreconfigured and programmed bythe artist to periodically unfurl sails,pivot rudders, and simulate navigation,a masterful fusion of realmachinery and complex metaphor;Thru Feb 12 The Fragrance ofOrchids, Asian Art from the Alexand Suzanne Rosenkrantz Collection,installation features a selectionof highlights from the collection74 PREVIEW ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER/JANUARY 2011/12 ★ OPEN LATE ON FIRST THURSDAYS