Logo
ISSUE #33.06 • VISUAL ARTS • REVIEW

Oh, Deer God


Organism debuts by killing Bambi.

Social bookmarking | Permalink
Email | Print | Rate It! | 0 comments
Recently in "Visual Arts"

July 16th, 2008
A Summer Serenade | At New American Art Union, Jacqueline Ehlis shines in one of the year’s best shows.0 comments

June 25th, 2008
Heart Of Glass | Henry Hillman Jr. explores Relationships—in art and life.0 comments

June 18th, 2008
Lowbrow Writ Large | The Contemporary Northwest Art Awards capture the zeitgeist—too well.0 comments

June 11th, 2008
Divine Phantasmagoria | Tilt’s group show is simply...Divine.1 comment

May 21st, 2008
The Aftermath of Experience | Multimedia virtuoso TJ Norris conjures 1980s Manhattan, even as he embalms it.0 comments

May 7th, 2008
(Im)material World | Two artists break on through— the fourth wall.0 comments

April 23rd, 2008
Late-April Roundup | See these shows before they come down!0 comments

April 16th, 2008
Installation Situation | Two effective installations shine at Marylhurst and Portland State University.0 comments

April 9th, 2008
Live Review: Cap Auction Saturday, April 5 | Great people watching; not so great art.2 comments

March 19th, 2008
Defining Sex | Two shows confront masculine and queer identity.0 comments


BY RICHARD SPEER | rspeer at wweek dot com

[December 20th, 2006] A taxidermized deer head bursts out of the wall at the entrance to Jarrett Mitchell's show at Organism , greeting you as you walk through a barbed-wire fence disturbingly evocative of prisons or concentration camps. Mitchell's show is called The Dawn of the Birth of the Battle of Right to Life vs. the Law of Death, an overlong and pretentious title for what turns out to be an earnest and oddly engaging show. Mitchell has lived and made art around the world but now resides in Kentucky, where he has become obsessed with the phenomenon of car-deer collisions. His show features graphic pictures of deer as roadkill, the fender of a car that collided with a deer, amateurish paintings of bloody deer, and a digital video in which people recount their collisions with the animals. It takes a while to realize that The Dawn... isn't intended as ironic, but is an emotionally sincere look at the phenomenon of human and beast unwittingly crossing paths, to the detriment of both. This is a strange pick for the fledgling Organism's inaugural outing, but it telegraphs that founder Jeff Jahn has the smarts to mount quirky conceptual shows by nationally known artists, rather than using Organism as a platform for his standard Ehlis-Conkle-Pfeiffer aesthetic. 107 NW 5th Ave., fourth floor, 998-0422. Closes Jan. 28.













icon Story continues below

advertisement
OMSI
advertisement

Pulliam Deffenbaugh's fabulous Yoshihiro Kitai moonlights at Portland Art Center with a stunning show of works on paper—except that "works on paper" hardly conveys the shimmering energy of these gold-leaf clouds and sprawling, inventive forms. 32 NW 5th Ave., 236-3322. Closes Dec. 23.

Seattle painter Aaron Jefferson shows creamy abstract and semi-abstract works at Sugar, juxtaposing smoothness and mutant textures in compositions that sometimes recall the outline of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. 625 NW Everett St., #108, 425-9628. Closes Jan. 3.

Photographer Joshua Kim fills the back room of Rake with hundreds of party snapshots, ordering them into an installation that viewers can walk around. A column of photos and disposable cameras rises in the installation's center, an obelisk suggesting a timelessness that belies the party pics' transitory nature. 325 NW 6th Ave., 750-0754. Closes Dec. 30.

Rate This Story
4.5 average/2 votes

Comment on the "Oh, Deer God" article



Recently in Willamette Week
July 20th 2008Lean, Mean Meat-Free Machine | Portlander Robert Cheeke is the face of vegan bodybuilding.
July 20th 2008The Sopranokovs | The Russian mob comes to town with a new scam—medical identity theft.
July 20th 2008Manhunter | Almost every state lets bounty hunters chase down its most wanted. Why doesn’t Oregon?
July 20th 2008Get Wet: WW’s Summer Guide 2008 | The rain is finally over. Now let’s get wet!
July 20th 2008New Kids In The Flock | Gresham’s twin teenage sensations go about their Father’s business. And it’s making them superstars.
July 20th 2008The Price is WHAT? | Second-guessing City Hall—it’s more fun than Monopoly!
July 20th 2008Welcome to Googleville | America’s newest information superhighway begins On Oregon’s Silicon Prairie.
July 20th 2008Fleeced | While students across Oregon celebrate graduation, many are facing a gnawing problem—they’re getting sheared by huge debt.
July 20th 2008A Bridge Over The River Why? | Local pols say global warming is a dire threat. But they want to spend $4.2 billion on a project that makes driving easier.
July 20th 2008Higher Ed | Reed College is exceptional for more than academics. It’s one of America’s most permissive colleges for experimenting with drugs.