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NW PORTLAND

Eric Rue, Kirk Botero

Kirk Botero’s oils come across as standard-issue amorphous abstraction in pukey Brady Bunch-era earth tones. Eric Rue’s neo-surrealist phantasmagorias are too imprecisely rendered in his mushy paintings and too sloppily glued together in his paper collages, which look like something Tom Wesselmann and Joan Miró might have thrown together after getting shitty drunk. Only in Rue’s drawings on translucent vellum does he fully realize his vision. Blackfish Gallery, 420 NW 9th Ave., 234-2634. Closes May 30. Map

Gail Tremblay

It’s no secret that Native Americans have been largely stereotyped and condescended to in American cinema. To wryly critique this treatment, Onondaga and Micmac Nation artist Gail Tremblay has woven traditional basket forms out of recycled 16mm film. Boldly colored and intricately patterned, the baskets are studies in irony and empowerment. RICHARD SPEER. Froelick, 714 NW Davis St., 222-1142. Closes May 30. Map

James Pustorino

Curators for this nimble gallery spotted East Coast-based artist James Pustorino’s work last month at the Armory Show mega-fair in New York and immediately booked him for their April show. That’s fast! The artist’s semi-abstract shapes, delightfully garish acid tones and fluent sense of line add up to a show of uncommon gestural and chromatic freedom. Chambers @ 916, 916 NW Flanders St., 227-9398. Closes May 30. Map

Keith Achepohl

Keith Achepohl paints strips of fabric in rich Mediterranean colors, then affixes those strips to fir pillars with brass tacks. The result is a strangely affecting blend of painting and sculpture that feels archetypal and mysterious. RICHARD SPEER. Augen (DeSoto Bldg), 716 NW Davis St., 224-8182. Closes May 30. Map

Manhorse, J. Otto Seibold

Seibold, occasionally described as the "father of urban hipster folk art," has brought a series of new paintings to Portland which (literally) ask the question, "Of all my current online friends, whom do I love the most?" Grass Hut, 20 NW 5th Ave. inside Floating World Comics., 445-9924. Opens 6-9 pm May 1. Closes May 30. Map

Mary Henry, Ellen George

Venerable gallery PDX Contemporary Art offers up what promises to be a gorgeous double-whammy of a show this month. Veteran painter Mary Henry (now 96 years old) is showcased in a selection of chromatically rich, compositionally rigorous abstract and semi-abstract paintings and drawings. Meantime, sculptor Ellen George presents intricate polymer clay pieces that marry whimsy and precision. This is the first month that PDX will program in the space that Pulliam Gallery (now sans MaryAnn Deffenbaugh) is occupying only bi-monthly. We had our doubts about the wisdom of the new arrangement, but if this is the caliber of show we can expect from a double dose of PDX, we say bring ’em on! PDX Contemporary Art and Pulliam Gallery, 929 NW Flanders St., 228-6665. RICHARD SPEER. PDX Contemporary Art, 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063. Closes May 30. Map

Mike Rathbun

In his third show at Ogle, sculptor Mike Rathbun marries craft and concept in large-scale wooden airplanes made out of Douglas fir. Some are mounted on pedestals and tethered together by wooden chains, while another piece depicts fighter jets flying toward a bull’s-eye. For all their elaborate construction, these works pale beside the elemental power of an untitled wooden circle, 6 feet across, covered in jagged, spiky spines. Fearsome, pagan, sexual, it’s the show’s simplest work, and its best. Ogle Gallery, 310 NW Broadway., 227-4333. Closes May 30. Map

Silkworm, an installation by Tyler Kline

This third installation in a trilogy of shows with great names (Camp X-Ray; These Ghost That Haunt Us) is artist Tyler Kline's recycled material meditation on such things as ruined cathedrals, primordial forests and swarms of "Rorschach Moths." The Life Gallery, 625 NW Everett St., #107., 971-544-1365. Show runs May 7-29. Map

Black Gold and Iron Ore

In translating the surreal imagery conjured by the music of The Builders and The Butchers, painter/comic book artist (and sometime WW illlustrator) Lukas Ketner has created his self-described "dream project"—a collection of complex, disturbing new oil and digital paintings. The band will play a street show on Thursday, May 7, outside of the opening at Sequential Art Gallery and hopefully create the same connection between music and imagery that Ketner was inspired to illustrate. Special First Thursday opening: 8-10 pm Thursday, May 7. Sequential Art Gallery + Studio, 328 NW Broadway, No. 113., 916-9293. Closes May 30. Map

Black Market Type & Print Shop

Thirty artist-created type-fonts were lifted from various artworks unbeknownst to their creators. They'll be exhibited in an "interactive print shop" at PNCA's Feldman Gallery + Project Space, then granted to gallery patrons for their artistic (and non-commercial) use. PNCA, 1241 NW Johnson St., 226-4391. Closes Saturday June 27. Map

Jan Reaves and Anne Siems

In an inspired pairing, Russo is exhibiting painters Jan Reaves and Anne Siems together. Reaves’ expressive abstractions and Siems’ haunting narrative paintings should play off one another to intriguing effect. RICHARD SPEER. Laura Russo Gallery, 805 NW 21st Ave., 226-2754. Show runs May 7-30. Map

Make Something!!

150 Portland kids spent a week with Nike designers learning their process of product design. The fruits of their workshop collaboration, organized by curator Aaron Rose, equal this year's Make Something!! exhibition. Nike Design Group Show, 318 NW 11th Ave., . Opens 5-9 pm Thursday May 7. Show runs though Sunday May 10. Map

Show Extended: Dinh Q. Lê

Dinh Q. Lê has a solo show coming up next spring at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In his current show at Liz Leach, he eschews the photo weavings that have become his signature in favor of photographs and sculptural installations. Halo in the Night, a tire with a fluorescent light bulb on a pedestal, ought to be subtitled “Dan Flavin and Marcel Duchamp Go Cycling.” It’s nifty to see this accomplished artist get off the wall and on the floor. A self-filling fountain sends the sounds of splashing water through the space, reminding us that this gallery would do well to incorporate more work with a sonic component. Elizabeth Leach Gallery, 417 NW 9th Ave., 224-0521. Show extended through June 27. Map

PNCA Centennial Gala Black-Tie Birthday Bash

To celebrate the Pacific Northwest College of Art’s 100th anniversary, the school is throwing a big shindig that you can wear your penguin suit to. Cocktails, a catered dinner, and dancing are only part of this schnazzy event, which also will feature short animated films by PNCA students and the presentation of the college’s first-ever “Civic Imagination Award.” The recipient?  Former mayor Vera Katz. Event takes place on the 8th floor. Call 821-8961 for tickets, which are a recession-defying $250 apiece. RICHARD SPEER. PNCA MachineWorks, 1455 NW Northrup St., . 6 pm. Map

Andrew Larkin, Jim Hibbard, Stephen Leflar

There is a prissiness and preciousness inherent in printmaking that only a few artists have transcended: Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell among them. In Beppu’s overearnest dirge of a three-person show, Andrew Larkin’s and Jim Hibbard’s monoprints and Stephen Leflar’s woodcuts do not achieve the terminal velocity needed to escape the medium’s event horizon. RICHARD SPEER. Beppu Wiarda, 319 NW 9th Ave., 241-6460. Closes May 30. Map

SW PORTLAND

I Coulda' Been a Collecta

One of the most refreshing things about this gallery-closing group show is the painting You Were If You Tried by Michael T. Hensley. He jams iconic imagery together—a Buddha, a one-eyed space alien—with goopy paint, collage elements and text, resulting in a virtuosic lowbrow overdose. It would be mind-blowing to see a mashup between Hensley and Chris Haberman, who traffics in a similar kind of imagery. You’d stumble out of the show afterward, reeling and needing a stronger pair of glasses. Maybe Woolley should plan such a show in his new incarnation as a freelance curator. Read Richard Speer's article on the loss of this gallery here: http://wweek.com/editorial/3523/12448/. Mark Woolley Gallery, 817 SW 2nd Ave., 224-5475. Last Rites/Open House on Closing Day, May 30, 11am-8pm. Map

La Volupté du Goût: French Painting in the Age of Madame De Pompadour

If cherubs and nymphs are your thing, velvet waistcoats and silk cravats, porcelain skin and rosy cheeks and rosier nipples, then La Volupté du Goût (The Voluptuousness of Taste) should be on your agenda. The show spotlights the frothy 18th-century style known as Rococo. Sumptuous paintings by Boucher and Fragonard are highlights, while harpsichord music, ornate frames, wall panels in complementary colors and a monstrous neo-Rococo mirror by Jeff Koons round out one of the best exhibitions PAM has hosted in ages. RICHARD SPEER. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-0973. Closes May 17. Map

Book + Art : Contemporary Artist's Books

A collection of rare books, considered in and of themselves to be works of fine art and art history, from the Multnomah County Library's John Wilson Special Collection. More than 25 bookmakers' works are featured, ranging in origin from the early 20th century to relatively recent, and featuring the use of unusual materials and printing methods as well as innovative structures and one-of-a-kind prototypes. Collins Gallery, 3rd Floor, Central Library 801 SW 10th Ave., 503.988.6287. Library hours. Closes May 10. Map

Happy Days Forever

Artist Steve Baggs takes a break from his design company to present this show as part of PSU's MFA Studio and Social Practices Graduate Exhibition. MK Gallery, Portland State University Art Building, 2000 SW 5th Ave., . Closes Wednesday May 13 Map

New Works by Jeff Fontaine

Fontaine's paintings on plates of steel, examining the effects of age on man-made objects, will be among the more than 70 pieces sharing the gallery space during this artist reception and gallery mixer. Heidi McBride Gallery, 3570 SW River Parkway No. 313., 887-3093. Wednesday May 6, 6-8 pm. Map

Temporary Installation by Laurel Kurtz and Steven Beatty

A collaborative artistic team with a focus on environmentalism, Beatty and Kurtz address the impact of consumerism with their collection of color-coded, non-biodegradable refuse. Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th Ave., 823-5111. Closes May 29. Map

Vanishing Varieties

Painter and MFA candidate Rebecca Shelly shows new work for the PSU Studio and Social Practice Graduate Exhibition. Autzen Gallery, Portland State University, Neuberger Hall, 2nd floor, 724 SW Harrison St., . Reception for the artist 6-9pm Saturday, May 2. Show closes Wednesday May 13. Map

Shawn William Creeden

In the space where Chambers used to be—and the Elizabeth Leach Gallery before that—Fontanelle has created an intimate space with programming in the same general vein as the now-defunct Motel Gallery. The watercolors and embroidery in Shawn William Creeden’s If I Weren’t Here, They Would Be make for an exhaustive cataloging of wild animals: bears, owls, elk, bats, bobcats, tigers, seals and raccoons. A faux cave made out of cardboard and duct tape beckons gallery-goers inside, where, with the aid of a flashlight, they can find more of the artist’s quaint homages to the natural world. Fontanelle Gallery, 205 SW Pine St., 274-7668. Closes May 30. Map

Northwest Artists Group Show

Juicy, brightly colored abstractions by Chris Kelly highlight this group show. “Like melted Crayons!” my First Thursday companion observed, pointing out the works’ waxy surfaces. On the opposing wall, Morgan Walker’s oil paintings, with their arid brushstrokes, are intriguing, vaguely pagan narratives. In Sacra Conversazione, a sky-clad, wildflower-wreathed nymph is attended by an ominous, cloaked handmaiden and a man wearing a loincloth and a pot on his head. Walker’s technique may be dry, but his imagination is fertile. RICHARD SPEER. Augen Gallery Downtown, 817 SW 2nd Ave., 224-8182. Closes May 30. Map

NORTH PDX PORTLAND

Art Show and Silent Auction

Bid on pottery created by sculptor Scott Schmitz as well as various creature comforts packages from spas around town, all of which will help fund Ethiopian orphanages and AIDS relief. Leisure Public House, 8002 N Lombard St., 289-7606. Opens May 6, 7-10pm. Map

NE PORTLAND

Aberrations and Under Wraps: Photographs by Jim Kazanjian and Loren Nelson

The former is a compilation of digitally edited "assemblages" of found photographs; the latter, photographs of buildings wrapped in plastic (during construction) and the ghostly effect thus gained. The curiously complimentary sets are showing side-by-side. 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Ave., 927-4409. Closes Saturday May 30. Map

Art on Display from Pacific Northwest Sculptors

Got some time to kill before your flight leaves?  Head over to Concourse E, where ticketed passengers can view 13 sculptures created by artists from the Pacific Northwest.  These pieces, made from various materials like metal and stone, can be found in the artOBJECTS case. SAMANTHA HERMAN. Portland International Airport, 7000 NE Airport Way., 460-4040. Closes June 15. Map

Photos Stolen Over 6 Years Working at a One-Hour Photo Lab

 Danny Norton stole thousands of pictures from lazy, unsuspecting 1-hour photo customers throughout the mid-nineties. Ten years later he’s hung the best of them in a dank bar and created the most bizarre and fascinating example of found-art on display in Portland.  Beulahland, 118 NE 28th Ave., 235-2794. Closes Sunday May 31. Map

Still Life

Painter Lynne Patton is said to incorporate the mark that her cattleman father seared into the hides of his herd into everything she paints, whether they're portraits, landscapes or the titular still lives. This show is her first at the Brian Marki gallery. Brian Marki Fine Art, 2236 NE Broadway., 249-5659. Closes Saturday May 30. Map

Shawn William Creeden

In the space where Chambers used to be—and the Elizabeth Leach Gallery before that—Fontanelle has created an intimate space with programming in the same general vein as the now-defunct Motel Gallery. The watercolors and embroidery in Shawn William Creeden’s If I Weren’t Here, They Would Be make for an exhaustive cataloging of wild animals: bears, owls, elk, bats, bobcats, tigers, seals and raccoons. A faux cave made out of cardboard and duct tape beckons gallery-goers inside, where, with the aid of a flashlight, they can find more of the artist’s quaint homages to the natural world. Fontanelle Gallery, 205 SW Pine St., 274-7668. Closes May 30. Map

SE PORTLAND

3rd Annual Youth Art Show

Artists no older than 18, stemming from the 100th Monkey Studio and Portland at large, present work from classes, workshops and after school programs.  The 100th Monkey, 110 SE 16th Ave., 232-3457. Closes Sunday May 31. Map

First Friday Artist's Reception: Geoff LeMaye

Portland painter Geoff LeMaye debuts his works on, among other things, the internal workings of machines, at the Press Club this month. Press Club, 2621 SE Clinton St., 233-5656. Closes Sunday May 31. Map

Jason Grahm, Kimmie Hutchins, Robert Pellicer

Three painters occupy the Goodfoot this month, showing accomplished new paintings which all fit somewhere within the genre of psychedelia. Goodfoot, 2845 SE Stark St., 239-9292. Opens Thursday, April 30. Closes Wednesday, May 27. Map

Well Finished

A mixed-media installation - featuring, among other materials, the stretched and salted skin of 70+ pigs - by artist Micki Skudlarczyk. The artist decided to explore the world of slaughterhouses during a residency in Mexico,  though either their government or ours refused to let her bring the pigskins back. At Launch Pad, accompanied by the music of Arrington de Dionyso, she's recreated the experience of seeing and interpreting mass animal slaughter. Launch Pad, 534 SE Oak St., 971-227-0072. Closes May 31. Map

APPROX L

Bethany Ides, the multimedia artist who has organized this show investigating the nature and history of proper names, is conspicuously not named Lindsay. Many of the artists participating are, however. That particular name is the focus of APPROX L, where the gallery space itself will be divided into "3 stages of Lindsay-ness: L-exactitude; Adaptations of L; and, L Beside Itself..." Methods of investigation will include performance, curation, installation, sound and video. Interested the complex meaning of a name? Worksound Art Gallery, 819 SE Alder St., . Closes May 29. Map

Paramnesia, photography by Brian Willette

This photo show is a personal document of the artist's travels throughout the Southwest and purportedly "will remind you a place you've seen before" in a memory or meditative sense. BIAS, Brooklyn Industries Art Space, 735 NW 23rd Avenue., . Closes June 18. Map

Corey Smith

Paris Hilton, fat dudes who look like Allen Funt, and fuchsia fantasias of drug-addled pornographic lust—that’s what we’ve come to expect from Corey Smith. But since the Portland artist defected to Costa Mesa, Calif., almost two years ago, he’s come up with fresh surprises. His Air Superiority and Obsolete Dreams is a multiple of 12 photo transfers, not in garish colors but somber black-and-white. Its austere rendering of a Stealth Bomber has an appealing restraint and austerity. But Smith shows he hasn’t lost his subversive edge in a hilarious, sociologically pointed sculpture of the American flag—made entirely out of spray-painted remote controls. RICHARD SPEER. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. Closes May 30. Map

Howard Hersh

Howard Hersh’s encaustic panels are subdivided by Rouault-like black lines. Their rusty, red-clay palette evokes Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen West but proves exhausting across the totality of the show. Some chromatic variation would have been welcome. Works such as Marquee look geologic, as if composed of semi-precious stones, tectonic plates, and gloopygloppy lava flow. A strong show that could have been stronger. RICHARD SPEER. Butters, 520 NW Davis St., 2nd floor., 248-9378. Closes May 30. Map

UNKL

In this group show, local urban vinyl toy designer UNKL’s Jason Bacon presents acrylic paintings and painted book covers, whose imagery looks like a cross between anime characters and the Michelin Man. His biz partner Derek Welch silkscreens iconic, Ryan McGinness-like symbols and fleur-de-lis on wood panel, often in eye-catching aqua and gold metallic paints. RICHARD SPEER. Compound Gallery, 107 NW 5th Ave., 796-2733. Closes June 2. Map

Trunk Show, Katazome Textiles

Corvallis-based artist Karen Illman Miller makes Katazome textiles, a traditional Japanese method of fabric dyeing using paste and cut stencils, which is painted by hand. For the Nikkei Legacy Center, she'll be showing recent work which focuses on natural scenes and aspects of Oregon. Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, 121 NW 2nd Ave.,., 224-1458. Two days only. Saturday-Sunday May 23-24. Map

The Amazing World of Claymation

Will Vinton, the animator who not only coined the term "Claymation" but is credited with inventing the art form, will exhibit his personal collection, including his work on the California Raisins and Eddie Murphy's short-lived TV show The PJs. This show includes everything from scripts to character designs to voice recordings. ALEX PETERSON. Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave., 306-5270. Closes Sept. 13. Map

Parallel Conversations

Multi-disciplinary artist Sandy Sampson is a founding member of Parallel University, "an evolving institution that exists to promote and validate collective learning in public." An extension of this artistic philosophy is the focus of Parallel Conversations, wherein Sampson will introduce audience members to people who have affected her life in hopes of creating a hub of engagment and activity. MK Gallery, Portland State University Art Building, 2000 SW 5th Ave., . Reception for the artist 6-9 pm Friday May 29. Closes May 29. Map

Box Set: The M.O.S.T. Remastered

The M.O.S.T. were a multi-talented, four-person artists collective who specialized in "fun, intimacy, documentation and place" before they disbanded sometime in '08. Artist Katy Asher, who represented the "O" in M.O.S.T., has created this unique exhibition as a comment on the ups and downs of life in an arts collective. Artifacts and replications of more than 30 of the pieces once made by the M.O.S.T. team will be available for pondering. Autzen Gallery, Portland State University, Neuberger Hall, 2nd floor, 724 SW Harrison St., . Closing Day Party May 29, 6-9 pm. Map

Rita Vogt, Michael J. Demeo

Parisian photographer Rita Vogt and Portlander Michael J. Demeo pair up for a sexy double bill composed largely of nudes. Vogt excels in gritty, vérité shots in color that emanate a strong sense of place and shadowplay. Demeo’s black-and-whites are more staged and symbolist, their memento-mori skulls counterposed against naked flesh. RICHARD SPEER. Sugar Gallery, 420 SW Washington St., Suite 500., . Closes May 31. Map

KUNSTVEILING, Silent Art Auction Benefit

In order to help Portland artist Rachel Pedderson fund an artist's residency and exhibition in the Netherlands, nine other artists are putting their work on sale. Appropriately, Kunstveiling means "fine art auction" in Dutch. Valentine's, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. One night only: 6-9 pm Thursday May 21. Map

"29": OCAC Undergraduate Thesis Show

Encompassing book arts, ceramics, drawing and painting as well as fibers, photography and works in metal and wood, the "Group 29" of Oregon College of Art and Craft's undergraduate class shows the culmination of their thesis work. Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. Opening Reception Friday, May 15, 6-9 pm Map

Matthew Green

In his wry installation Hunks and Punks, Matthew Green critiques the vexing phenomenon of contemporary masculinity. The show consists of three pieces. STUDS is a set of 10 hat racks, each topped with a hat that communicates something about the type of man who would wear it: a beret, a cowboy hat, a studded leather cap, a feather-bedecked pimp hat.... Without any person to wear them, the hats speak volumes—mostly about the viewer’s prejudices. PIGS is a set of five hamburgers, each piled high with seven beef patties. Like sculptural columns, the pieces are lit from above, giving them the mien of an objet d’art. In the back gallery, FOOL’S GOLD uses foam and gold paint to create a lumpy, oversized dough ball of imprecise purpose. The big lump and crude hamburgers are hefty but inelegant, like the concept—and practice—of masculinity itself. RICHARD SPEER. Rocksbox, 6540 N Interstate Ave., 971-506-8938. Closes June 14. Map