REVIEW
July Gems
Group exhibitions abound in Portland galleries.

BY KATE BONANSINGA
243-2122 EXT. 313

 

Group exhibitions dominate the art scene in summer. Encompassing diverse aesthetics and intentions, especially when they include only one or two pieces by each artist, they have a value very different from that of solo exhibitions. They can be difficult to grasp both visually and intellectually; viewers are challenged to pick out the gems, a few of which are listed below.

 

Mia Lor Houlberg and Brian Addison Elliot, Independents' Day
Froelick Adelhart, 817 SW 2nd Ave., 222-1142.
Ends Aug. 1.

"Fungi is a metaphor for resistance and decay and also symbolizes the relationship between colonizer and the colonized, parasite and host," says Houlberg, who began creating her "moldariums" in 1996 as a graduate student at the University of California at Davis. Elegant blown-glass teardrop forms hang from the ceiling, serving as corked homes for the multiplying spores; a glass vitrene covers mixed-media sculptures that suggest flowers and are coated in fungi. The most effectively formatted works are wall-mounted 3¹Ž2-inch round, half-inch deep plastic containers that suggest microscope slides within which miniature, plastic human figures seem to drown in the growing mold. Playing upon our discomfort with the organic, Houlberg creates, in her words, "a space where the beautiful and the repulsive overlap."

Elliot alludes to our dependence upon the industrial in the well-crafted Lucy, Carle and Carle's Apology. Lucy, a soft, plastic replica of a blender, lies in a cloth-lined box. Created of the same material, Carle is a sculpture that looks like a human heart. If the viewer picks up one without the other, Carle vibrates, wild with anger. Carle is calm only when accompanied by his appliance--that is, when the two pieces are removed from their boxes simultaneously. The exhibition marks the curatorial debut of S.E. Taylor, who stipulated that the selected artists work independently of consistent gallery representation and that the sculpture be interactive. Elliot's triptych fulfills these parameters more literally than Houlberg's. In the latter's work, the viewer must make the intellectual leap that interaction with mold occurs on a daily basis: It's all around us.

 

Marie K. Watt and Julie Swan, Summer Group Show
PDX, 604 NW 12th Ave., 222-0063.
Ends Aug. 1.

Suspended from the ceiling is Three Sisters, three thin, wrapped and knotted corn-husk objects that look like three-dimensional lines with the attenuation of roots and the verticality of tall trees. The bulbous shape at the bottom of each almost skims the floor; this relationship is so important that Watt will lengthen or shorten the piece to suit the space in which it's hung. Native American lore speaks of the three final directions--Above, Below and Within--and of the three sisters who represent complementary elements in the universe. Watt, herself Native American, received well-deserved attention for her corn-husk waterfall at the 1997 Oregon Biennial at the Portland Art Museum.

Swan's cedar-bark basket has an irresistible tactility similar to that of Three Sisters: Its wide strips of bark are loosely woven, in contrast to the tight weave of traditional native baskets, some of which can hold water. The negative spaces become as aesthetically important as the positive ones--much as in abstract painting, a form also included in this exhibition. Naomi Rosen incises or draws simple lines on grounds of whitish-gray oil paint; James Lavadour's sweep of olive color might be interpreted as the wind made tangible.

This exhibition indirectly celebrates the second anniversary of PDX gallery. Owner and director Jane Beebe selected one previously unshown piece from each of the artists she represents--and from a few others. The art varies in sensibility from Erik Stotick's miniature paintings, which juxtapose the surreal with the medieval; to watercolors of Yugoslavian villages, painted from memory by recently deceased Ruza Erceg; to the painted silk reversible handbags of Storm Tharp. Most of it is of the highest quality, a true testament to Beebe's efforts and extensive experience.

 

Recent Graduates '98
Blackfish, 420 NW 9th Ave.
Ends Aug. 1.

Nearby colleges and universities chose the best work representing the future of art in the region. Worth noting are Chizu Suenaga's (Portland State University) Spring Series #2 and Cheryl Weaver's (Oregon College of Art and Craft) installation of industrial felt forms.

 

Water & Plastic
Quartersaw, 528 NW 12th Ave.,
223-2264.
Ends Aug. 2.

Artist Nan B. Curtis chose 10 visual artists and writer Brian Hamilton chose 10 writers to pair up and collaborate on a piece about either water or plastic. The components of Brian Shannon and James Grabill's well-executed and resolved limited-edition piece can be either stacked in a hand-crafted box or hung on the wall. Instant Karma, a kinetic sculpture by Ovid Uman and Frank D'Andrea, requires the viewer to choose either a foam "peanut" made from recycled materials or one made from new materials. The environmental message is particularly appropriate for this exhibition, since it's co-sponsored by Orlo.

 

Co-Operators
Hoffman Gallery, 8245 SW Barnes Road, 297-5544.
Ends Aug. 30.

An exhibition of collaborative works by 12 pairs of visual artists invited by Paul Arensmeyer, who has become as well known for his curatorial eye as he has for his sculpture

 

originally published July 22, 1998