June Art happenings

We’re back with another edition of Critical Viewing for the month of June. In this feature we highlight upcoming exhibitions, art based events and fundraisers, lectures, and pop-ups. We hope you enjoy this month’s #criticalviewing and find something exciting to attend!

NORTH

HERE/THERE GALLERY: Bodies in Motion, Various.

Marguerite Bailey, Andrew Lyman, Ricardo Nagaoka, and Luan Sherman explore the human body in flux in this multimedia exhibition. The works encourage “play, exploration, and a willingness to see the future as one that will be co-produced by a disharmonious unity of bodies, agents, and subjectivities.” Through June 15.

FIRST BRICK: Something Fest, Various.

A “free, joyous, un-capitalistic, un-logo'd, no-label Pride gathering and celebration of Summer.” Includes a sculpture garden and performances by various artists. June 9.

CARNATION CONTEMPORARY: </script>, Brittney Connelly and others.

</script> is a multi-platform art project conceived by Brittney Connelly and facilitated through a conversation series, workshops, a publication and a group exhibition, all in support of critical thought revolving around contemporary issues of the digital experience. Events are open to the public starting June 1. Artists involved include Hannah Newman, Leslie Vigeant, Katherine Spinella, Kathryn Zazenski and Sarah Hummel Jones. Information can be found at www.digitalexhibition.space.

RUBUS DISCOLOR PROJECT: Fruiting Bodies, Various.

Is an experimental exhibition of site-specific works at Rubus Discolor Project, open on June 20 from 5-8 PM and June 23 from 1-4 PM. The show features new work by Melina Bishop, Brittany Wilder and Leslie Hickey. (Rubus Discolor Project is located in an old house at 1738 N. Colfax Street, Portland, OR 97217.

NORTHEAST

PRIVATE PLACES: Bad Teeth, Sara Clendening and Skylar Haskard.

Clendening manipulates familiar objects to create sculptures and installations that evoke conflict, violence and chaos, while Haskard’s multimedia works exist in a realm of locational response and open-ended, participatory proposal. Open by appointment through June 9.

PORTLAND ART & LEARNING STUDIOS: Am I A Monster, Mathew Spencer.

Mathew Spencer’s horror mugs were created by using Monster Energy Drink cans as forms for slab work. Through June 20.

FISK Gallery: Subliminal Mineral, Sophy Hollington.

UK illustrator/artist Sophy Hollington’s lino-cut relief prints tackle themes ranging from meteoric folklore to alchemical symbolism. Her solo show is on view June 14—July 14.

PICA: Through and Through and Through, Gordon Hall.

Gordon Hall’s multimedia sculptures are accompanied by eighteen short movement scores, which will be performed by the artist and a revolving cast of Portland-based performers throughout the run of the exhibition. June 8—August 10.

SOUTHEAST

STEPHANIE CHEFAS PROJECTS: A Jug of Wine, a Table in the Sun, Tess Rubinstein.

In this solo show, Rubinstein “renders moments of pure joy in their simplest forms: a stretch in the sunlight, a ripe pear, an afternoon in the shade, a tender conversation.” June 8—July 13.

FULLER ROSEN: A Thirst for Saltwater, Lehuauakea Fernandez.

Fernandez, a mixed-Native Hawaiian artist, reflects on relationships created through consumption in their series of sculptural and craft-based works. Reflecting on a recent Signal Fire trip throughout occupied Indigenous lands of the southwest, Fernandez meditates on the region’s tensions between Indigenous land practices and ecological destruction. Open through July 12.

YALE UNION: Yutaka Matsuzawa, works curated by Alan Longino and Reiko Tomii.

Yutaka Matsuzawa, considered the father of Japanese conceptual art, began his career as an architect. He later wrote poetry, made paintings, and worked as an educator. Matsuzawa “developed a unique understanding of conceptual art that both elevated and transcended the typical notions of conceptual art in the western, euro-centric art worlds.” The Yale Union exhibition will be the artist’s first in the U.S., and alongside the exhibition, the artist’s seminal publication Quantum Art Manifesto will be re-published for the first time outside of Japan. Art historian Namiko Kunimoto will speak on the collaborative work between Yutaka Matsuzawa and the female Butoh dancer, Tsujimura Kazuko, during the exhibition. June 30—August 18.

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING RESOURCE CENTER: 2019 Certificate Program Graduation, Various.

Poets, writers and artists graduating from IPRC’s Certificate Program will read from their completed projects. June 1.

1122 GALLERY: eternal return, Marcelo Fontana.

Marcelo Fontana, a Brazilian artist based in Portland, will create a discussion around the rise of far-right governments and their xenophobic policies on immigration, relating them to Nietzsche’s concept of Eternal Return. The show is composed of two installations and a performance. June 20.

NORTHWEST

PDX CONTEMPORARY: Dan May: Artworks by D.E. May

In this exhibition May embraces the history of the materials. Viewers will experience works on paper on pieces of paper that were once architectural renderings and guides for building. In this series of work he also explores his curiosities in subjects outside of art including boat making. June 5 - June 29.

HOLDING CONTEMPORARY: Hanging River, Takahiro Yamamoto and Andy Paiko.

With hand-sculpted glass works and live performance, this exhibition investigates cognitive dissonance in contemporary American politics and identity negotiations. Friction between a seemingly-inevitable dystopian future and a shared humanity is evoked through the visceral and visual; everyday objects are rendered in delicate glass. Open through June 1.

BLUE SKY: Study One, Mark Aghatise, and The Soft Fence, Gioncarlo Valentine.

When photographer Mark Aghatise moved to New York, they noticed the “tendency for people to split into public and private personas, and of their desire, or need, to create and market a perfect outward version of themselves.” Aghatise’s editorial photography work grapples with these ideas, and functions as a vehicle for self-reflection.

Gioncarlo Valentine investigates performative hypermasculinity within Black culture. As a queer and femme-presenting photographer, Valentine is “influenced by his desire to understand the experiences of straight men in his community and the standards of masculinity imposed on them.” His photographs ask questions about access, performance, proximity, Black manhood, and Black brotherhood. Where does performance begin and end? Both shows are on view June 6—30.

UPFOR GALLERY: Plane of Scattered Pasts, Heidi Schwegler and Quayola.

Schwegler’s sculptures amend old or broken things by recasting and embellishing their forms. She ruminates on the pleasures and perils of aging, for objects and all of us. Quayola’s immersive video, Strata #1, focuses on a single monumental work from his native Rome: a 17th century ceiling fresco by Giovanni Battista Gaulli. Layers of imagery are rooted in the geometry and iconography of perfection, divided by the strata of time. Through June 22.

PNCA CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART & CULTURE: Low-Res MFA Artist Lectures, Jessica Jackson Hutchins and Aria Dean.

Jessica Jackson Hutchins will speak about her artwork and research as part of PNCA’s Low- Residency MFA in Visual Studies Summer Intensive Wednesday night lecture series. Hutchins’ studio practice produces “dynamic sculptural installations, collages, paintings, and large-scale ceramics, all hybrid juxtapositions of the handmade.” Hutchins explores the mutuality of art and life through transformations of everyday household objects, and fosters intimate consideration of material and form. June 19.

Aria Dean, an artist, writer, and curator living and working in Los Angeles and New York, will speak about her work and research at the second lecture of the series. Her writing has appeared in publications including Artforum, Art in America, e-flux, The New Inquiry, X-TRA Contemporary Art Quarterly, Spike Quarterly, Kaleidoscope Magazine, and CURA Magazine. She is the Assistant Curator of Net Art and Digital Culture at Rhizome, and co-directs the Los Angeles project space As It Stands. June 26.

SOUTHWEST

MELANIE FLOOD PROJECTS: Odette, Larissa Lockshin.

Titled after the leading role from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Lockshin’s Odette features paintings and sculptural objects that challenge the commodifying image of woman as symbol or object. Reinterpreting Degas’ impressionist paintings of ballerinas, Lockshin’s figures are loose and free. The exhibit’s pastel palette and sculptural references to the artist’s childhood create a feeling of nostalgic warmth. Open through June 8.

PORTLAND ART MUSEUM: Akunnittinni: A Kinngait Family Portrait, Various.

This exhibition chronicles a history of narrative artistic exchange between an Inuk grandmother, mother, and daughter. Their autobiographical prints and drawings depict pop culture references, difficult memories and historically significant moments. The works are vivid and emotionally nuanced, positioned as a multi-generational reclaiming of the Inuit narrative. Kinngait, the home of these artists, is a remote Arctic community on Dorset Island, a renowned region for Inuit art. June 22, 2019–January 5, 2020.

DAY TRIP

VARIOUS LOCATIONS: something nameless, Alyson Provax. Various Portland locations.

Letterpress artist Alyson Provax will display new works on billboards and bus benches in Portland for a project titled something nameless. The work invites viewers to reconsider their own experience with the city’s landscape and of being in public spaces, building on Provax’s previous Seattle billboard works made for A LONE (curated by Vignettes and Mount Analogue.) All locations are accessible by Trimet, and can also be seen by car, on foot, or by bike. Paper maps will be available at Wolff Gallery and Belmont Books, and can be found here: https://bit.ly/2FWotRI.  June 4—30.

DITCH PROJECTS: 10yr Anniversary Benefit, Various. Springfield, OR.

To celebrate a decade of supporting contemporary art, Ditch Projects’ benefit will feature works by select artists they’ve exhibited previously, including Amy Bernstein, Melanie Flood, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Kristen Kennedy, Jovencio de la Paz, Ralph Pugay, and Morgan Ritter. Funds raised at the benefit will directly support Ditch Projects and artists. June 7.

SOIL GALLERY: The New Northwest Immaterial, Various. Seattle, WA.

Curated by manuel arturo abreu, this exhibition “explores the renewed viability of ephemeral and immaterial aesthetic gestures for regional artists staking their claim that the creative act is a communal one.” Featured artists “de-prioritize making, craft, and aesthetics in favor of thinking, feeling, and healing together in ways that reject dominant social practice aesthetics.” June 6—29.

FRYE ART MUSEUM: Air, the free or unconfined space above the surface of the earth, Gretchen Frances Bennett. Seattle, WA.

Bennett’s atmospheric drawings combine “surface evidence” like tears and color irregularities with references to the fragmentary, intangible nature of memory. The works function as conceptual “nets” that organize and retain Bennett’s memories. Open through June 2.

VERONICA: Yet I, a Corpse, Drive, Steve Kado. Seattle, WA.

Steve Kado, a Canadian artist working with video, performance, sculpture and photography, presents a solo show at Veronica through June 22.