Critical Viewing is a free monthly online article and that can include but is not limited to; art exhibitions, performances, readings, lectures and artist talks, fundraisers, popups, film screenings, and social practice projects. Critical Viewing is a collaboration between Lindsay Costello & Ashley Gifford that began in May 2019 in conjunction with Art & About. We also occasionally print seasonal publications.

This season’s edition is by Lindsay Costello.

We also included a PDF link at the bottom of the article that you can print and take with you. Share what art happenings you’re going to with #criticalviewing.

NORTH

DISJECTA: Nierika : Santuario Somático, Edgar Fabian Frias.

Frias’s digital prints, ready-made objects, and video works draw on the artist’s “indigenous, queer, pagan, witchy, mutagenic, and chimerica identities.” The exhibition title references the Nierika, a sacred woven portal used by the Wixarika people as an amulet, talisman and tool for accessing spiritual magic. On view February 2–March 8, 2020.

WOMXN HOUSE: 20/20, various artists.

A “tarot-themed vision quest” featuring works by eleven artists. On view January 16–February 29, 2020.

NORTHEAST

THIRD ROOM: Static Age, Alexis E. Mabry.

Through painting, soft sculpture, and textiles, Mabry plays with parody and the anecdotal to collect relatable stories. On view February 29–March 22, 2020.

AMPERSAND GALLERY AND FINE BOOKS: Variation in Production, Jay Gaskill.

Gaskill’s abstract, flowing, open-ended paintings for this exhibition were inspired by house music. “I let its energy and principles guide me to a new body of work,” he notes, “and, more importantly, to a new approach to art-making. The idea of an artist remixing their own work was fascinating to me, and the worlds of meaning contained within the phrase “Variation in Production” became the touchstone for how I thought about revitalizing my painting.” On view January 24—March 1, 2020.

SOUTHEAST

NATIONALE: No Flowers in Eden, Aruni Dharmakirthi.

Dharmakirthi’s textile collages, which incorporate quilting and digital collage, “create new narratives for the female archetypes of ancient South Asian and Western mythologies”. The ancient connects with the contemporary in Nationale’s first exhibition at their new location. On view January 18–February 18, 2020.

FULLER ROSEN: American Hex, Christine Miller and Brittany Vega.

Miller and Vega utilize personal archives to shed light on the artist as collector and the “problematic and charged symbolism an object can hold”, particularly in reference to American culture. Vega’s flag collection alongside Miller’s personal collection of Jim Crow-era memorabilia serves as a potent symbol of American racism, patriotism, politics, and how these concepts intertwine. On view February 1–March 14, 2020

NORTHWEST

PNCA: Felt Deeply: Textiles and Immigration, various artists.

Six artists exhibit textiles based work reflecting an immigrant experience. Features Laura Camila Medina, Vo Vo, Lilia Hernandez, Stephanie Sun, Orquidia Violeta, and Mohammed Murshed. The exhibition includes a workshop for immigrants and family members of immigrants or refugees to discuss dynamics of assimilation. On view February 3–28, 2020.

HOLDING CONTEMPORARY: CORES, Nicolas Sassoon and Rick Silva.

Nicolas Sassoon and Rick Silva explore wilderness through computer imaging. This exhibition includes eight digital animations of geologic formations shaped by ecological mutation and human intervention, as well as works referencing sci-fi, nature documentaries, ecological threats, and relationships between the organic and inorganic. On view January 23–February 29, 2020.

UPFOR GALLERY: Absence of Myth, Iyvone Khoo and Pinar Yoldas.

Khoo and Yoldas present video, digital prints, sculptures, 3D and 2D prints in this exhibition. Khoo uses “detritus from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a focal point to examine our unwillingness to accept a co-equal role in the natural environment.” Yoldas presents “designer babies altered by the characteristics of ancient Greek deities.” In this exhibition, biology intertwines with social critique. On view January 4—February 29, 2020.

SOUTHWEST

ADAMS AND OLLMAN: Some Transitional Objects from my Extended Phenotype, Johanna Jackson, and Bachelorette, Milano Chow.

Jackson presents new sculptures of tools and domestic objects alongside Chow’s works on paper depicting detailed architectures and imagined interiors. On view January 4—February 1, 2020.

WHITE GALLERY: Shahnameh; Painting with Artifacts, Kaveh Negahani.

Using arrowheads as paintbrushes and spearheads like palette knives, Nagahani illustrates Persian history by physically painting with artifacts. On view January 8–31, 2020.

DAY TRIP

TROPICAL CONTEMPORARY: pink sheets, various artists. Eugene.

Members of Tropical Contemporary reflect on seasonal blues and opportunities for reinvention. On view February 1–29, 2020.

FRYE ART MUSEUM: Subspontaneous, Francesca Lohmann and Rob Rhee. Seattle.

According to the exhibition statement, “subspontaneous plant species are introduced by humans, but spread without further intervention.” Lohmann and Rhee use natural processes of gravity, time and growth to develop their works. This exhibition includes an installation designed by the two artists that reflects on entanglement, and interdependence. On view January 25–April 19, 2020.