Jenene Nagy: Willamette Week

Richard Speer

The stratification of socioeconomic class in Aspen, Colo., wouldn’t at first seem fodder for a fascinating art show, but former Portlander and current Aspen doyenne Jenene Nagy has the moxie to turn this arid conceit into a dazzling grouping of drawings, prints and sculptures. She takes the contrast between ski bums and international socialites, hippies and celebrities that dichotomizes Aspen’s social strata and turns it into an invigorating duel of opposites. She pits imagery of lowly quartz crystals against stylizations of sparkling diamonds, and plebeian concrete slabs versus giant gilded gemstones. Nagy has found a way to turn the stuff of insufferable city planning meetings into artwork that dazzles the eye and piques the imagination. Through Sept. 27.

http://www.wweek.com/portland/event-197559-jenene_nagy_brilliant.html