News

Marie Watt was featured in Cowboys & Indians Magazine.

"Her project today is a snapshot of what she’s best known for: using humble everyday objects as touchstones, blankets in particular. Since she first rummaged through the city’s thrift stores in 2003, scavenging for wool blankets, anything around $5 apiece to make the totemlike tower sculptures of stacked blankets, she has relied on reclaimed objects as a primary medium for her artwork. Beyond that, her process is largely collaborative. That may mean working with a printmaker, like she’s doing today, or gathering blankets and their individual histories from friends and strangers, and weaving that element into her pieces, too."

To read the full article visit: https://www.cowboysindians.com/2021/05/art-gallery-marie-watt/

Joe Rudko is an Artist in Residence at the Iris Project in Venice, California, for the month of May.

Iris Project Residency offers artists, curators, writers, and creative thinkers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines the space and time to push boundaries in their practice, freed from the pressure of production or material exchange. We strongly believe that when creativity is uncoupled from commercial requirements, new directions and insights will emerge, and that these benefits will extend beyond the artist's time at the residency.

Congratulations, Joe!

For more information visit: https://www.irisprojectresidency.com/residents/joe-rudko

Congratulations to Iván Carmona for the acquisition of his piece, Juey, into the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation collection.

Today, Joseph R. Biden and the inauguration committee shared, “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ‘Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.’ It’s one of his many lessons that endures today, as we’ve seen throughout this pandemic. From sewing masks to dropping off groceries to elderly neighbors, Americans across the country know that service — looking out for one another — is part of who we are as a nation.”
It is in this spirit that PDX will donate 1/2 of the proceeds to the Oregon Food Bank from the sale of this work.

Iván Carmona
Juey, 2020
flashe paint on ceramic
34 3/4” x 30” x 9”

On the occasion of Joe Rudko's show Support System, we are pleased to share a short, casual exhibition walkthrough with the Artist.

Please let us know if you would like any additional information about the work or if you would like to schedule an appointment to view the exhibition. Joe Rudko's show remains on view through May 1st.

https://vimeo.com/535338555

Marie Watt will be a panelist in Quilts, Blankets, and Tapestry: Contemporary Art and Textiles with Aaron McIntosh, Marie Watt, and Ebony Patterson with the Berkley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive on Wednesday, April 21, 4 PM PDT.

Discover the innovative practices of three artists who have turned to textiles—incorporating or referring to them in their work—in this discussion moderated by BAMPFA Director Julie Rodrigues Widholm, presented in conjunction with Rosie Lee Tompkins: A Retrospective.

To register please visit:
https://bampfa.org/event/quilts-blankets-and-tapestry-contemporary-art-…

In conjunction with Yamamoto Masao’s current exhibition Bonsai, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART is pleased to present an online showing of a selection of works from the Artist’s earlier series A Box of Ku and Nakazora.

Taking images of everyday occurrences, and oftentimes overlooked moments, Yamamoto Masao makes us further consider what is happening in the world around us— to stop, look, and savor. His undeniable ability to capture seemingly simple, mundane moments and make them feel complex, transitory, and poetic is a hallmark of his practice.

Small silver gelatin prints, hand-toned and slightly worn, present like found objects. Made in editions of 20 or 40, the Artist treats each individual piece as one in its own— slightly scratching through the gelatin surfaces, adding small specks of gold paint, weathering the edges, and toning the images. Purposefully small prints are carried around in the Artist’s pocket to add a natural wear to the image. With each finesse and subtle mark, poetic and mysterious objects are born.

To view the online shop visit: www.pdxcontemporaryart.com/shop
10% of all proceeds from this pop-up will be donated to Portland Japanese Garden.

Georgina Reskala is an Artist in Residence at the Iris Project in Venice, California for the month of March.

Iris Project Residency offers artists, curators, writers, and creative thinkers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines the space and time to push boundaries in their practice, freed from the pressure of production or material exchange. We strongly believe that when creativity is uncoupled from commercial requirements, new directions and insights will emerge, and that these benefits will extend beyond the artist's time at the residency.

Congratulations, Georgina!

We are looking forward to her solo show in May 2021!

For more information: https://www.irisprojectresidency.com/residents/georgina-reskala-6wsby-k…

James Lavadour’s painting Golden, 2018 was acquired by the High Desert Museum through the Oregon Arts Commission Arts Acquisition Fund. Today this work was featured as part of their permanent collection in Artforum's announcement of the High Desert Museum's recent gift of $6 million from the Roundhouse Foundation for capital improvements to increase the number of works on permanent display.

https://www.artforum.com/news/oregon-s-high-desert-museum-receives-6-mi…

Gus Van Sant is an honoree for the 2021 Cinema Unbound Awards!

“The Cinema Unbound Awards is an annual celebration presented by the Northwest Film Center, honoring boundary-breaking multimedia storytellers working at the intersection of art and cinema. We honor artists and nonconformists who are not content to be contained but instead expand the notion of what’s possible. The Cinema Unbound honorees defy expectations and refuse to embrace labels using their creative vision to inspire and push us to look at what is beyond the norm.

The Cinema Unbound Awards represents the Portland Art Museum & Northwest Film Center’s embrace of artistic exploration and commitment to equity and inclusion. Though born out of the tradition of film, the Cinema Unbound Awards expands the reach of cinema as an art form to challenge for whom, by whom, and how stories can be told.

The 2021 Cinema Unbound Awards honorees are Steve McQueen, Garrett Bradley, Gus Van Sant, Mollye Asher, and Alex Bulkley: boundary-breaking multimedia storytellers working at the intersection of art and cinema. The awards will be presented on March 4, 2021, kicking off the 44th Annual Portland International Film Festival running from March 5 to March 14, 2021.”
-Cinema Unbound

This year’s Cinema Unbound Awards will invite viewers to join through both a Drive-In experience as well as a virtual experience. More information about the honorees and on how to attend can be found here: https://cinemaunbound.org/event-directory/cinema-unbound-awards

Congratulations, Gus!

PDX CONTEMPORARY ART is pleased to present the paintings of Portland-based artist Tristan “TK” Irving in the PDX Window Project for the month of February 2021.

Drawing inspiration from a range of sources and time periods, from Rembrandt to Jean-Michel Basquiat, Irving’s work integrates abstraction and modernist sensibilities to create portraits which are bold, graphic, and colorful. Each portrait, oftentimes depicting famous artists or public figures, acts to honor and commemorate. Those he’s painted include Frederick Douglass, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Frida Kahlo, Maya Angelou, Madam C.J. Walker, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Stacey Abrams, among others. Irving is best known for his portraits of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which have been carried at protests and marches for racial justice this summer. 

As part of the PDX Window Project, Irving will be offering 20” x 16” commissioned portraits for $500 each. If clients wish to commission a piece, they can email info@pdxcontemporaryart.com for more details. The artist will work from a photograph of the client’s choosing.

The PDX Window Project is viewable from the sidewalk 24 hours, 7 days a week, on the corner of NW 9th and Flanders. The window itself is on 9th avenue.

Irving's work in the PDX Window Project was featured in The Skanner: https://www.theskanner.com/news/newsbriefs/30956-pdx-window-project-fea…