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Alongside the epic resurgence of non-traditional figurative and narrative art, the time honored tradition of landscape painting has morphed quietly itself, producing a sub genre of artists who create works of serene yet semi-apocalyptic landscapes, such as Jean-Pierre Roy (HF Vol.18) and Gregory Euclide (HF Vol.17) for example, an emotional tug of war between the longing for the diminishing natural world versus a painful look at what seems destined to be. Portland painter Adam Sorensen falls within this category, with his imaginary worlds of crystalline structures and bright irradiated colors contrasting with smooth, lava flow dark bumps and luminous waterfalls. Oddly cheerful in it's otherworldly- ness, the work invokes the idea of a melted, post-mankind landscape and gives the landscapes their star turn as seemingly sentient personalities of their own. -Kirsten Anderson

First off is Memory by Jerry Mayer and Ellen George at the Nine Gallery housed within Bluesky. Extremely simple and elegant the show consists of one large sheet of paper that has been folded and unfolded so much that it resembles a topographic map of the Himalayas. This is riffing on the trope of art as palimpsest as the paper records the wear and use of each move. The end result is lived-in, like a favorite article of clothing but the whiteness and light paper of the entire enterprise presents itself as a kind of relief after the existential burdens of the past signified by the paper folds. Here a past survived is a past with no sting. The folds also resemble the synaptic structures of the brain.

PERSONAL STRUCTURES, LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA, 2011
Hardback, 168 Pages, 109 color illustrations

ISBN 9783941763098
This publication accompanied the exhibition PERSONAL STRUCTURES at Palazzo Bembo, part of the 54th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia 2011. The exhibition presented 28 artists from 5 continents, representing 12 countries.

Available through www.cornerhouse.org

Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Victoria Haven

Victoria Haven is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Seattle, Washington. She received her BFA in painting from the University of Washington and her MFA in 1999 from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her work has been included in group shows at the Drawing Center in New York, The Henry Art Gallery, The Frye Art Museum, Susan Hobbs Gallery (Toronto) and Tablet Gallery (London), among others. Haven uses drawing, sculpture and photography to mine the fertile ground between 2 and 3 dimensions. Her work has been written about in several publications including Artforum, Art LTD and Art in America. Her recent book Hit the North, published by Publication Studio in 2011, is a collection of images with essay relating to her practice as a visual artist. Haven is represented by PDX Contemporary Art in Portland and Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle.
Thursday, January 12, 2012 - 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Lawrence Hall room 115
1190 Franklin Blvd.
Eugene OR
97403

Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art
On view January 14, 2012 to April 29, 2012Located in the: Special Exhibition Galleries
Shapeshifting celebrates Native American ideas that have crossed time and space to be continuously refreshed with new concepts and expressions. Experience this vitality through sculpture, paintings, ceramics, textiles, photographs, videos and monumental installations drawn from collections in the United States, Canada and Europe. Rarely seen historic pieces, shown alongside some of the finest contemporary works, demonstrate the diversity and continuity of Native American art and culture from 200 B.C.E. to the present.Exhibition supported in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art, Peck Stacpoole Foundation, the Bay and Paul Foundations, Ellen and Steve Hoffman, ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations) and the East India Marine Associates (EIMA) of the Peabody Essex Museum.

Congratulations Adam Sorensen.

“The effects of creasing and crumpling cannot be reversed. Every gesture is a permanent and evident record, and makes visible an indelible history.” -- Ellen George & Jerry Mayer

January 5 – January 29, 2012
Nine Gallery (inside Blue Sky Gallery)
12:00 – 5:00pm, Tuesday - Sunday
122 NW 8th
Portland OR 97209......
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Best painting: For Portland Art Museum’s APEX series, Adam Sorensen created his biggest painting ever: a 7-by-10-foot masterpiece called Tabernacle. In impossibly saturated jewel tones, it presented a landscape resplendent with waterfalls, mountains and rivers that looked more like the stuff of psychedelia or fantasy than reality.

Congratulations to PDX artists Arnold Kemp, Vanessa Renwick, Anna Gray & Ryan Wilson Paulsen, and Cynthia Lahti!

David Row reviews Molly Vidor's