Storm Tharp: DOOMTOWN

(image: Storm Tharp, "Grey Room", video)

Delta and Doomtown
November 4, 2017 - January 13, 2018
PICA, 15 NE Hancock, Portland OR, 97212

OPENING RECEPTION: November 4, 2017 from 1 - 4 PM
GALLERY HOURS: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 12 - 6 PM and Saturday from 12 - 4 PM

PICA is opening their new home with their first major exhibition, Steven Doughton’s Delta.

Delta is a six-channel film which seeks to portray the simultaneity of time, the democracy of experience, the reality of emotion, and the multiplicity of characters in three dimensions. It follows the story of Doug, a 20 year old,as he attends his first rave, comes of age, gets high and is discovered performing mock “operations” in his living room by his father, a surgeon. Shot on Super-8 and 16mm, and transferred to glass laserdisc, with an original score by Aphex Twin, the work was originally exhibited in the fall of 1997 at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York City. Twenty years later, PICA will remount this epic work in its original format.

While Delta is on view at PICA, Doughton’s work will also be exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art’s Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983. Club 57 (1978–83) began as a no-budget venue for music and film exhibitions, and quickly became a beacon in a constellation of countercultural venues in downtown New York fueled by low rents, the Reagan presidency, and the desire to experiment with new modes of art, performance, music, exhibition, and fashion. Doughton’s catalog of films was also recently acquired by MoMA’s permanent collection.

Delta is a host to several associated programs, including the exhibition Doomtown, named for the Wipers song of the same name. The exhibition was conceived of by Kristan Kennedy, PICA’s Visual Art Curator in collaboration with Stephen Doughton. It is part timeline and part homage to the artists whom have had a deep impact on Doughton’s visual education and practice. The work on view spans four decades, several geographies, and almost every genre and material. It traces a line from Portland, Oregon to the Lower East Side of New York reflecting the experimental, inclusive, collaborative, and expressive efforts of two close knit artist communities.

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS:
Lary 7, Rudy Autio, Lisa Beck, Michael Brophy, Steve Brown, Steve DiBenedetto, Steve Doughton, Judith Poxson Fawkes, Tessa Hughes Freeland, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Richard Kern, Cynthia Lahti, Marne Lucas, David Markey, Ivan Morrison, Olivier Mosset, Chuck Nanney, Arnold Pander, Henk Pander, Jacob Pander, Steven Parrino, Kembra Pfahler, Vu Pham, James Romberger, Ruth Root, Ben Sams, Michelle Segre, Samoa, Bill Shwarz, Eric Stotik, Judy Teufel, Storm Tharp, David Wojnarowicz, Philip Zimmerman & …