Storm Tharp: "Dorian" Cooley Gallery curated by Stephanie Snyder

Thu, 11/02/2017

Dorian
Rereading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
November 3 – December 10, 2017  Robert Blanchon, Jim Dine, Eve Fowler, Storm Tharp, & Sara Jaffe

Public reception:
Friday, November 3, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
At 6:30 pm, Eva Cilman, Stella Cilman, and Annabelle McCall read Thy'intrinsique balme—Gregg Bordowitz's poetic remembrance of artist and AIDS activist Robert Blanchon (1965–1999)

Public symposium:
Saturday, November 4, 10:30 am to 3:00 pm, including a communal luncheon. Free.
Psychology bldg. room 105, Reed College
Presentations by artists Eve Fowler and Storm Tharp; writer Sara Jaffe; and scholars Daniel A. Novak and Kimberly J. Stern

Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery
Reed College, nestled in the Reed library 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR 97202 Free and open to the public Tuesday–Sunday, 12-5 p.m. (closed Mondays)  Info: 503-517-7851 cooley@reed.edu reed.edu/gallery

Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray chronicles an Orphic descent into art’s symbolic “soul,” examining the nature of human-object relations with fearless imagination and fantasy. Written during the waning of the Victorian era, the novel presents a morbid case study of “Art for art’s sake,” the mantra of Aestheticism articulated by Walter Pater in the late 1860s.  In keeping with Wilde’s philosophical, social, and aesthetic critique, the artists in Dorian examine art’s capacity to figure and expand the representation and expression of the self—through art, and as art—in response to moral and political issues as critical today as they were in Wilde’s time.  The larger exhibition project assembles artists, writers, and scholars for public conversations. A commissioned work of fiction by writer Sara Jaffe accompanies the exhibition.  During the Cooley’s November 4th symposium, Portland-based artist Storm Tharp and writer Sara Jaffe discuss their work alongside: Eve Fowler, Los Angeles-based artist; Daniel A. Novak, Associate Professor of English, University of Mississippi; and Kimberly J. Stern, Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The symposium is organized by Jay Dickson, Professor of English and Humanities, Reed College; and Stephanie Snyder, John and Anne Hauberg Director and Curator, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery.  IMAGE: Storm Tharp, Cadre (detail), 2017. Ink, fabric dye, acrylic paint, charcoal, and spray paint on paper, 30 x 22 in. each. Courtesy the artist and PDX CONTEMPORARY ART.  The symposium is generously supported by the Department of English, and the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, Reed College.  Dorian is curated by Stephanie Snyder.
The exhibition and all events are free and open to the public.

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Storm Tharp: "Dorian" Cooley Gallery curated by Stephanie Snyder