This Week in the Mercury
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Artsy Tonight: First Thursday
Posted by Matt Stangel on Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 3:21 PM
It's that time of the month again— First Thursday time, and tonight looks like it'll be a good one. While there are boatloads of art events tonight, I've chosen three to talk about, and I hope you'll go check 'em out.
- Ashley Sloan's "Untitled," on view at Tribute Gallery
This month's big buzz surrounds Play for Keeps, a group show at the Tribute Gallery (328 NW Broadway #117, reception from 6-9 pm)— and the buzz can probably be attributed to Ashley Sloan's involvement in the show. She's a contributor at local photo blog, OPENWIDEpdx, which has documented just about every noteworthy exhibit to hit a Portland wall in the last year. Sloan will be showing works on paper; penciled illustrations which center around disembodied renderings of hair. Additionally, Josh MacNair of Baltimore, MD will be showing some playful illustrations of monsters, and other scary-things-made-cuddly.
- Sculpture by Thadeus Lutz, on view at Seven Planet
Where Play for Keeps has a strong buzz behind it, Thadeus Lutz's Instrument Series at Seven Planet (412 NW Couch, reception from 5-9 pm) sits on the other end of the spectrum, weighing in at under-publicized. Lutz's sculptures appear to explore the ambiguous quality of words, illustrating the multiple objects which a single word can represent. Presumably exploring the word "axe," Lutz fashioned a guitar neck with the blade of a traditional, lumber-cultivating axe at its base— a sort of physical pun which "shreds" in multiple ways.
- Assemblage by Lee Hale, on view at Nine Gallery
Lastly, Lee Hale's Mind if I Smoke opens tonight at the Nine Gallery (122 NE 8th Ave, reception from 6-9 pm). Hale uses this exhibit as a chance to reconcile memories of his mother, who was an avid smoker up until her 1996 death. His medium is the cigarette, often lipstick-stained, and used to an assemblage-based, sculptural end. In the press release for the show, Hale writes, "it was years before I could handle or, what was worse, buy [cigarettes], but once I did I was quickly seduced by their sensual aspects, the delicacy of the paper, the smell of the tobacco, and the colors imparted by lipstick and flame. Part of me remained repulsed by them, but I could not deny, nor escape, their beauty."
Alright, have fun tonight, everyone!
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I'm going to this First Thursday, so I've been looking for announcements of what to see - but holy gosh this stuff looks like weak sauce. Puns? Some guy's dead mother's used cigarette butts? That's just icky, and creepy.
If this stuff doesn't do it for you, maybe check out Natalie Phillips' solo show at Powell's on Burnside, or the photo show at Compound (their first photo show to date). Also, it looks like some good stuff will be up at Floating World Comics, and there's always last month's Upper Playground show which is staying up through Jan.-- lots of great works by locals in that one.
@Strangel - I tried all those except Floating World! The photos at Compound were great!
What did you think of the Upper Playground show?-- I'm really glad they're keeping it up for another month. Some of those guys rarely show in town (Blaine Fontana, namely) so when they do, it's good to see their work getting some extended play.
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