JASON OVERBY: Overbys comics are exceptional from a standpoint of sequential art theory and form, but inner monologues about perception and experience also dominate.
  • Jason Overby/Floating World Comics
  • JASON OVERBY: Overby's comics are exceptional from a standpoint of sequential art theory and form, but inner monologues about perception and experience also dominate.

If you've spent any time in the Portland comedy or theater communities, you know there's a shortage of local medium-sized, affordable performance spaces. And if you know that, you'll be glad to know that Shelley McLendon, one of this city's funniest people, is opening up her own theater in Old Town/Chinatown. The Siren Theater opens its doors this October, and will be the permanent home of Bad Reputation Productions and provide performance space to other local groups.

The Literary Jonathans Club's enfant terrible Jonathan Franzen has a new book out. I read it, I regret reading it, and I'm hoping that my regret can prevent yours. Here's just one thing I REALLY didn't like about Purity:

From its epigraph in untranslated German to its deeply unnatural-sounding dialogue, Purity is a book that at no point lets you forget it's Important. It's a book that the novelist Roxane Gay has rightly described as "full of contempt for the reader," but it's also full of don't-you-love-me insecurity. There's a dissonance to this neediness: Jonathan Franzen, of all writers, has nothing to prove. He is loved. His reputation is sterling, seemingly un-killable, however polarizing he personally may be. And it is in this attention-seeking that Purity ultimately fails.

Jenna Lechner previewed Jessica Jackson Hutchins' new show, Confessions, a joint venture from the Lumber Room and Reed's Cooley Gallery, opening today in both locations. "It's refreshing to see an artist subvert domestic crafts from cutesy to the grotesque (especially in Portland, where adorable crafts dominate)," writes Jenna. "It's similar to the work of artist Lynda Benglis, who twists and contorts fabric, then douses it with color and glitter."

In advance of Jason Overby's book release tomorrow night, Suzette Smith writes of the comics artist, "Overby's comics are exceptional from a standpoint of sequential art theory and form, but inner monologues about perception and experience also dominate The Being Being. As a reviewer, I hated having to read this collection at a regular clip—there are a lot of ideas to digest in each piece."

Franzen, Overby, and Hutchins vie for your artsy attention this week. I mean, you already know which one I'm avoiding.