I am currently participating in this LA/PDX group show which is opening in the Portland area this weekend.

When:
7:00pm - 10:00pm Sat, Apr 4

THE STILL LIFE SHOW:
Two Simultaneous, Collaborative Exhibitions in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon
Curated by Anna Fidler

EXHIBITION DATES:

Milepost 5
900 NE 81st Ave. Portland, OR
Opening: SATURDAY APRIL 4, 7-10pm
April 4-26, 2009
Gallery Hours: Friday-Sunday, 1-5pm

Five Thirty Three
533 Los Angeles St. Los Angeles, CA
Opening: SATURDAY March 21
March 21-April 18, 2009
http://www.fivethirtythree.org/

Still Life Show:

The premise of The Still Life Show involves a pairing of eighteen artists from Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. Portland’s ebb and flow of dreary winter and resplendent summer, fascination with experimental music, European-influenced urban planning, and bicycle riding seems far removed from LA’s vast, sprawling pocket neighborhoods; each island-like and different from the next, U-turns, car tans, canyons, and fiery Santa Ana winds. I feel that there is much to be gained by an exchange of sorts between these fascinatingly dissimilar cities that I have lived in; united by the commonality of art making. This exhibition was created to incite a curious dialogue between artists, schools, writers, and spaces.

Each artist was told to find a box of any size and fill it with contents of their own whim and discretion. I paired the artists and sent each a corresponding address. Nine artists from Los Angeles sent boxes to Portland and likewise nine Portland artists sent boxes to LA. Artists were instructed to install the contents of the box they received as a ‘still life’. Only items placed in the box could be used.

Similar to Japanese ikebana, ‘still life’ in this context serves as a unifying force. Whereas usually a painting or drawing would be made from a still life, in this case the arrangement itself is the work of art.

This exhibition represents an overall mixing of emerging and established, West Coast north and south, craft and anti-craft, desert and forest, public and private, domestic and wild.

-Anna Fidler, Curator

ARTISTS:

PORTLAND ----------------- LOS ANGELES

Holly Andres ------------------- Erik Bluhm
Damien Gilley --------- Patricia Fernandez
Sam Gould --------------------- Amy Green
MK Guth ----------------------- John Knuth
Jessica Jackson Hutchins -- Laura Owens
Melody Owen -------------- Juliana Paciulli
Patrick Rock ----------------- Jenny Phelps
Ben Stagl ------------------- Noah Thomas
Storm Tharp ----------------- Ami Tallman