Skip to main content
Three Shows We Loved This Year
^. .^₎⟆ & /|\ ^._.^ /|\ (Cats and Bats) at Well Well Projects, October
This Well Well Projects’ exhibition, featuring new works by Anna Fidler, Michael E. Stephen and John Whitten, was all based around the supernatural vibes of two otherwise relatively “cute” animals: cats and bats. The prints, pastels and assemblage works were impactful, sweet, and meaningful in their own ways, but I gasped out loud when I saw the wispy, ephemeral hidden cat whisker messages that seemed to be growing from the walls of the gallery such that, in order to view them, one had to squat as if bringing oneself down to eye level with a cat. BRIANNA WHEELER.
Ralph Pugay: ShangriLIEF at Adams and Ollman, November and December
Ralph Pugay’s ShagriLIEF is warm, enchanting, and funny—clever, amorous, surreal scenes painted right onto the walls and layered with hundreds of drawings hung in an obscure salon-style formation. Violet hibiscus are drawn in bloom on the white gallery wall—alongside a man in an eye patch and other mysterious figures hanging out between petals and leaves. One minute you’ll notice a guy in a G-string flexing, the next an anthropomorphic snail person slowly moving along, bodies coalescing, bending, stretching. Every piece of work was vibrant, gestural and playful. ASHLEY GIFFORD.
Xavier Kelly: Running Through the Fields at Industry One, November
Xavier Kelly’s first solo show at Industry One defied both simple categorization and straightforward comparisons, instead leaning full throttle into a modality that is equally chaotic and controlled, fervent and meditative, screaming loud and church-mouse quiet. Kelly’s bold, visual works weighed issues of race, gender, joy and fear in an America built by the very people it’s so intent on conquering. Running Through the Fields reminded me of who the future really belongs to, and it got me excited at the prospect of handing it over. BRIANNA WHEELER.
Three Shows We Loved That You Can Still See
Jeffry Mitchell: Winter Blooming at PDX Contemporary, through Dec. 27
With porcelain bears, elephants, and owls dance in place as ornaments on a wooden tree sculpture—Jeffry Mitchell’s Winter Blooming leans hard into the decorative. There’s an emphasis on gathering, embellishment, and coziness throughout this new body of work that includes ceramics, sculptures, prints and drawings. Mitchell’s signature elephants show up everywhere: a wooden side table and stool, a patina-bronzed mama and calf, aquatint portraits, even gouache on manila envelopes. Familiar animal friends, including alligators, double as handles on butter dishes Even the glazes feel seasonal: dark evergreen, matte white. ASHLEY GIFFORD. 1881 NW Vaughn St., 503-222-0063, pdxcontemporaryart.com. 10 am–6 pm Tuesday–Saturday. Free.
Laura Camila Medina: Ceremony for the Winged at Nationale, through Jan. 3
Spirals, doves, and florals in bloom drift across gossamer textiles, stitched into a constellation of panels. Soft-sculpted arms, frames, and cages hang, protrude, and dangle—part adornment, part architecture—turning the wall piece into both medium and backdrop for Laura Camila Medina’s Ceremony for the Winged, tucked in the back of Nationale’s bookshop-gallery. Silver tinsel curtains shimmer at the Project Room entrance. Medina folds painting, fiber, video and installation into something intimate and universal. ASHLEY GIFFORD. 15 SE 22nd Ave., nationale.us. Noon–6 pm Thursday–Monday. Free.
A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin at Oregon Contemporary, through Feb. 8
This show, which opened in October, weaves together inspirations, personal collections, and rare insights into the process of Portland literary icon Ursula K. Le Guin, giving the feeling you are walking around inside her head. Highlights include an installation with a treehouse bookcase where visitors can peruse Le Guin’s massive collection of work while cozily nestled on pillows or benches between roots and branches, as well as an opportunity to type a message on Le Guin’s own personal typewriter. BRIANNA WHEELER. 8371 N Interstate Ave., 503-286-9449, oregoncontemporary.org, Noon–5 pm Friday–Saturday. Free.
