When I first moved to Portland the local art scene was dominated by a 10,000 pound elephant of an artist named Rama.  Actually, Rama is an elephant, and while I do not begrudge him the thousands of dollars he’s earned from the sale of “his” paintings, I did find myself viewing the local art patronage with a good deal of contempt.  Firstly, elephants do not paint.  Ever.  People paint.  In the case of Rama, one Jeb Barsh, his trainer, is the actual artist, employing the rather unusual technique of applying cheap tempra delivered by means of elephant.  Jeb actually consulted with me on a technical issue (Rama couldn’t make it himself) and we discovered that, like another 10,000 pound elephantine artist, Rama had archival issues.  That’s right, if you own an original Rama it is likely to be vulnerable to the Rothko effect.  In my mind, Rama’s paintings most resemble the over-spray from an automobile paint booth, although some approach the vagueness of a late Alzheimer’s stage De Kooning.

    Can you guess which is the million dollar painting??

Now that the elephant fad is fading I find another disturbing trend in the national arts scene, which, sadly, involves the exploitation of adults by children.  Yet another generation of collectors and art patrons, tired, no doubt by their cracking and chipping elephant art, are now rushing to buy up the work of toddlers. 

I recently watched My Kid Could Paint That!  a documentary about a 4 year old abstract painter named Marla Olmstead .  (Is there any other kind of 4 year old painter besides abstract?)  Other than the disturbing fact that a 4 year old ( now 8) has her own web site (visit)  I was most disturbed by her parents, one for letting their child get lathered up in acrylic paint, and secondly for keeping the poor kid on a production schedule to meet the demands of her adoring public.    Parents should remember that acrylic = plastic, which is bad.  Your kid is going to be exposed to enough plastic in their lifetime that you really shouldn’t bath them in Liquitex.  For once I was grateful that we didn’t have a product placement.  The documentary leaves it somewhat in doubt whether dad had a little more hand in the prodigies paintings than collectors might be comfortable with, but my feelings ran a little more on line with what kind of lousy dad wouldn’t help his kid with a painting? “Daddy, you paint a face.”  “For goodness sake little Pablo, if I touch it it will be worthless!” 

Evidently there is a child art prodigy - Akiane  - who paints in a non-abstract, representational manner.  She has appeared on Oprah! (Exclamation point hers) which means she must be really, really important.  No doubt she is a sweet girl, but having just toured a wonderful, independent art school, I can assure you her work is no better than that of any well taught child.  That would seem to be the entire problem, that the arts are so neglected in our education curricula that any child showing the least bit of development is hailed as a genius.  It is not that children cannot create interesting or beautiful art - they do it all the time.  And any reasonably intelligent child can be taught to create accurate, representational images, as shown by instructors like Betty Edwards in her book Drawing on the Right side of the Brain.  The problem is the same one that prevails in music, as evinced by shows such as American Idol.  One is not a great, artistic singer simply by hitting the right notes.  If that were the case then Bob Dylan would have never had a career.  Just as in music, the greatest visual artist is not the one who can most accurately reproduce an existing image, but one who can slide around the notes, altering things in such a way that they become alive.  To do so always takes some living.  Sorry kids.

Proof, yet again, that 13 is an awesome number, Sunday July 13th is going to be a terriffic day in the Pearl District!  Not only will you find dozens of artists outside painting in the North Park Blocks, but the Museum of Contemporary Craft will be hosting their second annual PDX Block Party celebrating another great year of craftiness in Portland.  Last year more than 8,000 people came down to hear live music and see some wonderful art.  This year they’ll be treated to the sight of outdoor painters putting it all down on canvas, paper and boards.  Don’t miss it!

Come out on Sunday, July 13th, from 11-4:00 p.m. and check out Portland’s best outdoor painters!  There will be a public painting project, and dozens of artists scattered around the North Park Blocks, between Burnside and Glisan, just a few blocks East of the store.  Interested in learning more about plein air painting??  Come by Utrecht Art Supplies at 1122 NW Everett Street and check it out!

It is time, once again, to start planning for our annual plein air in the Pearl event.  We are looking at tentative dates of July 12th or 13th for a day of outdoor painting in Portland’s Pearl District Parks.  Last year we had over 20 artists set up and painting in the South Park Blocks just East of our store.  If you would like to get outside and paint for a day, or if you are a plein air landscape or cityscape painter who would like to participate in our salon style group show, let us know!  Email us at store13@utrecht.com for more info!

See you in July! 

One of the great things about running an art store is getting to meet and work with so many terrific artists.  Occasionally, I am lucky enough to convince one of them to work for me for a while, until they become famous or get tired of counting pencils.  One of those terrific artists, who is very likely to become successful, if not famous, is Eva Speer, whose work is now being shown across the continent.  A graduate of Indiana University’s MFA program, she shows at Viveza, in Seattle and was recently profiled on Oregon Art Beat.  Having been lucky enough to participate in some morning discussions of philosophy and art theory, I can attest to the intellectual vigor that Ms. Speer brings to the table.  You can also see it in the energy she conveys when talking about art materials, especially paint, which contrary to the adage, is pretty damn interesting to watch dry.

Eva’s work is still developing, and it is entirely possible that we have not even seen what will become her recognized style.  That is the problem of having a surfeit of ideas in an industry which is agonizingly conservative and narrow minded.  Most people think of the art world as a bastion of liberality, but the reality is that gallery owners and collectors really don’t want to see an artists change and grow, but would rather see a stable, constant production of the same piece, over and over again.  Think of Chuck Close churning out the same portrait of his homely friends and you will get an idea of narrow intellectual conformity of the artiverse.  I don’t see Eva being so constrained, at least until she gets really tired of counting pencils. 

Several of Eva’s gouache/collage work can be seen in Portland Modern .

Utrecht Art Supplies of Portland is proud to be hosting a group show of 44 artworks by nearly 40 women in honor of Women’s History Month.  Taking the title “Crone,” the show was inspired by the growing membership in our customer ranks of a class of mature women, often returning to (or arriving at) art after a long absence.  As a group, these women seemed to posess the traits of the wordly wise, and as we are always curious as to what our customers are making with all of their supplies, we decided to arrange a group show.  We did not really set a theme, but were simply interested in what these individuals were wanting to show the world.  Nor did we set any age restrictions, although the majority of contributions came from women in their 50’s. 

The work carries a wide range of styles and subjects, but much of it is figurative.  These images of women - portraits, nudes, and symbolic compositions -  show a sense of assuredness, of coming into their own.  There is no remnant of Picasso’s hysterical woman here, only self assuredness, confidence and humor. 

There are also references to nature, but not often in the manner of traditional landscape painting.  Instead the focus is on nature, on organisms, and the patterns of plantlife.

The individual artists have their own interesting stories.  Martha Reisdorf came to painting by the circuitous route.  After being diagnosed with a brain tumor and undergoing surgery, Martha’s vision was altered.  She enrolled in an art class as a part of her recovery and was hooked.   Stereotypes cannot be easily broken until there is concrete evidence that they are false.  Anyone who thinks women are timid nead only look at one of Martha’s paintings to see a concrete manifestation of a woman’s strength.

Many thanks to all of our participating artists - and special thanks to PNCA student Heather Birdsong for her outstanding organization and curatorial efforts in bringing about this show.

The exhibition will run through March 28th.

The Utrecht Gallery may well be the most exlusive gallery in town!  It’s not that we try to be, it’s just that there is so much demand to hang a piece on our wall.  One of the perc’s of working at Utrecht is that, as an employee, you are entitled to have a show.  So we fill nearly half of our year with employee work.  We have a couple student shows each year, one usually curated by the Oregon College of Art and Craft.   For our very few remaining individual shows, we tend to try and show the work of graduating art students from PNCA, PSU or from area programs.  This is a reward for their generous support of us during their academic careers.   We are trying to have more large scale group shows, like our current exhibition Crone: Wise Women of the Northwest.   Our next, all inclusive, show will be our July Plein Air exhibition.  

Last year we had over 20 artists painting outdoors in the park blocks and hung a salon style landscape show. 

Then in November we will be holding our second Political Art Show.  This year is sure to be even more popular than our last  show.  Start your piece now!

One of the great things about working at an art store is, of course, getting to work with artists.  Surprisingly, Utrecht isn’t much of a revolving door when it comes to our associates, and even our student employees tend to stick around for several years before moving on to greener (pthalo? viridian?) pastures.  One of our past employees, Mike Endo, has gone on to graduate school at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.  One of the great things about the internet and blogging is that now you can read someone’s diary without having to force the lock.  Mike has an interesting blog which he is using to chart his progress as a grad student and which is fascinating to observe if you are interested in the process of how an artist grows and evolves.  Take a look at http://www.cryingoflot49.blogspot.com/ and check out Mike’s progress.

Founded in 1990, Gallery 114 has been a constant beacon of individuality and artistic freedom in Portland’s Pearl District.  Most member run, cooperative galleries are lucky to last two years before the infighting and squabling  tear them apart, so it is a testament to the member artists that the gallery has continued to be a vital part of Portland’s art scene.  The gallery has also avoided the complacency of some co-ops, and the work on view is consistently of high quality and relevant to our region. 

So, on to our favorite artist, Kimber Shiroma.  She is, of course, our favorite, because she works with us here at Utrecht, where she is known as the Queen of the Count, and the God of Galkyd, among other things.  I was lucky enough to see one of the Robert Motherwell’s series, “Elegy to the Spanish Republic”, while on a business trip to Philadelphia, and came back to Kimber’s show with the painting fresh in my mind.  Her work was impactive, to say the least.  Looking at her large scale paintings, one can see a continuity with the history of abstract expressionism, but she clearly adds to the tradition.  The addition of fabric and hair, which are glued to the surface of the canvas, are not readily visible from a distant viewing, and as you are drawn in there is a paradoxical attraction/repulsion that goes on.  They imply an underlying complexity to all things, something visceral and filamental about nature.  They are beautiful paintings, and, like humans and other living organisms, they are constructed of things that, when explored too closely or squeezed too tight, make one go yuck. 

E.B. White wrote a an essay after Charles Lindbergh’s successful flight across the Atlantic on the spirit of Me-Too-ism - the tendancy of individuals to claim some share of the success of another persons accomplishments.  Suddenly it was because of the Goodyear tires and Quaker oil that Lindbergh was able to accomplish his heroic flight.  With that in mind, I still have to admit that I was excited to see a huge, three page layout in the Sunday Oregonian that praised the accomplishment of artist Lucinda Parker upon her execution of a huge 10 foot by 40 foot painting commissioned by the Washington State Arts Commission for the new performing arts center at the Lower Columbia College in Longview.   The reason for my excitement?  Well, it was because I sold her the canvas it was painted on!  Now, trust me, I take no credit for this tremendous work of art, but it is difficult not to want to crow - “hey, that’s our canvas!”  That Ms. Parker could create such a monumental work is a wonder in and of itself, considering that she herself is only about half as tall as the painting.  The work’s title, “Where Water Comes Together with Other Water” touches upon the theme of confluence, which many Portland artists have been thinking about lately.  This is, perhaps, Portland’s best contribution to the arts right now, the idea that here, things can come together, and that together we may solve some of our common challenges.  I encourge you to take a look at the full article in the Oregonian, written by D.K. Row.  Unfortunately the online article does not reproduce the terrific photos by Benjamin Brink, but they are in the January 6th Sunday publication.