DEMOCRACY BY LEONARD COHEN. REST IN PEACE, MY MAN.

It's coming through a hole in the air
From those nights in Tiananmen Square
It's coming from the feel
That this ain't exactly real
Or it's real, but it ain't exactly there
From the wars against disorder
From the sirens night and day
From the fires of the homeless
From the ashes of the gay
Democracy is coming to the USA
It's coming through a crack in the wall
On a visionary flood of alcohol
From the staggering account
Of the Sermon on the Mount
Which I don't pretend to understand at all
It's coming from the silence
On the dock of the bay,
From the brave, the bold, the battered
Heart of Chevrolet
Democracy is coming to the USA

It's coming from the sorrow in the street
The holy places where the races meet
From the homicidal bitchin'
That goes down in every kitchen
To determine who will serve and who will eat
From the wells of disappointment
Where the women kneel to pray
For the grace of God in the desert here
And the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the USA

Sail on, sail on
Oh mighty ship of State
To the shores of need
Past the reefs of greed
Through the Squalls of hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on

It's coming to America first
The cradle of the best and of the worst
It's here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And it's here they got the spiritual thirst
It's here the family's broken
And it's here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way
Democracy is coming to the USA

It's coming from the women and the men
Oh baby, we'll be making love again
We'll be going down so deep
The river's going to weep,
And the mountain's going to shout Amen
It's coming like the tidal flood
Beneath the lunar sway
Imperial, mysterious
In amorous array
Democracy is coming to the USA

Sail on, sail on
O mighty ship of State
To the shores of need
Past the reefs of greed
Through the squalls of hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
As time cannot decay
I'm junk but I'm still holding up this little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the USA
To the USA

Leonard Cohen (21 September 1934 – 10 November 2016)

PRE-ORDER APARTAMENTO ISSUE 18

Issue 18 of Apartamento Magazine features a trip to Andrea Zittel’s A-Z West homestead in Joshua Tree, Kembra Pfahler, Molly Goddard, Luis Venegas, Jessica Koslow, Duncan Hannah, Margaret Howell, Sébastien Meyer & Arnaud Vaillant, The house as a city, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, JB Blunk, Fernando Arrabal, and Chloe Wise. Plus: The kamara, a series of paintings from the Peloponnese coast by Jean-Philippe Delhomme, and Making meaning, a conversation with Susan Sellers, Andrew Zuckerman, and Sam Grawe

We will be shipping in early November as soon as the issue is officially released! 

LUSI REVIEWS FOREIGNERS

Foreigners on view at Nationale through November 13, 2016

Foreigners on view at Nationale through November 13, 2016

Issues of ethnicity and foreignness have always sparked contentious debate in our country, and more than likely always will. Nationale's current show Foreigners brings these heated issues to the forefront via the work of four Portland-based immigrant artists. I would call these artists and their pieces nothing short of impassioned and powerful. In our current highly politicized and tense society, it is refreshing to see how artists are choosing to confront these ever-present and foreboding hurdles, hurdles that impose on their selfhood and their artistic agency.

Modou Dieng, born in Saint-Louis, Senegal, is a multidisciplinary artist; he draws on pop culture as a presence in our society to comment on its permeability in culture and its inherent allegorical functions. With After Thoughts he is carefully recalling Muhammad Ali and all of the strength the famous boxer carries with him and subsequently radiating out. With Goodbye Blue Sky… it is easy, yet problematic, to imbue the work with post-colonial fervor, yet this is not Dieng’s primary intention. Simply the mixed media of the European flag with denim on the back, all a soft shade of blue, means to narrate through his own perspective what it means to be a Generation X African. It is also interesting how he plays with the notion of American ideal and the American Dream; blue skies make way for opportunity, but here he’s waving goodbye to all of that... The gold leaf details on both pieces are subtle, but eye-catching touches.

Modou Dieng, Goodbye Blue Sky... (detail)

Modou Dieng, Goodbye Blue Sky... (detail)

Victor Maldonado’s work is perhaps the most playful of the works displayed using bright colors and slightly caricature-esque facial shapes. By calling on an iconic and recognizable Mexican symbol, his prints and wooden stencils of luchador masks evoke powerful connotations on the migrant experience. Born in Michoacan, Mexico, but having grown up in the Central San Joaquin Valley, his pieces, such as Lucha Mask II, carefully draw on his heritage to create careful commentary on the political and cultural balance that exists even between such close boundaries as the United States and Mexico. Much like actual luchador fights, these pieces on display are energetic, vibrant, and confronting.

Victor Maldonado, Lucha Mask II, 2016, acrylic on wood10.5 x 11.5”

Victor Maldonado, Lucha Mask II, 2016, acrylic on wood10.5 x 11.5”

Espinas V, Espinas VI and Espinas II by Angelica Millán are commanding and demand attention from the room separate from the fact that they employ bright, eye-catching designs. The size of Espinas II itself is impressive, especially when seen next to the other two works, yet what is most understated about these works is the delicate manner in which they are riddled with thorns. The fabric Millán uses in Espinas II she herself buried and then unearthed, evokes nuances of “home-grown”, “roots” and “rebirth”. The smaller pieces are torn and burned, and finally, each of her canvases are delicately and arduously littered with thorns in what I can only imagine was a painstaking act of love. Further, themes of femininity and home-making are not lost with these works, bringing their vigor full circle.

Angelica Millán, Espinas VI, 2016, thorns on burnt fabric and wood, 10 x 10"

Angelica Millán, Espinas VI, 2016, thorns on burnt fabric and wood, 10 x 10"

The final artist on show is Bukola Koiki, Nigeria born but resident of the US since her youth. Her work narrates what it means to identify as multi-cultural. However, on the opposite spectrum, Koiki is fully aware of the cultural dislocation that often goes alongside such identification. As a result, her work is often toeing that boundary by employing themes of tradition and ritual. An Aggregate of Power, a huge sculptural piece with handmade and hand-dyed and paper beads recalling traditional Nigerian necklaces, is a testament to her heritage and the role it occupies in her personal, inter-cultural discourse. The fact that it is so large-scale and in the context of a gallery space, as opposed to an actual necklace to be worn in Nigeria, changes its reception. Similarly, Tyvek Gele 1 (along with the video: I Claim That Which Was Never Mine) toys with what it means to translate something so personal to one’s identity in terms that are accessible to another background -- the “gele” is a traditional Nigerian headpiece worn by women, but Koiki here has made it out of dyed Tyvek, a highly commercialized Western industrial material dyed with indigo in an attempt to bridge, or at least highlight, that gap.

Bukola Koiki from the series I Claim That Which Was Never Mine, Tyvek Gele 1, 2014, Tyvek, natural indigo, and thread, 10.5 x 9.75 x 9” & MP4 video

Bukola Koiki from the series I Claim That Which Was Never Mine, Tyvek Gele 1, 2014, Tyvek, natural indigo, and thread, 10.5 x 9.75 x 9” & MP4 video

As an immigrant myself, I was instantly drawn to these works. The notion of "in-betweenness" that all of these artists explore is something that I have always felt. Born in Bulgaria, but having divided my time equally between living there, Spain, and the States, being "grounded" and achieving a state of stability is not something that I can say I've ever achieved. Perhaps for brief moments in time, but much like thriving in one's cultural roots, those moments are fleeting. As a result, I can easily visualize the need these artists must have felt in expounding on a sense/space that is both transitional and simultaneously homely. What they have achieved both individually and collectively here with Foreigners is not to be overlooked and certainly will not be forgotten.

Shown here, works by Victor Maldonado, Bukola Koiki, and Angelica Millán

Shown here, works by Victor Maldonado, Bukola Koiki, and Angelica Millán

LUSI REVIEWS THE HATRED OF POETRY

lusi-poetry.jpg

Our intern Lusi, who is currently studying Art History at Lewis & Clark, is back at it. Today she reviews Ben Lerner's The Hatred of Poetry (currently available in the shop).

    "Ben Lerner’s most recent publication, The Hatred of Poetry, couldn’t have arrived at a more apt time. Language is intrinsic to everything -- our way of living, the way we communicate, how we express ourselves -- and the most fascinating thing language can provide us is growth. Language is never stagnant and often highly adaptable; the way we choose to interact with it is what determines its impact and whether or not its growth will continue. That is to say, language will always be changing; the question is, are we ready to change with it?

    Something I have been grappling with recently is the accessibility of language, particularly within the art world, and Lerner hits on this tension in his book at length. It’s easy to ask what makes a good poem or what makes a bad poem, but the subjectivity of the answer can often skew that perception. In an interview with The Paris Review, Lerner is quoted, “I think some people I know hate what I consider really good poetry because they are really anxious about intelligibility.” It’s the same with most Modern art or Expressionist art and thinking -- “Well I could have done that/my kid could have done that!” Yet art, in all of its forms, has no definitive beginning or end, and “what does not change is the will to change.”

    The tradition of poetry or poetic ambition is tricky, mostly out of fear of rejection (internal or external) and poetry is undoubtedly an experiment -- always has been and will always continue to be such. But poetry also contradicts itself; poets confront limits and explore dualities intrinsic to human nature. Ideally that should create an open dialogue between the author and the audience but it is most often that those cases are the least accessible because deriving understanding and catching implication is based on the experience of the individual. Whether garnering meaning and inclusivity is to be done through a matter of defeating language or propounding a new measure of value, where I come to question Lerner’s argument is that I fundamentally disagree that it can’t be done through poetry. In my experiences, It is too immersive of a craft to be so pigeonholed as constantly disappointing. 

    As powerful a medium as it is, Lerner maneuvers the intricate dualities of the poetic form with surprising ease and efficiency. The Hatred of Poetry is at once one of the strongest denunciations of poetry I have ever encountered, but also one of the greatest defenses capable of rivaling Sir Philip Sidney’s The Defense of Poesy. A highly recommended and insightful read, for those who have never read a page of poetry and for those who have devoted their lives to it alike.'
—Lusi Lukova

AMY BERNSTEIN AT TBA/HOUSEGUEST/PMOMA

Amy Bernstein 

Amy Bernstein 

Lou & I had so much fun this morning visiting the TBA/Houseguest/PMOMA outdoor museum at Pioneer Square. Gallery artist Amy Bernstein's newest work left us feeling all dreamy...
Make sure to stop by Saturday 9/10 & Sunday 9/11, 11am–7pm.

Johanna Jackson

Johanna Jackson

Dino Matt & Daniel Long

Dino Matt & Daniel Long

Larry Yes's Art in the Park Project, a painting area free for all 11-4 both days

Larry Yes's Art in the Park Project, a painting area free for all 11-4 both days

Julia Calabrese

Julia Calabrese

ELIZABETH MALASKA OPENING RECEPTION THIS SUNDAY!

Elizabeth Malaska, We Shall Speak and It Shall Be So and What We Say Will be All You Know, 2016, oil, Flashe, spray paint, and pencil on canvas, 22 x 18"

Elizabeth Malaska, We Shall Speak and It Shall Be So and What We Say Will be All You Know, 2016, oil, Flashe, spray paint, and pencil on canvas, 22 x 18"

Two years in the making, artist Elizabeth Malaksa's powerful new body of work proves that painting can be a catalyst for action in the struggle against our global culture of patriarchal aggression. As Sarah Sentilles writes in her essay for the exhibition catalog:

Malaska has taken on the fraught feminist challenge of painting women without objectifying women. It is as if Picasso's models have come to life (perhaps they are Malaska's awakened dead?), marching out of his canvases in protest and into hers.

Please join us this Sunday, September 4 (3–6PM) for the opening reception of When We Dead Awaken II.