match 19.2004
ART
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Developing focus
nhssTIT
The many worlds
of Portland photographer Paul Dahlquist
by
TJ N
ADVENTURES#.COM
m w o m m h * m iC H T
Adventure Club for Women
o r r is
« P he adage
“getting bet
ter with age”
1 comes to
mind upon meet
ing photographer
Paul Dahlquist.
Although hts mid
length pure white
hair, small specta
cles and round
belly would be a
shoo-in for hire at
Macy’s come
November, this
Santa ain’t what
he appears to be.
And as the gay
photographer cele
“Beach Bov” is one
brates his 75th birthday this of dozens of Paul
month, there are zero signs
Dahlquist’s intimate
of him putting down his
black and white
signature 35mm. Instead,
photographs on
this septuagenarian will
display through
open a compendium show
March 27; (right)
at the Pearl District cooper
Paul Dahlquist
ative Gallery 114-
celebrates his 75th
Visitors have the oppor
birthday March 2 1
tunity to engage with a two-
at Gallery 1 14
decade-long black and white
travelogue of portraits, nudes and locations that
are as immediate as they are sensual. The rear
wall is a giant montage of a few hundred can-
graphing people, he passes out his card to
dids— kisses, smiles, drag queens, crazy hairstyles,
encourage interaction on the street or in the
men and women in various states of undress, and
gym— hoping to trigger a photo shoot.
even a self-portrait or two for good measure.
Dahlquist admits he pretty much tiptoes
Many of the striking images are of young,
across the lines of conventionality when it
buff and beautiful men. Dahlquist talks about
comes to people’s inherent public vs. private
beauties. “Celebrating the body vs. being a dirty
Kimo, an African American man who was his
old man is a very fuzzy line,” he belly laughs.
roommate for more than 10 years— an image of
a man who has done hard time with an impen
Dahlquist sees physical manifestations of beauty
in musculature and a strong chin but confirms
etrable body. In this large portrait Kimo’s dark
that the real spirit to the work is learning to
skin is in super-high contrast to the under
accept ourselves as we are in the here and now.
clothes he tears in half, exposing his ripped
muscles and attentive endowment.
A t his Portland home studio Dahlquist jokes
about cutting mattes like “the chainsaw mas
Dahlquist explains how the man now suffers
sacre,” but at the same time, I was completely
from debilitating multiple sclerosis, though still
taken aback by the incredible photographic col
asks to be documented, and Dahlquist points to
lection he has amassed: from a sensually twisted
a single image from 2001 of a wasting frame
and toned Herb Ritts to the generally psyche
now resembling the emaciated waif models of
delic optical art of Jerry Uelsmann to other
the late ’80s.
works by Greg Gorman, Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Staring into the beautiful face of 1987’s
and Sally M ann— a virtual art history lesson.
“Bashir” from Goa, India, viewers will share
Like all versed photographers, Dahlquist
with Dahlquist the importance of documenting
carries his camera daily for the occasional
people on film at their ripest.
opportunity. (Even I was not prepared for my
The son of a Navy man, Dahlquist first picked
close-up, but who can turn him down?)
up his dad’s camera at age 8 while living in
China. Images of civil strife, bombs dropping and
After discussing this interview with a smat
evacuations informed his later work. The young
tering of artist friends, I learned Dahlquist’s name
child was seemingly fearless to point his camera
is status in these parts, being dropped among
younger emerging talents like last year’s Portland
directly toward people fleeing Chefoo, China.
Biennial photographer Erik Palmer and lauded
Fast-forward a few years to Piedmont, Calif.,
queer performance sculptor David Eckard.
where he recalls saving his allowance for several
Describing himself as a “happy guy who
weeks so he could buy his first Brownie camera.
doesn’t have many bad days" with a penchant
Dahlquist went to college in W ashington
for the Metropolitan Opera, Paul Dahlquist is
state before eventually settling in Portland.
certainly a model (senior) citizen whose career
After 25 years of teaching, he took the oppor
may just be getting started (again). J H
tunity to go on a three-year sabbatical to Cuba,
Asia and Spain, among other global comers,
P aul D ahlquist P hotographs runs through
recording his journeys on film along the way.
March 27 at Gallery 114, 1100 N.W . Glisan St.
Describing himself as more of a “picture
From 2 to 5 p.m. March 21, celebrate Dahlquist’s
giver than a picture taker,” Dahlquist is magi
75th birthday with him at the gallery
cally candid as he openly expresses the art of
observation and his own photographic
TJ NORRIS is a Portland visual artist, curator and
voyeurism. Having learned to prepare for inter
music critic. Fmd him at www.qnorris.net.
action but avoid confrontation when photo
ro « m o m
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