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WWW JUSTOUT COM
DECEMBER 17. 2010
THE YEAR IN
VISU A L ART
C\J
A b stra ct P a in te r with G in g e r Pot " a n d “A b stract P a in te r with
P e o n /“ from Storm Tharp's H ercules show a t PDX C o n te m p o ra ry
When it comes to being a force o f creation
in Portland and beyond, it seems everything
“golden child" Storm Tharp touches turns to
gold. Between being a part of the Whitney
Biennial, his breathtaking show Hercules at
PDX Contemporary (my favorite piece was
“ Realness”) and High House— the installation
that was a beacon of wonder at PICA ’s Time-
Based Art Festival in September—-Tharp did
a lot o f alchemy this year.
Call this next one Best Use o f Forest Des
olation as a Place to Get Off. Turning images
o f burned down for
ests into a site to
contemplate the deg
radation of the natu
ral landscape is one
thing, but making an installation of log jams
into a nice place to have sex is another. Queer
filmmaker Vanessa Renwick’s November
show as easy as fallin g o ff a log at PDX Con
temporary was one o f the best installations
o f the year. Where else would you find a bed
in a pile o f logs, or a mirror reflection o f your
crotch illuminated
by neon letters spell
ing “Nice package”?
After depriving the
city o f his wondrous
presence for years
while teaching in
France, sculptor/per-
formance artist/ man-
around-town David
Eckard returned to
Portland to sweep the
local award competi
tions. In early spring
he was awarded the
Bonnie Bronson Fel
lowship,given— along
with a $7,500 cash
prize— to an estab
lished Northwest art
ist. Then in August he
was named one of the
inaugural Hallie Ford
Fellows in Visual Arts, and handed $25,000.
Though Eckard has not officially shown work
this year, the recognition he received honors his
years of experimenting with form and
performance.
An artistic underdog o f sorts, Sissies is a
once-every-few-months series of artist talks
that provides a forum for intellectual dia
logue and the formation of queer artistic
community. Run by Finn Paul and Sarai
Black, it’s given artists such as Lorenzo Tri-
burgo, Ann Marie O’Malley, Gia Goodrich,
Kaj-anne Pepper, Thom Wheeler Castillo
and Lacy Davis a much needed place to dis
cuss their work.
Lastly, a nod to the best local response to
national stupidity. After the Smithsonian
censored David Wojnarowicz’s Fire in My
Belly— made in response to the A ID S cri
sis— removing it from the Hide/Seek: D iffer
ence and Desire in American Portraiture exhibit
because o f a few ants crawling over a crucifix,
the folks at Portland Institute of Contempo
rary Art elected to show Wojnarowicz’s film
until February.
Honorable Mentions: Kaj-anne Pepper
for his use o f balloons and Pepto-Bismol
with Homo’s Got Talent, :Shorn and Miss
Thing; the phenomenal photobooths of Ally
Picard/Bloodhound Photography and Ja
son Kinney.
— Wayne Bund
Visit blogout.justout.com fo r another take , cour
tesy o f artist and contributor T J Norris.
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