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JUNE 17,2011
pridefiles
It Takes Two
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pears it’s the emotional investment
they’ve made to each other, and to
their creative expressions, that have
made the past 15 years work.
“We’ve gone to therapy together,
we’ve done it all,” Carrigan says,
“W e’ve taken the extra step to keep our rela-
tionship together. I t’s not easy. There are al
ways those times where you have to make
the extra effort. I t’s really been fun living my
life with somebody who’s like me.”
Carrigan’s ami Porter's work can be seen
during their joint show, Symbols from a Col-
lective Unconscious, at the Guardino Gallery
(2939 Alberta St.) in the Feature Area and
Window Gallery from June 30 to July 26. An
opening reception is scheduled fo r Last Ihurs-
day, Ju n e30, from 6 to 9 p.m. For more infor-
mation, v isitguardinogallery.com.
— R yan J. P rado
Greg Carrigan, Tabor Porter,
and art as an attitude
In the evening head downstairs to Al’s Den for free, live nightly music starting
at 7 p.m. and DJed music on Thursday-Saturday, starting at 10:30 p.ni.
,
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--------- TIL'S DEN— —
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FRIDAY, JUNE 17
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POISON WATERS & FRIENDS
5:30 p.m. • Free • 21 & over
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DJ SANTO 10:30 p.m. • Free • 21 & over
SATURDAY, JUNE 18
DJ STARGAZER • 10:30 p.m. • Free • 21 & over
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“I’m influenced by Tabor. He really
appreciates an object. He’ll pick up
an everyday object and say, ‘Look
at this!’ You’ll look at it, and it
becomes a special thing, because
maybe he sees the Wabi-sabi in it.”
-GREG CARRIGAN
MARTY DAVIS
The new Zeus Cafe uses the freshest ingredients from local and
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regional purveyors. For breakfast, enjoy items such as root vegetable hash and
Carlton Farms bacon benedict with freshly baked crumpets. For dinner, try
the asparagus ribbon and arugula salad, the Piedmontese flat iron steak salad
or a salt-brick roasted Cornish hen. Pair your meal with classic cocktails
made using pre-Prohibition methods or wines from an affordable list.
Walking into the North Portland home
o f Greg Carrigan and labor Porter is like
entering an art museum and antique store in
one. Carved wood sculptures, metal smith
jewelry, paintings and found object dioramas
adorn every available inch o f wall, tables and
hutches and more are representative of a
lifetime o f art. M ost o f the pieces are their
own making; some are part o f their vast col-
lection. But all o f it speaks to the couple’s
resiliency in the face o f hardship.
Carrigan, 59, and Porter, 58, have been
together for 15 years, and met while both
were involved with Quest Center— an inte-
grative health center for people with H IV /
AIDS. Both Carrigan and Porter are long
term survivors and recovering alcoholics
whose affinity for creating art emerged as a
therapeutic element in their lives.
“I came really close to death at one time,”
Porter explains. “They gave me about six
months to live, and I changed my whole idea
o f life. The ego’s not quite as big a deal as it
used to be.”
Carrigan’s wood carvings take on more
whimsical, cartoonish sensibilities, employ
ing found objects and rusted metals, while
Porter’s jewelry and wood carvings seek a
sort o f reconciliation of religious accoutre
ment and steam-punk aesthetic. Individu
ally, the artists have shown their work at
galleries like Cannibals, Guardinos, the Beet
Gallery and beyond. Each, naturally, has his
own muses, but it’s perhaps their mutual
fondness of the other’s work that helps fuel
not only their relationship, but their
productivity.
“I’m influenced by Tabor,” Carrigan says.
“He really appreciates an object. H e’ll pick up
an everyday object and say, ‘Look at this!’
You’ll look at it, and it becomes a special thing,
because maybe he sees the Wabi-sabi in it. I
love that. I try to put that into my pieces.”
Carrigan’s daughter is expecting her first
child July 4, and the next chapter o f being
grandfathers has the two giddy. But it ap-
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