Street roots., June 30, 2017, Page 5, Image 5

Street Roots • June 30-July 6, 2017
News
Page 5
ART, from page 4
His pen drawings, on the other hand, are
quite explicit.
B. Pat’s actual name is Vernon Bernard
Patrick, and he made headlines in 2009
when he lured a homeless woman to a
Portland motel room where he brutally beat
her.
Tierney first visited him to discuss
showing his art when he was at the Justice
Center in downtown Portland.
He had sent her a letter that said: “I am
6’, 4” and 300 lbs.; I am crammed into this
little 7 x 5 foot cell. It’s awful, hideously
synchronized with descended anguish and
chaos. I would be interested in giving you
some works for show.”
She remembers he was “a sight to
behold.”
“He was this huge black guy wearing pink
pajamas,” she said. “We had a very
interesting afternoon in which he told me he
had been brought up illiterate, and only in
jail had he learned to read. And he had
become quite the intellectual in his own
personal way. This guy read Schopenhauer
and Nietzsche. He was fascinated by time.”
B. Pat served his sentence, and after his
release, Tierney’s contact with him ended.
Neither Tierney nor Slader were able to
determine his whereabouts to notify him of
the show until recently, when he contacted
Slader from Washington County Jail. He was
arrested on charges of stalking, parole
violation and first-degree sex abuse charges
following two separate arrests in May.
Through a friend of B. Pat’s, Slader was
able to secure a great deal more of his
artwork to feature in his show.
“Some of these images are among the
most powerful art I have ever seen,” he said.
“In no way is my admiration for his art
an admiration for any other part of him,”
Slader said. “But even in the soul of
someone that has harmed others, there is
this inherent urge to create that says, you’re
a human being.”
Gallery 114 is a cooperative, owned and
operated by 11 artists who all pay dues and
take turns designing their own exhibits.
This structure, free of commercial
pressures, allows them to show strong,
original exciting art that isn’t necessarily
marketable, Slader said.
Slader’s style of abstract portraiture
began with close-ups of men. He drew on
his former clients who were abused by
Catholic priests for inspiration. He said
many of their siblings didn’t survive the
David Slader will showcase his collection o f abstract female nudes during his benefit auction and showing at Gallery 114 in July.
close, only family and a small population of
abuse, and killed themselves, “either the
state employees remain conscious of their
fast way or the slow way.” But his clients
existence.”
were tough and tenacious survivors whom
Drenth said he hopes gallery visitors will
he admired, he said.
understand that there are
The collection of
abstract female nudes that
two sides to his work,
he’ll showcase in July was
which uses the
"Few Oregon towns have juxtaposition of time and
almost entirely painted
after the November
as many citizens as the
bondage against bright
election.
14,000 » s i and women carnival colors.
“The traditional female
“There is a lot of pain
locked np in ©nr
figure in Western art is a
there, but there is a
prisons. One© those
passive figure,” he said. He
bright side to it, too,” he
wanted his women to be in doors close, only fam ily
said.
control, and he said it was and a sm all population
“People had no idea
of state employees
his intention to use
eroticism as power.
remain ©ossein«® of their how talented some of
these guys that are
“If you can have full
eaetence,"
locked behind bars,”
frontal nudity, and still be
DAW .D S LA D E R T ;e r n e y
«peop,e
self-assured, that’s a real
only know them for the
strong statement,” he said.
bad things they’ve done,
He said while he knew
but in fact they are human beings, and they
of more than a dozen
talented local artists he could feature
are oftentimes very extremely talented and
alongside his work, he wanted his show to
are very deep and profound in their take on
have meaning.
life - they have definitely seen the dark
“Few Oregon towns have as many citizens
side.”
as the 14,000 men and women locked up in
emily@streetroots. org
our prisons,” Slader said. “Once those doors
IF YOU GO
Gallery 114
HOONWGIisanSt., Portland
July 5 .
6-8 p.m.
Benefit Auction
David Slader will donate 20 percent of
any sales of his works this evening to
the Oregon Justice Resource Center,
which promotes criminal justice reform,
provides services to incarcerated
women and operates the Oregon
Innocence Project, which seeks to
assist people who have been wrongfully
convicted.
July 6
First Thursday
3-9 p.m.
Human Being
On display during regular hours, noon
to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday,
from July 7 through 28,