Lace Your Dunks and straight-arm a Beavertonian!

Group show – Japanese Prints

Froelick Gallery
817 S.W. Second Ave.

Despite international affiliations, this show at Froelick looks achingly elegant, with printmakers covering almost all spectrums of the medium. From the stark blacks and raw hand method of Riysuko Ozeki to the intricate copper plates of Kenji Kitagawa to the poetic gestures of Takahiko Hayashi, each artist has a distinctly personal vision, each complimenting one another masterfully.

Judy Cooke – Cairo ?” Paris, Paintings and Drawings 2001 ?” 2005

Elizabeth Leach Gallery
417 N.W. Ninth Ave.

The abstractions of Judy Cooke are precise and somewhat clinical explorations of space and texture. The gestured lines that so exhaustingly fill so much post-expressionistic abstractions are gone, and with Cooke’s work each form carries individual weight, exacting shapes in isolated fields. The result is a graceful look at the components of each painting, obvious in its craftsmanship.

Kristen Miller – Waiting

PDX Contemporary
925 N.W. Flanders St.

The collage work of Kristen Miller incorporates a range of organic elements, from natural dyes to used fruit wrappers along with glassine and delicate embroidery to create fragile forms filled with elegant colors. There is something hushed and almost nostalgic about Miller’s work and her choice of such temporary materials makes each piece seem like frail skin, manipulated with subtle precision.

Rae Mahaffey – New Work

Laura Russo Gallery
805 N.W. 21st Ave.

Rae Mahaffey’s geometric abstractions are impressive not in their design, but in their material. Her use of oil on wooden panels is almost more engaging than the forms she creates. This is not to say the form is bad; the work has a strong sense of balance with a palette and placement that strikes one as almost kitschy in its execution. But it’s the incorporation of the grain and texture of the wood paneling that I find most engaging. It’s always present and highlighted to the point of feeling foreign in certain areas with the rich oils giving the work a sense of weighty fields, and deeper space.

Shin Tanaka – T-Boy Show

Compound Gallery
107 N.W. Fifth Ave.

Shin Tanaka takes origami to the next level. Beginning creating paper reproductions of his favorite kicks as a hobby, Tanaka now creates whole worlds away from dunks. His T-Boy is what he describes as a blank slate, a paper mannequin for the most defined of street fashions and graf. Each piece is handmade and Tanaka has gone from sneaker-obsessed college student to sought-after designer with clients from all over the street-savvy spectrum. This is Tanaka’s first solo exhibit and sounds fucking awesome.

Kendra Binney

Genuine Imitation Gallery
328 N.W. Broadway #116

Kendra Binney’s work feels right at home in Portland. The busy works feature all sorts of hidden animals – spiders, owls, snakes – tucked away among the busy lines and layers of Binney’s nostalgic work. The centerpiece of the work, however, seems like it would have moved here. Frail, beautiful, exaggerated women fill her canvases, looking sad, pensive and oh so fashionable. These are the women who spent their childhood amongst the flora and fauna of their imaginations, bookish and imaginative, they spend their lives dreaming of something better, like working at the Red Light or whatever.