whittlin’ away

3 announcements of important going-ons:

Brian Borrello and Vanessa Renwick have teamed up to create a new sculpture in honor of Portland mini-bike critical massers, the Zoobombers. The publicly-sanctioned scultpture features a gold-leafed minibike hoisted above a jumbled pyle of bicycles. The unveiling takes place this Friday, May 29 at 4PM at the Zoobomb pyle (10th & SW Oak) whereupon the party will parade to the new site, where Mayor Sam Adams will speak alongside performances by The Sprokettes.

The following  week, Store for a Month inhabits an empty storefront on 1216 SE Division Street, as a temporary art gallery, social center and pie bakery. Loosely based on Claes Oldenburg’s “Store” (1961), the show features works by 60 Northwest artists, most of which were created specifically for the project.

Lastly, the following weekend, June 6-7, the Axiom Collective hosts the first annual Portland Anarchist Book Fair. The fair features over 20 booksellers, publishers, and zinesters peddling a wide range of radical literature and art (bafflling enough, the list includes the Multnomah County Libray – only in Portland)! There will also be a series of (free) workshops and (not free) food.

Wow, I was talking fast. Thanks goes out to Michael James, owner of the Heartland Cafe, for having me on the show.

I recall the day Vanessa Renwick called to tell me the news. “They’re tearing down the House of Sound building…” rang out the voice on the other end. “I have to go down there and save that sign!” With six weeks to go before her commissioned show at New American Art Union, she had found a subject calling out to be documented.

Renwick’s new installation paints an endearing portrait of the House of Sound building. This complex housed a barber shop, funk shop and record store during the 1970s and was the heart of Portland’s black community. The building had been vacant for years and was in severe disrepair, situated on N. Williams, an area undergoing massive economic redevelopment. After the building failed to sell for its $1 million asking price, it was leveled and now stands as a vacant lot.

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