Come out to KBOO's first ever Frist Friday Art Walk Event on June 7th from 6 to 9 pm.
The First Friday Art Walk is in Portland’s vibrant east side Arts District and is the gateway into Portland’s thriving arts culture, including more than 23 independent galleries. You can check out the gallery map at http://firstfridaypdx.org. Start your night off at the KBOO studios next First Friday between 6 and 9 pm. KBOO is featuring the work of two brilliant artists, Justin Auld and Amy Kuttab. There will be live music, snacks, wine available thanks to Hip Chicks do Wine, and cider courtesy of Cider Riot. You will get a change to tour the KBOO studios. We hope to see you there!
Music Lineup
6 - 645 pm Mitchell Gonzales
7 - 745 pm Minda Lacy
8 - 9 pm Bobby Musgrave
About the Artists
Amy Kuttab is a painter, illustrator and animator living in Portland, Oregon. Collaboration is highly important to her in life and art practice and she was pleased to have worked as a co-curator at Pony Club Gallery from 2009-2017. Her first full length graphic novel, Urstory, was published by Teenage Dinosaur in November 2016. Currently, she is working with her father on a graphic novel concerning his life growing up in Palestine, hopefully to be released in spring of 2020.
Artist Statement:
This work is part of a larger graphic novel collaboration with the artist's father, outlining both his life in Palestine/Israel from 1947-1967, and the artist's own experience as the offspring of an immigrant/refugee in the USA. Planned release for the book will be Spring, 2020.
These paintings are full page spreads that serve as chapter breaks in the graphic novel. They exist in the midst of "slice of life" childhood stories, a history of the area in which his family lived from the narrative he inherited, as well as some parallels and dissonant perspectives from my own memory and research. With this work I seek to understand further my family history, explore our coordinates in American society, and address the role of context in relation to human trauma and conflict. The book compiles a variety of tales, from kid's games to group punishment, beloved recipes to fights between boys over fig territory. I hope this process will bear fruit in a story with potential to bring myself and readers, regardless of our circumstance, closer to each other and more open to the idea that our neighbor's joy and suffering is our own.
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Justin Auld was born and raised in Vermont and has been living and working in Portland since 2000. Art has always been an integral part of his identity. He has been creating drawings and paintings since he was able to hold a pencil. He received a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1996 and then gained proficiency in digital art from 6 years working as a professional graphic designer in Boston and Portland. In 2005 he earned an MFA in Studio Arts from Portland State University which led him to branch into many different forms of art including video, installation, and conceptual art. His work explores the connection between art and the brain’s tendency to find images in random patterns.
Artists Statement:
pareidolia
noun - par·ei·do·lia \ˌper-ˌī-ˈdō-lē-ə, -ˈdōl-yə\
The tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual patternThe scientific explanation for some people is pareidolia, or the human ability to see shapes or make pictures out of randomness. Think of the Rorschach inkblot test.
My work explores the phenomenon of pareidolia. The link between what the eyes deliver and what the brain constructs is a loose connection; we perceive images, intent, and patterns where none exist. The brain's ability to see what is not there yields a fundamental connection to the unknown, and touches the edge of what is possible in our perception. Pareidolia therefore raises doubts on all that we encounter visually. By emphasizing selected forms within random images, my work asks viewers to contend with the thin veil overlaying their understanding of what is real, and invites them to balance on the edge of where visual reality is formed by the mind.
“When you look at a wall spotted with stains, or with a mixture of stones ... you may discover a resemblance to various landscapes ... or, again, you may see battles and figures in action, or strange faces and costumes, or an endless variety of objects, which you could reduce to complete and well-drawn forms. And these appear on such walls promiscuously, like the sounds of bells in whose jangle you may find any name or word you choose to imagine.”
- Leonardo da Vinci