Giant Insects in PDX!

"Woman and Child"

I'm terribly tardy in posting about this, but I it's not every day that one has an art show up at Paxton Gate, so I should probably tell you about it. 

When I was living in San Francisco eight years ago Paxton Gate was my favorite store to visit. On a rare sunny day I'd travel by myself to the Mission, and between lazing at Dolores Park and getting toasted banana ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery, I'd wander into Paxton Gate and marvel at their collection. Taxidermied animals littered the walls while the rest of the store was stuffed to the gills with gems, minerals, skeletons, insects and arachnids in frames, and mammalian glass eye replicas in large glass cases. It was a store that held so much of what I loved as a child, but had inexplicably forgotten. It inspired stories of mystery and wonder. 

Needless to say, I was excited when one opened in Portland in 2010. Located on N. Mississippi Ave. Paxton Gate PDX brings the spirit of the San Francisco location to the Pacific Northwest. I've been admiring their collection for years, so I was pretty excited when they agreed to show my work last month. Two summers ago I created several pieces that combined vintage cabinet cards and giant insects. I wanted to expand on this series, but wanted a venue first and Paxton Gate seemed like a great fit. Here's some information on the show:

Family Portraits is an ongoing series that questions humanity's place as the dominant species and explores the relationship between humans and animals by depicting what the world might look like if we were replaced, or lived alongside different creatures from the animal kingdom.

In this incarnation:  Through the lens of a portrait photographer at the end of the 19th century we are introduced to an alternate world where insects have grown to mammoth proportions and strange human/insect hybrids pose with poise. All pieces are painted with ink on wood panels and are based on authentic 19th century cabinet cards.

Unfortunately the show will only be up for a few more days (I think it comes down the 17th) but they'll be holding onto a couple of the pieces as well as some of the prints that are available for another month. All pieces will be featured on my website and prints will be made available through my Etsy store. For information on purchasing the original paintings please contact me at beardedmaladies@gmail.com.

I think it's important to note that all products at Paxton Gate are purchased through responsible sources and that taxidermied animals are vintage and bought through trade shows and estate sales. No animals are being specifically killed for taxidermy and sold at this store. I do have conflicting feelings about the fetishization of animals through taxidermy and animals used as decoration, but that is perhaps a topic for a different blog post. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on the matter if you'd like to leave a comment.

 Here are some photos of the show

Insectopia

I really wanted to create new work for my show at Flutter (that I actually uninstalled yesterday) and I knew I wanted to continue exploring working with ink wash and wood, so it seemed like a natural medium to use for this show.

Lately I've found myself fascinated with insects and as such I've decided to incorporate them into my art. I've been thinking about how the world of insects exists almost as a parallel universe to our own, while at the same time inhabiting the same space. We are increasingly being made aware that we are more dependent on each other than ever thought before and I thought it would be interesting to try and bring those universes closer together visually and thematically. These pieces take a step into imagining a world where insects instead of mammals grew to be the dominant wildlife on Earth.

While I don't feel like these paintings address all of my ideas, I do think it's a good start and I look forward to investigating these ideas further. Here are two pieces from the show with more to come later this week.

Portrait of a woman with Rain Beetle hat and Millipede Boa

A boy and his Rhinoceros Beetle

Detail

All pieces are painted with an ink wash.

Pizza The Hutt Family Portrait

During my blogging hiatus last year I was part of a pizza themed show at The Pony Club gallery here in Portland to which I contributed the above piece. I've always loved Pizza the Hutt from Mel Brooks's classic Spaceballs and I wondered what his family might be like. If there is one Pizza the Hutt there must be others, right? 

This original watercolor painting is framed in a wooden frame and measures 8"x10". It's available for purchase at $150. If you're interested please email me at ischraer@gmail.com!

Below is the sketch I made for reference before I did the final piece. 

Aunt Rita

My show DISTANT RELATIVES has moved from the Emerson Space Case to Fresh Pot coffee shop on Mississippi st., which I'm very excited about. It's a bigger space and I wanted to add another piece to the series to fill out the wall. The series is meant to be ongoing so this wasn't a problem except that I was a little pressed for time. 

Anyhow, this is my Great Aunt Rita, the older sister of my grandfather Paul. She sent me a $10 birthday check every year of my childhood, though I had never seen or talked to her. All I knew was what I heard from the rest of my relatives which was that she was a bit blunt, rude at times, and lived by herself in Fall River, Massachusetts. And of course I always dreaded the "chore" of writing a thank you card back to her. 

A couple of years back I finally got the chance to speak to her. It was during one of her weekly phone conversations with my Grandmother. A surreal experience finally being able to put a voice and a cadence to this person I had heard so much about, especially because I still had no idea what she looked like, but the conversation was pleasant enough, brief as it was. She passed away last year leaving a will that sparked a renewed rivalry between the west and east coast sides of the family that has yet to be settled, but of which my Grandfather still brings up to me from time to time. 

The hours that I spent staring at her face as I worked on this piece, struggling to get her features right, making sure that the shadows weren't overstated and that the space between her nose and mouth wasn't too wide (it is), is the closest thing to quality time that I'll ever experience with my Aunt Rita, but even still I'm glad we got to have that time together.