Lot's of Drawing at the Portland Art Musuem....R. Crumb and More!

I started reading R. Crumb comics; Zap, Motor City and the like, in the 1960s. I read them when I was too young and impressionable to be subjected to such enticing perversion. I was introduced to detailed, parodied cartoon sex acts at the tender age of 8 by Crumb. I'm sure the influence marks my world view in ways I haven't figured out to this day. R. Crumb chronicled the 1960s and 1970s with dead-on wit and keen observation. It provided a fun framework for me to view people, society, myself and my loved ones.

With so much R. Crumb baggage, I have been nervous about seeing the Genesis show at the Portland Art Museum. Now that I have seen the show, I do want to get the book so that I can appreciate the work like it should be appreciated. The show was successful in that regard. I want to buy the book! It is impressive to see rows and rows of carefully drawn cartoon panels, wall after wall. The thing about the genre of comics is that it's conventions prevent the work from having much feel of painterly spontaneity. The faces of the various characters are almost all more or less the same. The backgrounds and stylizations are unwavering R. Crumb. No visual surprises. When I was a kid, I would read Eggs Ackerly's adventures with the vulture demoneses and be transported to an original, funny, and suprising, albeit pornographic new world. This mature project from a mature R. Crumb doesn't hold any of that excitement for me.

There is some other great art to see for the price of admission. Several Leon Golub paintings in the basement need to be respected. Golub devoted his career as a painter to illustrating the atrocities inflicted upon the weak by the powerful. He wasn't painting so that the wealthy class could have something to hang in their living room to match their couch. The few paintings on display don't do justice to his body of work, but they are worth seeing.

That master drawing exhibit is also great.

Disquieted Worth $12

I can't remember ever going to a show where the curator and chief reviewer in town tried so hard to make sure you react to the art the way that they intended. There is a quote on the wall in large type at the entrance to the exhibit, making sure that you are suitably unnerved by a show that, `exposes our vulnerability in these turbulent times'. In his review in the Oregonian, D.K. Row describes the first installation, In the Midst of Dreams, as a work that will, `confront and remind us of a world that's too much with us these days'. (God forbid someone should go to the show and take it as a humorous affirmation that 21st century humans are doing okay.)

I was able to take two photos of In The Midst of Dreams, before the usher politely came up to me and explained that photos weren't allowed. How vulnerable I felt to have such a turbulent thing happen to me.

Let me say right here, in case you can't tell, Disquieted actually is a really great show. It is a great selection of artwork by interesting artists. The works play off each other both in terms of content and stylistically. When you walk past the big glowing heads into the main first floor gallery there is a 10 foot female mannequin looking a bit intimidating. Close by is a naked male mannequin with detailed anatomically correct genitalia. (`Exposed vulnerabilities' for sure.) In another part of the the show there is a sculpture of crouching boy. The boy is too small and it made me think again of the too big female sculpture that confronted me when I walked into the exhibition space. The show is full of that kind of synergy. The large photo of a Vietnamese furniture weaving sweatshop obviously plays off of the photo of cattle in pens next to it. The sweatshop photo is also is great when considered in tandem with the busy pop anime inspired painting. Both have repeating images and commercial overtones. That painting works really well with the guiltily seductive anime fairy princess sculpture. I could go on and on.

Go see this show. There is something for everyone.