Cliff Notes
Each week, our regional Cliff Notes columnists Mariah Green, Vanessa Perez Winder, Jas Keimig, and Sam Wrigglesworth pick the most exciting events and exhibitions on the West Coast. BUT this week we had a scheduling conflict, so VW Associate Editor Ella Ray is popping in with some picks across the coast.
In the Direction of Home: Lenworth McIntosh
pt.2 Gallery, Oakland, California
October 28th to December 2, 2023
Lenworth “Junebug” McIntosh’s paintings are stunningly unhurried. Whether an image of a figure reaching out to embrace another figure or a car bathed in the glow of a street light, the artist captures the moments in between, collapsing and stretching bodies and objects so they wind around each other.
In his latest presentation at pt.2 Gallery, In the Direction of Home, McIntosh’s use of rich browns, sulky blacks, and warm golds feels like a tone shift (literally and conceptually). His “normal” playfulness is quieter here and the earnestness of these pieces takes center stage. The works exhibited tackle the seemingly unanswerable question: “What is home?” and the paintings usher us through McIntosh’s attempts to answer the query.
The sprawling and emotional landscapes make me believe that home is out there and the tender renderings of bodies huddled together convince me that home is within us/me/you. I welcome this kind of contradiction.
Reflect: Where do you feel most at home?
Not My Bag: Sophia Al-Maria
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington
July 22, 2023 to January 14, 2024
Admittedly, I haven’t seen this show, but the images from the Henry’s website drew me in. The show *feels* big, omnipresent even through installation images and I’m happy the curator seemingly gave this show breathing room.
I spent 10 minutes zooming the photograph of Al Atlal (2023), trying to make sense of the objects and their relationship to one another. The site-specific installation of artist ephemera is both deeply interior—tracing the contours of her creative process and her heritage—and pointing toward the many ways the Western empire violently rules over the world.
A large poster within the web of assemblage reads: “THE NETWORK WILL NOT FEATURE ANY OF THE ENGLISH SPEAKING CHARACTERS ON THE BILLBOARDS” punctuating the grid created by Al-Maria.
I want to stand in the gallery and feel the weight of those words.
Reflection: How would you map your creative process or your life? Is it linear?
A Very Queer Thing: a group exhibition curated by Jessi DiTillio
Well Well Projects, Portland, Oregon
December 2 to December 17, 2023
I am excited about this show for various reasons: 1) The exhibition text begins with a Karl Marx quote, 2) the lineup is teeming with refreshing and talented artists, 3) DiTillio is dealing with queer objecthood.
A Very Queer Thing opens later this week and I’m chomping at the bit to see what works are included. Artists and curators alike can be a little sensitive when it comes to identifying artworks as “objects.” I am the #1 Michael Fried hater on the West Coast so I welcome the embrace of objects, particularly when we can imagine how our queerness, among other identities that make us who we are, inform our relationship to said objects and the power this process grants us.
Reflection: What object do you feel is a reflection of yourself?