Promotional image with white text on a bright blue background. Text at the top reads VARIABLE WEST at TBA. In the center there's a photograph of a man embracing another man on a street corner, with one arm outstretched taking a photo of them. Text at the bottom reads Live coverage of PICA's Time Based Art Festival. September 18–October 3 | Instagram Live.

Variable West Live Coverage of TBA

Tune in to Variable West on Instagram Live and get an intimate view into the process of art criticism—in real time!

In this lightly geometric landscape, the bare trunks of trees stand sparse against a cream-grey sky, beyond a sharp-edged pile of boulders that dominate the foreground.

Mya Kerner: These Whispers, These Tellings

The exhibit suggests a way forward from grief and loss through the literal paths she paints, into the whispering, resilient landscapes that surround us.

Ido Radon: Mother of Pearl Gasoline Slick

At this stage of the march one must interrupt the calculations and begin again at zero

Purple and pink light fills a a room with white walls, ceiling, and floor. Two translucent walls have large plants pressed against them, backlit by green, purple, and pink lights. There is a large, white, inflated oval in the center of the room, anchored to the floor by ropes.

Review

Neon Abundance Highlights Our Lack of Substance: Energy Drink at Museum of Museums

by Emily Tanner-McLean
Posted on July 1, 2021August 26, 2021

A wholly artificial environment satirizes our superficial world.

Marianne Nicolson: A Feast of Light and Shadows

For the artist’s first solo exhibition in Portland, she creates a new site-specific installation that transforms Yale Union’s gallery space into a Feast of Light and Shadows.

Kronos Festival: Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK

Discover a site-specific, GPS-enabled musical installation with new music by Kronos Quartet in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Three men hold the heads of Chinese dragons over their heads. Two of them stand on a table and tuck their white shirts into the legs and feet of the dragon. Another stands atop a pile of six red benches. Behind them is a black curtain; and beside them is a red drum and a banner, on which are printed numerous chinese characters.

Seeing Sound

‘Seeing Sound’ is a series of exhibitions that explores sound as a material and dynamic branch of contemporary art practices.

A large, craggy-edged and shiny black rock surrounded by bright yellow archway with a reflective pink background.

Pangea: Hannah Newman

Carnation Contemporary is pleased to present Pangea, a solo show featuring recent work by Hannah Newman. Pangea releases a stream of potential energy from language and inanimate objects, sending resources and bodies into intersecting orbits.

A color photograph of a black and white printed image crumpled and crushed so the original image is entirely destroyed, except in the center where an open mouth is mostly visible. The ink on the paper has worn off at the edges of the creases, leaving stark white lines.

Christian Marclay

Fraenkel Gallery is pleased to present new work by Christian Marclay. Featuring collage, video animation, and photography, the exhibition explores the visual representation of sound and voice.

A black and white photograph of Laetitia Sonami crouching, viewed from above and at an angle so Sonami's body fills the space from the upper left and bottom right corners. Sonami holds her left hand over her face, wearing a glove with electronic circuits and wires extending past the wrist like mechanical tendons. Her dark hair is messy and pulled back.

Love Letters

Love Letter to Laetitia Sonami

by Zeny May Recidoro
Posted on January 12, 2021January 12, 2021

Sparkling aural textures tangle with a narrative of tragedies and triumphs.

Variable West

Discover West Coast Art

Tag: Sound Art

Variable West Live Coverage of TBA

Mya Kerner: These Whispers, These Tellings

Ido Radon: Mother of Pearl Gasoline Slick

Neon Abundance Highlights Our Lack of Substance: Energy Drink at Museum of Museums

Marianne Nicolson: A Feast of Light and Shadows

Kronos Festival: Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK

Seeing Sound

Pangea: Hannah Newman

Christian Marclay

Love Letter to Laetitia Sonami

Hi wonderful reader!

You know the West Coast is full of extraordinary artists and writers, but we’re facing a crisis in funding and resources.

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