Variable West

There is much to love about the @portlandartmuseum . Especially now with the latest $116 million renovation centered around the new Mark Rothko Pavilion, you will encounter a lot of beautiful, interesting, and spectacular examples of works of art from across centuries of creative human production. ⁠ ⁠ But there is also a friction common to all major museums: how do you square the tastes of wealthy donors with the needs of the community?⁠ ⁠ Sarah Diver (@sarahjdiver ) investigates this question in today's essay. Head to the link in our bio to read in full!⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Image 1: View of the Mark Rothko Pavilion, Tim and Mary Boyle West Plaza at the Portland Art Museum. Featured artwork: Ugo Rondinone, the sun, 2017. Photo: Jeremy Bittermann, 2025.⁠ ⁠ Image 2: Pililotti Rist, 4th Floor To Mildness, 2025. In the Crumpacker Center of the Portland Art Museum. Photo by Jeremy Bittermann, 2025. © Pipilotti Rist, Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Luhring Augustine / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ProLitteris, Zurich. Photo: Jeremy Bitterman.⁠ ⁠

Flowers, pattern, and intuition. In our last video, we get a look into the studio and process of Portland-based artist Amy Bay (@amymbay ). Amy Bay (b. Elkhart, IN) is a painter based in Portland, OR. Bay makes decorative floral paintings. She values the subjective, the emotional, and both the mysteries and traditions embedded in the painting process. Check out our series of studio visits with Oregon artists here: variablewest.com/video or at the link in our bio. Thanks to our amazing team: Documentarian: Javier Montes d'Arce (@javi_mdarce ) Producer: Amelia Rina (@postwhateverism ) Editor: David Torres (@tablaroquero_ ) and Javier Music: Slow Attack Ensemble - Dance Four This video series is made possible with generous support from @picapdx and @fordfamilyfound .

How can we use storytelling to reveal the power structures in narratives surrounding our lives? In today’s video, Portland-based artist, illustrator, and writer Melanie Stevens (@brownivyx ) through her studio and talks about her multimedia process. Melanie investigates narrative as a site of reflection or reinforcement of societal power structures and over-determined norms, specifically the manner in which stories (both real and fictional) supposedly centering people of the African diaspora have a long history of appropriation and erasure. Her intent is to research and seek out these marked narratives, based on a predetermined set of rules and criteria, and to re-appropriate them, using a variety of media. In doing so, she illuminates the destructive resonance of these flawed narratives by juxtaposing a reimagined version that centers a nuanced and oft-ignored humanity in such a way as to appear irreverent or banal, as if it were the norm. She also empowers herself with these stories by reclaiming them as her own and resolving the dissonance of cultural amnesia, while encouraging opportunities for meditation and discourse. Check out our series of studio visits with Oregon artists here: variablewest.com/video or at the link in our bio. Thanks to our amazing team: Documentarian: Javier Montes d'Arce (@javi_mdarce ) Producer: Amelia Rina (@postwhateverism ) Editor: David Torres (@tablaroquero_ ) and Javier Music: Waltz- At First I Thought This video series is made possible with generous support from @picapdx and @fordfamilyfound .

Introducing Momo Gordon (@slippypeach )! Take a look into their studio and process making sequential art in Portland, OR. Momo Gordon is a self-taught artist focused on the emotional landscape based in Portland, OR. They work primarily with graphite and handmade paper and their work explores sentient spaces, hostile architecture, and anthropomorphized objects. In sequential works or standalone pieces, characters often have four walls. Check out our series of studio visits with Oregon artists here: variablewest.com/video or at the link in our bio. Thanks to our amazing team: Documentarian: Javier Montes d'Arce (@javi_mdarce ) Producer: Ella Ray (@earth2earth2earth ) Editor: David Torres (@tablaroquero_ ) and Javier Music: Rosenau & Sanborn- Walrus This video series is made possible with generous support from @picapdx and @fordfamilyfound .

New video! This week we're visiting the studio of Portland-based artist Epiphany Couch (@epiphany_couch_art ). Epiphany Couch (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and writer whose work explores generational knowledge, storytelling, and our relationships with the natural and spiritual worlds. As a spuyaləpabš (Puyallup), Yakama, and Scandinavian/mixed European artist, Couch centers cultural knowledge and community connection in both her process and presentation. Working across photography, beadwork, weaving, and collage, she reinterprets traditional forms to create images, installations, and sculptural works that engage ancestral knowledge and invite new ways of understanding. Her practice is rooted in unconventional collaboration—across time, between generations, and with the natural world—recognizing these relationships as vital to sustaining memory, culture, and identity. Watch our full video series of studio visits with Oregon artists at variablewest.com/video or through the link in our bio. Huge thanks to our team: Documentarian: Javier Montes d'Arce (@javi_mdarce ) Producer: Ella Ray (@earth2earth2earth ) Editor: David Torres (@tablaroquero ) and Javier Music: Ignacio Maria Gomez - Omeñiso This series is made with generous support from @picapdx and @fordfamilyfound . #art​ #artist​ #studiovisit​ #portland​ #photography​ weaving​ collage​ crafts​

Can something as simple as a quilt tell the story of Black Experience?⁠ ⁠ In today's artist feature, Phillipi Russell (@3dsisqo ) explored the work of Alabama-born, Harlem-based textile artist Erin LeAnn Mitchell (@@erinleannworks ).⁠ ⁠ Mitchell's work was recently on view at @wanawariseattle in Seattle. ⁠ ⁠ Head to the link in our bio to read the full article 🧵⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Image 1: Erin LeAnn Mitchell, Strike Anywhere! (2025).⁠ Image 2: Erin LeAnne Mitchell, The Storyteller (2024).

New video dropped! This week we're visiting the studio of Vietnamese, Portland-based multimedia artist Vo Vo (@anoutrecordings ) They talk about the influence of their textile-worker parents and how their process starts with an idea then transforms into large-scale weavings. Head to the link in our bio to watch the full video! Huge thanks to our team: Documentarian: Javier Montes d'Arce (@javi_mdarce ) Producer: Ella Ray (@earth2earth2earth ) Editor: David Torres (@tablaroquero_ ) & Javier Music: Matthew Hisel This series is made possible with generous support from @picapdx and @fordfamilyfound

We are *thrilled* to launch our new video series featuring Oregon-based artists. First up: Yuyang Zhang (@dirtyraccoon ). Yuyang (b. 1993, Chinese, he/him) is a Wuhan-born, Portland-based artist, whose studio practice reflects lived queer diasporic experience through the lens of ridiculous pop culture ephemera in the style of campy melodrama. Feast your eyes on this clip and head to the link in our bio to watch the full video! Huge thanks to our brilliant team: Documentarian: Javier Montes d'Arce (@javi_mdarce ) Producer: Ella Ray (@earth2earth2earth ) Editor: David Torres (@tablaroquero_ ) & Javier Music: -Ryan- Light This video series is made with generous support from @picapdx and @fordfamilyfound

In today's review, Emily Small investigates Sally Scopa's recent exhibition at Bass & Reiner in San Francisco.⁠ ⁠ Topics discussed:⁠ 📘 Carl Jung⁠ 💞 Synchronicity ⁠ 👩🏽‍💻 Digital Mediation⁠ 👎🏼 Meta and TikTok⁠ ⁠ Head to the link in our bio to read the full review!⁠ ⁠ Image 1 & 2: Sally Scopa, An Approaching Storm on Lake Erie, 2025.⁠ ⁠ @sally.scopa ⁠ @emilyksmall ⁠ @bassandreiner

PADA: Portland Art Dealers Association (@padaoregon ) is a collective of Portland-based visual art galleries that serves as an integral cultural resource by:⁠ • Cultivating a deeper understanding of visual art through member representation of artists⁠ • Amplifying the programming of our members and partners⁠ • Empowering member galleries to act as conduits between creators and collectors⁠ ⁠ Their members participate in more than First Thursday—they also participate in Last Thursday, First Friday & Saturday—Find them all year round!⁠ ⁠ Blackfish Gallery @blackfish_gallery ⁠ Gallery 114 @gallery114 ⁠ J. Pepin Art Gallery @jpepinartgallery ⁠ Laura Vincent Design & Gallery @lvdesignandgallery ⁠ One Grand Gallery @onegrandgallery ⁠ PDX Contemporary Art @pdxcontemporaryart ⁠ Russo Lee Gallery @russoleegallery ⁠ Waterstone Gallery @waterstonegallery

Oregon Cliff Notes drop tomorrow morning! Here's a sneak peek of Hayashi Wilder's (@yashi.pdf ) selections:⁠ ⁠ 💙⁠ Sculpted Light⁠ @elizabethleachgallery , Portland, OR⁠ January 15 - February 28, 2026⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 💙⁠ It Doesn’t Have To Be So Hard - Felicia Chiao (@feliciachiao )⁠ @nucleusportland , Portland, OR⁠ February 7 - March 1, 2026⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Click the link in our bio to sign up for our free weekly guide to the best of the best exhibitions and art happenings along the West Coast 🖇️⁠💙⁠ ⁠ Image 1: Hap Tivey (@haptivey ), Study for Pearl Moon, 2008. LED light and acrylic.⁠ ⁠ Image 2: Felicia Chiao

In today's interview, Vanessa Pérez Winder (@soupdude_ ) talks to Kevin López Pardillo (@rhythmkeaven ) about his recent show at @adobebookshop in San Francisco's Mission District. ⁠ ⁠ Topics of discussion: pulgas, bootlegs, Mayan legends, Spider-Man, and more.⁠ ⁠ Head to the link in our bio to read the full conversation 🕷️⁠ ⁠ Image 1: Kevin López Pardillo, Yucateco Bootlegger Ranger, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.⁠ Image 2: Kevin López Pardillo, Tools 4 Sale, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.⁠