A few hours before the bustle of First Thursday in the Pearl began, a horde of thunderclouds rolled over Portland. Lightning flashed as emergency broadcast warnings of high winds, hard rains, and tornados (!) rolled across TV screens throughout the city. It was not hard to imagine that the diabolical collection of art at Life Gallery had conjured this maelstrom.
Local pen and ink artist Dennis Dread has been the curator of all three annual Entartete Kunts exhibits. Dread’s work graces the ghastly covers of a number of albums; a recent Darkthrone sleeve being the blackest feather in his cap. Even more impressive than his art is his curatorial vision. Dread has brought together some of the most infamous underground punk and metal artists from around the world. And by infamous I mean kult, necro, and amazing.
If these names mean nothing to you, don’t be alarmed. But for those (like myself) who had waited decades to see some of this work in person, it was a jaw-dropping display. Featured artist Nick Blinko is the singer/guitarist of gothic peace-punk Crass-affiliated UK band Rudimentary Peni. Blinko’s frantic fine line work betrays his clinical obsessive-compulsive disorder. It has been noted repeatedly that Blinko is under strict orders to remain on medication, but he routinely goes off psychiatric drugs in order to produce his disturbed illustrations which grace both album covers and textbooks on Outsider Art.
Another personal highlight was seeing some hand-drawn work by Michel “Away” Langevin—drummer of French-Canadian art-metal ensemble Voivod. A sneak preview of Langevin’s long-awaited hardbound art book retrospective was also on hand.
Other luminaries at the show include Swedish artist Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin. His lurid and realistic paintings depict robed riders on horseback and dragons breathing fire. Influential Swedish metal acts Dissection and At the Gates have made Wåhlin’s work synonymous with melodic black-metal. Certainly these limited prints displayed the most technique represented at Entartete Kunts, unless one counts the sword forged by Rob “The Baron” Miller of Amebix, the steel of which was folded over 190 times. Brutal does not begin to describe this collection.
Many other artists of note are in this show, and none of them will make you feel warm and fuzzy. But if you have a fascination with the dark side, this is a historic and essential show. Catch the artist reception on Friday, June 19th. We’ll see if the heavens promise another epic deluge. Somehow I expect they will…
The Life Art Gallery is tucked away at 625 NW Everett Street #107 and the reception begins at 7pm.
[...] See the rest here: Punk and Heavy Metal artist reception tonight at Life Gallery … [...]
June 20th, 2009 at 2:12 am