Portland’s art scene has gained a vibrant addition with the opening of ‘Friends of Doom,’ the latest exhibition by artist John Brodie at the Old Fashioned Garage Gallery. The show, which runs through June 29, displays Brodie’s innovative blend of painting, collage, drawing, and three-dimensional mixed-media sculpture.
This new body of work, created in 2023, delves into themes of mark making, layers, and repetition.
One notable aspect of Brodie’s canvases is the incorporation of underpaintings featuring older artistic endeavors that were previously abandoned.
Instead of discarding these pieces, Brodie has recycled them, providing a fresh foundation for his current work.
The exhibition showcases a consistent theme of borrowed imagery that reflects influences from ancient civilizations, including the Greeks and Mesopotamians, as well as contemporary cultural symbols such as luxury fashion magazine ads.
This diverse vocabulary of images creates a visual language for viewers to engage with and interpret.
Brodie’s role in curating books, prints, and ephemera at his bookstore, Monograph Bookwerks in the Alberta Arts District, enhances his constant absorption of various imagery.
His expressive brushstrokes are dynamic, flowing energetically across the canvas and adding embellishments to collaged works.
In ‘How Are You Feeling II (Prada),’ a model’s striking portrait merges with a Greek bust, accented by fiery orange lines that extend outward.
The piece includes thick powder-blue strokes pouring from the statue’s vacant eyes, while golden yellow fringe stretches across, resembling a decorative mask.
Brodie’s mark making often conveys a cosmic tilt, with lines radiating from the canvas and interwoven collaged imagery.
In ‘Louis with Ghosts,’ tangerine and seafoam-green lines emerge from a statue’s features, encircled with bright red.
‘Queen (Chloé)’ features swirling, emotive lines above a collaged Chloé ad and Greek statue, suggesting themes of deification.
While pieces like ‘LV LV (Plant)’ take a more grounded approach, they still evoke a sense of ritual, as curvy strokes mimic natural forms and concentric red lines create a halo around an expressive face.
The earthly theme continues in ‘Crying (Chloé),’ where vertical dashes mimic rainfall and diagonal strokes yet again extend like sunbeams.
High-end fashion ads are a recurring element throughout Brodie’s exhibition, often collaged with textiles and detailed with figurative faces as seen in ‘CK+LV Flag’ and ‘Prada Please (Doomsday).’
These works carry a playful tone, especially ‘D&G Doggo,’ which humorously superimposes cartoonish eyes and pink nostrils over a Dolce & Gabbana ad layered on textile and canvas.
In contrast, ‘Cosmology’ presents geometric shapes such as rectangles and a singular eye coming into focus against more gestural abstract elements.
Throughout the collection, crochet and textiles are prevalent, adding texture and ornamentation to simple depictions of vases in works like ‘Red Vase’ and ‘Blue Vase.’
Pieces such as ‘Gods of Medicine’ and ‘Starfisher’ present three-dimensional collage paintings that juxtapose antiquity with emotional abstraction.
These unique artworks, built with gessoed paper, offer depth and physical presence.
Beyond the confines of the gallery, several artworks are placed outside, such as ‘Versace Hex,’ stationed on a pergola beam.
This installation features a cubist sculpture and Greek bust rendered in vibrant colors on honeycomb cardboard.
Another external piece, untitled, showcases an abstract blue face over a Versace ad, surrounded by a wallpaper print background.
This approach of displaying art in unconventional settings is a refreshing deviation from traditional galleries, resonating with the intimate nature of the Old Fashioned Garage Gallery.
‘Friends of Doom’ marks the second exhibition in a series hosted by the Old Fashioned Garage Gallery, which is run by Jodie Cavalier and Alley Frey.
Their transformation of a garage into a gallery evokes nostalgia for a decade ago when art shows would frequently pop up in basements, backyards, and other unconventional venues.
While residential art spaces are not new, the emergence of new artist-run spaces has slowed in recent years.
These spaces encapsulate a unique transience that makes it essential to support and appreciate them while they last.
Both John Brodie’s artistic prowess and the curation of his work in collaboration with Cavalier and Frey exemplify a balance of grit and thoughtfulness, seriousness and playfulness.
image source from：wweek
