"Common Distortion Fields & Everyday Summonings takes form as a solo show of work by Raul J. Mendez at PPSTMM, a gallery tucked away on the second floor of a building off MLK in North Portland. Mendez's work depicts phantasms and figures set against familiar terrains, probing curiosities about the 21st-century American condition. Through his use of an eerie primary color palette, graphite, and other media, Mendez's works explore what happens when operating on sensory instincts and curiosities that lean in an otherworldly direction toward psychic dimensions."
"PPSTMM makes up the front room of curator Mack McFarland's shared studio space, accessible via a buzzer on the ground floor and up a flight of stairs. Its open hours vary based on when he is in the studio, which are communicated through the gallery's Instagram page. Viewings are also available by appointment. McFarland-an arts educator, cultural producer and arts administrator for the Cultural Resources Department for The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde -organizes at PPSTMM with seasoned professionalism, providing a numbered and detailed gallery guide and thoughtful curatorial text to accompany the exhibition at hand."
"As I read the description of Mendez's show on the gallery guide, this phrase caught my eye: "the artist cultivates an unstable border between the familiar and uncanny." The exhibition text also includes a bio of Mendez, noting that he was born in Venezuela and (like McFarland) graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art. Mendez's penchant for unstable borders might have something to do with the fact that he works as a 767 cargo pilot to support his artistic undertakings. Many of his works incorporate manmade borders and colonial divides between land, water, human, and other beings as seen from a birds-eye view, reflecting the psychic disease these divisions invoke."
Common Distortion Fields & Everyday Summonings is a solo exhibition of Raul J. Mendez at PPSTMM in North Portland. The works present phantasms and figures within familiar terrains, using an eerie primary color palette, graphite, and other media to evoke otherworldly, psychic dimensions. The gallery occupies the front room of curator Mack McFarland's shared studio and offers viewings by appointment or announced open hours via Instagram. Mendez was born in Venezuela and graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art. Several works reference manmade borders and colonial divides, often depicted from a bird's-eye view, suggesting the psychic consequences of these separations.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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