Surreal Art Exhibit at Gallery 114

According to Gallery 114, firmly nestled in Portland, Oregon, exhibiting artists are provided "absolute artistic freedom," end of story. As such, when area artists Diana Crites and Erin Robinson Grant set up their provocative exhibition next month, it's worth keeping in mind that gallery managers are fully confident that each artist will succeed in exploring their observations and elucidations of self-destruction, death and rebirth, sex, and the ephemeral. The art exhibition, "Consumption," runs through the month of June 2012, and will include illustrations, animation, video elements, sculpture, and oil paintings.

Contemporary artists Diana Crites and Erin Robinson Grant explore the intersections of human consciousness with life and death, pledging to reveal a number of startling (and intuitive) critiques on the nature of consumption. The multi-discipline exhibition runs June 7-30, 2012, at Gallery 114, located in Portland's pearl district. Simply put, "Consumption" recalls birth, death, and everything in-between.

"My practice is not limited to one medium," begins Grant's artist statement, "but is spread across numerous visual means in order to properly express itself. I employ drawing, photography, and bookmaking alongside video and interactive animation."

"I do not make arbitrary distinctions between classical or contemporary, high or low modes of making art. I do however, work in such a way that projects proceeds along a gradually expansive path that begins with drawing and ends with digital media."

Erin Robinson Grant marvels at the many ways, complex and subtle, in which the human narrative traverses a history of indulgence, decay, and rebirth. Her portfolio's extensive use of hand-drawn illustration can often be found heavily integrated with Adobe After Effects, blue screen/green screen effects, and more. On some occasions, the result is a sensitive, almost pulsing effect, inching deeper and deeper into a necessarily surreal (and less definable) landscape of the grotesque.

from Grant, "Pomology Seed Pod Series"
books with embedded video (2011)

from Crites, "Delve" (2002)
oil on canvas

"I create to feel connected," Crites writes in her statement. "My artistic drive is fueled by an intuitive search for answers to intangible questions and desires. I believe in allowing the subconscious to form the basis of art."

Diana Crites is a prolific painter (oil on canvas) and doll sculptor, in addition to illustrating with pen, ink, and watercolor. Crites is contributing a number of paintings to the "Consumption" showcase, exploring the exhibition's theme by peeking into what it's like to sip into the unknown, become terribly lost, and attempt to claw your way out to get to somewhere new.

"In the end," she comments, "sometimes you have to waste away to find yourself." Or more simply, by letting the subconscious carve the foundation of her art, Diana Crites explores the human struggle against self-obliteration -- its purported successes, and more likely, its many failures.

Gallery 114 is currently planning a handful of festivities and artist talks over the course of the exhibition. "A Theory of Morbid Attraction: An Artist Talk" by Erin Robinson Grant, for example, is scheduled for on Saturday, June 16th. Admission is free and open to the public.