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A Trip for Art's Sake

A day tour of the Portland Art Museum

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Sometimes those of us who call Bend home need more than this fair town has to offer. Namely, art. Don't get me wrong, I love the art scene here—love that there actually is one and that it's growing in the way of mural code changes and contemporary art galleries. There are just a few offerings locals don't yet have; one being a museum dedicated solely to the exhibition of fine art. Lucky for us there's the Portland Art Museum just a few hours away.

Cari Brown

Please Participate. 2015. By Jeppe Hein

A recent visit provided the opportunity to experience "Paris 1900: City of Entertainment," an exhibit about the Parisian Belle Epoque which includes more than 300 works of art and highlights that period of "fantasy, excess and boundless faith in progress." There was also a short film by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Caldazilla, in which a digger equipped with a giant bell demolishes a tropical pharmacy; an iconic portrait by Kehinde Wiley; neon art by Jeppe Hein; sculpture ranging from Rodin to Louise Bourgeois; contemporary, modern, conceptual, classical, Native and Japanese art; along with portraiture, photography and video. So much art!

A word of advice: Go early, buy your ticket and make an entire day of it. Start from the top floor of the Modern & Contemporary wing and work your way down. Eat lunch at the Museum Grounds Café and hang out in the sculpture garden or take a midday stroll—the museum allows re-entry from open to close—then do the same thing, top down, in the main building.

Cari Brown

Indio Cuauhtemoc (The World Stage Brazil). 2017. By Kehinde Wiley

For a full list of upcoming exhibits check the PAM website. The one I can hardly wait for? Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism, opening next June.