Self Destruct mode

Heidi Schwegler Christopher Russell

“Self Destruct Mode”

Hairbrush and a twig, lopped off braided hair on asphalt, the backside of a bewildered kitty, or is it a cute bunny? All seen through the broken lenses of squashed sunglasses: fragments of shade, a social and formal ambiance of chiaroscuro. For her exhibition at Private Places, Heidi Schwegler acts as an urban archeologist collecting particular objects found on the streets and sidewalks. These everyday discarded things, once they are gathered and transformed become covered, cut, and coated sculptures, an arranged visual landscape. With their obvious use-value waned and their practical function amputated, they have such a curious resonance, something emotional and ambiguous, ranging from the whimsical to something more disturbing.

Christopher Russell's new work, Self Destruct Mechanism, was made especially for exhibition at Private Places. This work continues Russell's practice of augmenting his scratched and abraded photographs with fiction writing and book design. His work involves an exploration of the darker aspects of the human psyche, in this instance examining notions of love and longing with visual metaphors as direct as painting with semen and as oblique as evoking night blooming flowers to reference the drunken booty call. Russell has produced an illustrated chapbook that will act as both guide and catalog to his work in the exhibition.

January 28, 2017- February 25, 2017

Private Places
2400 NE Holladay Street
Portland OR
97232

Opening reception January 28, from 6-8 pm