- Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks
- Monet to Matisse: French Moderns
- Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s
- Ruth E. Carter at the Tomorrow Theater
The Portland Art Museum has announced a dynamic slate of exhibitions opening in 2024. From future-forward sneaker design to Impressionist masters and psychedelic posters, the exhibitions celebrate a wide range of artistic expression and offer visitors world-class experiences in the heart of downtown Portland.
Opening in March 2024, Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks is an exhibition that sneaker-loving citizens of Portland and visitors are sure to enjoy—offering not only physical objects but digital imaginings, design concepts, and futuristic visions. Summer at the Museum brings Monet to Matisse: French Moderns, a stunning exhibition from the Brooklyn Museum featuring nearly 60 works of art from several renowned artists, opening in summer 2024. Pulling from the Museum’s deep collection of prints and drawings, Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s will present more than 150 rock posters representing the leading artists and designers of the genre alongside nearly 20 fashion items of the era.
The Museum’s PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow’s newly opened Tomorrow Theater in Southeast Portland kicks off the new year with acclaimed costume designer Ruth E. Carter speaking in conjunction with the Museum’s Africa Fashion exhibition. Located at 3530 Division Street, the Tomorrow Theater is PAM CUT’s lively creative hub for cultural snackers. Home to a multi-media feast of creators and content pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, the Tomorrow is a space where local and global artists collaborate across disciplines and multi-interest audiences co-mingle to experience cinematic storytelling in all its forms. Events are offered Thursday through Sunday. Full schedule here.
The Portland Art Museum enters 2024 with a strong, critically acclaimed set of special exhibitions on view. The spectacular Africa Fashion (through February 18, 2024), from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and making its only West Coast stop at PAM, honors the irresistible creativity, ingenuity, and unstoppable global impact of contemporary African fashions. The exhibition offers a rewarding conversation with PAM’s expansive, powerful Black Artists of Oregon (through March 24, 2024), which celebrates the work of Black artists in our state over more than a century through an intergenerational tapestry of more than 200 artworks by 69 artists.
Throughlines: Connections in the Collection (through November 1, 2024) continues the collaborative conversation, presenting fresh perspectives on beloved favorites as well as new additions to the Museum’s collection while permanent collection galleries are closed for construction of the Museum’s Mark Rothko Pavilion. Now underway, this transformative expansion and renovation project is among the most significant in the city, and a key part of revitalizing a downtown core that has been slow to recover after the pandemic. When it is completed in mid-2025, the Rothko Pavilion will connect the Museum’s two buildings and create a more accessible experience for visitors.
In 2024 the Museum is expanding community access with the return of Free First Thursdays thanks to support from the Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All Program. The Museum’s new hours starting with the new year will include extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and until 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
On the global stage in 2024, the Portland Art Museum has the honor of co-presenting artist Jeffrey Gibson as the representative for the United States at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennale). The U.S. Pavilion exhibition, Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me, is commissioned and co-curated by Kathleen Ash-Milby, PAM’s Curator of Native American Art. Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, will be the first Indigenous artist to represent the U.S. in a solo exhibition in the 129-year history of the Biennale.
For the latest exciting news and updates from the Portland Art Museum and PAM CUT, follow us on social media, sign up for our email newsletter, and keep an eye on portlandartmuseum.org and tomorrowtheater.org.
Exhibitions & events
TOMORROW THEATER
PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow
Carte Blanche: Ruth E. Carter
January 12, 2024
Living legend and Academy Award–winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter comes to the newly opened Tomorrow Theater as part of Carte Blanche, PAM CUT’s quarterly series giving polymath artists free rein to do what they want and share something new. Carter will talk with PAM Curator of Film & New Media Amy Dotson to reflect on her career as an artist, her influences from Afrofuturism, and more. Her latest book, The Art of Ruth Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther, will also be available for sale.
The Carte Blanche weekend also includes screenings of her groundbreaking work in Black Panther (January 13), as well as a preview screening and Portland premiere of Sundance 2023 sensation Bravo, Burkina! (January 14) by writer-director and fashion designer Walé Oyéjidé. Presented in conjunction with Africa Fashion, on view at the Portland Art Museum through February 18, 2024.
Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks
March 30 – August 30, 2024
Coming to the Portland Art Museum from the Bata Shoe Museum in Canada, Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks is a groundbreaking new exhibition that features nearly sixty futuristic footwear designs like the auto-lacing Nike MAG. It explores how cutting-edge technologies, unexpected materials, and new ideas are transforming footwear today. The provocative exhibition features digitally designed and 3D-printed shoes, sneakers made from mushroom leather and reclaimed ocean plastics, and footwear created for the metaverse. Portland is a sneaker town and we’re thrilled to share this exhibition with our community.
Co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum. Curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator, Bata Shoe Museum and Curated for PAM by Amy Dotson, Director PAM CUT// Center for an Untold Tomorrow and Curator, Film and New Media and exhibition design by Osmose.
Monet to Matisse: French Moderns
Summer 2024
From the Brooklyn Museum’s renowned European art collection, Monet to Matisse: French Moderns showcases approximately 60 works of art considered to be modernist masterpieces. Focusing on France as the artistic center of international modernism from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, the exhibition features paintings, drawings, and sculpture ranging widely in scale, subject matter, and style. Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism, Cubism, and Surrealism are all explored in the work of Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and many others.
Monet to Matisse: French Moderns is organized by the Brooklyn Museum. Lead support provided by the Flowerree Foundation, the William G. Gilmore Foundation, The Laura and Roger Meier Family, the McGraw Family Foundation, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, and Exhibition Series Sponsors.
PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow
Cinema Unbound Awards
June 21, 2024
PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow presents the fifth annual Cinema Unbound Awards celebrating multi-faceted artists working at the intersection of art and cinema who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Past honorees have included artists Guillermo Del Toro, Steve McQueen, Shirin Neshat, Tessa Thompson, Gus Van Sant, Fred Armisen, Todd Haynes, 2023 James Beard Best New Restaurant Chef Gregory Gourdet, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, Garrett Bradley, John Cameron Mitchell, and innovators including MOMA’s Chief Curator Rajendra Roy, Academy Museum president Jacqueline Stewart, ShadowMachine co-president Alex Bulkley and UTA Artists’ Arthur Lewis. This year’s honorees will be announced in spring 2024.
Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s
September 7, 2024 – January 10, 2025
Psychedelic Rock Posters and Fashion of the 1960s reveals the passion and creativity of the era through the iconic rock posters of San Francisco and beyond. To capture the heady experience of life and music at this time, poster artists invented a graphic language to communicate the excitement of rock concerts, which featured liquid light shows and film projections. They drew on disparate historical precedents such as Art Nouveau, Wild West posters, and Victorian engraving and combined them with vibrating color, inventive lettering, and witty and provocative design.
The exhibition brings together more than 150 rock posters, including work by the “big five” designers of the day—Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, and Wes Wilson—as well as other superb talents, such as Bonnie MacLean and Bob “Raphael” Schnepf. Fashion both reflected and influenced the psychedelic look of the posters. The exhibition showcases approximately 20 eclectic vintage styles ranging from embroidered denim and hippy fringe to crochet and velvet.
Organized by the Portland Art Museum and curated by Mary Weaver Chapin, Curator of Prints and Drawings.
Continuing in 2024
Throughlines: Connections in the Collection
Through November 1, 2024*
Throughlines: Connections in the Collection embraces wonder and curiosity, bringing together artworks from across the Museum’s collections to explore the range of artistic innovation. This exhibition provides a glimpse of the exciting growth ahead as we look forward to the Mark Rothko Pavilion, a multi-year expansion and renovation project now underway that will make the Museum more accessible and inclusive while helping to revitalize Portland’s downtown cultural center. While the galleries undergo this significant transformation, the Curatorial team, the Learning and Community Partnerships department, and PAM CUT colleagues have come together to present a collaboratively designed exhibition and event series that showcases our art collections and programs in a new light. After construction is complete in 2025, visitors will enjoy a fresh take on the collections as the curators reimagine, reassess, and transform the galleries throughout the Museum campus. Throughlines: Connections in the Collection previews just some of the new approaches and collaborations we are undertaking.
* Note: Throughlines will close from December 20, 2023 – January 25, 2024, due to construction on the Museum’s Mark Rothko Pavilion.
Closing
Africa Fashion
Through February 18, 2024
Africa Fashion opened at the Portland Art Museum after acclaimed runs at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Brooklyn Museum. This first-of-its-kind exhibition, making its only West Coast stop at PAM, honors the irresistible creativity, ingenuity, and unstoppable global impact of contemporary African fashions. Garments and textiles dating from the mid-twentieth century to the present day, contextualized by a range of cultural touchstones such as Drum magazines, Fela Kuti record albums, and studio photography from Sanlé Sory, celebrate the transformative and liberatory power of self-fashioning. The New Yorker’s art critic Hilton Als called Africa Fashion a “vital and necessary exhibition.”
Exhibition organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Curated by the V&A’s Christine Checinska, Ph.D., Senior Curator of African and Diaspora Textiles and Fashion, with Project Curator Elisabeth Murray. Curated for Portland by Julia Dolan, Ph.D., The Portland Art Museum’s Minor White Senior Curator of Photography. Sponsored in part by LEVER Architecture, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Silver Family Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. William Whitsell, Mary and Ryan Finley, Fred and Gail Jubitz, Cyndy and Ed Maletis, The Standard, Greg and Cathy Tibbles, Ameriprise Financial, Oregon Cultural Trust, William G. Gilmore Foundation, The Laura and Roger Meier Family, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, and Exhibition Series Sponsors.
Black Artists of Oregon
Through March 17, 2024
This expansive, transformative exhibition of more than 200 artworks by 69 artists highlights and celebrates the work of Black artists in Oregon over more than a century, exploring this history both through the lens of Black artists whose works are represented in the Museum’s collection as well as the works of influential artists who, historically, have not been exhibited or held in museum collections.
Considering both their presence and absence is critical to understanding the breadth of Black artistic production in Oregon—even in the midst of historic exclusion—as well as how the impact of that history affects our understanding of American art history and the history of the Pacific Northwest. This exhibition serves to deepen our awareness of the talented artists who have shaped and inspired artists regionally and nationally, and it is the first of its kind to consider the work of Black artists collectively in Oregon.
“It’s about the history and presence of Black artists in the state,” curator Intisar Abioto told The Skanner. “For me, it’s really community and ancestral work.”
Organized by the Portland Art Museum and curated by Intisar Abioto. Generously supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Meyer Memorial Trust, Terra Foundation for American Art, The Ford Family Foundation, The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Endowment for Northwest Art, and the Museum’s Artist Fund.
Other news
Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program paves the way for greater access and expanded access
The Portland Art Museum announced in December the return of Free First Thursdays, thanks to generous support provided by the Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All Program. Beginning January 4, 2024, Museum admission will be free on the first Thursday of every month from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and programs at the newly opened PAM CUT Tomorrow Theater in Southeast Portland will also be free. Additionally, the Museum announced new hours starting with the new year—Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Rothko Pavilion Expansion & Renovation Project
Construction on the Museum’s Mark Rothko Pavilion expansion and renovation project is underway. This transformative project will connect the Museum’s two buildings and create a more accessible experience for visitors. The Pavilion is named in honor of renowned abstract artist Mark Rothko (1903–1970), who spent his childhood in Portland after his family immigrated from Latvia. The project is among the most significant in the city, and a key part of revitalizing a downtown core that has been slow to recover after the pandemic. When the Rothko Pavilion opens in mid-2025, 95,000 square feet will have been added or renovated, and many of the permanent galleries will be rehung, introducing fresh perspectives on the Museum’s collection.
2024 VENICE BIENNALE: Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me
The Portland Art Museum and SITE Santa Fe, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, present Jeffrey Gibson as the representative for the United States at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Celebrated for an artistic practice that combines American, Indigenous, and Queer histories with influences from music and pop culture, Gibson creates a dynamic visual language that reflects the inherent diversity and hybridity of American culture. Using abundant color, complex pattern, and text, he invites deep reflection on identity, inspires empathy, and advocates for a widening of access to democracy and freedom for all. On view April 20 through November 24, 2024, Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me provides international audiences with the first major opportunity to experience Gibson’s work outside of the U.S.
For the U.S. Pavilion, Gibson will activate the interior and exterior of the building with a series of new and recent works that invite reflection on individual and collective identities including sculpture, paintings, multimedia works, and a site-specific installation activating the pavilion’s courtyard. The title of the exhibition references Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier’s poem Ȟe Sápa.
