On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at 11.30 am Joseph Gallivan interviews Stephanie Chefas and Emily Wise at Chefas Projects on Portland’s inner east side. Stephanie Chefas talks about the work of sculptor Dan Lam, a woman who lives in Dallas Texas, and Portland-based painter Emily Wise. Lam’s work is a neon-colored, Maximalist sculpture that draws on natural forms and uses drips and flowing as part of its structure. Wise’s paintings are multi-layered images of women, with some individual portraits, that the writer-painter gives a narrative element.
Their shows are at Chefas Projects through August 5.
This interview was recorded on July 214 and 15, 2023, on an iPhone 14 and on Zoom videoconferencing software, with audio engineering by Adobe Enhance, which is why it sounds a bit clipped.
From the press release:
https://www.stephaniechefas.com/dan-lam-cosmic-shake
Dan Lam’s fourth solo exhibition Cosmic Shake at Chefas Projects is an exclamation of her mesmerizing sculptures and this time around, she’s elevated the bar to new heights exploring and creating new shapes and textures. Culminating her artistic expression, Dan’s launched a refreshing new bold visual language and has pushed her personal boundaries to outer-limits with this show.
“Through this exhibition, I am delving into my complete visual vocabulary while also enhancing it. I am introducing new textures to familiar shapes and exploring established textures on fresh shapes. This exhibition provides me with the opportunity to express my artistic language fully, which I haven't been able to do before. My aim is to continuously push the limits of my creativity and explore the endless possibilities,” says Dan.
Fans, old and new, of her work will no doubt be tetched and owner of Chefas Projects, Stephanie Chefas is delighted to bolster Dan’s work for a fourth time, and says, “Dan Lam walks the line between numerous dichotomies to uncover new modes of expression. By navigating the realm between attraction and repulsion, motion and stillness, seriousness and playfulness, softness and hardness, Lam wields magic power over each idiosyncratic vision. The experimentation remains palpable, but the work is never so abstract as to disengage. Compelled by these seemingly disparate juxtapositions, the viewer is overcome with a range of complex emotions and creative ideas.”
Internationally acclaimed, prominent contemporary artist and social media Influencer; Dan Lam is an artist based out of Texas, US. Lam’s sculptural work expresses and plays with sensational dichotomies by combining unconventional materials, organic forms, and bright colors. With contrasting themes verging on beauty and grotesqueness at once, Lam’s art provokes its viewers to ponder meaning and existence while inspiring feelings of familiarity and wonder. Curiosity, play, and fun are the foundation of where Lam’s work begins. Her experimentation results in beautiful sculptures created with various materials such as foams, polyurethanes, resins, acrylics, and polymers, which defines her style. She has exhibited worldwide, and celebrity clients include Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, The Game, and Lily Aldridge.
The opening reception for Cosmic Shake will be held at Chefas Projects on Friday, July 7th from 5-8pm. Chefas Projects is located in Portland, Oregon at 134 SE Taylor Street on the first floor of the Taylor Works building. The exhibition will be on view through August 5, 2023, and is free and open to the public.
https://www.stephaniechefas.com/emily-wise-hands-that-hold-the-melting-heart
Chefas Projects is delighted to introduce Portland-based painter Emily Wise in Gallery 2 this month with a new collection of paintings: Hands that Hold the Melting Rope. Inspired by mythmaking and relationships women build with themselves and other women, Wise invites the viewer into a heavenly world of organized chaos. Each piece explodes with dizzying layers of detail and weaves a surreal, overarching narrative as it follows two central figures on a journey through otherworldly terrain.
"On a night drive to 7-11 to get snacks, a group of women in a '99 Toyota Corolla unwittingly cross an invisible boundary," Wise explains. "That very night, the veil between worlds had thinned just long enough to rocket their bodies into some kind of 'heaven' not unlike this world. Marooned in this new existence with no ability or desire to go back, they begin to wonder if this place has always been there, waiting for them, within each other."
The opening reception for Hands That Hold the Melting Rope will be held at Chefas Projects on Friday, July 7th from 5-8pm. Chefas Projects is located in Portland, Oregon at 134 SE Taylor Street on the first floor of the Taylor Works building. The exhibition will be on view through August 5, 2023, and is free and open to the public.
Art Focus on K-B-O-O Portland is the show where artists talk about their work. I want to remind you that KBOO is a volunteer-powered community platform. That means we are funded by you, the listener.
If you are enjoying the program, please show your support by making a contribution today, or better yet become a monthly sustaining member.
Just go to kboo.fm/give or text K-B-O-O to 44-321."
To hear previous episodes of Art Focus or any of our KBOO public affairs programming, just go to KBOO dot F-M or listen on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Joseph Gallivan has been a reporter since 1990. He has covered music for the London Independent, Technology for the New York Post, and arts and culture for the Portland Tribune, where he is currently a Feature Writer. He is the author of two novels, "Oi, Ref!" and "England All Over" which are available on Amazon.com
- KBOO