Paul X. Rutz

In an effort to prevent HIV infection, support people affected and infected with AIDS, and fight AIDS-related stigma, the Cascade AIDS Project has held an art auction each year since 1990. The auction’s reputation has grown over the years, and it now attracts a serious group of supporters from local restaurants, galleries and other businesses. It’s no exaggeration to say Portland’s finest foods will be ready for the sampling… and the visual art, I’m told, ain’t bad. It’s an honor to have a piece juried into this show and a privilege to be eating there this Saturday.

Tickets to the main event run $100 each, with proceeds going to benefit the CAP, and they’re still available. (There’s also a swank dinner with different pricing and rules.)

The piece I donated is listed here.

Date: April 27, 2013

Silent Auction: 7:30 to 10:30pm

Dancing: until Midnight

Location: Portland Memorial Coliseum

I’ve been invited to give a talk along with the other members of the Portland Accord: novelist Jessica Anthony, poet Brian Brodeur, writer Ben Chadwick and multimedia craftsman Max Stinson (who will be represented in absentia by a sock monkey). As part of George Mason University’s New Leaves writers’ conference, we’ll be discussing how our group has used years of biweekly check-ins, critiques, multimedia arguments and annual goals to push each other to make better work.

More info here. Scroll down to see us listed at the close of the program, right between the free Friday drinks and the cash bar.

We’ll take the stage Friday, Apr. 5, at 7:45pm. George Mason Inn, Fairfax, Va.

Clatsop Community College’s annual show, Au Naturel: The Nude in the 21st Century, surveys the state of that historically rich tendency for people to paint and draw and etch and photograph our species without clothes on. This year the jury of this well-regarded show has added my painting Recovery to their group of works by 47 picture makers mainly from across North America.

A reception the evening of March 7 will offer us all a great chance to talk through what we see. If past years are any guide, the range of depiction and depth of skill in this show will impress.

CCC Art Center Gallery: 1799 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, Oregon

Gallery Hours: M-F 8am to 6pm; Sat 11am to 4pm; and by appointment

Beginning mid-November, I’ll be showing about a dozen paintings at Portland Community College’s Cascade Gallery, with an opening reception in the late afternoon of Nov. 15th. Please see the press release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Paul X. Rutz: The Measure of a Body

Dates: November 15, 2012 to January 10, 2013

Artist Talk: Thursday, November 15, 6:10-7pm, location yet to be determined

Opening Reception: Thursday, November 15, 4-6pm, Cascade Gallery, Terrell Hall Room 102

Gallery Hours: 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday

Cascade Gallery presents an exhibition of life-sized oil paintings by Portland artist Paul X. Rutz. A former Naval Officer, ballet dancer and newswire reporter, Rutz paints from live people with a method that invites viewers to renegotiate the rules by which we picture each other. His disdain for the use of the reclining nude has fueled his interest in depicting empowered subjects. He writes, “We’re so used to photographs, and a photo’s split-second sample of light through a single lens does a great job recording a suggestion of what we see, but it is far from the whole picture. Through painting, I aim to remind viewers about the unstable, unfolding ways we see each other. We are whole-body viewers. Our hearts beat, lungs expand, and our eyes make continuous saccades, seeing not in single points of view, but in paths of attention.”

For more information about the artist and other images of his artwork, go to: http://paulrutz.com/

For more information about the exhibition or questions about the Cascade Gallery, call 971-722-5326 or email cascade.gallery@pcc.edu

During the second and third weekends of October, more than 100 visual arts professionals will open our studios to the public throughout Portland. We’ll demonstrate how we mix paint, pose models, weld sculptures, weave fabrics and blend encaustics, and we’ll display all kinds of goodness—including treats for all. Don’t miss this excellent city-wide opportunity.

Portland Open Studios, a nonprofit organization now in its fifteenth year, not only promotes local visual craftspeople (see their page for me here), but it also provides scholarships and apprenticeships to emerging talents. To match operating costs, the group asks everyone who goes on the tour to buy a ticket that comes with a map and guidebook.

Starting September first, Tickets are available throughout Portland at New Seasons markets, Powell’s Books, Muse, Frame Central, Art Media stores and other area businesses. There’s also an iPhone app for everyone savvy enough to go there.

Listen for ads, interviews and more next month on OPB and KINK radio, and look for them in newspapers and magazines around town.