Saber Rom unleashes new works at the Ford Gallery in January with an opening party at the gallery on January 16 at 6 pm that continues downstairs at PDX Magazine’s Mechanical venue in Suite B27 after 8 pm.
Yes, we’re off our last Saturday schedule again for art openings, but it’s Saber’s birthday, so what better reason to move up an opening. Come ready for a real celebration!
Saber’s latest work is a collection of paintings on oriented strand board (OSB) and many of the works feature wildlife. By depicting wildlife on this ubiquitous and inexpensive construction material, the artist asks the viewer to consider the delicate balance between the human need for shelter and nature’s need for suitable habitat.
From the artist:
“This current work is an attempt to explain, to poke fun, to shout out ‘order in the court!’ As our most asleep-at-the-wheel president left office on the eve of our next great depression, housing markets were imploding, banks teetered on collapse.
“Flash forward. We voted for Hope and then on was the next building/buying boom. In my neighborhood as well as yours, where one old rundown house once stood, four shot up in its place at six feet apart. These shotgun shack town homes promised ‘yours: new, dry, warm’. Enter Oriented Strand Board (OSB): lumber’s leavings pressed with glue and soaked in formaldehyde. This OSB board was something my eyes traced everyday across this same cityscape. We’ve cut down so many trees that we can’t build out of plywood anymore. I try to notice the evictions: the crows, squirrels, raccoons, hummingbirds must press on in search of that same dream we got sold: ‘your dry, warm home’.”
Show Dates: Jan 16 – Feb 19.
Ford Gallery | 2505 SE 11th Ave
For sales or more info, contact Ross Blanchard — [email protected], 503-449-3305
