Installation view, Rainen Knecht, Earth Alien, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, 2017.

JEANINE JABLONSKI IN CONVERSATION WITH LEAH TRIPLETT HARRINGTON FOR THE RIB

REGION > PORTLAND, OREGON
SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

First, tell me a bit about Fourteen30. What's your mission and curatorial focus?

Fourteen30 Contemporary was founded in 2008 with the mission to show emerging and new generation artists from the Northwest region and beyond. I founded the gallery as there was not another generation of galleries here in Portland -- after Laurel Gitlen left for New York -- that were  going to showcase the artists of our region alongside national and international artists, in ways that were new. So I naively took that on myself...

Installation view, Melanie Flood, Mirror Mirror, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, 2018.

You launched ten years ago this year! Congrats, that's huge. How has the gallery evolved during that time?

Thank you! It has been such a time of reflection for me so far this year, especially this last six months. Ten years is a long time! The gallery has evolved because I have evolved. I was 30 when I opened, and I'll be 40 in a few weeks. I'm now married, have a child - a lot has shifted; I've learned a lot.

In the beginning, I followed closely those structures of the art world which I knew: monthly shows, monthly openings, PR a certain way, timing, etc etc. As I moved along, I realized there were zero rules I had to follow, and that things like a rigid structure didn't work for my gallery, in this city. To have a monthly show wasn't financially viable, plus viewers can be SLOW here, so six weeks, eight weeks sometimes, made more sense. Since that initial realization, I've enjoyed toying with this 'timing' because it's such an arbitrary thing:a structure truly set up to be malleable, if we allow for it. One example is a program we did a few years ago based on my seeing artists wait so long to see work get outside of their studios, as they prepped for standard shows (every two years or so). The series, Two Weeks/Two Works allowed artists to show new work, old work, work they weren't sure about, new ideas, and just get it in the gallery for a shorter time, to get some perspective. This summer I've also brought back our series of video exhibitions, each running for one week, but 24 hours a day - the duration is nearly as long as a typical show when you add it all up, and it also activates the gallery during "off" hours. I think it is important to have breath in a program, room for flexibility and spontaneity. That idea would have seemed so foreign to me in 2008.

Installation view, Mike Bray, light grammar/grammar light, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, 2016.

Installation view, Donald Morgan, Reader’s Tomb, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, 2017. 

Installation view, Rainen Knecht, Earth Alien, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, 2017.

Installation view, Jesse Sugarmann, California City, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, 2013.

You're an artist as well as a curator. Is there anything particular in your background that has been especially helpful to your work with Fourteen30?

I did study art, and have my MFA, and I began curating in graduate school--I nearly dropped out to do a curatorial program finished up my program. Ever since, I've worked in non-profits, and galleries, until I opened my own space. It is 100% my creative practice, the gallery. That feeling, when you finish a piece, that is the feeling I get to have now when I hang a show and I know it looks rad, that the work is presented the in the best way possible.

I'd like to think that with this background I can relate to artists, to what they need. I truly hope I can offer that, compassion and insight into what they desire, what they might require to grow as an artist.

How does this space relate to Portland's art scene as well as the global art world? How does the Fourteen30 program take a decentralized curatorial approach?

When I opened, I had no direct peers locally but one, Patrick Rock at ROCKSBOX, so I connected with what strength we had here - our nonprofits - PICA, The Cooley Gallery at Reed College, YU - and our artist run spaces. Artist-centric spaces. That has remained true but now I have more true peers, Amy Adams at Adams and Ollman opened 5 years ago; Theo Downes-Le Guin at Upfor; Williamson Knight. We've also had major shifts and taken down some of Portland's pretty blatant, longstanding patriarchal behavior in the last few years here, and you can feel that change - the Portland Art Museum has become connected to the contemporary art community again, and that is big here.

In Portland things are so not about an "art world" that it allows ideas to form that seem more authentic, and people respond to that. And we smell it a mile away if things are not authentic. Artists from other places LOVE coming here, and fantasize about moving here - and we are slowly getting that trickle of artists moving here from LA and New York.

I think when you are in an off-market city, you are the definition of decentralized, and my curatorial approach has always orbited off of this place, or this coast, connecting us to artists everywhere. I want emerging artists to be placed next to artists from all generations, all places, all ideologies.

Installation view, Mike Bray, light grammar/grammar light, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, 2016.

And lastly, tell us about some upcoming projects that you are most excited about.

Well our SUMMER SERIES is really fantastic this year, which is co-curated by myself and our Assistant Director Carlin Brown - the line up of solo exhibitions of single videos, each running for 24-hours/7 days, is really excellent, and I think just coming to an end as this is published: Theadora Frost, Cecilia Salama, Leidy Churchman, Math Bass and Talia Chetrit. In September, we present our first solo show with Wynne Greenwood, which is actually her first commercial show in 7 years! Then after that is a two-person show with Arnold Kemp and Kristan Kennedy - very, very excited to see what these two cook up.

I am also finally getting legs on an art writing initiative here in Portland that I've had my heart set on for years - so check in with me on that in early 2019!!

Fourteen30 Contemporary is a commercial gallery in Portland, Oregon, focused on emerging and new generation artists nationally and abroad.

fourteen30.com
1501 SW Market Street
Portland, Oregon 97201
t. 503.236.1430
info(at)fourteen30.com

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A comprehensive feature on any state, area, or city that lacks mainstream coverage. Region considers the various factors that influence a particular art scene or art-making community, and how it sustains itself. Region also includes profiles of individuals influencing the area (be they curators, writers, artists, professors, etc.), and is always written by people familiar with the topography of the region’s art community. It can include interviews, op-eds, or dialogue in man other forms. Region aims to demystify specific art scenes for interested artists, educators, dealers, curators, advocates, and everything in-between.