It was a Beautiful June 1st Thursday in Portland as large crowds shuffled from art show to art show throughout the beloved Pearl District. Among the biggest draws of the night was the show “Fresh Off the Rocket Ship” at Hellion Gallery, an opening featuring a group of Japanese artists all showing in the United States for the first time. Gallery owner and curator Matt Wagner is known for bringing art across the Pacific, having recently worked with the HPGRP Gallery in Tokyo for the AJ Fosik Collaboration Show titled “Beast From a Foreign Land” as well as authoring the books The Tall Trees of Tokyo & The Tall Tress of Portland.
Artists for “Fresh Off the Rocket Ship” were discovered over the course of several trips to Japan, and include a diverse group in terms of their popularity and style. The show displays a variety of mediums and genres, from grotesque sculptures to needlepoint portraits, but manages to maintain a cohesive feel. Below are pictures from the June 5th opening, the show will be on display all month and more information is available at www.helliongallery.com.
Kanako Ozawa
MitsuyaWatanabe
