Whitney Art Works

Latest Articles

Review: Rose Contemporary blasts off

Outer limits
It's a sad thing to have an empty gallery in the center of Portland's Arts District. Whitney Art Works was a vital organ in Portland's arts community, and since it closed in January, the scene has missed it dearly.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | July 06, 2011

Review: A two-artist show at Aucocisco explores the human form

Work of body
Like a sort of late-winter Frankenstein, Aucocisco's "Corporeal" exhibition is assembled from work both new and old from two distinct artists in their prime, each offering a grand centerpiece and detailed thematic series in a thoughtful investigation of the artistic body.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 23, 2011

The year in Portland's art scene

'In'-stallations
For lovers of spectacle, 2010 offered a lot of feasts. A fine collection of installations and site-specific works graced the greater city in 2010, challenging our perceptions and changing our surroundings.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | December 22, 2010

Art review: Four word-based artists at Whitney Art Works

Text messaging
Adriane Herman recategorizes our most ephemeral and disposable documents as relevant cultural artifacts.
By ANNIE LARMON | October 20, 2010

Fall Art Preview: Rising to the challenge

Museums, galleries, and artists ready for fall shows
Last weekend’s Block Party was a charming and invigorating celebration of Portland’s art community. The interactive evening, spearheaded by SPACE Gallery, set an ambitious standard for what’s to come on the art front rounding out this year.
By ANNIE LARMON | September 15, 2010

Fascinating new discoveries at Whitney Art Works

Curiouser and curiouser
It's quickly clear that something's off in Ethan Hayes-Chute's world.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | August 18, 2010

Wild animals

Multi-artist menagerie at Whitney Art Works
Showing the work of four bleakly conceptual visual artists in bold, animalistic explorations, Whitney Art Works's "Kingdom" is a weird dominion indeed.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | July 14, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Toys are us

Randy Regier’s alternative histories at Whitney Art Works
Stepping into Randy Regier’s occupation of Whitney Art Works is like entering a parallel-universe 1950s FAO Schwartz showroom gone awry.
By ANNIE LARMON | May 12, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

What is this place?

Participatory performance art at Whitney Art Works
Bertolt Brecht asks, "In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes," he answers, "there will be singing. About the dark times."
By ANNIE LARMON | January 13, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Hope and energy

Looking ahead to Maine's art scene in 2010
As we launch into the next decade with a collapsing economy and apocalyptic themes bleeding into every facet of culture, it's particularly hard to be optimistic about the arts, as yes, they are often the first to go.
By ANNIE LARMON | December 30, 2009

A special Maine feel

Exhibitions to remember from 2009
This may be remembered as the year that the Center for Maine Contemporary Art smashed headlong into a fiscal brick wall, and at this writing it is not clear if, after its current show closes this week, it will open again in the spring.
By KEN GREENLEAF | December 22, 2009

Found, and created

Rebecca FitzPatrick and Owen F. Smith illustrate the present
While aesthetically there is little to compare between Rebecca FitzPatrick's "Thread" show and "Multiples" by Owen F. Smith, together on view at Whitney Art Works this month, both artists appropriate found materials, are impressively prolific, and identify with a post- or anti-war movement of the previous century.
By ANNIE LARMON | August 12, 2009

By | January 01, 0001

Weight + measure

Aaron Stephan's sculpture takes center stage
The centerpiece, conceptually and physically, of Aaron Stephan's show at Whitney Art Works is "Flat World/Round Map," a cast-iron sphere about six feet in diameter. While not exactly the largest ( "18 Columns" covers more ground and "The Burden Crates" is taller) it creates a center of gravity around itself.
By KEN GREENLEAF | June 17, 2009

Summer people

Artists have long visited Maine, too
Ever wonder why there is so much professional-level art made and shown in Maine, a state with a total population less than that of many minor cities? One answer is that following the fame of people like Winslow Homer, creative types flocked to Maine, often to artists' colonies.
By KEN GREENLEAF | June 10, 2009

Structural integrity

A group show at the Whitney
The five artists featured in "Stratum," now on view at Whitney Art Works, are diverse in background, medium, and scale, but they comfortably crowd the gallery's two rooms with sculptures, paintings, and drawings that respond to the relationships exposed by stripping back layers and how meaning and interpretation shift when new layers are presented.
By ANNIE LARMON | May 27, 2009

Conversation piece

Leon Johnson explains his trans-historical-post-colonial-dinner-wait-what?!
Leon Johnson explains his trans-historical-post-colonial-dinner-wait-what?!
By IAN PAIGE | April 29, 2009

Story telling

Whitney's latest show has quiet power
The three artists whose work is currently on view at Whitney Art Works in Portland have a taste for narratives, real or invented.
By KEN GREENLEAF | April 16, 2009

Letters to the Portland Editor: March 13, 2009

Report on True/False Film Fest was so true
We are two Maine natives, who attended the True/False Film Festival in Missouri, couldn't agree more with Christopher Gray's account of the festival and the festival experience.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | March 11, 2009

The sad ghost of postmodernism

It sticks around, but doesn't always work.
By KEN GREENLEAF | February 26, 2009

Easy on the eyes

At Whitney Art Works, "The Funnies" directly engage viewers with 150 pieces by 25 artists.
"The Funnies" at Whitney Art Works is a sprawling show of upwards of 150 pieces by 25 artists, all of whom have been brought together by local artist — Jeff Badger.
By KEN GREENLEAF | February 26, 2009

Groups + solos

Looking forward to 2009
First on the list of this year's points of interest is the anticipated Portland Museum of Art Biennial, which opens in early April.
By KEN GREENLEAF | December 31, 2008

Family affair

Judith Allen and Eirene Efstathiou at Portland's Whitney Art Works
“New Work,” a collaboration at Whitney Art Works between mother Judith Allen and daughter Eirene Efstathiou, is a joy to unpack.
By IAN PAIGE | March 15, 2006