Faces

Detail of my latest in-progress typewriter drawing made using my manual 1970's Citation II Typewriter from Sears and the following characters: w,*%J"#()@+=&.

Your Shadow's Shadow

So happy to start off the new year with a show at The Fresh Pot on Mississippi. Again, thanks to Luke's Frame Shop  for the always incredible, affordable framing and for politely navigating my neurosis every time I come in to frame something last minute.

Wishing everyone thrilling adventures in 2015!

Grandma Barton

Here's a glimpse of my latest in-progress typewriter drawing.  I'm so tickled to have the opportunity to make this drawing for so many reasons!

First, it is a commission for my dear friend Bart, whose stunning grandmother is the subject. Here's a little bit about her:

"My grandmother was a pretty cool lady.  She headed to San Francisco by herself from Chicago sometime around when that photo was taken.  She was from a small town in western Illinois so it was quite scandalous at the time.  She even eloped with some guy she met out there, whose parents didn't approve and had the wedding annulled."

I'm also really excited to work small (relatively speaking)--this piece will be roughly 16 x 20 inches compared to its 82 x 86 inch siblings.

The last thing I'm so pumped about--I have such a heavy hand when it comes to drawing that, as the typed symbols become larger relative to the whole, this method can only allow me to work in a more impressionistic way.  This is something that feels impossible for me to do with traditional drawing materials and my three ton hand. I can't wait to lose my mind in the floral pattern of her dress--not to mention when I get to the delicate capturing of her feminine, tangible pluck. Just look at that elbow--that is a tough broad. Wish me happy typing nightmares!

The Boiler Journal

I'm so pleased to announce that my latest illustrations are featured in The Boiler's Winter issue.  Also featured in this issue are the lovely drawings of the amazing Erica Parrot.  Endless thanks to Violet Marie for making this opportunity happen!

Give Up The Queen And Nobody Gets Hurt

typewriter drawing on paper

45 x 55 inches

$1950

This is a portrait of my dear, and totally hilarious freak of a friend, Taylor. Using emoticons alone, she is capable of writing a great story about Jeffrey Dahmer, and was once in a Stevie Nick's cover band. She is also a part of my Ginger Army.

I consider this a collaboration since she provided the amazing photo.  All I had to do was navigate/obey the grid. Magic!  This took 44 hours to type using my Sears Citation II manual typewriter. I'm so thrilled to install this piece made up of 74 five-inch squares of paper + 296 thumbtacks + 296 magnets.

Over the past few years, I've installed three shows in Fishbowl 2 (Blackfish Gallery's guest window), on behalf of artists from my dream-job, ProjectGrow, and I'm extremely pleased to exhibit my own work here for the first time.

Friends--I'll be installing on Sunday, November 30, around noon if you want to frighten me/keep me company through the window. Edible gifts in exchange for voyeurism will be totally welcome.

Please mark your calendars for First Thursday, December 4, 2014 to celebrate the opening of all of the fresh exhibits at Blackfish Gallery.

On view December 1 - December 30, 2014

Give Up The Queen And Nobody Gets Hurt

Fishbowl 1
Blackfish Gallery
420 NW 9th Avenue
Portland, OR 97209

Opening Reception
December 4, 2014
6 - 9pm

Exoskeleton Redux

I'm so thrilled that Photoshop and scanners exist.  After hours of piecing together segments of squares on the scanner, then "quilting" them via an 86 x 82 inch Photoshop document (Hah!), I'm pleased to finally have a quality digital image of this piece.

Exoskeleton

2014

82 x 86 inches

$3000

This drawing, made up of 158 five-inch paper squares, was created using my Sears Citation II manual typewriter and the following characters: & % @ # J X x W w 3 8 . "

Exoskeleton is on view indefinitely at Radish Underground, here in Portland, Oregon.

Current Exhibition: Your Shadow's Shadow

Your Shadow's Shadow

permanent marker and india ink on paper

19 x 21.25 inches

SOLD

Your Shadow's Shadow

November 1 - November 29, 2014

Tiny's Coffee Northeast

2031 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

Portland, OR 97214

M-F: 6am-7pm + WKND: 7am-7pm

all ages

Closing Reception

Black Friday, November 28, 2014

4-7pm

Family Portraits

These drawings and more will be on view at Tiny's Northeast in Portland, Oregon this November. 

Closing Reception: 4-7pm Black Friday, November 28, 2014

Kissers

2014

permanent marker on paper

15 x 21.5 inches

$300, framed

Untitled

2014

permanent marker and isopropyl alcohol on paper

15 x 21.5 inches

$300, framed

Dance Partner

permanent marker and isopropyl alcohol on paper

11 x 12.5 inches

$195, framed

Valentine

2014

permanent marker on paper

15 x 20 inches

$300, framed

Hair and Happy Accidents

New Drawings

I've had the honor of showing several of these drawings in September 2014 at Surplus Space, a brilliant artist run and social practice driven enterprise in Portland, Oregon.   I have FOuRT Collective, guest curators for this particular exhibition, to thank for selecting this work. The ladies of FOuRT are committing general badassery at all times in the Pacific Northwest.

These works and more will also be on view November 2014 at Tiny's Coffee Northeast in Portland, Oregon.  Closing Reception 4pm-7pm, Black Friday, November 28.

Automatic

2014

permanent marker and isopropyl alcohol on paper

16.5 x 20 inches

$350, framed

Empath

2014

permanent marker and isopropyl alcohol on paper

21 x 24.5 inches

$350, framed

 Loose Lips

2014

permanent marker and india ink on paper
15 x 21.25 inches
$300, framed

Conversation

2014

permanent marker on paper

15 x 21.5

$300, framed

Pica

2014

permanent marker and isopropyl alcohol on paper

21.25 x 30 inches

$350, framed

Satisfying, Necessary and Dangerous

Damaged Goods

Typewriter drawing on paper, graphite & double sided tape

45 x 48 inches (114 x 122 cm)

$1300

Eighty-Nine (detail)

Permanent marker & isopropyl alcohol on paper

22 ½ x 30 inches (56 x 76 cm)

SOLD

Exoskeleton
Typewriter drawing on paper

One-hundred-fifty-eight 5-inch (13 cm) squares & six-hundred-thirty-two magnets/tacks 

7 feet (2.13 m) tall by 6 feet (1.82 m) wide

$3000

 Séance
Permanent marker on paper

22 x 22 inches (56 x 56 cm)

$300

Artist Statement:

 This method of drawing embodies all that is satisfying, necessary and dangerous about compartmentalization.

Modernity forces us to be vigilantly aware of a constant influx of information, lest we be thwarted, caught off guard, or left behind—a seemingly impossible task.  By first synthesizing and then chipping away at this information, we comfort ourselves with smallness, familiarity. We dissociate from the inconceivable.

Using a grid and a drawing tool, I address one segment at a time.  The looming threat of the greater image—one that might take ninety hours or thousands of strikes on the typewriter to complete—becomes a singular drawing, a smaller, conceivable task that is both separate from and part of the future whole.

The parallel to life is so clear—this essential process can also be dangerous. Synthesis and compartmentalization are of course necessary for survival, but cross a fine line and these abilities can transform into self-deception and denial, or harbor an obsession with control and perfection.

But how satisfying it is to draw this way! Walking that fine line fulfills this bizarre, fretful urge to attain perfection. Alongside (and perhaps contradictory to) this urge, I’ve come to enjoy the imperfections and happy accidents that my background in printmaking and drawing has led me to. I revel in working within a medium in which marks can’t be erased and blemishes are a part of the process. For me, it’s a funny, competitive exercise in self-flagellating gratification, and a reminder that I’m not a computer, yet.

Rachel Mulder

The works above were created between November 2013 and July 2014 and were created for Analog Obscured, an exhibition of works by myself and photographer Lindsey Rickert at AFRU Gallery in Portland, Oregon.  The opening reception took place July 3, 2014.  The show comes down on July 31, 2014. Gallery hours: Friday & Saturday 12-4pm; Sunday 2-6pm

These drawings were made using my Sears Citation II typewriter, graphite, sharpie & isopropyl alcohol.

Analog Obscured

I'm bursting with so many thank-you's to all who attended the opening reception for Analog Obscured. Your presence made it a total blast. Not only was I surrounded by those whom I consider to be my Portland family, but I was super-thrilled that Magnolia Bouvier & DDDJJJ666 were able to provide enchanting post-punk-creepster-weirdo-wonder and appropriately-analog musical entertainment. Special thanks for kicking it off with Klaus Nomi!  You will do yourself a great disservice if you do not attempt to listen to the links below.

Analog Obscured is an exhibition of works by myself and photographer Lindsey Rickert (http://www.lindseyrickert.com/).  The opening took place at AFRU Gallery in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, July 3, 2014. The show will close July 31.

Gallery hours are as follows: Friday & Saturday 12-4pm and Sunday 2-6pm

Listen:
http://xray.fm/shows/vampirella-in-iridescent-teal (Magnolia Bouvier)
http://xray.fm/shows/hipsters-suck (DDDJJJ666)
http://www.mixcloud.com/MagnoliaBouvier/
http://www.mixcloud.com/thomas-jones2/

Not Nuns

Work in progress using the following keys of my Citation II typewriter: , & @ w V % x 0 #
Typewriter ink on paper
Future dimensions 4ft x 4ft
April 2014

To be on display at AFRU Gallery in Portland, Oregon, in July along with other similar pieces and the works of photographer Lindsey Rickert. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, July 3, 2014. More information to come.