In 2103 Bryan Sureth and Gavin Shettler got a hold of the vacant Columbia Sportswear Factory in the St. John’s neighborhood of Portland. They invited artists to take as much space as they wanted.
I decided tocreate a fictional artist who was both successful in the commercial and art world - a dichotomy I found to be unfair if not unethical at the time.
I took over an office space and posed as Wren’s assistant, showing off his work (which was, of course, my own work) and asking people who believed that they looked like someone famous to pose for a picture and elaborate about who they looked like on video.
A few months later Randy Gragg organized a group show of over 50 Portland artists to coincide with the touring Baja to Vancouver survey of West Coast art.
I was given a full gallery space and chose to hang a full retrospective of the fictional artist Wren, including childhood collage, paintings, photography, and work cataloging people who think they look like someone famous. I also secured several dozen pounds of Lego and put them in the middle of the gallery to encourage people to stick around and engage.
Ironically I have come to embody a lot of what intrigued and infuriated me about WREN. I have a successful career as a performer and artist. I also work in the commercial creative field. And much as my younger self predicted, I still wrestle with straddling the two worlds.
Ironically I have come to embody a lot of what intrigued and infuriated me about WREN. I have a successful career as a performer and artist. I also work in the commercial creative field. And much as my younger self predicted, I still wrestle with straddling the two worlds.
