Corey Arnold: Graveyard Point
Charles A. Hartman Fine Art

Arnold’s photographs of the community that gathers at Graveyard Point, in deep southwest Alaska, to fish for Sockeye Salmon each summer doesn’t just straddle the line between documentary and fine art, it fully embodies the finest order of both. Capturing not just the toil of the work, but also the joy of the hunt and all the places that nature interjects herself (e.g. a grizzly bear dying in the mud, a bald eagle in the setting sun), Arnold beautifully and masterfully creates a narrative of life at the seeming edge of the world. The photos are both troubling and inspiring, and a must see for anyone who’s interested in where there food comes from. We ran the story Red Sea in our September issue, with a slideshow of Arnold's photos, about the hardy, Portland-based fishermen who spend their summers there and bring back salmon according to an innovative, aquatic CSA-style program that’s hoping to reinvent the fishing business.

The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece
Portland Art Museum
Opens Saturday

Although it doesn’t technically open until Saturday, October 6, this is one of the top exhibitions of the year, and certainly the biggest. Drawn from the collection of the British Museum, where it was recently showcased during the summer Olympics, The Body Beautiful traces Greek portrayals of the human form, from prehistoric simplicity to the realism of the Hellenistic age, through iconic marble and bronze sculptures, vessels, funerary objects, and jewelry. Too heavy and valuable to travel much (it’s thus far been a hit in Asia and Central America), it will be shown on American soil for the first time at the Portland Art Museum. In celebration, there will be a bevy of corresponding lectures, events, after-hour cocktail bacchanals (togas optional), and performances, many organized with partners ranging from Oregon Ballet Theatre to OHSU. We’ll post a fuller rundown, as well as a review, soon, but you can see a schedule at the museum’s site.

MK Guth: When nothing else subsists, smell and taste remain
Marylhurst University’s Art Gym
Opening reception Sunday, October 7 from 3–5 pm

When nothing is both a backward glance and a forward look for this homegrown art star. A book published by the Art Gym caps Guth’s interactive and internationally shown projects, including the Red Shoe Delivery Service. Then the exhibition itself includes a new body of work exploring the act of gathering to share a meal. It will have a series of serving objects and recipe books to provide instructions for a series of dinners, both playful and poignant, inspired by art, places, relationships, and milestones, such as Dinner for John Cage (based on the composer’s Mushrooms et Variationes) and Dinner for the Woods. There will be weekly discussions about food, including one with experts in German drinking songs, because Dinner for Crying involves crying in your beer.

Guth has a concommitant exhibition of photographs and an installation opening today at Elizabeth Leach Gallery (pictured).

Happy Birthday: A Celebration of Chance and Listening 
PNCA’s Feldman Gallery + Project Space

In prominent conceptual artist Paul Kos’s installation The Sound of Ice Melting, microphones surround two giant ice blocks to capture the elusive, entropic tones of ice turning to water. It’s but one of the pieces that sets the tone for this cross-media, 100th birthday tribute to John Cage, a giant of post-war art and music. Other highlights include Guggenheim Fellow Alison Knowles’ small lithographed ode to the birth of her twin daughters—Knowles’ award-winning work in Fluxus drew on the radical techniques she picked up as an early student of Cage—and Portland-based artist Stephanie Simek's solar- and plant-powered windowbox experiment that harnesses the power of nature to deliver her signature aletoric chimes.

Kara Walker: More & Less
Reed College’s Cooley Gallery

Kara Walker set the art world ablaze in 1994 with her debut solo show, Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War as it Occurred between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart. Her work in paper silhouettes, prints, and film exploring race, gender, sexuality, and violence has continued to raise no end of controversy. Read our preview coverage here.