“Relish,” a fine art exhibition featuring gouache paintings by Cher Odum and the words of poet Dan Stone
J. Pepin Art Gallery, Portland, Oregon
August 1 through September 1, 2018
From the gallery:
“Relish” is defined both as a noun and a verb to describe the experience of enjoyment or delight. In these images and accompanying verse, it refers to the savoring and celebrating of the sensual joy of living, of choosing to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch the real, visceral beauty of living, despite hardships or challenges, internal or external obstacles. These are pictures and poems expressing the moment-by-moment decision to turn toward and relish the juicy, pumping joy and connection that our hearts always hold — despite anything our minds might be telling us.
Artist Cher Odum and poet Dan Stone have been collaborating since 2006. After Odum completes her painting, Stone composes his poem, adding further life to the story of the artwork.
About the artists:
Self taught, Odum has been painting professionally since 2010. She worked as a counselor with at-risk youth, facilitating groups by using artwork as a means of self-expression and self-discovery. She noticed that young girls often had negative self-images and destructive self-talk. So she began painting women with huge feet and hands and tiny heads to express this warped view, which women often carry from adolescence into adulthood. But she turned that negative perspective on its ear by portraying these women as beautiful, powerful, and self-actualized.
Stone has spent the better part of his life telling stories and making poems — creating images with words. His work in photography and digital art as well as his prose and poetry has largely focused on the intersection of dream and reality or fantasy, where elements of fantasy or the fantastical combine with the real or mundane, where magic is real and the real world is magical. His words and images extend an invitation to suspend disbelief and step into a world where magic is real and where dreams do come true.
For more information, please visit www.jpepinartgallery.com.
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