Mario Robert began his painting career at the Mexican-United States border, where Jaurez runs abut El Paso, Texas. He was 16. He watched as violence forced a once-beautiful border city, Jaurez, into a bloody ghost town. The images he saw there affected his painting as much as his world view. This impact on his work did not change until he relocated to Portland.
His work is now heavily influenced by the kindness he meets on Portland’s streets, which he describes as strange and mysterious.
View his work as part of a group exhibit that opens Thursday at the Goodfoot (2845 SE Stark St.). Three other Portland-based artists round out the show, which runs through July 30.
Beth Myrick works primarily with spray paint, reclaimed wood, and a positive message. Her art often features depictions of animals that walk the line between realism and fantasy. Heidi Elise Wirz is an illustrator and screen printer, who is influenced by legends and mythology, particularly Norse, Proto-Germanic, and Celtic. Painter, illustrator, and animator Christopher Creath dabbles in surrealism and exaggeration with an appreciation for texture, both synthetic and organic.
“Human experience is all I can capture or recreate,” notes Creath. “Hopefully, in some way, this will help us to relate.”
Above artwork by Mario Robert.
