Jim Riswold

Still Life with Lenin and Three Cats, 2017, Digital Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Pearl

Portland, Oregon artist Jim Riswold is fiercely smart, very, very sassy—and makes absurdly penetrating photographs and objects. His work is timely in more than one way: He presses us to question the boundary between art, design, and advertising, and asks where the truth lies in any of them. He queries capitalism, economics, and the value of objects, forcing us to consider even the value of our idealization of art. Which brings us to politics and history. His work demonstrates that the past is not over and it is at our own peril that we are not clear eyed about our assessment of leadership and its efficacy. With a slight turn of the head, he has us see that these three things are really the same. When his brand of photographic art made its debut in the early aughts, people gave it mixed reviews and pointed to cheek and irreverence, but at this moment in time it looks radically prescient. And it’s delivered to us by a provocateur craftsman of the highest order. Have a look the show up in Bend at a gallery called At Liberty. Jim’s work looks great in the space and since none of us are doing much traveling due to COVID-19 check out the virtual tour.