FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Kill: February 30, 2020 WHO: Adam Sorensen WHAT: Skeleton WHEN: January 15 - February 29, 2020 WHERE: PDX CONTEMPORARY ART 925 NW Flanders Street, Portland, OR 97209 HOURS: 11:00 – 6:00 Tuesday – Saturday ADMISSION: Free Open First Thursday February 6, 2020, 6:00 – 8:00 EXHIBITION NOTES: PDX CONTEMPORARY ART is pleased to present new paintings by Portland-based artist Adam Sorensen. Bringing together many sources, including reference to the Hudson River School painters of the American West, the Romanticism of Caspar David Friedrich, animation aesthetics, and the ukiyo-e traditions of Japanese woodcuts, Adam Sorensen makes landscape paintings that are familiar, yet otherworldly. On one hand optimistic and sublime, these paintings depict watery rills, lakes, and rivers that transport the viewer to a place with elements that are easily recognizable, but altogether feel utopian. Adam Sorensen, FlusSkelett, 2019, oil on linen, 38” x 34” With this utopia comes a sinister absence— a landscape that feels untouched and unaltered by life. Skeleton makes reference to a reexamination and excavation of past work, with many of the paintings in the show referencing and revisiting works that the artist has made over his fifteen year-long career. Adam Sorensen received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Alfred University in New York and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in painting from the Studio Art International, Florence, Italy. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including shows at PDX CONTEMPORARY ART (Portland, OR), Whatcom Museum (Bellingham, WA), Archer Gallery (Vancouver, WA), Worksound (Portland, OR), and the Newberg Gallery at the Glasgow School of Art (Glasgow, Scotland). In 2011, Sorensen had a solo exhibition at the Portland Art Museum in the APEX project space. Sorensen’s work is included in several public collections, including: Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), Tacoma Art Museum (Tacoma, WA), Seattle University (Seattle, WA), Boise Art Museum (Boise, ID), Westfalisches Industriemuseum, Glashutte Gernheim (Germany), The CW (Los Angeles, CA), 4Culture (Seattle, WA), Oregon Health and Science University (Portland, OR), and The Nines, A Luxury Collection Hotel (Portland, OR), as well as the private collections of JoAnn Hickey, Driek Zirinsky, Mary Ellen Hockensmith and Michael McCulloch, and Lori Uddenberg. In 2017, Sorensen completed a fifteen foot commission for the US State Department, American Institute in Taiwan. Among the publications that have featured Sorensen’s work are Artforum, Willamette Week, Beautiful Decay, Hi-Fructose, The Oregonian, PORT, art ltd., The Huffington Post, Visual Art Source, New American Paintings, Portland Mercury, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Most recently, Adam Sorensen was interviewed for the Winter 2020 edition of Juxtapoze magazine. ### contact: Jane Beebe [email protected] 503-222-0063 The Work: • Oil paintings on linen and on paper • Landscape paintings that reference western sublime painting and Japanese woodblock prints • Lightly painted watery rills, lakes, and rivers with brilliant, prismatic color palettes The Artist: • Lives and works in Portland, Oregon • In the permanent collections of Boise Art Museum (Boise, ID), Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), Tacoma Art Museum (Tacoma, WA), and Westfalisches Industriemuseum (Germany), among others • Completed a fifteen foot commissioned painting for the US State Department, American Institute in Taiwan • Recently was commissioned by Trimet to make an outdoor mural for the Orange Line in Portland, OR.