The gallery is pleased to present Oregon Landmarks, a new series of oil paintings and painted wood carvings by Portland artist Tom Cramer. A native Oregonian, Cramer is deeply familiar with many of the iconic places that mark the state’s landscape. For this show, he explored these places on parallel tracks, in the media of both oil on canvas and meticulously carved, metal leafed, and painted wood panels. The results are compelling reinterpretations of familiar places into a visual language distinctly of Tom’s making. His paintings reference the pointillist style of the late impressionist period, punctuating these places with a brilliant color and a sense of movement. The wood carvings are more dense, requiring close study to the nuance of their contours before giving access to images of Timberline Lodge and Mt. Hood, Pittock Mansion, Haystack Rock, and many other icons of the state.
Well-known Portland artist Tom Cramer graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 1982 and then studied at the Pratt Institute in New York. He has shown his work since the mid-1970s and has been included repeatedly in the Portland Art Museum’s Oregon Biennial. His work is included in the collections of Boise Art Museum, Portland Art Museum, University of Portland and Whatcom County Museum of Art in Washington. His commissions include costume and set design for the Oregon Ballet Theater and Ballet Pacifica. His distinctive painted designs can be seen on murals and vehicles around Portland.