ILY2 is thrilled to present The circus and the beach, a group exhibition featuring the work of Tess Bidelspach, Elmeater Morton, and Mohamed Omar. Curated by Kristan Kennedy, Artistic Director and Curator of Visual Art at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the exhibition pulls together the works of three artists currently working at Elbow Room, a Portland-based arts organization providing material support, mentorship, and studio space for artists experiencing intellectual and developmental disabilities. The opening reception for The circus and the beach will be held Saturday, April 6, 2024 from 2:00 - 4:00pm, with a special performance by M. Omar at 2:30pm.

The circus and the beach is a beautifully mixed up drawing by the artist Elmeater Morton. Many colors are hard pressed into the paper as if the wild energy of these two spaces have collapsed into each other, the sea is now a calliope, and the carnival is a field of hot sand. This exhibition shares its name with the aforementioned piece and also shares its premise.

Transmutation.

An illustration of the act of becoming.

The joy of a word pile.

All the times you went somewhere and you seek to return with the help of the mind.

Sense memory as source.

Within the space of the gallery we peer into swirls of conversation between Morton's systematic and persistent vision and the confidence of energetic decision making in Tess Bidelspach's mark making. Joining them is the ebullient wrong/right coloration of Mohamed Omar's canvases which look and feel like the smash of a cymbal. All of the works act a little like songs flying off the wall...some even DO sing.

The circus and the beach is one of a pair of exhibitions, curated by Kristan Kennedy, featuring artists who work at and with Elbow Room. The companion exhibition to ours at ILY2 is titled A Berry, a Boot, a Building, a Blue Door : New Work by Mike Young, which opens April 7 and runs through June 9, 2024. elbowroompdx.org for more information.