ART & INDUSTRY. Oregon native Midori Hirose’s work is included in "It’s Kind of Endless" at Quality Pictures Contemporary Art gallery in the Pearl District. Inspired by a fascination with the hardness of industrial forms juxtaposed with softer organic images, her whimsical work in the group show includes two paintings and a sculpture. (AR Photo/Toni Tabora-Roberts) At right is "Untitled, 2007, gouache on paper, 2007. (Photo courtesy of Quality Pictures Contemporary Art)

From The Asian Reporter, V18, #2 (January 8, 2008), page 16.

By Toni Tabora-Roberts

Midori Hirose is part of a cohort of emerging local visual artists featured in "It’s Kind of Endless," on view at Quality Pictures Contemporary Art gallery in the Pearl District. Quality Pictures celebrates its first year with the exhibit, which serves as an overview of some interesting things happening in the Pacific Northwest art scene.

Hirose was born in Hood River, where her parents were farmers. Her parents originally came to Hood River from Japan more than 30 years ago. They moved to the Vancouver/Portland area when Midori was very young. They were both artists as well — her mother made Japanese paper maché jewelry and her father created kaleidoscopes. They sold their work at Portland’s Saturday Market from the time she was eight years old through the time she was in high school. "I was sad about missing out on morning cartoons, yet loved how my parents let me roam the city alone as a child. I think they helped instill in me creative thought and to be open to explore," she said.

This freedom and encouragement from her family was a big inspiration to Hirose. "My grandparents were great advocates," she said about her art and also visiting her grandparents in Japan. "My grandmother taught me to make things out of found objects. My grandfather and I enjoyed drawing and painting together."

Hirose’s works in the show include two paintings and a sculptural piece. She said one big influence on these particular works was the fact that she and her partner had just completed their home studio space. "I think it was the timing of it — having the studio ready — I just exploded, I was excited about working." To this reviewer, the pieces have a fun, industrial pop feeling to them, and I wasn’t surprised she had just finished a major construction project.

The paintings use extremely bright colors in sharp geometrical forms, juxtaposed against more organic images. The "Kitties" painting is particularly whimsical, featuring two cool cats donning sunglasses. Her sculpture "Pwdre Ser 12" is one of a series in which she explores these organic masses with sharp colorful pieces protruding out. Pwdre Ser refers to the substance also known as "Star Jelly," which many people (from centuries past) believed to be from remains of meteors or shooting stars.

The process Hirose uses to create her work typically begins with a lot of research, usually about something that has caught her imagination. She draws from history, philosophy, poetry, landscape, and architecture. One overarching theme in her work is the interplay between architectural and organic forms. "I think this stems from my interest in the ideology behind Frederick Law Olmstead’s work (a landscape designer/architect) and from reading Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Neitzche, which references Apollonian and Dionysian thought." She has always been fascinated by both "industrial sites and at the same time quilts; something really cozy with something mechanical."

Midori also enjoys "playing with a variety of mediums and seeing where I can take them." This may be influenced by her study of early childhood development, which also comes through in some of her work creating installation pieces. Though this show doesn’t include any, she hopes to create more installation work to explore this sense of play and interactivity.

"It’s Kind of Endless" showcases a range of work by a diverse array of Pacific Northwest artists. Artist Kristie Louderbough organized the exhibit with Quality Picture’s Erik Schneider. Though there is no direct connection between all the works, one thing that comes through clearly is a certain thoughtfulness that evokes some pretty high concepts behind the drawings, paintings, and sculptures on display. Hirose’s works are among the more playful in the bunch.

In addition to creating her pieces in the exhibit, Hirose is also working with Louderbough and Schneider to create a catalog book of the show, which will be available for purchase in the future.

"It’s Kind of Endless" runs through February 2. Quality Pictures Contemporary Art is located at 916 N.W. Hoyt Street in Portland. Gallery hours are 11:00am to 6:00pm Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call (503) 227-5060 or visit <www.qpca.com>.