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Portland’s cafes are home to some of the city’s finest art shows. Here’s two running currently that we just love!

Stumptown Division (4525 SE Division)

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Stumptown barista and resident artist Tim Root is known for his surreal illustrations — original art from Mr. Root is a staple of Stumptown’s ads in Portland, Seattle, and New York alternative weekly newspapers. If “Portland Comic Surrealism” were a school, Mr. Root would be its R. Crumb.

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His current show at Stumptown Division is titled “Hambrgr House” and features no fewer than 18 original works. Working primarily in watercolor, Root’s sense of humor and eye for scatological social detail is on full display in this show, with individual prints titled “Sober Enemies, Drunk Friends”, “Scary Late Woods Poop”, “I Found Where Yer Ticklish”, and “Some Nites Just Happen That Way”.

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The show features no artist abstract, but rather, a bizarre mixed-media self-portrait of the artist with ping-pong ball eyes, a phallic ceramic nose, real fake wig mustache, and what looks like orange hi-lighter.

Stumptown Belmont (3352 SE Belmont Street)

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Another Stumptown, another show from a Stumptown Barista. This time it’s Zachary Marvick, whose “How to make millions while you sleep” began running in Stumptown’s Belmont cafe on Sunday, December 9th.ย  Butcher paper, water color, at times indiscriminately tribal and floral, some pieces feature wood block cuts with concentric india ink patterns, couched in wooden frames with an underlying sense of mathematical symmetry. From the abstract:

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“I started this work two years ago when I first moved to Portland. For the first year I mostly painted patterns and mandalas with india ink. I started using a compass to make my circles more balanced and would often grid my compositions with a ruler. Last summer I started trying to incorporate gauche and watercolor. I have been using lacquer-based inks for my outline and detail areas. Lately with the newest stuff I have been combining the patterns with figures. I like the effect and am really enjoying the process. I hope you enjoy it too.”

Go see these shows now! They won’t last forever.

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