Ayumi Takahashi

I really like Duplex Gallery at 219 NW Couch Street in Portland.  I first tried to go there last year on a Saturday to see a show that interested me, only to find they are open Monday through Friday from 9-5…business hours.  This fall and winter Duplex Gallery has loomed large on our list of favorite places…we are in Portland every Monday with grandson Sidney (a day most galleries are closed), and from the doorway of Duplex Gallery it is possible to see one of Sidney’s favorites, the back of the White Stag sign, now known to us as “Big deer up top building.”

Additionally, most importantly, I really like they art work they feature.  This month they are showing the work of Ayumi Takahashi…the show is called “I, you, me.”  It is full of patterns and overlays of pattern, images that engage me, a palette that pleases.  The paintings are flat, the images appear decorative (NOT a negative in my mind), there are undercurrents.  Comics, anime, illustration, fabrics, graphic design…a blend, a strong eye for detail and color, a sure hand.  Who are these people?

Lane

Edlyn

Ruth

Mona

and then these daily gouaches she tacks on the wall and you can buy and take away with you on the spot…and more spring up the next day…

I couldn’t resist these two…

Ayumi Takahashi is young, born in China and raised in Japan, graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Portland resident.  She has published many illustrations for the New York Times and other publications.  I predict we’ll see more of her work….better go take a look and grab one of these little gouaches.