Artist Damon Harris presents a light-based installation at the Portland Building, November 22 – December 17, 2010

Project Description: Using electrical conduit, junction boxes, florescent lights and fixtures and a host of supporting materials artist Damon Harris will create a sprawling, site-specific light installation for the Portland Building Installation Space. The piece, which will function as both a sculptural installation and a light environment, will expand from a standard electrical outlet in the space to cross the room vertically and horizontally and will relate to a number of small porcelain sculptures and wall charts along the way. Each individual element and connection will build upon what preceded it as the whole evolves into a network that treads the line between order and chaos.

For Harris, the jumble of conduit and fluorescent fixtures and the installation’s elaborate layout reference the complex systems that surround us in daily life. His work examines both how we perceive complex stimuli and how the human mind conceptualizes it:  “I am fascinated by the processes of perception and the necessity of constructing models in order to conceptualize a multitude of complex stimuli. I am interested in how these models are internalized, how they overlap, how they are limited, and the ways in which they break down.”

About the Artist: Eugene artist Damon Harris received his M.F.A from the University of Oregon in 2009. He is co-director of the well respected Ditch Projects Art Space in Springfield, Oregon and earlier this year was part of the Portland 2010 Biennale project Are You Ready for the Country presented at Rocksbox Fine Art.

Viewing Hours & Location: 7 am to 6 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Series and a website that provides images, proposals and statements of all the installations featured since 1994, go to www.racc.org/installationspace.