Portland artist Caleb Freese disparately merges painting, photography, design, and printmaking into a seamless display of beauty, energy, intimate human interaction, and the motion created as masses of people collide” Jan Spellar a PACC art critic.


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Portland's artist Caleb Freese: Caleb Freese


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"If gonzo artist Ralph Steadman were a Gen-Y Portlander instead of a 59-year-old Brit, chances are he'd be making work like Justin Gorman and Caleb Freese's collaborations in the Backspace annex. Gorman and Freese deliver dynamic silkscreens, combining design elements, photographs, drawing and action painting, synthesized with invigorating spurts, splatters and drips. The artists (who have shown before in the Everett Station Lofts, Portland's most vital petri dish for emerging talents), will soon be contributing work to an upcoming issue of Portland Modern. Complementing the silkscreens, a video loop shot by Gorman shows Freese action-painting on a plexiglass lightbox, shooting arcs of black ink out of a squirt bottle. The team's splashy expressions contrast with their dry, subdued wit. One of the silkscreens is titled Trucks, street lamps, and going reverse in a Taco bell parking lot. Their First Thursday show card promised "Live nude models appear at 2 am," while their website, squadup.net, offers Web surfers a quid pro quo: "Support our art, and I'll share my girlfriend." Technically accomplished, winningly sassy, this is a duo to watch. 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. Closes May 3." BY RICHARD SPEER

review from:

"Drips And Splatters
Backspace scores a hit with action-painting duo."
BY RICHARD SPEER
Article


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"Art periodically goes through major transitions, progressing the current state of art while retaining it's past. We are interested in this progression and how it will benefit us as artists and you as an investor. Our goal is to sell our art on a large scale through limited edition prints, clothing, and posters which are rarely fully utilized as art. Simply incorporating concepts of design such as mass production, collaboration, and functionality into our art without sacrificing the art itself.

Our style sums up the upcoming generations energy and style but applies it tastefully. We work seamlessly with technology, which allows our art to be fully reproducible and easily sold online. We utilize the Internet as a more effective marketplace (no overhead, more effective advertising, and a global reach).

We are young and talented artists with solid experience. Such as design work for: Ziba Design, Mahlum architects, and Portland Trailblazers. We supply art for Saks Fifth Ave. We represent the community and public art by creating 60 ft mural in north Portland for Providence Medical Group. As traditional artists we've shown in over 20 shows since being in Portland, and have just been featured in the new Portland Modern publication.

We have a committed work ethic that we wish to channel into something more forward thinking than just showing at galleries. We are full time artists that are tired of giving a percentage to galleries. Instead we which to share our profits with investors who see the benefit of our goals."
-caleb freese Justin Gorman

Portland's artist Caleb Freese can be found on w.squadup.net


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"I'm not sure why it's so hard to maintain some sense of community in the city streets. Perhaps it is just arithmetic. At a certain point numbers make strangers."

Everyone becomes the same and people become immune to individualism. Forced to ignore eighty percent of what we see....along with the inability to remember ninety percent of our day- in effect we are all blind. Slowly this becomes more prevalent: people soon never deviate a block or two from their consistent path of travel. By necessity we must attempt to distill a function out of every interaction.... if this function is not beneficial we rarely engage. Time stands above us all.

We as the artist have the ability (or maybe just the time and desire) to recognize the beauty of everything. But more importantly we have the power to select and arrange. The ability to give meaning. Slowly everything becomes the same so we sample without regard to the source. This is how we immortalize everything: the wall of the building worked in, the cracks on the road driven on, the bum ignored (and probably for good reason), the catalogs thrown away daily... it's all there. Texture. Colors. Shapes. Perspective.

Our process is fluid: as both photographers, painters, and printmakers the execution of our art is as varied as the elements that make it up. Our process starts with a series of paintings or photos. We both capture the same locations and models, as this gives us a shared experience and energy about where to take the piece next. Within the digital world is how we trade the piece back and forth, working and re-working as a digital collage. Transparency is a key element to how we see our art functioning: so the final product is printed or painted on a large, 1/2 inch thick pieces of plexi-glass. Each piece is at least 2, up to 6 separate layers. Giving the piece an immense sense of depth, presence, and consistently changing viewpoint. Details and colors reflect off each-other while the paint and silkscreen give a feel of texture. Ultimately, the pieces have a beautiful presence while also pushing the ever-feared element of technology in art.

Our art is the attempt to distill meaning and beauty from a world of over saturation. Our lives do not have to be complex. With enough of a perspective and good taste we can create our own simplicity and beauty from what compels us. Intuition decides what presents itself and this is embraced. Even better: to share this intuition is why we have combined our efforts as two artists creating and arranging a shared experience. This is our collaborative. I can tell you now that it will last a lifetime. We have attempted to immortalize the beauty and destruction of our everyday lives and in the process have truly immortalized our aesthetic of life. This is all we have, so along the way we prefer to share a beer before opening the next one.

-Caleb Freese Justin Gorman