December —  Manu in Landdd 2022

Manu Torres of Florescent pieced together this structure as an homage to traditional decorative installations from his homeland of Mexico.

Materials: raffia, corn hust,
scrap wood, PVC piping &
a few landdd objects.
16 x 14ft

Alongside Manu’s install, we changed up the space quite a bit now that we had time to really *be* with the space. 

We felt it was important to place the textiles within staged scenes that felt more connected to their origins. Our treasures and research objects from Oaxaca helped to tell the story.

November— 

We are working in Oaxaca and celebrating a new series release in rrres, our other studio. 
 
Landdd is still open 1 - 6 pm PST Tuesday - Saturday. 

Passerby views in October during our final touches..

Opening Night—

Well deserved “Congratulations, Love Mom” flowers arrive at our door and so does Angel Medina, of Republica. The flowers can stay but he says the cheap mezcal we’re serving has to go because later he’s showing up with “the good stuff” from La Fondita’s mezcal collection nextdoor... 

 

September — Build Out 

︎︎︎ Thank you, Reed.

Dispatch From The Back of a U-Haul Parked at Geico 02 — 

Javier loves a really good deal and he hates brick.

So somehow, we found ourselves on 82nd street in the parking lot of a Michael’s throwing the metal ribcage of a what once was a Geico into our 20ft U-Haul with a man named Ignacio and his micro-chihuahua, Hannible.

Ignacio spent the better half of late september erecting the drywall that now covers our west wall (and that problematic brick) with the hand-me-down Geico studs. 

Thanks, for the really good deal Ignacio. 

August— Painting Paint

Most of August we were covered in it. Paint in our ears, the whites of our eyes and Pollock-ed clothes. Battle wounds— us against a metamorphosing landdd. The space needed a real facelift and we were professional surgeons. 

To cover it’s zebra stripes we painted the facade at least seven times. White. White again. A heinous & impulsive orange. A dirty lilac, sage here and there, until finally— landdd green. 

Our painting afflications were made worthwhile to have spent the long stretching hours on the sidewalk. Small talk and passerby chatter, every kind stranger was excited to see something new in their neighborhood. It was exciting to be talked to in the streets of Portland.

Inside landdd, was an all-together different scene.
More daunting. We shot at the walls with big guns of white latex to mute the brick. A useless strategy. We stared at little patches of possible floor colors, anything to camoflauge the questionably uneven concrete floors.
Staring didn’t work either. ︎︎︎

714 Glisan — A Uneven History

The earliest known history about this space is that it used to be an abulance washout/storage facility for the city. There is a large drain in the floor, resulting in dramatically uneven floors. Great for cleaning up a mess and horrible for displays.

We started planning a solution: a raised plywood stage. Our dear friend and talented woodworker, Reed Cochran-Bray, was the man for the job.

 

Dispatch From The Wobbling Scaffold 01—

If there’s anything you should know about us (Lillian & Javier) it’s that if we think we can do it ourselves, we will insist on doing it ourselves.

To a fault.

July 2022— Finding a Studio

It’s late July. Javier and I are in Oaxaca discussing the possibilities of finding a studio space in Portland. This isn't my first rodeo— I’ve built out two other spaces that were designed for a similar purpose: a no rules, multidisciplinary studio abundant in both square footage and natural light. Something old and cheap.

I’d spend every morning combing through the lawless back country of Loopnet, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. I’d cross my fingers - compulsively refreshing tabs, often with a similar result: over-priced industrial warehouses and new construction with no soul. Until finally, a literal zebra of a building arrives on the scene of Craigslist.

With a heinous black and white geometric vinyl facade, a deeply questionable uneven ground foundation and a scene inside that honestly looked like the ship barracks of Kevin Costners’s Waterworld - we were into. At least, it’s “affordable” potentiality.

And so like every other good decision we have made in our lives, we trusted our guts and blindly rented a 2500 square foot studio for 3 years in the Northwest park blocks of Portland, OR.

- L