Jeff Beers: Paper and Raincoat

New Room Studios is proud to present this Portland debut show by the Genius Artist Fellow and matter painter Jeff Beers. “Paper & Raincoat” are the two main ingredients of a new series that unfolds like a mythic cycle of life and death. Beers painstakingly made it out of scraps of thin sheets of paper that he’s aged for 30 years, and surplus raincoat material from Columbia Sportswear. (Beers got the latter from the local nonprofit SCRAP Creative Reuse.) After 16 months of meticulous work, these two simple ingredients have found cosmic depths in this series of 8 pieces. The show also includes a series of Beers’ earlier, more earthy and elemental works. These pieces use tars, paints, emulsions and waxes to explore the microcosms and macrocosms of the materials simultaneously.

Rarely able to afford art supplies, Beers learned at an early age how to make his own. He still makes his own paints and emulsions, and his subject matter often includes materials he’s foraged from the built and natural environments. He works with the materials until he learns their languages and how they want to be seen, and much of his art is in the discipline of letting them speak through him.

This show is hosted by The Salmonberry Trail Foundation, which is dedicated to building an 82-mile trail for hiking and biking from Banks to the Oregon Coast. “Jeff Beers: Paper & Raincoat” will take over their spacious and historic office in downtown Portland in November.