The Oregon Artists Series Foundation (OASF) presents Miraculous Occurrences, an exhibition of recent paintings by Salem artist Gary Westford, at its Level 2 Gallery in the Salem Convention Center. The exhibit is complemented by a second show in the Art Hall at the Salem Public Library. Shows at both locations run until January 22, 2024.
“As an artist, I construct visual narratives that speak to our time, and yet, are timeless and universal. I’m committed to making good paintings that show a love for the medium of oil paint, and to a vision that is both clearly realized and open to interpretation,” says Westford. “These Miraculous Occurrences paintings bear witness, as narratives, for what I have seen and experienced over time.”
Gary Westford was born in Oakland, California, and moved to Oregon in 1979. An artist and curator, he lives and works in Salem. He received a masters of arts in painting from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied with Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, and Robert Colescott. His paintings and mixed media constructions have been shown in more than 30 regional, national, and international juried exhibitions in the US and Canada.
He credits the works of Surrealist painter Rene Magritte, poet W. H. Auden, composer Erik Satie and film maker Stanley Kubrick among his artistic influences.
Westford’s work was shown in the 2021 national exhibition, Disrupted Realism, juried by arts writer John Seed. His paintings were also included in the 2022 Northwest Artists Biennial juried by Grace Kook-Anderson and in Expressions West 2022 at the Coos Bay Art Museum. In 2019, a painting was purchased for the permanent collection of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. He is included in the 2021 book on Northwest artists, Subject and Object, Book Four, A Photographic Look at the Visual Arts published by Aaron Johanson. In May 2024, Westford will have a solo exhibition at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. His artwork is represented by Dab Art, Ventura/ Los Angeles, California.
In 2017, Westford organized Behind the Beyond: Psychedelic Posters and Fashion from San Francisco, 1966-71 at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. The exhibition traveled to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts at Woodstock in Bethel, New York in 2021.
The Miraculous Occurrences exhibition is generously sponsored by Saalfeld Griggs PC and Andante Vineyard.
About the Level 2 Gallery at the Salem Convention Center
Level 2 Gallery builds on a 15-year relationship between Salem Convention Center and Oregon Artists Series Foundation to bring high-quality contemporary art to the Center. With major paintings by Salem and Oregon artists installed in the main corridors on the first floor of SCC, Level 2 presents changing solo and group exhibits of work by established and emerging artists of the region on the second floor.
Level 2 is open to the public on Monday through Friday during regular business hours, during special events, or by appointment by calling 503-589-1700.
About the Oregon Artists Series Foundation
The Oregon Artists Series Foundation [OASF] was created in 2008 to promote art in public spaces in Salem. OASF facilitates art in and around the Salem Convention Center which began with a series of Mayor’s Art Invitational exhibitions and purchases from them. That led to the loans of sculptures installed south of the building in a new sculpture court, followed by loans from the Hallie Ford Museum of Art from its collection at Willamette University and work with Salem’s Public Art Commission on planning for public art downtown. OASF opened the Level 2 Gallery on the second floor of the Convention Center in February 2022, and entered into an agreement with the Salem Public Library to program its new Art Hall shortly after that.
