Two art openings tonight feature bicycle-inspired works

This painting by Rachel Paul will be
among her work shown at an opening party
in Portland tonight.

Tonight is First Friday on Portland’s Central Eastside and art galleries and other venues will open their doors to share a variety of work by local artists.

Among the work on display will be openings of two shows by artists who have been inspired by the bicycle.

Rachel Paul will unveil her series of gorgeous bicycle oil paintings at The Side Door (425 SE Washington Street).

Ms. Paul’s perspective and execution bring to mind the work of well-known bicycle painter Taliah Lempert. The colors and lines in Paul’s paintings are smooth and warm and they capture the elegance and simple beauty inherent in the bicycle.

The opening reception is from 7-10pm tonight and the show runs through August 31st.

Photo by Daniel Sharp

Daniel Sharp is a photographer whose passion for riding comes through in his show, Freedom Wheels, which opens tonight at Pushdot Studio (1021 SE Caruthers).

Sharp’s series of photographs are a collection from 2003 to the present. He says many of them are a documentary of, “my travels pedaling through Europe and India where I discovered the world is already traveling by bike.” Sharp also says that he hopes the images, “inspire the discovery that bicycling is freedom in so many ways.”

The Freedom Wheels opens tonight, with an artist reception from 6-9pm and runs through August 29th.

See more illustrations of
Portlanders and their bikes here.

In other bicycle art news, illustrator Nate Padavick continues his Portlanders and their Bicycles series. He’s added many new portraits since I shared his work on BikePortland a few weeks ago.

I had the chance to meet him last week and he was kind enough to create this one of me and my bike (thanks Nate, my mom loves it!). Padavick says he plans to move to Portland soon (he currently resides in Asheville, NC) and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of his art around town.