I’d seen Allan Ostermann’s art in the Triple Crown Market in Kenton, peeling off the back wall, immortalizing Kurt Cobain and Susanna Hoffs from the Bangles, among others. Then there was the feeling that his Lou Reed portrait was staring at me from the glass window of Smoke it Up a couple of stores down.

It was good to see Ostermann’s work hanging in the Cup and Saucer on North Denver Avenue after these appearances in the neighborhood. Ostermann’s main focus for this show is images of faces. Faces with large eyes, sometimes a tiny bit too far apart, haunting, angular and stylish. I appreciated the mix of celebrities like Eddie Vedder and Willie Nelson along with faces I thought I should know like what appears to be a 40’s movie starlet in her black and white glory with a subtle off-kilter look to her eyes. The hallucinogenic color distortions of the faces appealed to me and I was glad to see his art in a more formal art show setting.

The show runs into the middle of November at the Cup and Saucer, 8237 N. Denver Ave, Portland, OR. Ostermann sells 11 x 17 prints of his works for $20.

http://allanostermann.weebly.com

                                                    A hurried show poster shot.