PDX Contemporary Art is pleased to present Scrapbook, an exhibition of new work by Seattle based artist Joe Rudko.

Joe Rudko uses found photographs collected from shops or acquired from friends and family, sometimes mixing them with his photographs and drawings, to create photo collages and sculptures. This practice has led to an accumulation of scraps from thousands of different images. Through chance, intuition, and resourcefulness these bits of found images come together to build intricate collages— forming networks of color, mind maps, and scattered memories.

Although constructed from photographs, the work references textiles, mosaics, and painting, and draws inspiration from Bauhaus artists like Anni and Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, and Paul Klee, whose work attempted to merge mediums into one unified approach.

By disassembling fixed images and creating new visual relationships with color, line, and shape, Rudko invites us to re-examine how we author and interpret the experience of looking at photography, as well as reflect on how many images we see and remember in an age of constant information.

Joe Rudko has been the recipient of the Future List Award, the Anne Tucker and Clint Willour Young Photographers Endowment Award, two Art Walk Awards from City Arts Magazine, and the Vermont Studio Center Fellowship Award. Rudko has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions, including shows at PDX Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), Von Lintel Gallery (Los Angeles), Davidson Gallery (New York, NY), Winston Wachter (Seattle, WA), Greg Kucera Gallery (Seattle, WA), Roq La Rue (Seattle, WA), LxWxH (Seattle, WA), Disjecta Center for Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), Photo Center Northwest (Seattle, WA), and Whatcom Museum of Art (Bellingham, WA).

His work is in the collection of The Getty Museum, Cleveland Clinic, Portland Art Museum, The Morgan Library & Museum, The Tacoma Art Museum, Shaun Kardinal Art Museum, Fidelity Investments, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as several private collections. Rudko’s work has been featured and reviewed in Art Forum, Art in America, Oregon Arts Watch, hafny.com, Artillery Magazine, Lenscratch, City Arts, Fukt Magazine for Contemporary Drawing, Art Ltd., Willamette Week, Visual Art Source, Hum Creative, The Stranger, Beautiful Decay, and Juxtapoz.