BRIANNA SPENCER // I'm Resting Now Before It's Too Late

With new work by Carson Ellis, George Ilargi, Nathan McKee, Anis Mojgani, Nia Musiba, and Gabi Villaseñor

Part one on view June 27–June 28 with a community gathering Saturday, June 27 (12–6pm)
Part two on view July 3–August 23 with an opening reception Saturday, July 11 (2–4pm)

This summer, Nationale continues its series of exhibitions reflecting on death, mourning, and the ways love persists through absence. Following poet Consuelo Wise’s sound installation, b o y—currently on view in the Project Room through July 15—I’m Resting Now Before It's Too Late brings together the work of Brianna Spencer (1992–2024), presented in close collaboration with her husband George and daughter Ene. 

The exhibition takes its title from one of Brianna's paintings, echoing a passage from her writing in which, after burying a beloved horse by hand, she reflected on the things we carry long after they have run their course. There's a few things I'd like to put to rest as well, she wrote, before naming burdens so many of us recognize: the brain, the relationship, the family, the career, the algorithm, the anxiety, the physical fight, the connection, and the list goes on. In Brianna's world, rest was never simply an ending. It could also be an act of care.

Drawing from California culture, street art, and the intimacy of everyday family life, Brianna's paintings move with remarkable openness and generosity. Humor and tenderness live beside uncertainty. Ordinary moments become sacred through the attention she gave them, returning again and again to the people she loved most, inviting us into a life that remains deeply present through the work she left behind. 

Rather than presenting a retrospective, the exhibition unfolds in two parts: on Saturday, June 27, visitors are invited to gather and make work in response to Brianna's paintings. Those collective contributions will remain in the gallery for part two, forming the foundation of the exhibition and reflecting Brianna's enduring belief in community.

From this shared beginning, curator May Barruel has assembled a small, deeply personal selection of Brianna's work alongside responses by Portland artists Carson Ellis, George Ilargi, Nathan McKee, Anis Mojgani, Nia Musiba, and Gabi Villaseñor. Together, these works become another way of spending time with Brianna's art. As such, they help us remember that the people we love continue to shape us in ways both visible and unseen.

Originally from San Diego, California, Brianna Spencer exhibited nationally and internationally, creating an unmistakable visual language rooted in illustration, folk traditions, and everyday life.