When fire broke out August 5 at the Northwest Portland restaurants Caffe Mingo and BARba Mingo, forcing the popular Italian spots into indefinite closure, the damage spread to the adjacent blue-chip Russo Lee Gallery, too, with disastrous effect.

Fire didn’t spread to the art gallery at 805 N.W. 21st Ave. But masses of smoke and soot did, coating the gallery and its artworks and forcing a shutdown that may last through the rest of the calendar year. “It’s devastating, in a word. For so many people,” gallery owner and director Martha Lee said.

In the near-month since the fire, art restorers, insurance inspectors, and contractors have been through the gallery space, assessing damage and needed repairs. And beginning Wednesday, Sept. 4, all of the artwork in the gallery — roughly 1,500 pieces — is being inventoried, packed, and transported to the studios of a team of art restorers that will begin the meticulous work of cleaning them. Initial reports suggest that only the soot and smoke need to be cleaned, and the art did not suffer deeper damage. But each piece will be examined carefully, and that assessment could change. “They’ll take a look at everything,” Lee said.

“The good news is, there was no flames and no water,” Lee said of the fire. Some water leakage happened afterwards. But the smoke and soot rolled in, most likely through the building’s HVAC system. “My guess is, the smoke was just pouring into our galleries. An unbelievable amount,” Lee said.

With not only the artwork but the gallery space itself in need of repair, Lee estimated that Russo Lee could reopen sometime in December, but likely later. “Lots of unknowns,” she said. The shutdown also throws the schedule for future exhibits, which are generally planned many months in advance, into disarray. When and how shows will be rescheduled is up in the air. “Still not sure about that,” Lee said. “It’s just going to be a bit of a juggling situation.”

August exhibitions by Erik Stotik and Julian V.L. Gaines had just had a successful opening when the fire hit. Since then September shows by Lucinda Parker and Michael Paul Miller, October shows by Mary Josephson and Michael Brophy, November shows by Fay Jones and Roll Hardy, and probably December’s traditional gallery-artists group show have been put on hold.

Russo Lee is one of Portland’s most prominent commercial galleries, representing more than 40 mostly Northwest active artists plus another dozen whose art the gallery handles through their estates, and works available from such prominent figures as Robert Colescott and Charles Heaney. Among the gallery’s represented artists are leading figures such as Jay Backstrand, G. Lewis Clevenger, Ka’ila Farrell-Smith, Tom Fawkes, Gabe Fernandez, Mel Katz, Willie Little, Brenda Mallory, Stephen O’Donnell, J.D. Perkin, René Rickabaugh, Whiting Tennis, Margot Voorhies Thompson, Samantha Wall, and Sherrie Wolf.

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