Portis had an MFA from the
University of Chicago (1989), and a BFA from
Queen's University, Canada (1984). He received his
MA from
Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies (2001) having undertaken his summer internship with the
Bronx Museum of Art. He wrote extensively on
art for publications including Parachute,
Canadian Art, and Momus. From 2010 to 2013 he was curator of the
MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie, Ontario, curating exhibitions of the work of
Denyse Thomasos,
Gordon Monahan, and others. From 2002 to 2009 Portis was assistant curator of contemporary art at the
Art Gallery of Ontario, where he worked on numerous exhibitions including those by
Harun Farocki,
Eddo Stern, and
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. In 2008 he collaborated with the
Images Festival to bring the work of
Charles Atlas to Toronto. After completing his MA in New York he worked with
Lynne Cooke at the Dia Art Center. Before undertaking his MA, Portis founded the annual No Music Festival at the artist-run
Forest City Gallery (co-founded by
Greg Curnoe) in
London, Ontario. The No Music Festival featured the work of Curnoe's group, the
Nihilist Spasm Band, and released CD box sets of recordings. He died in a road accident in 2017. == Selected curated exhibitions ==