Joe Thurston's Nothing Leading Anywhere Any More Except to Nothing (photo Jeff Jahn)

Joe Thurston unveils a completely new body of work, Nothing Leading Anywhere Any More Except to Nothing. I find the way it packs up his world refreshing, because after 32+ years of unpacking the world with deconstruction it's about time somebody went the other direction. Pack it all up, Joe's shipping out?

The press release says, "Thurston's latest work is sculptural, taking the form of monolithic containers with intensely rugged and highly complex surfaces. The harshly weathered surfaces and rectangular forms in Thurston's new work make bold reference to modern abstraction and minimalism. Thurston's second solo show at Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Nothing Leading Anywhere Any More Except to Nothing, continues his exploration of space, existence and personal history."

Also worth noting Martin Kersels is exhibiting Charms and Devotionals in the other gallery space.

Opening reception • 6-8pm • February 2
Elizabeth Leach Gallery • 417 NW 9th • 503.224.0521



Jim Neidhardt's Modern Screen

Yes a theme is developing here, it is post-metaminimal box month in Portland. For his contribution, Jim Neidhardt, trickster extradorinaire presents Modern Screen, which considers web and television viewing. Here Neidhardt suggests, "the appeal of image size supercedes that of image content. My work removes the narrative from the image and leaves the picture frame to contemplate. The titles of my paintings, 3.5 inch, 9 inch, 42 inch, etc., refer to common screen sizes ranging from cell phones to home entertainment centers."

Opening reception • 6-9pm • February 2
Blackfish Gallery • 420 NW 9th • 503.224.2634



Matt Connors' studio

Portland State University presents Dark Rooms. It should be of interest to all the reformed formalists (deformed-alists?) that Portland is chin deep in.

"Matt Connors is a New York based artist who uses painting and abstraction to pursue an open ended and informal dialogue between form, style, material and meaning; exploring questions, problems (and problem solving) and propositions rather than assertions or solutions. Drawing from the history of painting as well as from non-fine art fields of language, music and design, Connor's work and it's subsequent installation creates embodied and at times theatrical instances of materialized thought. Selected exhibitions: Gas... Telephone... One Hundred Thousand Rubles, Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany (2011); Line Breaks, Veneklasen / Werner, Berlin, Germany (2011); You're gonna take a walk in the rain and you're gonna get wet, Luttgenmeijer, Berlin, Germany (2011); Concentrations 54: Matt Connors and Fergus Feehily, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (2011); Matt Connors, Four Boxes Gallery at Krabbesholm, Skive, Denmark (2010); Dromedary Resting, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA (2010); You Don't Know, CANADA, New York, NY (2010)."

C-O-O-L ART Presents MATT CONNORS - DARK ROOMS
February 2 - February 27, 2012
Opening: February 2, 5 - 7 PM
2000 SW 5th Ave. Portland, OR 97201



Installation view, Seventh Annual Exhibition of Northwest Ceramics, 1956. Photo by: Museum of Contemporary Craft Archives

It is your last 1st Thursday chance to catch MOCC's Northwest Modern: Revisiting the Annual Ceramic Exhibitions of 1950-64... "an examination of juried exhibitions held at the Oregon Ceramic Studio, now Museum of Contemporary Craft. Concurrent with the Museum's 75th anniversary year, the exhibition provides visitors with a deeper look into an important time period in the life of the institution, as well as the trends in ceramics during the mid-twentieth century." It is the curatorial debut of Kat Perez, Exhibition Coordinator at Museum of Contemporary Craft and truth be told it is everything that similar attempts at historical retrospectives of influential Portland art organizations.

1st Thursday hours • 11:00am -8:00pm • February 2 (through February 25)
Museum of Contemporary Craft • 724 NW Davis Street • 503 223 2654