By and large, young and emerging artists in this economic climate are in debt. Fortunately, many negotiate clever solutions to the lack of so-called 'studio time' while tinkering away in the cubicle, classroom, lab, etc. Day Job, originally exhibited at the Drawing Center, NY in 2010, highlights a group of these artists capitalizing off the byproducts of their daily grind. "Rather than subscribing to the idea that non-artistic work is by definition disruptive to an artist’s practice, Day Job looks at the ways in which the information, skills, ideas, working conditions, or materials encountered in the work world can become a source of influence". Day Job is curated by the cunningly whimsical Nina Katchadourian and organized by Mack McFarland.

Curator Walkthrough followed by Reception | April 5th | 5:30 - 9 pm
Philip Feldman Gallery at PNCA | 1241 Northwest Johnson Street

Florschutz at Breeze Block Gallery

Speaking of byproducts, stop by Breeze Block to see the sculptural of work of recent Portland transplant, James Florschutz. This might prove to be quite a mature show for the space. Cleanly rendered from rugged materials, the artist says his work"investigates the ubiquity of sites, excavations and mapping" in an attempt to "overlay order on [his] environment and to make sense of a seemingly chaotic world".


Beeze Block Gallery | 323 NW 6th Ave.
1st Thursday hours 6-10pm
Regular Hours: Wed.-Sat. 12-6pm

Laura Fritz Entorus (detail)

Considered by many to be one of Portland's most original artists, Laura Fritz returns to the Pearl District with Entorus. Her minimalist and mysterious objects, fascinate, confound, unsettle and astound with their perceptual approach to uncertainty. Over a decade ago, she made a name for herself in the Pearl, which curiously doesn't have that many multimedia shows. 2008 was the last time she turned up in a First Thursday so you wont want to miss this.


Maddox Building | 1231 NW Hoyt St., Suite B5 (downstairs at the end of the hall turn right)
First Thursday Reception: April 5th 6-9 PM
Regular Hours: 1-5 PM Saturdays and Sundays | April 4 - 29th

Ladder, Michael Brophy, oil on canvas, 2011

Like a modernized, chiaroscuroed version of the Hudson River School, Michael Brophy is showing a new series of work entitled Night Portrait at Laura Russo Gallery. They say he "merges his interest in contemporary human experience and landscape with a graphic sense inspired by Old Master painters such as Piero della Francesca and Giotto. Specifically, he paints portraits of the night. Scenes of earth and sky are dark, still, and iconic".


Opening Reception | April 5th | 5 - 8 pm
Laura Russo Gallery | 805 NW 21st Ave

Eva Speer's Backwater

Charles Hartman Fine Art presents Superficial Injuries, the newest body of work by Eva Speer. Speer's new paintings make use of natural forms and processes to show relationships of control and compelling forces. There is an emphasis on liquid flow, boundlessness, and processes of accretion and destruction but rather than reinforcing historical representations of nature, the paintings are an intersection of the technically mediated and the ineffable.

Charles A. Hartman Fine Art | 134 NW 8th Avenue, Portland
Superficial Injuries | April 4 - 28, 2012
First Thursday Reception: April 5th, 5:00—8:00pm