January's First Thursday kicks everything for the year off a week late for 2015. Here are my picks:


Eva and Franco Mattes, last days of the Feldman Gallery

I know I picked this a while back but this time it is your last chance to say goodbye to the Feldman Gallery for good with Eva and Franco Mattes' exhibition Breaking Banality: The Dysfunction of Remediation at PNCA. The school's new 511 building should be an improvement though. The exhibition's title was created by an online random exhibition title generator and will restage, "ten reiterations of one performance from their series 'BEFNOED - By Everyone, For No One, Every Day,' for which they commission anonymous workers to realize webcam performances." Related to Fluxus events and the general way in which instructions manage computers of all sorts it should spark further discussion of the quirk-core performances that are popular on youtube and amongst recent art school grads these days.

Breaking Banality: The Dysfunction of Remediation | November 6 2014 - January 10 2015
Feldman Gallery
PNCA
1241 NW Johnson



Victoria Haven

Award winning Victoria Haven's latest exhibition, Subtitles, at PDX Contemporary is comprised of a massive array of 100 wood block prints. It should be cinematic... just without the movie and there is something about the gallery's architecture that should really work well with this refreshingly dry way to kick off the year in the Pacific Northwest.

Subtitles | January 6-31
Opening Reception: January 8, 6-8PM
PDX Contemporary
925 NW Flanders




Book art goes over really well in a city that calls itself "Booklandia" sometimes and Bookwork by Claire Dannenbaum at the Glyph Cafe looks promising. Besides, it is partly the vibrant cafe culture of Portland that makes it so artist friendly.

Bookwork | Claire Dannenbaum
Opening Reception: January 8, 5-8PM
Glyph Cafe
804 NW Couch St



Hap Tivey

Speaking of dark soggyness, Hap Tivey's Surface of Light at Elizabeth Leach might just be another burst of light to your new year. Tivey is a first generation light and space artist whose contributions to the dark northern regions this time of year couldn't be better timed.

Surface of Light | January 8 2014 - 31
Elizabeth Leach Gallery
417 NW 9th