Opening Reception: First Thursday, February 2, 6–9 pm

Artist Talk: David Rochkind & Jamey Stillings
Saturday, February 4, 2:00 pm

"Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit" is photographer David Rochkind's project about the social costs and consequences of Mexico's violent drug war.

After narrowly winning Mexico's presidential election at the end of 2006, Felipe Calderón quickly moved to escalate the battle against the country's drug cartels. "This is a permanent fight, in which, unfortunately, many have lost their lives," Calderón said at the time, "We are fighting without rest so that these sacrifices will not be in vain." Nearly 35,000 more people have been killed since and kidnappings have skyrocketed....

Blue Sky is free and open to the public.

PRISON: A New Installation

Disjecta Interdisciplinary Art Center is pleased to present Peter Halley as the final exhibiting artist in Jenene Nagy's 2011-2012 Curator-in-Residence season.

Opening Reception: Saturday, Jan. 21, 6–9 p.m.

“Prison” continues Halley’s decades-long interest in architecture by creating a seductive, continuous image that wraps around the perimeter of the gallery space. Halley unites visual and architectural systems to create an immersive experience that weds the “geometry of the social” with the mall-level transcendence of saturated fluorescent color.

Disjecta will host a lecture by Halley at Pacific Northwest College of Art, co-sponsored by the PNCA MFA Low Residency Program, on Friday, Jan. 20 at 7 pm

Abstraction in Contemporary Photography

From the beginning, abstraction has been intrinsic to photography, and its persistent popularity reveals much about the medium. The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography, curated by Lyle Rexer, showcases the work of more than twenty contemporary photographers who base their practice in some form of abstraction. Rexer defines abstraction as ‘a departure from or the eliding of an immediately apprehensible subject.’

This exhibition is organized by Aperture Foundation.

Photo by Bill Armstrong.

A different kind of classroom.

Emily Pilloton and partner Matthew Miller believe design solutions can, and should, empower people, communities and economies.

Putting theory into practice, they moved to rural Bertie County, North Carolina to engage students in a bold and experimental high school design/build curriculum called Studio H.

Emily Pilloton will give a CraftPerspectives Lecture on December 2.

Opening Reception: Friday, February 3rd 6–9 pm

Newspace Center for Photography is excited to announce our Annual Themed Exhibition with the theme “Black & White”.

This year we wanted to investigate and celebrate the beauty of black and white photography in all its glory, exploring the many methods and techniques available to photographers today, be it alternative process, digital, or traditional film.

Newspace Executive Director Chris Bennett selected 50 images from over 400 submissions for the exhibition.

Xylor Jane and B. Wurtz is a two-person show highlighting recent work of two important artists who consistently surprise with the simplicity of their means and process.

Dealing simply in the complexity and specificity of color and material, Xylor Jane’s and B. Wurtz’ artworks are rigorously executed translations of environment and experience.

This exhibition is curated by MFA in Visual Studies Chair, artist and curator, Arnold J. Kemp.

One of the most controversial internationally known German avant-garde artists of the postwar years, Beuys (1921-1986) was an influential theorist and teacher for several generations of European artists.

The exhibition features the monumental environmental work, Blitzschlag mit Lichtschein auf Hirsch (Lightning with Stag in its Glare), 1958-1985, along with selected multiples that extend the installation’s conceptual framework.

For more information:
http://portlandartmuseum.org/calendar/

One of the leading American artists of the 20th century, Mark Rothko began his life in art in Portland, Oregon.

The 45 works in the exhibition trace Rothko’s artistic path from the late 1920s until shortly before his death in 1970.

The exhibition presents Portland’s first comprehensive look at the artist’s development and aesthetic issues that shaped his production.

For more exhibition information: http://portlandartmuseum.org/calendar/