The Everett Lofts and associated spaces are recommended, as always, for your viewing pleasure. See them in the block bounded by NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th.
Seattle painter Jaq Chartier shows her bright paintings which have always reminded me of the results of gene sequencing. The patterns she makes with paint are very mysterious and beautiful, burning with cool passion. She is an art scientist too, with her "sun test" experiments of controlled fading. This is my favorite form of abstract, bright and subtly enigmatic. The gallery is also showing work by Pat Boas, Adam Chapman, Isaac Layman, Joe Park and Xiaoze Xie. At Elizabeth Leach www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th
Bean Finneran makes bright fragile sculptures. They resemble sea anemones, bristling spines. At PDX Contemporary Gallery www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders
Pulliam Gallery has a small group show including Yoshihiro Kitai, Jerry Iverson and Jeffry Mitchell. At Pulliam Gallery www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com 929 NW Flanders early close 8PM
Made in California is a show of drawings, paintings and prints including Chris Ballantyne, Marcel Dzama, Caio Fonseca, Sam Frances, David Hockney, Chris Johanson, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Richard Sera and Frank Stella. It's a good art history lesson. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis
Always curiously entertaining The Oregon Painting Society has an installation at PNCA in the Manuel Izquierdo Gallery 825 NW 13th 6:30PM-9ish
Falling Whistles is not exactly a contemporary art show. It's a campaign for peace in Congo. Congo's history is detailed in Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost, a story of greed, terror, and heroism in colonial Africa. Independent of Belgium beginning in 1960, a new government survived less than 12 weeks before dictator Mobutu Sésé Seko was installed. Michela Wrong relates the Mobutu era: In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo. In 1994 the Rwandan genocide unleashed another terror on Congo, one from which it has not recovered. After Mobutu's death, Rwandan fighters became the catalyst for a war to control Congo's resources. Diamonds, gold, copper, tin, tungsten, oil, tantalum, uranium and tropical hardwood were the prize of misery. In Eastern Congo low level war persists and vast refugee camps are commonplace. The Falling Whistles project is a small NGO working on education and direct aid to children in Eastern Congo. If you need a whistle, you can buy them tonight and other purchases also benefit the project. At Lizard Lounge 1323 NW Irving 7PM-10
BodyVox is a Portland modern dance group that performs nationally. They are comprised of dancers with many years experience spanning nationally known companies. They are well known for their humor and for incorporating film into their work. They have even collaborated with Zoobombers. They have created a new second unit: BodyVox-2. BodyVox-2 is a company of young dancers performing the repertory of BodyVox with flash. This evening BodyVox-2 holds an open rehersal and mini-performance, presaging their debut February 18. At BodyVox Studios, www.bodyvox.com 1201 NW 17th 6:30PM-8 Free