Justine Kurland is a brilliant photographer. Her career launched as part of the infamous 1999 Yale-school show, Another Girl, Another Planet. While shocking to some critics in the day, Kurland taps some pretty transcendent memes: childhood, utopia, wilderness, mythology. Her breakthrough work featured girls on a plucky and lighthearted Huckleberry Finn adventure sometimes on the broken margins of contemporary society. Subsequent work, such as Old Joy, utilizes Oregon's bold wilderness as a background for her characters. Her work documenting present day utopian communes is compelling. She has continued her Western expeditions with This Train is Bound for Glory. It captures the lonely travels of freight trains in the middle of a beautiful nowhere, sometimes with a glimpse of the trainriders. The work will be released in book form. Also at Leach, Stephen Hayes has very excellent abstract landscape monoprints inspired by Terry Toedtemeier’s Wild Beauty. At Elizabeth Leach Gallery www.elizabethleach.com map 417 NW 9th
Adam Sorenson has some new stunning schematic landscapes. They tap the patterns and illumination styles of Japanese design while being a strong extension of his previous mystical landscape themes. Many illustrate the dramatic mountains and waterfalls in traditional Japanese and Chinese landscape illustration of the last 1000 years. Chinese and Japanese culture holds mountains and the landscape sacred, in different traditions. They are a mystical place of enightenment and home to spirits. Recommended. At PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com map 925 NW Flanders early close 8PM
Blue Sky continues with contemporary themes in the work of London RCA grad Danny Treacy. Treacy makes self portraits in mashups of discarded clothing. Carl Corey presents interior landscapes of Wisconsin bars. Many are elaborate and breathe historical artifact. It would make a great diptych with an earlier show of Mississippi Delta juke joints by Birney Imes, work pioneered by Blue Sky. At Blue Sky Gallery www.blueskygallery.org map 122 NW 8th
Augen has former Portlander Dharma Strasser Maccoll, known for pattern-based work of organic elements contributing to abstract illustrations of nature. At Augen Gallery www.augengallery.com 716 NW Davis
Chris Hornbecker has his 1 Millimeter Project, constructed around slightly more than a year of daily photographs. The conceit is that they were made at lens focal lengths of 14mm through 400mm, incrementing 1mm in each step. Krista Connerly & Mark Shepherd, exhibiting as Luvers, has Waterfall: A Torrential Love Story. They are the artifacts of Luver's broken superhero Black Diamond, waterfall hunter. A perfect theme for our water myth infused Northwest. At W+K www.wk.com 224 NW 13th 5PM-9 Free
xyxx is a 200 page book composed from iPhone images and with phone apps. It's a love letter of sorts between lovers Kimberly Warner and David McLaughlin, including conversations in image. We'll see more of this with the HDR app for the iPhone. In associaton with Publication Studio www.publicationstudio.biz/ At Lizard Lounge www.lizardloungepdx.com 1323 NW Irving 7PM-10
Don't forget the Everett Station Lofts. They are trying to have an up to date Internet presence at everettstationgalleries.com. I find it easier to just scan them all. In the block bounded by NW Broadway, Flanders, 6th and Everett. Usually to about 10, but sometimes earlier.
Compound has Idealistically Hypocritical: a mash up art by Ryuichi Ogino and collaborators Jun Oson, Taka Sudo, Junpei Inoue, Kei Morita, Shinya Mizuno, Nekonoko, Tamu, Loose end, Yuji Oda, Y Okuda, Dominik Kruger, Geneva Smith, Jason Graham, Sam Brosnan, Michelle Yamamoto, Alex Lamm and Matt Dye. At Compound Gallery www.compoundgallery.com 107 NW 5th
Cravedog Loft Gallery has paintings, drawings and prints by Nicole Linde and Mimi Williams. At Cravedog Music Loft Gallery cravedogloftgallery.wordpress.com 412 NW Couch St. #203 6PM-9
Kendra Larsen, inspired by growing up with the Oregon forests, presents 'Tracking Wilderness'. With live Music by The Tanner Cundy Band. At Pints Brewing www.pintsbrewing.com 412 NW 5th 7PM-10
Tender Loving Empire continues its lively first Thursday events with the mad stuffed objects Kelly Rundle: Things That Don't Belong To Me. Music by Woodwinds and Love Always. At Tender Loving Empire www.tenderlovingempire.com 412 SW 10th
Chambers has Arcy Douglass, "Cloud," 2010, digital work, resembling QR patterns channeled through Charles Harper. 916 NW Flanders
Reading Frenzy connects up with new print and zine outlet Together Gallery for tonight's show. The show includes small works by Timothy Karpinski, David Wien, Seth Neefus, Doodles AKA Nick Mann, Mia Nolting, Julianna Swaney, Betsy Walton and Mia Christopher. They are making more expansive use of the window with an installation by Nicole Lavelle, Sarah Baugh and Justin Flood. Details at Reading Frenzy www.readingfrenzy.com 921 SW Oak
In other landscape news, Michael Brophy shows realistic large format oil landscapes along with old master influenced portraits with enigmatic dream themes by Eric Stotic. At Laura Russo Gallery www.laurarusso.com 805 NW 21st
alteración is an installation collaboration involving light, maybe projection, between filmmaker Laura Di Trapani, painter-installationist Susan Harlan, painter-media artist Rachel Hibbard and architect-sculptor Jeff Schnabel. It's at PSU's Autzen Gallery, opening tonight. Room 205 Neuberger Hall. 6PM-9 Free
More landscape art news: Liz Haley has landscapes with geometric digital elements added. It's a nice spot to wind down the evening, though better to see the work with the lights up earlier. Musical stylin' by DJ OBGYN and DJ Gordon Organ. At Valentines valentineslifeblood.blogspot.com 232 SW Ankeny 6PM-late