Where To Go This First Second Thursday: January 2015

Fred Holcomb, Beach, 2014, oil on canvas
Image: Linda Hodges
Fred Holcomb
Linda Hodges Gallery
It’s all a blur. Rapid motion underlines Fred Holcomb’s latest collection of paintings at Linda Hodges Gallery. His images of natural beauty evoke the view outside a speeding car on a remote two-lane road. The effect gives a vitality and sense of action to the lush still scenery. Opening reception at 6.

Rafael Soldi, 21 Reasons Why I Love You, 2009, archival pigment print
Image: Greg Kucera Gallery
In the absence of…
Greg Kucera Gallery
Greg Kucera takes a month off from his eponymous art gallery and hands the reins over to curators Sierra Stinson and Klara Glosova. Both curators are known for their grassroots home galleries (Vignettes and NEPO House) as well as their annual summertime art walk known as the NEPO 5K. What they have culled together is a group show of unrepresented local artists that have diverse talents from photography to musical composition to installation in a show that examines the absences in each of the artists’ lives. Opening reception at 6.
Meanwhile, in the back gallery…

Simon K. Donaldson, 2014 Aquatint
Image: Greg Kucera Gallery
Concinnitas
Greg Kucera Gallery
Mathematician G.H. Hardy once wrote, “The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colors or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way.” Concinnitas presents math as art, with formulas and equations hand-drawn by their creators in stark white-on-black beauty. Opening reception at 6.

Mark Mitchell, Madame Recamier d'Betsey, 2014, mixed media sculpture
Image: Roq La Rue
Mark Mitchell: Follies
Roq La Rue Gallery
In the upstairs gallery couturier extraordinaire Mark Mitchell takes a cheeky yet edgy look at pharmaceuticals and fashion with prêt-à-porter garments festooned in fabrics depicting pills and medication labels. Coupled with that, the designer has created an ode to surrealist artist René Magritte in the form of an exquisitely upholstered lounging coffin combining the mordant wit of Magritte with a sensible flourish of kitsch. Opening reception at 6.

Lia Hall and Cedar Mannan, This Is About the Stories, neon and mixed media. Inspiration: Influences by Sherman Alexie
Image: Method Gallery
TEXTure: Visual Artists and Poets Create
Method Gallery
The premise of the show hints at a never-ending cycle of inspiration between three poets and the visual artists that they are paired with. The visual artists create pieces inspired by poetry that in turn stimulates the poets to create new poems. Find out what the literary responses to art works made from textiles, glass, and neon will sound like. Opening reception at 6.

Dylan Neuwirth, T=0 K, 2015, neon, mercury, glass, stainless steel, supports, GTO, 3 transformers/concrete blocks/extension cords
Image: Dylan Neuwirth
Dylan Neuwirth: Absolute Zero
Punch Gallery
In his continued strive to further define what it means to be a post-human contemporary artist, Dylan Neuwirth has created both a neon-based installation aimed at experiential transcendence and a complementary digital body of work online. The artist says, “People will love or hate this show. Guaranteed.” Challenge accepted. Opening reception at 6.