30th Anniversary Exhibition: The Shape of the Problem

The Elizabeth Leach Gallery is thrilled to present our 30th Anniversary Exhibition. Launched in 1981, the gallery has focused on presenting prominent Northwest and internationally established artists working in a wide variety of contemporary media, bolstering a dynamic dialogue between the local community and the global art world.

The Shape of the Problem aims to explore these relationships, as well as issues that have faced artists throughout the decades, from exploration of self-expression, to formal concerns, questions about identity, optimism, accumulation, exuberance, and deconstruction. This exhibition seeks connections between the past and the present. What do the artists of the 1950s and 60s have in common with the artists of today. What endures? What is the shape of this problem?

Opening August 4, with a First Thursday reception from 6 - 9 pm, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery will host a group exhibition highlighting prominent historical artists of the last century. Featuring work by Henri Matisse, important abstract expressionists Helen Frankenthaler and Hans Hofmann, as well as crucial conceptual artists Sol Lewitt and Fred Sandback, this portion of the exhibition illustrates the gallery’s three decade-long focus on relationships between historical and contemporary art. Emerging artists, such as Sarah Cain and Joseph Park, will have work on view alongside longtime gallery artists Stephen Hayes, Judy Cooke, Christopher Rauschenberg, Malia Jensen, and many others. This exhibition will run through August 27. Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 5:30 pm.

On view at PNCA’s Feldman Gallery (1241 NW Johnson St, Portland, OR), beginning August 6, with a reception from 5:30 - 7:30 pm, and running through August 22, will be a second group exhibition presenting work by predominately regional artists, representing the gallery’s longtime engagement with the local community. There will be work by current and past PNCA professors (Robert Hanson, MK Guth, and Ryan Pierce), local curators (Kristan Kennedy of PICA), and a light installation by Hap Tivey, a New York-based artist and Bard College professor who has exhibited with Elizabeth Leach Gallery since 1981. Other artists on view will include Bonnie Bronson, Lee Kelly, Sean Healy, and more. Gallery hours are Monday - Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm, and Sunday, 1 - 6 pm.

Finally, Reed College’s Cooley Gallery (3203 SE Woodstock Road, Portland, OR) will host a special presentation of internationally acclaimed multimedia artist Dinh Q. Lê’s The Imaginary Country. This multi-channel video projection deals with difficulties experienced by young people returning to Vietnam, and the differences between the realities of the country, and the role it has played in their imaginations. The Elizabeth Leach Gallery was the first commercial gallery to show Lê’s work. He has since gone on to exhibit extensively internationally, including at the 2003 Venice Biennale and the upcoming Documenta 13 (Kassel, Germany). His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY). A reception for this exhibition will be held Friday, August 5, from 5:30 - 7:30 pm, and the piece will be on view through that weekend, Saturday and Sunday, August 6 - 7, from 12 - 5 pm.