Richard Prince, Untitled (Publicity)

In 2005, Reed's Cooley Gallery filled the gap in Portland's contemporary art programming that PICA left with the discontinuation of its ongoing exhibition program and that the Portland Art Museum is only beginning to address with its excellent new Meigs endowment programming. The Cooley will not slow down in 2006, beginning the year with a major two-part exhibition of work from the Ovitz Family Collection, opening on Thursday. Jeff's rundown of hotly anticipated art exhibitions and events can tell you why Ovitz has positioned himself as a major collector. But his position as a major collector should be obvious just by looking at the artist list for New Trajectories I: Relocations. Artists include jokester Richard Prince, recent MacArthur fellow Julie Mehretu, Stefan Thiel, Cosima Von Bonin and Idris Khan.

If you're looking for something to do before the opening, NYU professor Jonathan Brown will be lecturing on another noted collector - okay, a seventeenth century collector - Philip IV of Spain. Co-sponsored by the Robert Lehman Foundation.

Opening Reception • New Trajectories I: Relocations • Thursday, January 26 • 6:30 p
Cooley Art Gallery, Reed College • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd • Tel 503.777.7790

Lecture: Philip IV of Spain, the Greatest Picture Collector of the Seventeenth Century • Thursday, January 26 • 4:30 p
Reed College, Psychology Auditorium • 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd (closest parking: East lot)

Photo: Richard Prince, Untitled (Publicity), 2001
Double-sided frame with stand, Publicity photograph with handwritten jokes, 33.5 x 27 in., Ovitz Family Collection