Bay Area Bazaar
This sounds like as good a way as any to kick off Pulliam Deffenbaugh's new gallery space: Bay Area artist Laurie Reid has invited over 30 of her SF cohorts to participate in this "Bay Area Bazaar," which includes Todd Hido, Karla Milosevich, and, well, over 29 others. Pulliam Deffenbaugh, 522 NW 12th, 228-6665, Through Oct. 1

Heather Hawksford
The Farm Café expands on its delicious food and warm ambiance with its first-ever photography exhibit: the work of Seattle-to-Olympia-to-Portland transplant Hawksford, whose abstract close-ups of inanimate objects are rich and colorful. The Farm, 10 SE 7th, Through Sept.

Ruby & Willie
Bootsy Holler is a very good editorial photographer who spent much of 2002 documenting her grandparents' home in Richland, WA. After Ruby died in 1978, Grandpa Willie sequestered himself to the basement, while the rest of the house remained untouched like a mausoleum. Holler's portrait of Ruby & Willie's home is touching, humorous, and vibrant. Newspace, 1632 SE 10th, 963-1935, Sept. 2 - Oct. 2

Troca Brasil
PNCA has organized an art exchange between its gallery space and a Rio de Janeiro gallery, and the time has come for Portland to reap the visual rewards. Troca Brasil brings together five Brazilian installation artists, including the very successful and crowd-pleasing Ernesto Neto. Philip Feldman Gallery, PNCA, 1241 NW Johnson, 226-4391, Through Oct. 22

Jay Backstrand
Words can't express how much of a David Salle rip-off local painter Jay Backstrand is. Juxtaposing figurative, narrative paintings on a single canvas, art-historical doodles, faux-naughtiness, and divergent styles, Backstrand insults the audience's collective intelligence with his shameless derivativeness. Laura Russo Gallery, 805 NW 21st, 226-2754, Through Oct. 1

Distractions
Local commercial artist Lucia Johnson is the creator of ornate-bordering-on-gaudy jewelry, trippy glass tables, and elegant door paintings. As if that weren't eclectic enough, she also does straight paintings, which take a random departure into a nightmarish world populated by cartoony party people with terrifying jack-o-lantern grins. Vino Paradiso, 417 NW 10th, 295-9536, Through Oct. 1

Ritsuko Ozeki
In addition to having one of the more fun names to pronounce that we've encountered, Ritsuko Ozeki is a printmaker from Japan, whose spare, black and white depictions of playground equipment and random articles are weirdly interesting. Froelick Gallery, 817 SW 2nd Ave, 222-1142, Through Sept. 28