HENRY ART GALLERY

15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, 543-2280.

* GENE(SIS): CONTEMPORARY ART EXPLORES HUMAN GENOMICS

Preview this issue. With a performance by artist group Critical Art Ensemble on April 5, ongoing from 11 am to 2 pm, and an opening reception at 7:30 pm. Through Aug 25.

* EDUARDO KAC: GENESIS, 1999

Kac's installation takes as its departure point a biblical quotation translated first into Morse code and then somehow into a genetic language--proving, I guess, that language is as transgenic as hybridized corn. This is heady stuff. Through Aug 25.

* SHORT STORIES

Now with new stories! A series of staggered rotating exhibitions that includes work from the permanent collection, commissioned projects, and installations. Through May 12.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1123 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253-272-4258

ARTificial INTELLIGENCE

A look at the robot in popular culture, through posters, models, and other memorabilia from local collectors. Sponsored--not surprisingly--by Boeing. Through June 16.

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

7th ANNUAL PHOTOCLOSET EXHIBIT

Work by the Pound's darkroom members. Opening reception Sat April 6, 6-10 pm. The Pound Gallery, 1216 Tenth Ave, 323-0557. Through April 28.

13th ANNUAL FUNCTIONAL ART SHOW

The bizarre, the adapted, the functional. Opening reception Sat April 6, 7-10 pm. Art/Not Terminal Gallery, 2045 Westlake Ave, 233-0680. Through May 2.

20th-CENTURY TRADITIONS

Work by some of photography's bigwigs--Imogene Cunningham, Elliott Erwit, Marion Post-Wolcott--and a contemporary Seattle artist, Tom Feher. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 5:30-8 pm. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, Suite 200, 587-4033. Through April 27.

LAUREN ATKINSON, DONALD GREEN

Collaborative mixed media on themes of instability and crisis. Opening reception Sat April 6, 5-8 pm. ArtReach, 1405 Boylston Ave, 329-2722. Through April 25.

SAUL BECKER

In Annexation, Becker combines contour maps with the tiny personal maps created by his own fingerprints. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 6-8 pm. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, 2nd floor, 296-7580. Through April 26.

AMY BENGSTON, GUY ALLEN

Two of SAW's founding members mark its one-year anniversary with a collaborative series. Opening reception Fri April 5, 7-10 pm. Secluded Alley Works, 113 12th Ave, 839-0880. Through April 25.

JOE MAX EMMINGER

Bright, bold paintings, stalked by characters both dreamlike and real. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through April 27.

GERHARD HUHN, ROLAND GOMEZ

A "conversation" between two artists, entitled Chastity. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 6-8 pm. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 583-0497. Through May 1.

IT AIN'T THE SIZE THAT COUNTS

An exhibition of itty-bitty paintings by gallery artists, including new discovery Mark O'Malley. Opening reception Fri April 5, 6-10 pm. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through June 1.

ROBERT C. JONES, ROBERT McNOWN

New paintings and other works on paper. Opening reception Sun April 7, 2-4 pm. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through June 2.

CASEY KEELER

Paintings in drippy candy colors. Opening reception Sat April 6, 6-9 pm. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through April 30.

JOHN S. LEWIS

In Manifest Destiny, Lewis explores the modern landscape. Opening reception Fri April 5, 6-8 pm. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through April 29.

MARK MUMFORD, MICHELLE KELLY

Mumford's installation takes text out of the world and into the gallery to recreate the world's polyphony. By contrast, Kelly's work focuses on one obsessively repeated item: the drop. Her paintings might exhaust you. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 6-8 pm. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through April 27.

* BILL SCANGA, WADING THE WATERS

Scanga, whose work is also featured in the Henry's Gene(sis), spoofs natural-history displays and taxonomy, in this case with birds. With a group show including work by Ray Charles White, Craig Smith, Pike Powers, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, and Rich Lehl. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 5-8 pm. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through April 27.

SEAN VALE, ROD APPLETON

Minimalism that speaks volumes about the condition of minimalism--Vale's white paintings in response to oversimplification, and Appleton's about imposing order on natural and man-made materials. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 6-8 pm. Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through April 27.

MERRILL WAGNER, STEPHEN PAUL DAY and SIBYLLE PERETTI

New paintings on slate by Wanter; Peretti and Day are showing a series of works that investigate desire and social commentary. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 5-8 pm. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, 2nd floor, 587-6501. Through April 28.

* DARREN WATERSTON

I've been slow to warm to Waterston's paintings of flowers drifting through sublime spaces; but the more I look at them, the more I like them. They have a brave vastness about them, and tilt successfully toward something (dare I say) spiritual, if only because they don't try to, or claim to. Opening reception Thurs April 4, 6-8 pm. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through June 1.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

* RIAIN CALLAHAN

Inspired by her work as a peepshow dancer, each of Callahan's photographs becomes its own little peepshow. She advances the debate about art by sex workers by making--bless her--thoughtful, interesting work. Little Theatre Gallery, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through April 20.

JOSEPH FINDEISS

New work featuring old and new firecracker labels. SureShot, 4505 University Way NE, 632-3100. Through April 7.

* JENNIFER McNEELY

Jennifer McNeely is one of my favorites among the smart-set art girls. With meticulous attention paid to everyday objects and materials--nylons, zippers, the needle and thread--McNeely grounds us in this paradox: the extremely well-made useless thing. Henriette E. Woessner Alumni Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, 723 Harvard Ave E, 323-1400. Through May 4.

EVENTS

BODY PAINTING

Putting the exhibitionism back into exhibitions. Thurs April 4, 6-9:30 pm at Forgotten Works Gallery, 619 Western Ave, 4th floor, 343-7212.

ONE NIGHT ONLY: 11 SHOWS IN 11 MONTHS

This month: Five artists from Canada, and five from Seattle. Fri April 5, 6-10 pm at Thinklab, 1932 Second Ave. For information, call 720-9909.