Visual Art

Visual Arts Listings

by Emily Hall

VISUAL ART

BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM

301 Bellevue Square, 425-454-3322.

*2000 PACIFIC NORTHWEST ANNUAL

The list of artists for this year's Annual reads like an impeccable pedigree of Young Seattle Artists, including Leo Saul Berk, Susan Dory, Thess Fenner, Jeff Miller, Cathy McClure, and Nicola Vruwink. Throughout the exhibition's run, the museum will host a series of six artist residencies, allowing artists the space and resources to create work over the duration of the exhibition; completed work will then be added to the show. Through Sept 3.

CENTER ON CONTEMPORARY ART

65 Cedar St, 728-1980.

CoCA CREDITS

A group show featuring some of the artists who have donated their time and skill to CoCA over the years. Curated by Lisa Buchanan and Robert Yoder. Through Aug 30.

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

This Detroit rock band/art group was started by a bunch of inspired University of Michigan art students in the early '70s, some of whom (Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw) went on to high-profile art careers. This interesting exhibition features art, ephemera, and... stuff from DAM's golden age. Through Aug 30.

FRYE ART MUSEUM

701 Terry Ave, 622-9250.

WINOLD REISS

The German-born Reiss (1886-1953) painted stark, unsentimental portraits of Native Americans, which then were used on railroad posters and calendars. Proof that it takes an Ausländer to see beyond the stereotypes. Through Sept 10.

HENRY ART GALLERY

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

*ANDY WARHOL DRAWINGS, 1942-1987

That slightly arch, calligraphic style that's everywhere in graphic design these days--you know where it comes from? Warhol's drawings from the '50s, when he was a commercial artist raking in the dough (as opposed to a pop artist raking in the dough). Then there are the more famous works on paper from his celebrity days and a self-portrait he drew at 14, long before his self-allotted 15 minutes began to tick away. A show like this is essential for reminding us that icons have other facets. Through Oct 8.

SHIFTING GROUND: TRANSFORMED VIEWS OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

It's such a ubiquitous subject, and so often maligned. Here's a show that makes a gallant effort to show how landscape portrayal has changed over time, and by implication, how our attitude toward the land has been altered in the process. Through Aug 20.

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM

100 University St, 654-3158.

EASTMAN JOHNSON: PAINTING AMERICA

A retrospective of a consummate American painter. In his work, Johnson (1824-1906) covered many different territories, including scenes from American Indian and black communities. Through Sept 10.

*LANGUAGE LET LOOSE

At the center of this exhibition on words and art is Gary Hill's installation House of Cards, a multiscreen video work of people speaking, Hill-like, in disjointed but connected sentences. Complementing the cacophony is a slew of interesting work, including books by Ed Ruscha, and Walker Evans' sign photographs. Through April 29.

SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM

1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park, 654-3100.

THE ART OF PROTEST

Social and political issues addressed through a variety of media, including the photography of Walker Evans and the mordant commentary of Jenny Holzer. Fang Lijun's enormous woodcut, No. 19, dominates the exhibition. Through Jan 21.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1123 Pacific Ave, 253-272-4258.

ALMOST WARM AND FUZZY: CHILDHOOD AND CONTEMPORARY ART

All the art references childhood in some manner, whether nostalgic or ironic or simply fun. Thirty artists from around the world contributed work to this show, which includes The Big Sneeze (an enormous liquid-emitting nose constructed by the Art Guys) and Sandy Skoglund's Shimmering Madness, an installation made up of about a million jellybeans and fluttering butterfly wings. The aim was a show for children as well as adults; grab your favorite eight-year-old and see if it works. Through Sept 17.

WING LUKE ASIAN MUSEUM

407 Seventh Ave S, 623-5124.

THROUGH OUR EYES

An extensive exhibition of Asian American photography of the Northwest, from journalism to fine art. It includes the photography of Frank Matsura--who emigrated from Japan at the turn of the century (the last one) and documented the Okanogan frontier--through the contemporary work of Dean Wong and Jessica Kim. Through April 8.

WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE

407 Dexter Ave N, 264-8200.

*THE WRIGHT COLLECTION

Virginia and Bagley Wright have rehung their foundation's exhibit space, devoting one gallery entirely to their great collection of '60s and '70s color field paintings, and introducing a large David Salle oil and the John Baldessari piece Two Onlookers and Tragedy to the mix. Other highlights include a Robert Longo, Eric Fischl, a huge Warhol Rorschach, and Jules Olitski's Thigh Smoke. Open-ended run.

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

ARCHITECTURE IN PERSPECTIVE

Work by the best architectural illustrators around. NBBJ Gallery, 111 S Jackson St. Opening reception Thurs Aug 10, 6-8 pm. Through Aug 31.

*LEO SAUL BERK, WILLIAM HARRIS

If you've had it up to here with abstract art, I recommend a big dose of Leo Berk. His wood constructions leap over the cognitive disjoint between real and abstract, with solidly familiar material cut and glued and veneered into something strange and new. Harris' paintings look at color that hasn't quite mixed; the paint is layered and squeegeed to create a textured surface. Opening reception Sat Aug 12, 6-8 pm. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through Sept 9.

*CHARLES KRAFFT

Out of the Villa Delirium Delft Works comes Krafft's latest project, the already lauded Porcelain War Museum Project: the weapons of Balkan wars fashioned out of ceramics. Its charm is obviously its unlikeliness, but there's a lot of real craft (so to speak) in the work; Krafft thoroughly researched the guns and grenades, as well as the techniques used in Dutch Delft factories. The exhibition is up in a temporary gallery--catch it while you can. 2316 Second Ave. Through Aug 20.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

AMERICAN FAMILIES

The show's subtitle (Beyond the White Picket Fence) puts you on the alert that diversity is the theme here. Photographer Courtney Coolidge traveled around the country photographing families in all their glory and difficulty. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through Aug 29.

*CRIS BRUCH

Bruch's intricately pieced sculpture at Consolidated Works earlier this year was absolutely mind-bending--about a thousand paper triangles fitted together somehow to make a large, hollow, multifaceted form. His new and similarly unfathomable installation, Duty Cycle, fills the atrium with paper and metal wheel-like forms invoking labor, repetition, and the passage of time. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through Aug 18.

ROBROY CHALMERS, DAVID TRAYLOR

Chalmers is exhibiting new drawings and paper sculptures; Traylor's ceramics seem as heavy and loaded as metallic objects. Both artists' work is dense and present--nothing ephemeral here. Oculus Gallery, 216 Alaskan Way S, 366-2108. Through Sept 2.

DAVID PERRY CHRISTENSEN

New large-scale paintings and small studies. In the back room, there's a group show featuring, among others, David Kane, George Chacona, and Merrily Tompkins. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through Aug 31.

CONVERGENCE

Work by Barbara DiPirro, Maya Chachava, and Amber Cottle--three very different artists, which poses the question of where such convergence lies. Phinney Center Gallery, 6532 Phinney Ave N, 783-2244. Through Aug 21.

DELTA

Delta--Dutch graffiti artist Boris Tellegen--has raised lettering, of all things, to a high, high-tech art. In his hands words become strange, abstract, hard-edged creatures--or machines. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through Aug 30.

DONUT SHOP ONE

All right, it's in Portland. But gallery founder and curator Cris Moss is doing something I've heard a lot of artists talk about, but never finally do: starting a gallery that changes location with each show. This not only alleviates the ever-present real-estate problem, but also creates the challenge of a changing space. The first show, which concentrates on alternative media, features the work of Moss, Seungho Cho, Cynthia Pachikara, Nan Curtis, and Ginelle Hustrulid. The Donut Shop, 630 SE Third. Through Aug 18.

FOURTH ANNUAL POUND GALLERY MEMBERS SHOW

See the spread of work at one of the last good alternative spaces around. Art by Gary Smoot, Susan Robb, Laura Jean Cronin, Penny Jerome, Owen Cornell, Christine Taylor, Katrina Santore, and Kevin Willis. Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557. Through Aug 27.

GARDE RAIL RE-OPENING

The gallery dedicated to folk and outsider art is back, in new Columbia City digs. The grand-opening exhibition features work by Annie Grgich, Antijuan Oden, and John Taylor, among others. Garde Rail Gallery, 4750 35th Ave S, 760-3720. Through Aug 31.

GRAHAM GRAHAM

Painting and mixed media in the obscure-celestial Joseph Cornell vein. Elliott Brown Gallery, 619 N 35th St, #101A, 547-9740. Through Aug 26.

ANDREW HARE

Hare paints the architectural details we see, but don't really see. ArtsWest Gallery, 4711 California Ave SW, 938-0963. Through Sept 2.

*HOME

A thoughtfully assembled show on all the possible meanings of the word. See Bio Box. SOIL Artist Cooperative, 12th and Pike, 264-8061. Through Aug 27.

JENNY HYDE, JOE ROBBINS

Hyde superimposes rural, traditional-feeling themes onto nontraditionally sewn canvases. Robbins' sculpture combines two entirely unexpected elements (cast-porcelain mosaic squares and traditional male iconography) to create something entirely other. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9276. Through Aug 19.

BARBARA JAKSA

She builds boxes and puts thing in them, but there's a lot more to it than that. The box isn't just a receptacle, but a kind of inner space, and the contents are revealing and oblique at the same time. Artemis Gallery, 1400 31st Ave S, 323-0562. Through Aug 31.

ROBERT JONES

A window installation entitled Theory of Flight. Seattle Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 748-9282. Through Aug 25.

MACROCOSM/MICROCOSM

Nature enlarged beyond recognition and pressed right into the canvas, from artists Carolyn Watts and Eva Isaksen. Cornish College of the Arts, Fisher Gallery, 710 E Roy St, 726-5011. Through Aug 31.

TIM MARSDEN

Paintings--cartoonish and philosophical at the same time--of people in ridiculous, self-inflicted situations. Daniel Smith, 4150 First Ave S, 223-9599. Through Sept 4.

BOKUDEN MATSUDA

Japanese artist Matsuda considers the process that creates his large-scale paintings performance, with each work the result of a meditative dance. The work looks like calligraphy gone not unpleasantly awry. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through Sept 2.

RANDY MCCOY

Bright new paintings, in a series called Butterfly Jokes. Two Bells Tavern, 2313 Fourth Ave, 441-3050. Through Oct 5.

*MIRROR'S EDGE

LAST CHANCE! The theme, in name, of this show is the relationship between image, fiction, and reality, but the real pleasure is how international and new the art is. Some of the best work feels like a grand discovery; when the work fails, it fails on a grand scale, which is something we rarely get to see around here. Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC, 604-662-4700. Through Aug 13.

RICHARD MISRACH

For his series Golden Gate, Misrach has taken photographs of the same view of the San Francisco Bay over the course of three years. In the Bay Area's moody weather, this has produced remarkable differences in light and color. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, Suite 200, 587-4033. Through Aug 19.

*ROBERT ORTBAL

Assembling hundreds of anything in one space can either change the space entirely, or simply be a lame shorthand for installation. Ortbal's work looks to be the latter; in this case he's put hundreds of tin cans, opened at both ends, in a window at 911. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-6552. Through Sept 17.

DEBORAH PUTNOI

Random fragments of life juxtaposed in small collages. The artist uses a whole spread of media, including canvas, tin etching plates, text, wood, and paint. There have been a number of these kinds of disjointed-narrative shows at Eyre/Moore--rather an interesting direction for a gallery to take. Eyre/Moore Gallery, 913 Western Ave, 624-5596. Through Sept 2.

*RAW IMPROV

This young, young gallery has nabbed nine excellent artists for this group show. The unifying theme is the presence in the work of improvisational elements; the exhibition includes Claire Cowie, Phil Roach, Damon Maxwell, and Randy McCoy. Rex Gallery, 542 First Ave S, 262-9831. Through Sept 2.

MELANIE RENECKER

Photographs from Paris shown, charmingly, in a little cafe. Grand Illusion, 1405 NE 50th St. Through Sept 1.

CHARLES K. ROSENBERG

Rosenberg's works on paper feature patterning in charcoal and graphite powder on glassine paper. The Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 329-2629. Through Sept 3.

*SOUTH SOUNDS 2000

This show (juried by the Henry's Rhonda Howard) features the work of 13 south-Sound artists, including video work by the excellent Jennifer West, sculpture by Kelsey Fernkopf, and prints by Brian Alves. Commencement Art Gallery, 253-591-5341. Through Aug 25.

STRUCTURES

A rotating exhibit featuring paintings and photographs of real and imagined structures. Participating artists include John Stamets, C. Blake Haygood, and Julia Ricketts. SAM Rental Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through Sept 2.

*MEGHAN TRAINOR

See Stranger Suggests. Trapeze Gallery, 1130 34th Ave, 329-3363. Through Sept 1.

ANTONELLO TURCHETTI

Emotional black-and-white portraits by a photographer who's in Seattle as part of an arts exchange with Perugia, Italy, one of our many sister cities. FotoCircle Gallery, 216 Alaskan Way S, 624-2645. Through Sept 2.

TRIO

A good bracing dose of rigorous formalism. If you line up works by the three artists--Denzil Hurley, Paul Moran, and Julie Shapiro--it's like watching a nebulous form emerge frame-by-frame on a canvas: least, more, then a little more. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through Sept 3.

TERRY TURRELL

Hand-carved figures augmented by found materials such as tin and wire, giving them an air of things at once discarded and revered. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through Aug 12.

LIZA VON ROSENSTIEL

Eerie paintings that use stylized animals to communicate the nuances of emotion. Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave S, 624-7684. Through Sept 2.

*NICOLA VRUWINK

You might already be familiar with Vruwink's work--her drawings in Kool-Aid powder, maybe, or her sports trophies ornamented with nail polish and glitter. She's still mining (and slaying) the world of appearances with her trademark wicked wit, but, never one to rest on her laurels, she has struck out in a whole new world of materials and media. This exhibition of new work includes tatted Easter grass, flower petal-covered shapes, and a video installation featuring the artist's patient daily application of makeup. Few artists so pointedly remind us that how we see is as important as what we see. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Aug 26.

WOMEN IN PRINT

Actually, the show is of prints by women, and includes three decades' worth of work by 20 artists. Bank of America Gallery, 701 Fifth Ave, Third Floor, 585-3200. Through Aug 25.

KEITH YURDANA

Sculpture inspired by ideas as oddly specific as gene-splicing, root-grafting, and bonsai. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, Room 200, 296-7580. Through Aug 25.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS

SEATTLE ARTS COMMISSION SEEKING...

...artists for community collaborations. This will be part of a program called ARTS UP: Artist Residencies Transforming Seattle's Urban Places, which will begin this winter. The call is extended to all disciplines--not only visual art, but literary and performing arts as well. The artists selected will work with selected communities throughout the city, and are encouraged to create works that explore the meaning of community and community identity. For a prospectus, call SAC at 615-1801; for more information, call Lisa Richmond at 684-0998.