BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM

510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 425-454-3322

LUMINOUS: LIGHT AS MATERIAL, MEDIUM, AND METAPHOR

Light as an architectural element is one of Steven Holl's most famous tropes, and this exhibition was assembled to examine it further. It happily includes work by some of the artists you would expect to be represented: Dan Flavin, Joseph Kosuth, Tokihiro Sato, and Iole Allesandrini. Through June 17.

JUAN ALONSO: GIVE/TAKE

Recent paintings and large-scale works that draw on both Alonso's memories of the architecture of his native Cuba and the new museum structure. Through April 8.

BIT PLANE (BUREAU OF INVERSE TECHNOLOGY)

The bureau of inverse technology arrived in Seattle last December and set out to create a portrait of the city through surveillance, observation, and interviews. Footage was gathered by the bit plane, a small remote-control aircraft, and is now presented in a site-specific installation. Through April 22.

FRYE ART MUSEUM

704 Terry Ave, 622-9250

REPRESENTING L.A.: PICTORAL CURRENTS IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WORK

An exhibition of California representational art that opens up the term "realist" to welcome work all along the spectrum from the very real to the conceptual, portraiture to landscape, narrative to still life. There's work by 70 artists--Alison Saar, Enrique Martinez Celaya, and Jim Morphesis among them--in this, the first show to conceptualize and gather together work in this stylistic vein. Through Feb 11.

MARY TIFT

Prints that combine the techniques of etching, silkscreen, embossing, and collage. Tift's realm is everyday objects, rendered with an Asian feel. Through Feb 4.

HENRY ART GALLERY

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

BEYOND NOVELTY: NEW DIGITAL IMAGERY

An interesting little one-room show featuring artists who work with digitally manipulated images, some of them quite stunning. This is the logical extension to the question that photography poses about truth-telling, and about trusting what you see. Through Feb 4.

GRAPHIC DESIGN IN THE MECHANICAL AGE: SELECTIONS FROM THE MERRILL C. BERMAN COLLECTION

Covering the years around and between the World Wars, a time when design as we know it was born and really began to influence the way important information was seen; the styles that developed during that period still have currency today. Everything--the posters, the books, the ephemera--seems so elegant, and so powerful. Through Feb 18.

PETER SHELTON: STRETCHSPREAD

Shelton is best known for his installations that expand to fill a gallery's whole space with forms that suggests the body and it parts. He's one of those eighties artists who steeped himself in this art-of-the-body theme, in shapes cast in different materials, from fiberglass to bronze and brass. STRETCHspread is a gift to the Henry's permanent collection from the deep-pocketed Lannan Foundation. Shelton will give a talk at the opening reception Thurs Jan 18, 7 pm; general admission is $6. Through April 8.

TERRAFORM 1

An installation designed and controlled by digital technology, and meant to change, or at least challenge, our ideas about the space contained by a gallery, as well as the use of technology in art. Developed by a group of artists with the support of CARTAH (the UW Center for Advanced Research Technology in the Arts and Humanities), Terraform contains a computer-generated structure that creates a new topography for the gallery, plus projected light, sound, and video. Through April 19.

NORDIC HERITAGE MUSEUM

3014 NW 67th St, 789-5707

TREES OF LIFE

This set of three installations by local artist Steve Jensen shows masks the artist created with kids from the Ballard community, wood sculpture, and a series of funeral boats. Jensen draws on both natural and mythological symbols to connect with his Norwegian ancestors. Through Jan 28.

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM

100 University St, 654-3100

CREATING PERFECTION: SHAKER OBJECTS AND THEIR AFFINITIES

An exhibition examining the Shaker culture through its furniture, textiles, and tools, as well as photographs, prints, and drawings. A selection of non-Shaker objects shows the influences absorbed, and rejected, by this simplicity-embracing group; an adjacent display of modern works traces a similarly strict formalism that artists use to create structure in the chaotic modern world. Through April 29.

*LANGUAGE LET LOOSE

A tiny little exhibition on the incorporation of text into the visual world. The show's centerpiece is Gary Hill's video installation House of Cards; there's also work by Walker Evans, Ed Ruscha, Alice Wheeler, and a set of Robert Heinecken's Recto/Verso pieces, complete with intelligent but unrelated commentary. Through April 29.

GINNY RUFFNER: MIND GARDEN

As part of the Documents Northwest/PONCHO Series, Ruffner has transformed a gallery into a metaphorical map of the brain, using dried rose petals, steel, and glass. Through Feb 25.

*JOHN SINGER SARGENT

This show, curator Trevor Fairbrother's swan song, pulls together an extensive representation of the work of Sargent, the premier portrait artist of his period (1856-1925). Included are a dozen of his famous portraits of the Wertheimer family, along with a good deal of his less famous works: his charcoal studies of male nudes and the watercolors he produced near the end of his life. Through March 18.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC, 604-662-4700

PICTURES, POSITIONS, AND PLACES

The idea of place continues to fascinate artists, no matter how much it's been done, and done, and done. This exhibition explores that idea using work that's mostly photography, video, and installation, and draws from the gallery's permanent collection. The show includes work by major Canadian artists such as Stan Douglas and Jeff Wall. Through Feb 18.

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, including the photography of Frank Matsura and 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 devoted one gallery entirely to their great collection of '60s and '70s color field paintings, and introduced 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

*MANIA

Fuzzy Engine's core artists take on excess, obsession, and cultural enthusiasm. See Stranger Suggests. Opening reception Sat Jan 20, 6-11 pm. Fuzzy Engine, 2801 NW Market St, 789-6951. Through March 3.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

00/01

An exhibition about the color white--ground zero for many artists (the blank canvas) but the goal for the 11 artists shown here. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Jan 27.

DANIEL ABRAMS

Intimate social settings rendered in oil paints. Trapeze Gallery, 1130 34th Ave, 329-3363. Through Feb 2.

*ARTIST TRUST AUCTION EXHIBITION

The auction isn't until mid-February, but the work will be up for a month beforehand. My spies tell me that there's some amazing art showing up, including work by Phil Roach (of the fisheye dioramas), Thess Fenner (surveillance headgear), and a two-penised piñata by Patrick Holderfield. Bank of America Gallery, 701 Fifth Ave, Third Floor, 585-3200. Through Feb 6.

LANNY BERGNER, LYNN GEESAMAN

Nature approached from two wildly varying poles. Bergner's sculptures fuse organic materials, such as gourds, with hardware and glass, creating work that is both molecular and constructed. Geesaman photographs gardens in Europe, California, and Louisiana. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through Feb 3.

BLIND DATE

A group show, with a twist: each of the co-op's members has invited another artist to exhibit work as well. Oculus Gallery, 216 Alaskan Way S, 442-9365. Through Jan 27.

JOHN BOWMAN

The primary reference for Bowman's paintings is the theater, and what we see is a fraction of it: the curtain, the stage, a chandelier. But that's all we get; the interrupted narrative is ours to provide. Winston Wächter Fine Art, 403 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855. Through March 3.

SQUIRE BROEL

Still lifes with a collage-y, architectural feel. The best works are built out of layered modules, which play with received notions of depth in space. Eyre/Moore Gallery, 913 Western Ave, 624-5596. Through Jan 27.

CIRCUS OF THE NEW YEAR

A group show, including work by Tim Sullivan, Robert Jones, and Paul Davies. Commencement Art Gallery, Ninth and Commerce, Tacoma, 253-591-5341. Through Jan 31.

*LESLIE CLAGUE

This is Clague's first solo show--long overdue. Decaedent Objects combines the ideas of death and self-indulgence. The artist gently mocks her own practices, which include covering found objects (shown here in two window installations) in felt and wire, sampling and recombining thrown-away elements to create something part-quaint, part-obsession, part-memento mori. The theater's lobby features drawings and larger-scale sculpture. Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through Feb 25.

DRAKE DEKNATEL

Drawings of bodies in motion. Ace Studios Gallery, 619 Western Avenue, Third Floor, 623--1288. Through Jan 31.

AMY DIED, BERND HAUSSMANN

Sculptures assembled out of found materials by Seattle artist Died; Massachusetts artist Haussmann shows oil on board and canvas. Ballard/Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through Feb 3.

JOE MAX EMMINGER

Emminger's world has an affinity with Marc Chagall's: dreamy, but somehow logical, populated with stray figures doing strange things. The work is eminently likable, with big blocky areas of color and small specific narratives. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through Feb 10.

STEVEN FEY, MALCOLM EDWARDS

Two kinds of environments caught by the camera: Fey trains his lens on the sandstone canyons of Utah, and Edwards documents the construction of the Seattle Chinese Garden (currently underway near South Seattle Community College). Benham Photography Studio/Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through Jan 27.

*TATIANA GARMENDIA, DAVID PIRRIE

Garmendia's graphite-and-silver-leaf drawings take us to the body's interior in a series of x-rays, somehow both hallucinatory and solidly real. The bodies painted by Pirrie are also clinical and monochrome, but the effect is entirely different. Atelier 31, 122 Kirkland Way, Kirkland, 425-576-1477. Through Feb 6.

PATRICK HOLDERFIELD

A window installation utilizing decaying food, with reference to a painting by Sargent. SAM Rental Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3183. Through Feb 24.

*HAROLD HOLLINGSWORTH, ARTHUR S. AUBRY

Reaching back to the rec rooms of his youth, Hollingsworth offers oil paintings of croquet balls and racing car decals. Aubry continues his investigation of the mechanical world with Large Color Photographs of Industrial Ephemera. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through Feb 10.

SEAN MICHAEL HURLEY

Sequential panels in acrylic that may or may not reflect a narrative. OK Hotel, 212 Alaskan Way S, 621-7903. Through Jan 31.

STEFAN KNORR

Knorr's paintings, which combine found images with created ones, are savvy about the world and tend to make the media (in all its manifestations) their subject. Of late, Knorr has been moving toward images from the natural world. Gallery Unpublished, Methodologie, 808 Howell St, Sixth Floor, 623-1044. Through Feb 7.

LINKAGES

A group figure exhibition. The Fountainhead, 625 W McGraw St, 285-4467. Through Jan 27.

PAUL MARIONI

This show is called Agnosia, a term that refers to the state of not being able to understand what you're seeing, a perceptual lapse that could also refer to the blank slate of the viewer in front of a work of art. This show includes prints and drawings as well as glasswork, which rocks, gyrates, and has definite sexual references. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, second floor, 587-6501. Through Jan 28.

*RYAN MCGINNESS

Where a lot of graphic designers seem content to watch the form slowly infiltrate the art world, McGinness takes a more kamikaze approach (for example, sneaking into major museums and covertly stuffing his own postcards into the sales racks). This show features his work in paintings, models, and skateboards. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through Jan 27.

RICHARD MORHOUS

Highly colored interior and exterior views that verge on patterns but retain a feeling of painterly space. Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Place, 443-3315. Through Jan 27.

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG, JAMES ROSENQUIST, PETER MILLET

New prints from one of the first artists to muck around in that art-and-life gap, some of which incorporate images of his family and childhood. In the back, more new prints, this time from Rosenquist, and sculpture from Peter Millet. Greg Kucera Gallery, 624-0770. Through Jan 27.

NORIKO SATO

Sumi painting in an exhibition called FuRuSaTo (Home Town). RAW Gallery, 409 Seventh Ave S, 340-1445. Through Jan 31.

SARAH SAVIDGE

Urban Iconography--paintings on canvas and wood panels, using iconography from Asia and Africa. Virginia Inn, 1937 First Ave, 728-1937. Through Feb 27.

MICHAEL SCHULTHEIS

Paintings and drawings that recall Cy Twombly's passionate scribblings, but here arranged and colored to suggest bits of discrete--but unreadable--information. Patricia Cameron Fine Art, 108 S Jackson St #207, 343-9647. Through Jan 31.

SCATTERED, SMOTHERED, AND COVERED

Recent acquisitions of folk, self-taught, and so-called outsider art from gallery owners Karen and Marcus Pina's trips through the Deep South and Midwest. Garde Rail Gallery, 4730 35th Ave S, 760-3720. Through Jan 31.

SETH SEXTON

A series of drawings that meditate on cloning and artificial limbs. Victrola Coffee, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through Jan 31.

SOIL INVITATIONAL

Work by artists chosen by SOIL's members, including christ2000™, Rebecca Luncan, and Nancy Blum. SOIL Artist Cooperate, 1205 E Pike, 264-8061. Through Jan 27.

MICHAEL SPAFFORD

A survey of Spafford's prints from 1985-1999, many of them treating mythological themes. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through Jan 28.

JOHN A. TAYLOR

Small Neighborhoods, a stoneware collection of apartment buildings, complete with people and animals going about their daily business. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, Room 200, 296-7580. Through Jan 26.

RON VAN DONGEN

More sensual close-ups of flora, but these are more Blossfeldt than Mapplethorpe. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson, 587-5751. Through Jan 27.

DARRELL M. WESTMORELAND

In this show, entitled Behind the Lens, Westmoreland shows 30 years' worth of music photography. Crocodile Cafe, 2200 Second Ave. Through Feb 3.

EVENTS

*PETER FRANK

Frank is an art critic at the L.A. Weekly and the editor of Vision; in a lecture entitled SoSoSoHo So Long, he'll discuss the art scene today; whether or not anything happening here registers on the radar of a critic in Southern California remains to be seen. SAM, Thurs Jan 18, 7 pm, $7.