Nikita Ares: CHADA!

Last year, Seattle-based artist Nikita Ares adorned white-walled galleries and blank front doors with her molten, colorful, abstract compositions. And this year, she's back with a new exhibition, CHADA! at Glass Box Gallery, warming up our drenched, shivering Seattle souls with her bright and immersive landscapes that are practically visual permutations of "!!!!!!!!!!!" In an Instagram post, Ares says that the title of her show, "Chada!" is a term uniquely used by Kagayanons, people from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, her hometown. It means "wow/nice." The 25-plus paintings and drawings in the gallery embody that exclamation.