Recently on Slog, I posted an item about the $22,275 the Tacoma Art Museum took in from 891 artists, each paying $25 for a shot to be included in the Northwest Biennial. Were the 850 artists who weren't chosen fleeced into thinking they had a chance when they didn't? Curator Rock Hushka intended the exhibition to sum up the accomplishments of the last few years, not to turn over new stones, and he says he meant the wording of the call as fair warning.

The call says the show will "prompt a meaningful dialogue about the Northwest's artistic strengths and accomplishments," with a focus on "the scope of the artist's contributions and recent accomplishments." This is code, but it's recognizable code.

Some artists wrote in calling foul, some said they were happy to support other artists (the $22,275 went to artist honorariums), and one pointed out that applicants got a partial rebate on their applications because they were invited to the free opening with free food. All in all, I came to believe the process was not quite vice or virtue—neither hazard nor canard, to use two words Scott Lawrimore brought up in his response.

Either way, an open call to artists is a nonsensical way to organize a best-of exhibition.

Hushka responded to me via e-mail. "As I clearly stated, the goal remains that this project will prompt deeper, meaningful dialogues about critical content, connoisseurship, trends, and influences. So, I'll ask you again. What's really strong about the work of these 41 artists over the course of the last couple of years? What do you see as the strengths? I really want your overview too."

I can't describe the Northwest according to this show, because it's not comprehensive enough by far. Photography is hardly present at all. The regionalism-within-regionalism (Portland vs. Seattle vs. Vancouver) is a powerful factor unaddressed. And I'd argue that the corridor from Vancouver to Portland is a better measure of the region than the biennial's current parameter: Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho. In art, there is a Pacific Northwest, but a Northwest? When tracking an entity, we should be sure it exists in the first place.

But I promised Hushka that I would put my mind to drawing out trends from the show, and I will, in preparation for a conversation at the museum that I'm taking part in at 1:00 p.m. on March 10 called "Globalism, Nationalism, and Regionalism: Why a Northwest Biennial?" I love the size of that question.

My first thought in response is that TAM might devote a series of smaller shows to aesthetic proposals about regional trends, as opposed to solo shows offset by a hulking biennial. With its declared Northwest bent, its curator with local history, its connections to other strong area curators, and what remains of its invaluable pre-designer-building scrappiness, TAM could do the shows better than any other museum. That'd beat the hell out of a traveling Paul Strand salon show any day. recommended

jgraves@thestranger.com