BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM
510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 425-519-0770.
ALFREDO ARREGUÍN
A retrospective of 30 years of work in spiritually laden patterns. Through June 16.
HENRY ART GALLERY
15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, 543-2280.
* EDUARDO KAC: GENESIS, 1999
Kac's installation is the first wave of the Henry's oncoming Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics (which opens April 5). As its departure point it takes 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.
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
100 University St, 654-3100.
ART FROM AFRICA: LONG STEPS NEVER BROKE A BACK
Tribal masks, statues, robes, coffins, and some (but unfortunately too little) contemporary art. Be sure to rent the audio tour; this exhibition eschews the usual tag-on-the-wall route. Through May 19.
MORRIS GRAVES AND SEATTLE
An exhibition that concentrates on Graves' early career, and takes as its thread the artist's relationship with the Pacific Northwest. Through Oct 20.
GLORIA BORNSTEIN: STILL LIFE
Two installations which look into the idea of roots, in both Bornstein's Polish family and her husband's Japanese--specifically, Nagasaki, Japan. Through Oct 20.
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
* JENNIFER McNEELY
See Stranger Suggests. Opens April 1; reception in May. Henriette E. Woessner Alumni Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, 723 Harvard Ave E, 323-1400. Through May 4.
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.
CHRIST2000™
He's Seattle's own trash/value artist. In Lawncritters of Landfill, a storefront installation, christ2000™ gives us creatures made of recontextualized, newly commercialized junk. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-7422. Through April 21.
* MICHELLE FIERRO
Paintings about painting, featuring debris and gobs of paint found in her friends' studios. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through April 6.
FORD GILBREATH, SHIRLEY SCHEIER
An investigation into the movement of Licton Springs turned into a video project called Moon Root. With Scheier's works on paper about self-knowledge and bio-geology. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through March 30.
JULIA HAACK
New paintings. Jem Studios Gallery, 6004 12th Ave S (enter through All City Coffee at 1205 S Vale St). Through March 30.
WILLIAM HARRIS
One of the reasons that color field painting generally leaves me cold is the loss of its sublimity; after Rothko's big, consuming canvases, it's all sort of derivative. But I love Harris' paintings, with their thick, poured hues in layers that let you look deep into the picture plane--beautiful swimmy things, they are. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through April 20.
HEROES
Paintings by children about their role models. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave, 254-0475. Through April 1.
MATT HOUSTON
In the final exhibition in his eponymous gallery, Houston (a.k.a. Matthew Clark) is showing murals, sculpture, and drawings. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through March 31.
BARB JAKSA, NINA FRENKEL
Jaksa's constructed boxes are no mere Cornell rip-off, but thoughtfully build on the master's tradition. In some cases, the artist encourages you to pick them up and handle them. With collages by Frenkel. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through March 30.
TOMIKO JONES
The absolute genius behind The Bunny Chronicles proves that she's no one-trick rabbit. In Infused, she's showing rich, saturated photographs of empty places. The Green Room, 1424 First Ave, 262-0262. Through May 4.
* YUMIKO KAYUKAWA
Pure eye candy, in a lovely, girly Japan-pop vein. Roq la Rue Gallery, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through April 5.
STEVE LAZEN
New photographs, with text borrowed from the brilliant weirdo Georges Perec. Blu, 2226 First Ave, 269-6699. Through March 31.
SPIKE MAFFORD, MICHAEL SPAFFORD
In Shared Labors, the son (Mafford, the photographer) and the father (Spafford, the painter) collaborate on mythical-themed work, and document the collaboration. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through March 31.
JEFF MIHALYO
There's lots to look at in Mihalyo's real and fantastic landscapes; a good thing, since both are being shown in leisure settings. Zerene Salon, 5140 Ballard Ave NW, second floor, 297-6385. Through March 31. (Also at Victrola Coffee & Art, 411 15th Ave E, 325-6520. Through March 31.)
MIKE NIPPER
Yeah, him again. More of his bright, bold, inscrutable paintings. Elliott Bay Gallery 101, 101 S Main St, 682-6664. Through April 3.
TED NORDLANDER, MARILYN JONES
Nordlander's paintings deconstruct the body into its recognizable parts and then defamiliarize them; Jones' series of paintings and photographs meditate on the artist's studio, and the idea of the art-making space. Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through March 30.
* CHRIS ST. PIERRE, DEMI RAVEN
Two good artists who haven't given up on figurative work; nor have they resorted to expressionistic pap. The Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557. Through March 31.
JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH, WALLY SHOUP
See review this issue. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through March 30.
SURIMONO
Early 19th-century Japanese wood-block prints--more compelling and modern than a lot of the art in neighboring galleries. Carolyn Staley Fine Japanese Prints, 314 Occidental Ave S, 621-1888. Through March 30.
SWEET AND WILD
An art menagerie, featuring animals in the work of Kara Walker, Bill Owens, Marcel Dzama, Louise Bourgeois, and others both local and not. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through March 30.
* AKIO TAKAMORI
New porcelain and stoneware figures from one of Seattle's premier ceramicists. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through March 30.
WILLIAM TRAVER GALLERY TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
Traver has made his name by championing the Studio Glass movement, and introducing glass artists such as Lino Tagliapietra and Anna Skibska to the United States. Talents in other media include Doug Jeck and the excellent Friese Undine. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, second floor, 587-6501. Through March 31.
WEEGEE
Vintage prints from the photographer's niece's collection. What? You don't know who Weegee is? For shame. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through March 30.
JULIAN WEST
Figures underwater. FotoCircle Gallery, 562 First Ave S, 624-2645. Through March 30.
