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.

HELEN LESSICK: RESIDENT HOUSES

BAM's current artist in residence shows house forms cast and sculpted from the materials of Bellevue. Through June 9.

HENRY ART GALLERY

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

* GENE(SIS): CONTEMPORARY ART EXPLORES HUMAN GENOMICS

Art and science and truth and not. Including work by Eduardo Kac, Critical Art Ensemble, Catherine Chalmers, Dario Robleto, Daniel Lee, and local artists Susan Robb and Jaq Chartier. 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.

GLORIA BORNSTEIN: STILL LIFE

Two installations which look into the idea of roots, in both Bornstein's Polish family and her husband's Japanese heritage--specifically, Nagasaki, Japan. Through Oct 20.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1123 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253-272-4258

ARTiFIcial INTELLIGENCE

A look at the robot in popular culture, through posters, models, and other memorabilia from local collectors. Sponsored--not surprisingly--by Boeing. Through June 16.

OPENING EXHIBITIONS

ARGENTINA AHORA

Have you been paying attention to the popular uprising in Argentina? If not, catch up now. Photographs and posters and street art by the collective Argentina Arde, and also independent photographers from New York and Seattle. Opening reception Sat April 13, 6 pm-midnight. Independent Media Center Gallery, 1415 Third Ave, 262-0721. Through May 9.

GEOFF GARZA

Elegant, mostly muted blocks of color that seem to have been dug up somewhere around Pompeii. Opening reception Fri April 12, 5-8 pm. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through May 15.

* TED GRUDOWSKI

See Stranger Suggests. Opening reception Fri April 12, 7-10 pm. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave, 254-0475. Through May 12.

DIANE KURZYNA

An installation featuring recycled trash for the ultimate anti-princess: White Trash Wedding by Dumpster Diving Diva Kurzyna. Opening reception Thurs April 11, 4-7 pm (and special wedding reception Sun April 14, 1-3 pm). Gallery IV, Evergreen State College, Olympia, 360-866-6000. Through May 3.

JOE NEWTON, ANDREA TUCKER

Extremely cute kitties and iconic paintings of saintly sideshow people. Opening reception Fri April 12, 6-10 pm. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through May 4.

SWITCH

Come see the work of new members in SOIL's brand new space. Opening reception Sat April 13, 7-10 pm. SOIL Artist Cooperative, 1317 E Pine St, 264-8061. Through April 27.

SAMUEL TROUT

It was hardly a year ago that I discovered young Trout selling his wares, like a Dickensian waif, for a pittance in Occidental Square. Now the power of my vision finds its proof in Trout's very first solo show. Well, maybe his good paintings had something to do with it, I don't know. Opening reception Thurs April 11, 8-10 pm. Nation Gallery, 1921 Fifth Ave, 374-9492. Through May 5.

VISTAS DEL AMOR

Work by local Latino artists. Opening reception Sun April 14, 4 pm. Elliott Bay Book Company, 100 Main St, 624-6600.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

SEVENTH ANNUAL PHOTOCLOSET EXHIBIT

Work by the Pound's darkroom members. The Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557. Through April 28.

13th ANNUAL FUNCTIONAL ART SHOW

The bizarre, the adapted, the functional. Art/Not Terminal Gallery, 2045 Westlake Ave, 233-0680. Through May 2.

20th-CENTURY TRADITIONS

Work by some of photography's bigwigs--Imogene Cunningham, Elliott Erwit, Marion Post-Wolcott--and a contemporary Seattle artist, Tom Feher. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, suite 200, 587-4033. Through April 27.

LAUREN ATKINSON, DONALD GREEN

Collaborative mixed media on themes of instability and crisis. ArtReach, 1405 Boylston Ave, 329-2722. Through April 25.

SAUL BECKER

In Annexation, Becker combines contour maps with the tiny personal maps created by his own fingerprints. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, 2nd floor, 296-7580. Through April 26.

AMY BENGSTON, GUY ALLEN

Two of SAW's founding members mark its one-year anniversary with a collaborative series. Secluded Alley Works, 113 12th Ave, 839-0880. Through April 25.

WELDON BUTLER

New drawings from the engineering-inspired formalist. Visual Abstractions, 1130 34th Ave. Through April 20.

* 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.

KERRY STUART COPPIN

Photographs of the black community experience. FotoCircle Gallery, 562 First Ave, suite 300, 624-2645. Through June 1.

ANDREW TROSPER DEROUX

The relationship between technology and religion explored in Sacred Spaces/Artificial Inclusion. Ace Studio Gallery, 619 Western Ave, 3rd floor. Through April 28.

JOE MAX EMMINGER

Bright, bold paintings, stalked by characters both dreamlike and real. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through April 27.

GARDE RAIL at STILL LIFE

A selection of work from the gallery specializing in folk and outsider art. Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse, 709 N 35th, 547-9850. Through May 6.

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.

GERHARD HUHN, ROLAND GOMEZ

A "conversation" between two artists, entitled Chastity. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 583-0497. Through May 1.

INTRODUCTIONS

This rotating show continues with work by Lisa Buchanan, Laura Castellanos, Claire Cowie (hooray!), Dorit Ely, Rachel Illingworth, Reilly Jensen, Alex Michael Ohge, Jane Richlovsky, and a window installation by Kathleen McMahan. SAM Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through April 13.

IT AIN'T THE SIZE THAT COUNTS

An exhibition of itty-bitty paintings by gallery artists, including new discovery Mark O'Malley. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through June 1.

ROBERT C. JONES, ROBERT McNOWN

New paintings and other works on paper. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through June 2.

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.

CASEY KEELER

Paintings in drippy candy colors. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through April 30.

JOHN S. LEWIS

In Manifest Destiny, Lewis explores the modern landscape. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through April 29.

* JENNIFER McNEELY

Jennifer McNeely is one of my favorites among the smart-set art girls. With meticulous attention paid to everyday objects and materials--nylons, zippers, the needle and thread--McNeely grounds us in this paradox: the extremely well-made useless thing. Henriette E. Woessner Alumni Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, 723 Harvard Ave E, 323-1400. Through May 4.

MARK MUMFORD, MICHELLE KELLY

Mumford's installation takes text out of the world and into the gallery to recreate the world's polyphony. By contrast, Kelly's work focuses on one obsessively repeated item: the drop. Her paintings might exhaust you. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through April 27.

SARAH SAVIDGE

New prints and paintings in Kustom Kollage. Kuhlman Clothing, 2419 First Ave, 441-1999. Through May 22.

* BILL SCANGA, WADING THE WATERS

Scanga, whose work is also featured in the Henry's Gene(sis), spoofs natural-history displays and taxonomy, in this case with birds. With a group show including work by Ray Charles White, Craig Smith, Pike Powers, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, and Rich Lehl. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through April 27.

NORMA STRAW

New color photography. She won Seattle Weekly's photo contest, but we won't hold that against her. Cut Kulture Gallery, 2018 First Ave, 374-8753. Through April 23.

* SEAN VALE, ROD APPLETON

Reviewed this issue. Minimalism that speaks volumes about the condition of minimalism--Vale's white paintings in response to oversimplification, and Appleton's about imposing order on natural and man-made materials. Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through April 27.

MERRILL WAGNER, STEPHEN PAUL DAY, and SIBYLLE PERETTI

Reviewed this issue. New paintings on slate by Wagner; Peretti and Day are showing a series of works that investigate desire and social commentary. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, 2nd floor, 587-6501. Through April 28.

* DARREN WATERSTON

I've been slow to warm to Waterston's paintings of flowers drifting through sublime spaces; but the more I look at them, the more I like them. They have a brave vastness about them, and tilt successfully toward something (dare I say) spiritual, if only because they don't try to, or claim to. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through June 1.

EVENTS

LATE EVENING WITH REM KOOLHAAS

What's new with the brainy Dutch architect. Thurs April 11, 8 pm, at UW's Kane Hall, room 130, 543-2985.