VISUAL ART

emily@thestranger.com


BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM

510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 425-519-0770.


ALFREDO ARREGUĂŤN

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.


NORDIC HERITAGE MUSEUM

3014 NW 67th St, 789-5707


NORN: IN AND OUT OF TIME

Ancient Scandinavian myth seen through the long lens of three young artists: Astrid Larsen (with fire), Steffan Herrick (with prints and sculpture), and Erik Reime (with tattoos). Through July 14.


SEATTLE ART MUSEUM

100 University St, 654-3100.


GLORIA BORNSTEIN: STILL LIFE

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


WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE

407 Dexter Ave N, 264-8200


* SELF-PORTRAITS

Local collectors Bill and Ruth True have a generous definition of a self-portrait; in a way, it's anything looked at by the artist. There's some great and seminal work here that you won't find at any local institution--Nicholas Nixon's The Brown Sisters series, a Jim Campbell LED sculpture, a Gary Hill installation with a strobe light and a lot of grunting. We love the Trues. Open-ended run.


OPENING EXHIBITIONS


ELEMENTS

Design-influenced art by Shawn Wolfe, Evan Sult, Peter Lucas, and Daniel Kohn. Opening reception Tues June 4, 7-9 pm. Little Theatre Gallery, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through July 10.


GROUP EXHIBITION OF GALLERY ARTISTS

All kinds! Gallery 110, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through June 1.


SOFTCORE

See Stranger Suggests. Area 51, 401 E Pine St, 568-4782. Through July 31.


CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS


BETSY BEST-SPADARO

Linocuts on Fun and Games. Phinney Center Gallery, 6532 Phinney Ave N, 783-2244. Through May 31.


BEYOND BOUNDARIES

Skip the first two artists; go straight to Masami Teraoka. Solomon Fine Art, 1215 First Ave, 297-1400. Through May 31.


JOHN BISBEE

Three Tons refers quite literally to the amount of material shaped by the artist into large, prickly sculptural landscapes. In this case, it's three tons of nails. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through Aug 16.


EDUARDO CALDER"N, JOHNINE MAJCHROWICZ

New silver gelatin prints from CalderĂłn, and botanical paintings from Majchrowicz. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through June 1.


* DRAW

It sounds like a command, doesn't it? With work by Mark Ryden, Charles Burns, Blair Wilson, and others. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through June 7.


* JEANNE DUNNING

With photographs of people magnifying their own bellybuttons, Dunning asks questions metaphysical ("What is this connection, now severed?"), absurd ("What do I see when I gaze into my navel?"), and practical ("What the hell is this thing?"). James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through June 6.


GARY FAGIN

New still lifes--still, indeed, and atmospheric. Woodside/Braseth, 1533 Ninth Ave, 622-7243. Through June 4.


* JOHN GRADE

What makes Grade so good is that he's as interested in decay and its possibilities as he is in immortality, which gives his work human scale and duration, as well as the chill of death. Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave S, 624-7684. Through June 1.


* WENDY HANSON, YUN-FEI JI

In his first solo exhibition, New York artist Yun-Fei Ji (whose work is in this year's Whitney Biennial) shows two series of ink-on-rice-paper drawings. Hanson quite literally reflects on vanity with life-sized Mylar silhouettes. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through June 1.


CHRISTOPHER HARRIS, JOHN LYSAK

Harris' light-mediated abstract works are prints taken from a pinhole camera. With figurative monotypes and lithographs from Lysak. Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Place, 443-3315. Through June 1.


* BLAKE HAYGOOD

At the risk of repeating myself: Haygood's prints of fantastic, useless machines are superb. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through June 12.


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.


CASEY KEELER

New paintings, abstract and colorful. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson St, 583-0497. Through June 5.


ROB LARSON, TOOTS ZYNSKY

In Ephemera, Larson's first solo show, the artist modifies society's detritus into telling artifacts. With new glasswork from Zynsky. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through June 1.


MARC LAWRENCE, KEITH TABELLIONE

Two artists look at the signs, symbols, and clutter that surround us. Li'l Red Shack Gallery, 1028 First Ave S, 621-7807. Through June 30.


MINORU OHIRA

Sculptures made of wood saved from demolished East L.A. homes in Nature's Hand. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through June 1.


* JASON MOUER

Here's someone who's found something to do with all those old telephone books. Bubba-Mavis Gallery, 1158 Eastlake Ave E, 405-3223.


OUT OF THE FRAME

Non-traditional photography, mixing suggestively with other media. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, Suite 200, 587-4033. Through June 15.


PARS and AHF

AHF is Amir Fallah, who created that lovely vomitous installation at the Independent Media Center a few months ago. His latest work is a collaboration with Pars, called .925. Nation Gallery, 1921 Fifth Ave, 374-9492. Through June 9.


* AMY REUFFERT

Glass work based on Reuffert's obsession with some patterned bedsheets from the 1970s. She never simply makes objects; she looks backward at nostalgia and the retro fetishes. Vetri, 1404 First Ave, 667-9608. Through June 16.


AIRYKA ROCKEFELLER

Rockefeller appears to have never met a medium she didn't like: work in photography, sewing, found items. Little Theatre Gallery, 608 19th Ave E, 675-2055. Through June 1.


* MICHAEL SCHULTHEIS

Math and randomness and sneaky patterns. Still Life in Fremont Coffeehouse, 709 N 35th St, 547-9850. Through June 16.


SCOTT SZLOCH

He's a blacksmith. FeCuSi Gallery, 2036 NW Market St, 706-4011. Through June 4.


LINO TAGLIAPIETRA

A lot of glass artists try to imitate Tagliapietra's sexy, singing, curvaceous work. Few succeed. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, #200, 587-6501. Through June 30.


WANTBUYHAVE

The absurdity of the marketed world we live in; shades of Beatkit. Independent Media Center Gallery, 1415 Third Ave, 262-0721. Through June 1.


* DARREN WATERSTON

Waterston's paintings 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.


MAUREEN WHITING and ROBERT CAMPBELL

Choreographer Whiting and video artist Campbell collaborate on an installation called and there was concrete skin for your face. With a performance by the Maureen Whiting Company Fri May 31 at 8 pm. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919. Through May 31.


BRIDGET YOUNG

A window installation about regenerative female energy. Vitaminarific! Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 654-3240. Through July 29.


EVENTS


* LAWRENCE R. RINDER

Here's the guy who, as the chief curator of this year's Whitney Biennial, takes all the blame (and some of the credit). But Larry's quite in touch with the Seattle art scene for a New Yorker, and a frighteningly smart guy to boot. Thurs May 30 at 7 pm. Kane Hall, UW campus, room 120; for information call 543-0970. Free!


* 2002 NEDDY ARTIST FELLOWSHIP NOMINEES

A reception honoring (in painting) Donnabelle Casis, John Feodorov, Philip Govedare, and Julia Ricketts, and (in printmaking) Dionne Haroutunian, Eva Isaksen, Deborah Mersky, and Elizabeth Sandvig. The Behnkes do a lot for art in this town; show up and clap a little. Wed June 5 at 5:30 pm. Henry Art Gallery, 15th Ave NE (at NE 41st); for more information call 623-5449.