1420 11th Ave, 728-1980.
2003 NORTHWEST ANNUAL
Final week. It's worth remembering that this year's juror--Esther Luttikhuizen--represented two out of the three Seattle artists in Baja to Vancouver in her own gallery, which closed for lack of sales. What I'm trying to say is that this lady has some taste. Through Nov 19.
CONSOLIDATED WORKS
500 Boren Ave N, 381-3218.
* JASON PUCCINELLI
These empty stage sets were the basis for a debauched photo-shoot performance. "It is one thing to create a spectacle, and entirely another to make us see how we behave in one. What does it mean to long for things to get out of hand--for the insults, the mob mentality, the groveling in the blood? How absurd was this absurdity, that some people present mistook it for the real thing? And it is all the more complicated because Dazzle Camouflage tangled critique, spoof, and earnestness so inexorably that one's exquisitely calibrated sense of irony might not know what to make of it. " (Emily Hall) Through Nov 23.
EXPERIENCE MUSIC PROJECT (EMP)
325 Fifth Ave, 262-3221.
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: AMERICAN MUSIC
Every few years, they drag out Annie Leibovitz, to prove something about image-making and authenticity and celebrity, and call it "groundbreaking." Well. Here are new photographs of musicians. Through Jan 19.
HENRY ART GALLERY
15th Ave NE and NE 41st St, 543-2280.
* LEE BUL: LIVE FOREVER
All the glorious, sincere, heart-singing fun of karaoke, but in a series of self-contained pods (each with music related to a different theme), so that no one can hear you. Through Jan 11.
* HOVER: POLLY APFELBAUM AND PAE WHITE
"Pae White's mobile, called Grotto, is made of hundreds, maybe thousands, of bright silkscreened and irregular dots, collaged so that they resemble the eyes on peafowl feathers, and then strung regularly along fragile cords and hung together in a slight boomerang shape. The strings are so thin that your very presence sets them into motion that reaches all the way into the center of the loose object--a constant breathy floating, turning, slight action that is mesmerizing and lovely. Grotto is almost not an object, almost more of an action, a truly curious and beautiful thing. " (Emily Hall) Through Dec 28.
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
100 University St, 654-3100.
* BAJA TO VANCOUVER: THE WEST COAST AND CONTEMPORARY ART
"The feeling you get from B2V is that of a defining claim that does not exclude--West Coast artists looking at West Coast issues and West Coast themes, but not limited by them. It's a complex show, full of both icons and iconoclasm, and the slightly coy feeling that the curatoriat has asked a question and then denied asking it. But art, thank goodness, thrives on paradox, and much (but not all) of B2V's art rises to the occasion. " (Emily Hall) Through Jan 4.
OPENINGS
MERIMA ADEE
New work, in Painting for the Blind. Opening reception Sat Nov 15, 6-9 pm. Duque Duque, 5348 Ballard Ave NW, 706-7177. Through Dec 31.
ANASTASIA YĂśMEKO HILL
It is utterly, utterly wrong to be interested in this show because the artist is Gary Hill's teenage daughter. Isn't it? Isn't it? Hill is showing videos about human nature. Opening reception Thurs Nov 13, 7-9 pm. Artworks, 1914 Fourth Ave, 292-4142 ext 104. Through Dec 8.
THAD DONAT
New work. Opening reception Fri Nov 14, 6-9 pm. Gulassa & Co, 10 Dravus St, 283-1810. Through Dec 8.
ROB JOHNSON
For Bulletproof, Johnson transformed decommissioned weapons into sculpture. Opening reception Thurs Nov 13, 8 pm. Joint Gallery, Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave, 568-0728. Through Jan 2.
AL LOVING, LILLIAN PITT, LONG GAO, HOLIDAY ART MART
In the main gallery, new prints and paintings and jewelry and carvings; in the Art Mart there's more affordable work for Christmas. Opening reception Fri Nov 14, 5:30-8:30 pm. Jeffrey Moose Gallery Art Mart/Jeffrey Moose Gallery, 1333 Fifth Ave, 467-6951. Through Jan 30.
GRAND OPENING: SEATTLE ART MUSEUM'S RENTAL/SALES GALLERY
A brand-new architect-designed space, inaugurated by an exhibition of works on paper, and an exhibition of paintings. Gala grand-opening party Thurs Nov 13, 3-7 pm. Rental/Sales Gallery, 1220 Third Ave, 343-1101. Through Dec 13.
SPINNING AROUND IN CIRCLES
Bicycle culture, as seen through the eyes of messengers, leisure riders, commuters, and everyone else. Opening reception Thurs Nov 13: bikes on display from 5:30-11 pm, group bike ride (which will be filmed by Portland's Tiny Picture Club) at 6 pm. The Vera Project, 1916 Fourth Ave, 956-8372. Through Dec 31.
CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS
JOHN CASADO, FRANK DITURI, KARIN ROSENTHAL, TSENO
Final week. Bodies and blurriness and that whole waking-dream-erotic thing we've seen before. Benham Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through Nov 15.
LINDA DAVIDSON
In Blink of an Eye, Davidson assembles over 500 paintings of the sky, no two of them alike. They might be fragments of the same moment, or a series of moments, or both. Northwest Work Lofts, 3134 Elliott Ave, Suite 227, 604-0685. Through Nov 22.
* TONY de los REYES, KEN FANDELL
Two artists, united by blue: Fandell's montaged sky photographs (which are grand and godlike and weird) and de los Reyes' Delft-y details from romantic, pastoral works. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through Nov 29.
CAIO FONSECA
Paintings of a sort of revealed abstraction--as though glimpsed through holes in the wall. Winston W...chter Fine Art, 403 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855. Through Jan 8.
HEAVEN AND HELL
Kipling West, herself something of a mistress of the macabre, here gathers together work on the afterlifical possibilities. With work by Blair Wilson, Ellen Forney, Elizabeth Jameson, Shawn Ferris, Steve Veach, Joe Newton, and others. Kuhlman Clothing, 2419 First Ave, 441-1999. Through Jan 11.
JON LANGFORD, SEONNA HONG
Langford (best known as one of the Mekons) takes as a starting point for his paintings a kind of rootsy Americana, something he translates--as a foreigner--through observation rather than inheritance. With Hong's princessy girls. Roq la Rue, 2316 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through Nov 28.
* ROY McMAKIN
Final week. "Here is a tiny exhibition that shows you the enormous potential for significance embedded in McMakin's work. This show, which features only three sculptural pieces, is as elegant as a sentence with an exclamation point at the end. " (Emily Hall) James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Nov 15.
MEMORIAL PORTFOLIO
Prints, over 400 of them created by different artists, in memory of people who died in the 9/11 attacks. Center House, Seattle Center, 784-0345. Through Nov 21.
JEFF MIHALYO
Final week. Eerily precise work, both new and old. Gallery 63 Eleven, 6311 24th Ave NW, 478-2238. Through Nov 16.
MICHAEL OLERUTH
Little lost milk-carton children, and a dog. Very sad and pretty. Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, 233-9873. Through Nov 30.
* JOHN POWERS
Effort and grandiosity in intricate structures built block by block of tiny blocks. Solomon Fine Art, 1215 First Ave, 297-1400. Through Nov 28.
* KATY STONE
In Degrees of Appearance, Stone creates a shifting, ephemeral-seeming space with layers of painted acetate. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 684-7312. Through Jan 9.
* JOHN TAYLOR
Taylor turns all kinds of wreckage--driftwood, rusted metal, old stamps--into models of historical ships that have a commanding presence. It's as if the previous life of all that junk was only a prelude to art. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through Nov 29.
WELL HEELED
Final week. Art about shoes. Kirkland Arts Center, 620 Market St, Kirkland, 425-822-7161. Through Nov 14.
EVENTS
SPACE NOVEMBER RUMMAGE SALE
See Stranger Suggests. Preview party Fri Nov 14, 7-11 pm. $7-$10. Rummage sale Sat-Sun Nov 15-16, 11 am-4 pm, free. Sand Point Magnuson Park, Building 30.
