BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM
510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, 425-454-3322
*LUMINOUS: LIGHT AS MATERIAL, MEDIUM, AND METAPHOR
Light as architectural element is one of Steven Holl's most famous tropes, and this exhibition was assembled to examine it further. It happily includes work by some of the artists you would expect to be represented: Dan Flavin, Joseph Kosuth, Tokihiro Sato, and Iole Allesandrini. Through June 17.
FRYE ART MUSEUM
704 Terry Ave, 622-9250
ALLAN ROHAN CRITE
This retrospective includes paintings, watercolors, and drawings by Crite, an African American artist largely ignored by the world until now. Crite--still alive and kicking at 90--focused on his neighborhood in Boston, creating a body of work that dignified ordinary life as he saw it. Through May 6.
HENRY ART GALLERY
15th Ave NE at NE 41st St, 543-2280
*WOLFGANG LAIB: A RETROSPECTIVE
Laib's work resides in the delicate realm of contemplation and nature: pollen sifted into piles and large color field-like squares, "milkstones," forms built of beeswax. This is the first American survey of Laib's work--a touring show that has been shown at the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C. and will travel to San Diego, Houston, and Munich. Through May 6.
PERFORMING PHOTOGRAPHY
Selections from the Joseph and Elaine Monson Photography Collection, chosen by the collection's curator, Michael van Horn. The idea is to demonstrate the medium's flexibility--from documentary to staged, entirely fictitious scenarios--but the upshot is just really good work by some of the best artists around. Through June 3.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF JOHN GUTMANN: CULTURE SHOCK
Images from the '30s through the '50s selected by the photographer before his death in 1998 comprise this exhibition of American street life. Through May 27.
PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER
200 Second Ave N, 443-2001
*MATHEMATICA: A WORLD OF NUMBERS... AND BEYOND
The original version of this exhibit, an exploration of mathematics, created by the furniture designers Charles and Ray Eames, was one of the Pacific Science Center's first shows. Through April 29.
SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
100 University St, 654-3100
CREATING PERFECTION: SHAKER OBJECTS AND THEIR AFFINITIES
An exhibition examining the Shaker culture through its furniture, textiles, and tools, as well as photographs, prints, and drawings. A selection of non-Shaker objects shows the influences absorbed, and rejected, by this simplicity-embracing group; an adjacent display of modern works traces a similarly strict formalism that artists use to create structure in the chaotic modern world. Through April 29.
*LANGUAGE LET LOOSE
A tiny little exhibition on the incorporation of text into the visual world. The show's centerpiece is Gary Hill's video installation House of Cards; there's also work by Walker Evans, Ed Ruscha, Alice Wheeler, and a set of Robert Heinecken's Recto/Verso pieces, complete with intelligent but unrelated commentary. Through April 29.
SEWN
Sculpture by six local artists (Rachel Brumer, David Chatt, Alison Gates, Wendy Hanson, Sara Lanzillotta, and Keith Yurdana) who work with textiles and sewing. Through July 22.
SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM
1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park, 654-3100
*THE EMBODIED IMAGE: CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY FROM THE JOHN B. ELLIOTT COLLECTION
There really isn't any equivalent of calligraphy in American culture--a merging of art and poetry that is highly revered in Chinese culture. Elliott's collection, one of the best outside Asia, includes scrolls, album leaves, and other works, seventy of which are on view in this exhibition. Gorgeous! Through May 27.
WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE
407 Dexter Ave N, 264-8200
*THE WRIGHT COLLECTION
Virginia and Bagley Wright have devoted one gallery entirely to their great collection of '60s and '70s color-field paintings, and introduced a large David Salle oil and the John Baldessari piece Two Onlookers and Tragedy to the mix. Other highlights include a Robert Longo, Eric Fischl, a huge Warhol Rorschach, and Jules Olitski's Thigh Smoke. Open-ended run.
OPENING EXHIBITIONS
*FAUX NATURALE
The death knell of development has struck again, and Fuzzy Engine has to be out of their transformed office building by the end of the month. So don't miss this show, their last, full of artistic musing on what is real and what is fake and how (or whether) we know which is which. The opening night to-do will as usual feature work by other artists throughout the building, including a video installation by Jennifer West. Opening reception Sat April 14, 6-11 pm. Fuzzy Engine, 2801 NW Market St, 789-6951. Through April 21.
TERRY JOHNSON
These figurative paintings have an eerie clinical feel to them, so much so that they swerve toward the surreal. But very, very precise. It might just start you reconsidering the relationship between likeness and reality. Opening reception Sat April 14, 7-10 pm. Black Lab Gallery, 5208 Ballard Ave NW, 781-2392. Through May 10.
CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS
DEBORAH BARR
Panels from Barr's comix series The Desert Peach, with World War II, Russians, and reindeer. Glo's Diner, 1621 E Olive Way, 529-2735. Through May 5.
DEBRA BAXTER
Energetic abstractions using layers of paint, ripped canvas, scraping, cutting, and other active effects. Art Reach Gallery, 1405 Boylston Ave, 329-2722. Through April 30.
DAVID BRODY
New and selected paintings. Brody's organic shapes look like Crumb on some kind of abstracting acid. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through April 28.
*FANDRA CHANG
Taking the Dada idea of ready-mades to the next odd level, Los Angeles-based Chang uses stock photography, which she manipulates to explore issues of repetition and space. A leap from her previous work--abstract painting--but not entirely illogical. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through April 28.
CONTEMPORARY CZECH PHOTOGRAPHY
An exhibition curated by Eva Králová of the Prague House of Photography. Benham Photography, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through April 28.
DESTRUCTION/CONSTRUCTION
Many artists prowling around Pioneer Square after the earthquake couldn't help but focus on the role destruction plays in art. Now there's an exhibition to flesh out these ideas, in performance and installation. Over the course of the show's five-week run, a scale model of First Avenue will be built in the gallery out of tiny little bricks. Li'l Red Shack Gallery, 1028 First Ave S. Through May 12.
BEN DRURY
Album sleeves and limited-edition toys. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through June 2.
CAIO FONSECA
New paintings by the Italian artist in his first Northwest show. Winston Wächter, 403 Dexter Ave, 652-5855. Through April 27.
CARLA FRAGA
Paired landscape photographs; the places they show might be right next to each other or thousands of miles apart. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, Room 200, 296-7580. Through April 27.
FUNCTIONAL ART CONTEST
The 12th annual show of art that works. Prizes! Art/Not Terminal Gallery, 2045 Westlake Ave, 233-0680. Through May 3.
GREGORY GRENON
Bright eerie works, painted on glass, in reverse. William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St, Second Floor, 587-6501. Through April 29.
*JON HADDOCK
Life as video game. Haddock takes real-life events (the government grabbing of Elian Gonzales, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.) and imagines them as settings for computer games. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through May 5.
HEARD SAID
Artist Stuart Keeler has interviewed and recorded the stories and sounds of immigrants (most of them living in Seattle) and turned them into a sound and sculpture installation. Jack Straw New Media Gallery, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919. Through May 31.
ERIC HILDEBRANDT
Colorful drawings, paintings, and installation. Velocity Art and Design, 2206 Queen Anne Ave N, #201, 781-9494. Through May 12.
BILL JACOBSON, DOUG KEYES
Jacobson--like Uta Barth, like our own John Jenkins III--uses the out-of-focus photograph to redefine seeing. From Keyes, more of his very cool book pictures--every page photographed and superimposed into one very condensed, but somehow ethereal image. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson, Suite 200, 587-4033. Through May 26.
STEVE JENSEN
Wall of Masks is a work Jensen has created over the past year with kids from the Maple Lane High School, Diversity Dance Workshop, and Lambert House. The emphasis is on communication through art, and the masks, made with found objects as well as traditional materials, offer these kids ways of expression outside therapy-speak. SAM Rental Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 748-9482. Through May 13.
JESUS SAYS BUY MORE FOLK ART
It's not just an excellent exhibition title; it's jazzy folk art from New Orleans. The artists are Sainte-James Boudrot, Charles Gillam, Reginald Mitchell, and "Big" Al Taplet. Garde Rail Gallery, 4750 35th Ave S, 760-3720. Through May 26.
ISABEL KAHN
Works that mix painting, collage, and printing, all in the service of organic abstraction. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through April 29.
DAVID KONIGSBERG, NAN JOHNSON
Konigsberg paints surreal ways of flying through the air; in the back gallery are more of Johnson's chairs. Ballard/Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through May 2.
SHERRY MARKOVITZ
These works on paper are filled with images of dolls, dummies, masks, and stuffed animals. The doll images use a similar vernacular as Kim Dingle's furious baby girls, but here are expanded to include all kinds of stand-ins for real life. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through April 28.
RON McCOMB
Paintings and drawings from the artist whose very varied career includes all those photographs for the rolfing book--you know. This show has the excellent title of The blind homunculus gravitates toward form. Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 275-3055. Through May 20.
*SARAH MORRIS
The title of the show is Collected Time, which refers to finding time to make art, and to make art into life. Consequently, Morris' materials are humble life-detritus: envelopes, twist-ties, and bus transfers all transformed through sewing and contrast. Smart, smart stuff. Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557. Through April 29.
NATURAL CONFORMITY
This collaborative installation--the work of Kelly Wilbur, Momcilo Bozic, and Nguyen Anna Ford--features stacks of old televisions showing multiple points of view, part pre-recorded, part passers-by. The idea is how imperfectly video records experience, how perfectly it transforms it. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-6552. Through May 20.
NORTHWEST WOOD
More work in wood, from 16 artists including Amy Died, Joe Max Emminger, and Dan Webb. The Gallery at Madison Audio, 909 Western Ave, 292-9262. Through May 28.
GARY OLIVEIRA
Odd close-ups and awkward cropping creates a pleasingly disjointed sense of story in Oliveira's photographs. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through April 29.
*OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES
Photography by Tina Barney, Anthony Hernandez, Todd Hido, Tracey Moffatt, and Harrell Fletcher with Jon Rubin. See Stranger Suggests. Eyre/Moore Gallery, 913 Western Ave, 624-5596. Through April 28.
*CHARLES ROSENBERG
Works of paper, rather than on paper--in this case silky glassine sewed to handmade black paper. Rosenberg's art investigates ideas of pattern, shape, and sign. Nation, 1921 Fifth Ave, 374-9492. Through April 22.
ALAN RUSHING
New painting in a new venue! Secluded Alley Works, 113 12th Ave, 839-0880. Through April 27.
EPHRAIM RUSSELL
Curious objects that seem to have a use--the name of the show is User Friendly--but are as inscrutable as they are attractive. Phinney Center Gallery, 6532 Phinney Ave N, 783-2244. Through April 27.
ANNE SIEMS, INEZ STORER
Humans in nature (Siems) and at home (Storer). Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 233-0816. Through April 28.
SIX REALLY GREAT ROUND BEAKERS
Collaborative sculpture and architecture by Tyler Cufley, Mark Johnson, Paul Davies, Sean Miller, Jake Woland, and Craig Miller. SOIL Artist Cooperative, 1412 12th Ave, 264-8061. Through April 29.
* S.M.S. PROJECT, LOUIS MUELLER
It stands for "shit must stop," and is a collection begun in 1968 by the painter William Copley, who invited artists to submit work to be sold to subscribers in portfolios, with all the commercial work (the replicating, the selling) done by the artists. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through April 14.
WHAT DO YOU SEE?
A collaboration of NuTribes Art Collective and 411, this performance/installation explores race, identity, and perception. Independent Media Center, 1415 Third Ave, 262-0721. Through April 30.
*BLAIR WILSON, ANTHONY AUSGANG
Wilson's paintings and illustrations are absolutely eye-popping; he creates them out of thousands and thousands of hand-rendered benday dots. Ausgang's bright cartoon-like paintings are equally trippy. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-9877. Through May 5.
SCOTT WILSON
Disturbing medical images are Wilson's visuals of choice; this series looks closely, oh so closely, at fluid-preserved specimens. Mary Vitold Gallery, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through April 24.
