I’ve been out looking at art all day and came back to my computer to find this on Facebook:

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The photograph is so beautiful, I thought it couldn’t be real. But it is.

It’s not an artwork—it’s an artwork that went down in flames this morning after what authorities are calling an “accidental transient fire,” says Scott Lawrimore.

The fire—probably started when someone broke into the back sculpture yard of Lawrimore Project on Airport Way and was smoking—destroyed the SuttonBeresCuller artwork There Goes the Neighborhood, a 2005 portable “living room” in a trailer that they’ve trekked into suburban neighborhoods all around King County.

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No other art was damaged. The firefighters rescued some artwork that would have been in the line of fire of their hoses, such as an Isaac Layman photograph, but contained the water well enough that the basement-full of crates of art from the last show, phot(o)bjects, was saved, Lawrimore said. “They could have easily flooded the basement, but they didn’t,” he said.

The damage to the building is minimal, including charring and a few windows blown out. He estimated it at around $5,000.

This happened on the eve of Spite House, Lawrimore Project’s next show, which opens tomorrow night. “It’s funny in the context of this show, which is full of so many fuck-you gestures,” Lawrimore said. “I wish I could say it was an artwork, but it very much is not.”

To make “lemonade from lemons,” the gallery will set up a bar in the back for tomorrow night’s opening—and serve flaming cocktails.

Here is a link to more images of the destroyed There Goes the Neighborhood, which was for sale for $8,500. Awful.

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Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...

13 replies on “Fire at Lawrimore Project Burns Down SBC Trailer”

  1. The first photo looks an HDR — multiple exposures combined to make a surreal image. It may be beautiful, but it isn’t completely real.

  2. So, the twee little “living room” that was trekked around to suburban neighborhoods has been burnt down by someone who has no living room, and no neighborhood at all, let alone suburban……

    Ironic.

  4. My guess is falling prices for real estate in Puget Sound forced the artist to “torch” his house for the insurance.

  5. You should see the scene in person. It doesn’t quite look real that way, either. I walked up to it this afternoon, in shock, my head saying “fake. real. fake. real.” the whole way. That uncanniness aside, It’s a terrible thing to have happen, and I’m glad it wasn’t any worse.

  6. this is something of a tangent, but I was pleased to read the bit about the firemen trying to preserve as much of the art as possible. They could have understandably just focused on putting out the fire, regardless of the damage. Right on!

  7. HYPOTHESIS:

    DOUBLE AGENT CREMASTER SIX (DEEP COVER 3+ YEARS) BEGAN HIS CAMPAIGN OF SABOTAGE AND TRAGEDY.

    I QUOTE FROM AN ANONYMOUS ONLOOKER THE NIGHT PRIOR: “WHOA, THAT CAT LOVES TO PARTY.”

    INDEED HE DOEZ. WIT FLAME AND FUR. LAWRIMORE-SAN WAS REPORTED AS NOTING “HE WUZ PRETTY COOL WHEN WE GOT HERE [TO FIND THE GALLERY FUCKIN’ AFLAME]”

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