Want more? Here’s everything we recommend this month: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Performance, Film, Food, and This & That.
Lotus L. Kang: I hear the hollow boom of time
Through Sept 27
Deep within the Frye, there’s a curious contraption: a delicate, industrial light- and color-casting machine made of yards and yards of 35-mm film spooled around a motorized, powder-coated steel-and-aluminum frame that slowly turns, scattering the soft glow of stage lights through amber film. All of Kang’s work is rooted in photography; it feels birthed in a Wonderland-like darkroom where everything is wondrously oversized and photographic processes have been deconstructed and turned into something totally new. Even her “paintings” are made using darkroom chemicals instead of paint. The pièce de résistance is Molt, an installation made of massive reams of unfixed, photosensitive film draped like scrolls over steel rods and suspended with aircraft cables. They’re beautiful as objects, but even more sublime as archives of material memory, continually color-shifting and image-changing over time—sometimes for years—responding to their environment. (Frye Art Museum) AMANDA MANITACH
Barry Johnson: silence is golden
July 7–Aug 22
Over the past decade, Barry Johnson’s practice has expanded at a prolific pace, from modest-scale portraits and paintings of domestic interiors to massive public works, like his large-scale aluminum relief sculpture, horizons, installed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport earlier this year. The thread running through it all is a devouring, enveloping sense of pathos. In recent years, the series of portraits of his deceased brother proved Johnson’s ability to turn personal tragedy into a locus of universal feeling, translating the unbearable weight of longing and love into imagery that not only contains, but transforms loss into something both bearable and beautiful. In his latest body of work, silence is golden, Johnson revisits motifs and memories from his Midwest upbringing, channeling the sacred solace of the plains. In times of fractured attention, Johnson extends a plea to make time for reflection—and he offers the space to do it. (Winston Wächter, 3–5 pm, all ages) AMANDA MANITACH
Assembly Art Fair and Seattle Art Fair
July 22–26 and July 23–26
It’s art fair season! Time to lace up your walking shoes and get ready for a lot of running around, especially since Seattle Art Fair—now in its 10th year—is joined by Assembly, a new invitational contemporary art fair spearheaded by Greg Kucera Gallery and Traver Gallery. Bucking the typical convention-center maze of booths, Assembly brings together 16 galleries from Seattle, Portland, Dallas, and Los Angeles, inviting them to fill the expansive rooms of West Canal Yards. Meanwhile, SAF is turning its focus on the Pacific Northwest’s growing textile and fiber scene, a material-driven practice increasingly taking root and gaining visibility. (Look out, glass!) Highlights include a suspended “hand-unwoven” installation by Ko Kirk Yamahira (presented by studio e) and a tapestry series by Lucy + Jorge Orta exploring “speculative cosmologies and planetary change.” The two fairs offer distinctly different energies, but for anyone interested in contemporary art, both are required viewing. (West Canal Yards and Lumen Field Event Center) AMANDA MANITACH
Ben Zamora: In a dream you SAW a way to survive
July 23–26
Ben Zamora is a master of large-scale light sculptures, weaving labyrinthine, geometric structures in the air with fluorescent tubes, LEDs, and bulbs. His work has been displayed globally (he’s designed for the Berlin Philharmonic and Kronos Quartet) and also close to home—you may have climbed around or through The Gathering, his large rainbow-ish sculpture at 14th Avenue and Madison on Capitol Hill (one of his non-illuminated pieces). This month, Zamora is reconstructing his childhood home entirely from linear tubes of lights. He’s stitching it together from memory—the halls, rooms, doors. Visitors will be able to walk through, navigating architecture made of light. I suspect this will be one of the best off-site experiences during art fair week. (The Jack) AMANDA MANITACH
More
Henry Gallery: Day-to-Day: Rhythm, Routine, Resistance July 5–Jan 3, 2027 Henry Art Gallery
Toys Not Included Volume 4 July 9–31, with artists opening July 9, Slip Gallery
Luminous Glow: Kelsey Fernkopf and Steve Gilbert July 11–March 2027, Whatcom Museum
Alki Art Fair July 17–19, Alki Beach
Ongoing
Nebula Seattle Presents Cabinet of Dreams: The Gallery Exhibition Through July 6, Buttnick Building
Carry On: A Portfolio of Small Works Through July 11, J. Rinehart Gallery
TADAIMA: I’m Home Through July 12, Museum of History & Industry
Koplin Del Rio Presents Eirik Johnson: Pine Through July 25, Foster/White Gallery
Perri Lynch Howard: Mapping the Invisible Through July 25, ArtX Contemporary
Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest Through Aug 2, Seattle Art Museum
Black. Power. Black Panthers. Through Aug 3, Arte Noir
Woven in Wool: Resilience in Coast Salish Weaving Through Aug 30, Burke Museum
Chloë Bass: Soft Services Through Aug 2026, Volunteer Park
Moomins’ Sea Adventures & Tove and the Sea Through Sept 6, National Nordic Museum
Lost & Found: Searching for Home Through Sept 14, Wing Luke Museum
Tom Lloyd Through Sept 20, Frye Art Museum
Let There Be Light Through Sept 30, Cannonball Arts
Samantha Yun Wall: What We Leave Behind Through Oct 4, Seattle Art Museum
Jonathan Lasker: Drawings and Studies Through Oct 11, Frye Art Museum,
Artists’ Choice with Guest Curators Through Oct 11, Frye Art Museum
Boren Banner Series: Chloe King Through Oct 11, Frye Art Museum
Eric-Paul Riege: ojo|-|ól Through Oct 25, Henry Art Museum
Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan Through Jan 17, 2027, Seattle Art Museum
A Room for Animal Intelligence Through Jan 2027, Seattle Art Museum
Ten Thousand Things Through May 2, 2027, Wing Luke Museum
Pioneer Square Art Walk Every first Thursday
Capitol Hill Art Walk Every second Thursday
Georgetown Art Attack! Every second Saturday
Chris Kallmyer: Song Cycle Ongoing, Seattle Art Museum
Gossip: Between Us Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum
Legacy: Highlights from the Permanent Collection Ongoing, Tacoma Art Museum
Qiu Zhijie: Map of the History of Science and Technology Ongoing, Olympic Sculpture Park
Ash-Glazed Ceramics from Korea and Japan Ongoing, Seattle Art Museum
Rebels + Icons: The Photography of Janette Beckman Ongoing, MoPOP
Find all these listings and more on our sister site, EverOut Seattle! EverOut.com/Seattle