MUSEUMS AND ART CENTERS

CENTER ON CONTEMPORARY ART

65 Cedar St, 728-1980.

NORTHWEST ANNUAL 2000

This year's juror, New York artist Mike Bidlo, produced a healthy and not altogether unsurprising list of winners for CoCA's yearly who's who. The show is heavy on photography and work that leans toward the conceptual, and painting is sort of underrepresented-although there is the marvelous, creepy, white-trash, Dejeuner-sur-L'Herbe-type painting from Marion Peck. But however you classify the work, there's a lot to like, such as Judy Allen's Dialogue: a work as mysterious as a question posed by a surrealist. There's also a lot of intriguing religious imagery-Ryan Davidson's mandala-like Mousetrap, and Rod Appleton's rust-and-salt Maltese cross in Insurrection II-which gives CoCA a church-like feel among all the modernity. This year's show also features work from last year's winners, Patrick Holderfield and Yvette Franz. Through March 11.

CONSOLIDATED WORKS

410 Terry Ave N, 860-5245.

*DO NOT TOUCH: AN EXPLORATION OF DELICATE OBSESSIONS

Artists delicately delve into the idea of intransigence with this conceptual exhibition curated by ConWorks' Meg Shiffler. The inquiries range from the thematic, such as Nayland Blake's obsession with rabbits (culminating in a 7-foot neoprene bunny suit), to the ephemeral and abstract questions posed to artists by their materials. In one display, Stephanie Speight creates 64 suspended balls out of cash register tape. Admission is $5. Through Feb 27.

FRYE ART MUSEUM

704 Terry Ave, 622-9250.

RIFT

Ravaged, bleak, and inhospitable landscapes inspired from Norwegian artist Patrick Huse's years in Iceland. Contrast this with the Hudson River school, below; what a difference a century-and-a-half can make. Through March 5.

THIS TRANQUIL LAND: HUDSON RIVER PAINTINGS FROM THE HERSEN COLLECTION

In the mid 1800s, a loosely formed group of artists concentrated their talents on representing the transcendentalist's Nature with a capital "N." It's a kind of romanticism we wouldn't be able to get away with these days; the wink-and-nod would be implicit. Also, those guys could make a canvas glow. Through April 16.

HENRY ART GALLERY

15th Ave NE at NE 41st St, 543-2280.

BANKS IN PINK AND BLUE

Genetics, aesthetics, and ethics: It's a frequent theme in work shown in alternative galleries, and now it's at the Henry, in an installation by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle. Here, mixed media is an understatement; Manglano-Ovalle uses sperm banks, a liquid nitrogen tank, and abstract DNA portrait photographs, as well as the more prosaic video and audio, to ask his unanswerable questions. This is the second of three in the series Future Forward: Projects in New Media. Through April 16.

*INSIDE OUT: NEW CHINESE ART

Showing contemporary artists from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as Chinese artists living abroad, Inside Out is a study in the contrasts of cultural identity-traditional and modern, public and political, national and individual. Many of the Chinese artists featured here have an excellent sense of the absurd; photographs from various performance works include an artist who covered himself with honey and sat in a latrine attracting flies, and two artists firing a gun at their own work at Beijing's National Gallery. The show is so extensive that it takes two galleries to hold it all; the other is at the Tacoma Art Museum. Through March 5.

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM

100 University St, 654-3100.

*HEREABOUTS: NORTHWEST PICTURES

BY SEVEN PHOTOGRAPHERS

A group of our finest local photographers show documentary images of less-familiar parts of Washington: Erika Langley goes backstage and onstage with the strippers of the Lusty Lady, Robert Lyons visits rodeos, and a whole lot more. It's all very, very good. Through March 12.

SEATTLE COLLECTS LICHTENSTEIN

Seattle's most established art institution gives over space to one of the artists who, along with Warhol, most challenged the idea of originality and what is acceptable as real art. Well, now he's dead and an icon, and the works shown here are largely drawn from local collections. Through May 14.

SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM

1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park, 654-3100.

MODERN MASTERS OF KYOTO

Works by late 19th- and early 20th-century artists from Kyoto round out the programming for SAAM's "Year of Japan." This collection is owned by Northwest residents Griffith and Patricia Way, and contains more than 80 examples of Kyoto-school nihonga-modern Japanese paintings executed in traditional media formats. Through Feb 13.

WORLDS OF FANTASY: CHINESE SHADOW PUPPETS

Volunteer Park hosts more than 70 puppets from the 19th century. The majority of the exhibited works come from the collection of Theodore Bodde, who purchased the extraordinary objects while in Beijing in the 1930s. Chinese textiles with related themes will accompany. Through April 2.

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1123 Pacific Ave, 253-272-4258.

INSIDE/OUT

The celebrated touring show of contemporary Chinese art from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Chinese artists living elsewhere in the world is too big for any one venue, which is why TAM shares it with the Henry. Through March 5.

WRIGHT EXHIBITION SPACE

407 Dexter Ave N, 264-8200.

*THE WRIGHT COLLECTION

Virginia and Bagley Wright have rehung their foundation's exhibit space, devoting one gallery entirely to their great collection of '60s and '70s color field paintings, and introducing a large David Salle oil and the John Baldessari piece Two Onlookers and Tragedy to the mix. Other highlights of their collection include a Robert Longo, Eric Fischl, a huge Warhol Rorschach, and Jules Olitski's Thigh Smoke. Open-ended run.

GALLERY OPENINGS

CAROL ADELMAN

Figurative work that is pleasantly painterly. At her best, Adelman seems to sculpt with the paint. Opening reception Sat Feb 5, 6-10 pm. Trapeze Gallery, 1130 34th Ave, 329-3363. Through March 3.

*MARTHA BENZING/NICOLA VRUWINK

Benzing employs unusual materials to explore extraordinary phenomena. Her media of choice is still candy, but unlike the work she showed last year, the candy itself isn't obvious-it has simply become her media. She watercolors with Kool-Aid and allows M&M-pigment to seep into silk. In the project space, Vruwink shows drawings and sculpture that contrast macho sports with a stylized feminine sensibility. As usual her work is witty, with a sharp bite. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 5:30-7:30 pm. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Feb 26.

BILLY CHILDISH

Brit artist Childish is prolific in a number of genres-in painting, in poetry, and in music (he was the front man for the punk bank Thee Headcoats)-and is also known for the grenades he lobs at the established business of each discipline. Childish on current British art: "I've always hated this puffed-up Brit-art media shit." Childish on his own work: "A great vomit of half-formed consciousness." His painting, like his music and his writing, is raw and unpracticed-exactly the kind of so-called "outsider" work that's pressing in on the mainstream. Opening reception Fri Feb 4, 6-10 pm. Roq La Rue Gallery, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through March 4.

SHELLY CORBETT

Women underwater, some clothed, in dreamy, otherworldly photography. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 6-8 pm. Brian Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through March 4.

DAVID DE VILLIER

Here's a show to combine with deep breathing. De Villier focuses on images associated with rest, such as chairs, while taking great care with the grain and texture of their surfaces. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 6-8 pm. Eyre/ Moore Gallery, 913 Western, 624-5596. Through Feb 20.

JOHN DUGDALE/HEAVEN AND EARTH

Dugdale's photographic meditations are taken with an early- 20th-century camera and developed with a 19th-century process. His nudes are immediately recognizable, at once nostalgic and heroic. In the front gallery there's a group show exploring the theme of the artist's world, both natural and created, with work from Sandy Skoglund, John Divola, Jo Ann Verburg, and Richard Misrach. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson St, 587-4033. Through March 18.

RON EHRLICH

Rhode Island painter Ehrlich is a study in the back-and-forth of artist material. He loads his panels with media (oil paint, crayon, shellac, wax) and works the surface until it is rich and textured. But for all this excess, Ehrlich is at heart a minimalist, using plain horizontal forms and a restrained palette. And there's more-for his last step, he takes the point of a nail and scratches simple figurative outlines into the paint. Opening reception Wed Feb 9, 5-7 pm. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through March 4.

*BILL FELLOWS

New paintings from the master of obscure imagery, moody landscape, and sheer gleeful surreality. Fellows calls this show Morality Paintings, but there's always a lot more going on than an ethics lesson. Opening reception Sat Feb 5, 6-9 pm. SOIL Artist Cooperative, 12th and Pike, 447-1711. Through Feb 27.

FOUR

The members of this alternative gallery celebrate moving to their new space located under the viaduct with an exhibition of new works by the gallery's eight artists. (It's their fourth year, hence the title.) Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 6-9 pm. Oculus Gallery, 216 Alaska Way S, 366-2108. Through Feb 26.

*GREEN LADY

Another in a line of smart shows at Houston, one of the few galleries in Seattle to make the connection between art and general visual culture. Green Lady is comprised of designers Todd St. John and Gary Benzel, who began their artistic inquiry by making clothes, and then moved into graphics and installation. Their themes echo a number of millennial anxieties such as isolation, technology, and the appetite of corporations. One of the installations showing this month is a series of outlines that are keyed with letters or numbers as if to reference a photo or some larger piece of information-but there is no other information. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 7-9 pm. Houston, 907 E Pike, 860-7820. Through March 15.

MICHAEL HOWARD

Lonely and Hopper-esque, Howard's paintings focus on two icons of American physical space: the ranch home and the building site. Opening reception Sun Feb 6, 2-4 pm. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through Feb 27.

JUDY PFAFF

Pfaff is an England-born, New York-residing conceptual artist, famous for her 1970s installations. This show features works on paper. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 6-8 pm. Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave S, 624-7684. Through Feb 26.

PUSHPIN OPEN INVITATIONAL

FotoCircle's populist (read: unjuried) Pushpin Show will begin on Thurs Feb 3 at noon, when the gallery opens the doors of its new space. For $10, anyone who likes may tack up a photograph on the gallery walls (and for bargain hunters, two for $15). Opening party Thurs Feb 3, 5-9 pm. FotoCircle Gallery, 216 Alaskan Way S, 624-2645. Through Feb 26.

JENNY SABIN

Vessels and spaces in encaustic and intriguing-looking ceramics. Opening reception Sat Feb 5, 7-10 pm. Madrona Automatic, 1435 34th Ave, 329-7869. Through March 4.

SALLY SCHUH/PEREGRINE HONIG/

ANGELA ANDERSON

An exhibition from the files of a Jewish matchmaker. Schuh has taken the snapshots of, and notes about, the women who availed themselves of the matchmaker's services in the '60s and '70s, and created a group portrait of desire-which is, appropriately, the name of the show. The documents-photographed, arranged, and notated by Schuh-tell a much larger story of longing. Showing with Schuh are two abecedarians: Honig's Alphabets for Good and Bad Girls are printed on doilies and drawn on lunch sacks, adding a few ingredients to the old question of what little girls are made of; Anderson's Belles Lettres: An Alpha-erotic Amusement give saucy new context to the boring old alphabet. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through Feb 26.

YI-CHUL SHIN

Restraint can be a sexual titillation, and Shin's cages are a visual translation of this concept. The cages are made of rebar, and echo the forms of the organic objects inside. Are we being protected from these objects, or they from us? This is the second solo exhibition for this South Korean artist. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 6-8 pm. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through Feb 26.

RUTH MARIE TOMLINSON

An interior created entirely of rubber by an artist who is obsessed with it. This installation, entitled Belly Floor, explores the idea of the interior with a room carpeted in rubber and filled with rubber furniture-an effect both organic and industrial. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 6-8 pm. King County Arts Commission, 506 Second Ave, room 200, 296-7580. Through Feb 25.

VALENTINE/CHRIS THEISS

Valentine is a group show on love and romance which includes work by Merrily Tompkins, Charlie Krafft, and Glen Rudolph. Theiss' drawings are large, raw, and relentless. Opening reception Thurs Feb 3, 6-8 pm. Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through Feb 19.

YARD: LEAD'S SECOND ANNUAL OUTDOOR

SCULPTURE SHOW

New interpretations of the familiar that features, among others, Gary Smoot, Jean Whitesavage, and Bruce Morrow. Opening Thurs Feb 3, 6-9 pm. Lead Gallery and Wine Bar, 1022 First Ave, 623-6240. Through Feb 25.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

LARRY BEMM

Abstract paintings which layer oval forms in light, near-pastel colors. Ballard/Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through Feb 5.

CAROL BOLT

Bolt's site-specific installation is entitled Willing, and in a weird, obsessive way, it's about hope. The work is in the First Avenue window of the Rental/Sales Gallery where it'll sit through mid-February. Inside the gallery is a show by artists who work in encaustic. Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 748-9282.

DAN BUDNIK

Photographs showing the 1963 Selma-to-Montgomery march. Benham Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through Feb 26.

A GIFT OF LIGHT AND TIME

In the tradition (sorta) of the patron's salon, this show celebrates work created by artists who spent residencies at Beverly McDevitt's "Casa dos Artistas," a house in Portugal. McDevitt has supported artists as well-known as Fay Jones and Gene Gentry McMahon, and as talented and underknown as Michael Machnic and Jena Scott. Bank of America Gallery, 701 Fifth Ave, Third Floor, 585-3200. Through Feb 11.

GROUP LANDSCAPE EXHIBITION

This is exactly what it sounds like, showing a wide range of styles and influences. Refreshingly un-millennial. Winston Wächter, 403 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855. Through Feb 12.

BOB HAOZOUS

Installations and portraits by the Native American artist. One installation, Separation, was first shown at the 1999 Venice Biennale. Sacred Circle Gallery of American Indian Art, Discovery Park, 285-4425. Through March 26.

RANDY HAYES

Hayes layers paint over photographic images on canvas, and the result is a cool-mooded mixture of painterly effect and specific image suggesting the conflict (not always unpleasant) between memory and fact. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental S, 223-0816. Through Feb 12.

NATHAN TUCKER

Paintings and digital images ranging from flat patterning to iconic, cartoonish images to faces modeled in deep chiaroscuro. Robbie Mildred Gallery, 307 E Pike St, 903-1246. Through Feb 17.

VESTIGIAL TALES

Painters Damon Maxwell and Warren Dykeman join their demonic forces for this show. Both artists use the fantastic and the grotesque to moody, compelling, sometimes violent effect-nothing sentimental here. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through Feb 11.

EVENTS

ARTIST TRUST ART AUCTION AND PREVIEW

On Sat Feb 5, three teams of local curators will walk you through the art that's up for auction at Artist Trust's yearly fundraiser: Beth Sellars and Jim McDonald at 2 pm; Rhonda Howard and Brian Wallace at 4 pm; and Greg Bell and Kate Duignan at 6 pm. The auction is the next day, Sun Feb 6. For tickets call Artist Trust at 467-8734.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS