VISUAL ART

MUSEUMS AND ART CENTERS

BELLEVUE ART MUSEUM

301 Bellevue Square, 425-454-3322

FIRST DESCENT: ART AND ARTIFACTS FROM

SNOWBOARD CULTURE

Subculture comes to the mall, this time as art. This exhibition examines the snowboard aesthetic beyond the baggy pants thing. Through April 22.

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. 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.

DONALD BARTON: AN AMERICAN ABROAD

It's a vanished event, or at least a changed one-the Grand Tour, a young man's Wanderjahr around Europe before settling down. These days it's likely to be undertaken with a backpack and a Eurorail pass, a somewhat less romantic undertaking. Donald Barton was a painter, and the snapshots of his 1928 trip have the added allure of his good eye. Barton focused his attention to architecture, and later turned those photographs into paintings. Through April 9.

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

A group exhibit exploring the avant-garde in China from the mid '80s to the present. Showing 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. The show is so extensive that it takes two galleries to hold it all; the other is at the Tacoma Art Museum (1123 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, 253-272-4258). Through March 5.

SHIFTING GROUND: TRANSFORMED VIEWS OF

THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

It's such a ubiquitous subject, and so often maligned. Here's a show that makes a gallant effort to show how landscape portrayal has changed over time, and by implication, how our attitude toward the land has been altered in the process. Certainly an exhibition that encompasses both Albert Bierstadt's Manifest Destiny-like paintings and Robert Smithson's earthworks can make such a jump in perspective visible. Through Aug 20.

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.

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.

OPENINGS

DONALD SULTAN

New York artist Sultan's recent paintings and works on paper are big and bold and, well, big and bold. Take a flower, blow it up in deeply saturated colors, and it suddenly becomes something else. Opening reception Thurs Feb 17, 6-8 pm. Winston Wächter, 403 Dexter Ave N, 652-5855. Through April 1.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS

CAROL ADELMAN

Figurative work that is pleasantly painterly. At her best, Adelman seems to sculpt with the paint. Trapeze Gallery, 1130 34th Ave, 329-3363. Through March 3.

DANIEL BELARDINELLI

Belardinelli chronicles his daily experience on wood, canvas, paper, and index cards. He's a self-taught artist who found in art a release from his learning disability, so that the work's obsessive quality takes on a cathartic tone. Garde Rail Gallery, 312 First Ave S, #5, 623-3004. Through Feb 26.

*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. Benzing's area of exploration is now as wide as the universe, referencing the photographs sent back by the Hubble telescope that show stars in various stages of life and death. 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. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Feb 26.

DAN BUDNIK

Photographs showing the 1963 Selma-to-Montgomery march. Benham Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. 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. 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. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through March 4.

SHELLY CORBETT

Women underwater, some clothed, in dreamy, otherworldly photography. Brian Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through March 4.

DAVID DE VILLIER

Here's a show to combine with deep-breathing exercises. De Villier focuses on images associated with rest, such as chairs, while taking great care with the grain and texture of their surfaces. 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. 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. SOIL Artist Cooperative, 12th and Pike. 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. Oculus Gallery, 216 Alaska Way S, 366-2108. Through Feb 26.

KEITH GRAHAM

The exhibition is entitled The Perfect Orbit (once around the block with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin), and the work seems just as intriguing: woodblock prints and mixed-media on panels; minimalist but thematic. Calm work for caffeine-jangled nerves. Lux Coffeebar, 2226 First Ave, 443-0962. Through Feb 29.

*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. Houston, 907 E Pike, 860-7820. Through March 15.

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.

MICHAEL HOWARD

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

TIM MARSDEN, KURT GEISSEL

Two idiosyncratic artists team up for a show called Strange Apothecary. Two Bells Tavern, 2313 Fourth Ave, 441-3050. Through March 31.

JEFFRY MITCHELL

Mitchell mixes unlikely elements-humor and decorative arts-and still manages to make work that's referential and interesting (as opposed to kitschy, precious, or junky). His Delftware ceramics mix craft and concept, filtering cute things like puppies and bunnies through a kind of Jeff Koonsian sensibility. Elliott Brown Gallery, 619 N 35th St, #101A, 547-9740. Through March 11. See review this issue.

GREG OWEN

Intense and precise collages in cut paper. Bubba Mavis Gallery, 1158 Eastlake Ave E, 405-3233. 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. Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave S, 624-7684. Through Feb 26.

PHOTOCLOSET 2000

New photographic work by Mark Bernstein, Kara Costa, Katrina Santore, and Christine D. Taylor. The Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557. Through Feb 30.

PUSHPIN OPEN INVITATIONAL

FotoCircle's populist (read: unjuried) Pushpin Show consists of photographs by anyone who had $10 to contribute to the gallery. This doesn't preclude interesting work, but the wall is a little crowded. FotoCircle Gallery, 216 Alaskan Way S, 624-2645. Through Feb 26.

JENNY SABIN

Vessels and spaces in encaustic and intriguing-looking ceramics. 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 this artist'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. 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. 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. 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. Lead Gallery and Wine Bar, 1022 First Ave, 623-6240. Through Feb 25.

EVENTS

*DANIEL LIEBESKIND

A lecture by the architect of the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Tickets are $15 ($7.50 for students) and are available at Peter Miller Books, Benaroya Hall, and through Ticketmaster. Illsley Nordstrom Recital Hall in Benaroya Hall, Fri Feb 18, 6:30 pm.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS

ARTISTS' SLIDE SHOW

It's not a juried show, and the slides go by kind of quickly, but it is at the Seattle Art Museum. The public (which may or may not include curators, art dealers, and collectors) is invited to attend this slide show on March 30, and the first 150 artists to respond can have their work put in front of many pairs of eyes. The deadline for submission is March 23; for more information call the Pacific Northwest Arts Council (who put this event together) at 654-3119.

SOIL IS LOOKING

A couple of opportunities at the groovy artists' cooperative. First, SOIL is accepting proposals for exhibitions in 2000 and 2001. Send visuals, resume, a statement of intent, and SASE to Demi Raven, 1222 First Ave, #220, Seattle, WA 98101. Or you can call him at 447-1711. Also, he and Leslie Clague are curating a show in August about "Home," and are considering all works about home, housing, and family. Send no more than eight slides, as well as biographical materials, a short statement, and a SASE to the above-listed address by May 15.