OPENING EXHIBITIONS


TIM BISKUP, GARY BASEMAN, TONY MILLIONAIRE

Work that mines the fine gray area between art and illustration. Opening reception Fri Feb 1, 6-10 pm. Roq la Rue, 2224 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through Feb.


AMZE and ALEX EMMONS

An installation, called Boomtown Expands, about gentrification and the urban economy. Opening reception Fri Feb 1, 7-9 pm. Secluded Alley Works, 113 12th Ave, 839-0880. Through Feb 21.


THE IMMORTALITY CLINIC

The riddle of finite existence revealed, through the work of artist Jason Puccinelli and other death-defying tricks. Opening reception Fri Feb 1, 7-10 pm. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave N, 254-0475. Through March 1.


JEFFRY MITCHELL, KATHERINE GRAY

Mitchell's Hanabuki installation closed recently, and this exhibition forms a kind of coda to it, two-dimensionally exploring the dreamy realm where animals are both symbolic and real. With mixed-media work incorporating cast-offs, crafts, and an electrocardiogram heartbeat by Gray (usually known for glasswork). Opening reception Fri Feb 1, 6-8 pm. Elliott Brown Gallery, 215 Westlake Ave N, 340-8000. Through March 23.


* MATTHEW PICTON

The British-born and Oregon-residing Picton sees the world as a thing to be traced, rather than plumbed, with work that documents the surface of a thing without referring to its depth. This new show features bejeweled subway maps. Opening reception Sat Feb 2, 6-8 pm. Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through March 9.


SOIL DOES HOUSTON

Hooray, they're back! Without this artist cooperative and this gallery, the Capitol Hill art scene felt quite faint. Now, a group show of SOIL members. Opening reception Sat Feb 2, 7-10 pm. Houston, 907 E Pike St, 860-7820. Through March 2.


JIMMY LEE SUDDUTH, WALLY SHOUP

Sudduth is a major folk-art hero, who at 93 is still painting every day with his signature material: molasses mixed with Alabama mud. Shoup captures the complexity of natural rock surfaces in paint. Opening reception Fri Feb 1, 6-10 pm. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through March 30.


TENTACLES OF LOVE, MEGHAN TRAINOR

Art and gifts for Valentine's Day (the most despised of holidays). With new art (asking new questions) from Trainor. Opening reception Sat Feb 2, 6-10 pm. The Pound Gallery, 1216 10th Ave, 323-0557. Tentacles runs through Feb 17; Trainor's work up through Feb 24.


WHAT IS ART?

Big question! Can it be answered? Opening reception Fri Feb 1, 5-10 pm. Rainier Square, 1333 Fourth Ave, 2nd floor. Through March 1.


YURIKO YAMAGUCHI

Two installations that suggest--one in an ordered way, one more chaotically--a way of seeing and interpreting systems. Web consists of thousands of tiny pods suspended into an organic-seeming whole; Metamorphosis is a series of objects that might be artifacts, organs, or calligraphic elements. Opening reception Fri Feb 1, 5-7 pm; artist presentation Sat Feb 2, noon. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through April 5.


CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS


ALL ABOUT EVE

Work by Northwest women artists in conjunction with Cinema Seattle's Women in Film Festival. With work by Deborah Lawrence, Marion Peck, Patti Warashina, and others. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030. Through Feb 5.


* EFRAIN ALMEIDA

Did you know that some of the hottest contemporary artists are from Brazil? It's true! Almeida's sculpture includes strands of beads that are "drawn" over the floor, like a contour map, or a body outline. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through March 2.


ARTIST TRUST AUCTION PREVIEW

Work donated by over 200 Northwest artists for the Artist Trust benefit auction (on Feb 20; for tickets call the gallery, or Jennifer West at Artist Trust, 467-8734, ext. 14). Gallery talk by James Harris on Mon Feb 4, noon. Bank of America Gallery, 701 Fifth Ave, 3rd floor, 585-3200. Through Feb 4.


BEACON HILL PRINTMAKERS

Another longtime group of printmakers... must be something in the water. Opening reception next week. ArtsWest, 4711 California Ave SW, 938-0963. Through Feb 2.


GEORGE J. BRANDT

Mixed media, personal/spiritual journeys, and a disemboweled doll. Mary Vitold Gallery, 110 S Washington St, 624-9336. Through Feb 2.


SIMONA FOGGITT

New mixed-media works with lots of newspaper. Nico Gallery, 619 Western Ave, second floor, 264-1710. Through Feb 2.


GALLERY ARTISTS GROUP EXHIBIT

With work by Isabel Kahn, Brandon Zebold, Dean Eliasen, Mary Henry, Ben Harby, Jim Hansen, and the Lisas--Zerkowitz and Buchanan. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through Feb 2.


PAVLINA HONCOVA

Photographs of a monastery's destroyed rooms; architecture as built, and as ravaged. FotoCircle Gallery, 562 First Ave S, Suite 300, 624-2645. Through Feb 2.


IT'S JUST LIKE THE MOVIES

Except when it isn't. Reactions to 9/11. Li'l Red Shack Gallery, 1020 First Ave S, 621-7807. Through Feb 3.


* FRANKLIN JOYCE

Joyce likes to take to the streets and the clubs armed with battery-powered backpack and mobile projection unit. The point is strictly interaction: projecting images onto people and spaces and becoming part of the action. 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave N, 682-6552. Through Feb 17.


* LISA LIEDGREN, BLAIR WILSON

Both Liedgren and Wilson use the most ordinary of shapes--dots--but to entirely different ends. Wilson is a sort of cartoony post-Pointillist, while Liedgren's work looks more like Braille, or Morse code, or some other unreadable system. She's like Damien Hirst, only smarter. Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N Lawrence St, Tacoma, 253-879-3100. Through Feb 24.


FRANK OKADA

An exhibition of the works remaining in Okada's estate when he died last year. His last works combine the strictness of geometric abstraction with a detailed brushwork and attention to paint-handling that brings them to life. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through Feb 2.


JESSE JOSHUA WATSON

New work in a show called Black Music Seen. The Bohemian, 111 Yesler Way, 447-1514. Through Feb 5.


EVENTS


ART OUT LOUD

A new lecture series that kicks off with a slide show and talk about folk art by Garde Rail co-owner Karen Light. Sun Feb 3 at 2:30 pm, Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S Alaska St, 723-2216, free.


CHRISTIAN HAYE LECTURE

Haye is the founder and curator of the Project, an excellent art space in New York and Los Angeles. Presented by the Contemporary Art Council, which toils in obscurity to bring us thinkers and doers from the front lines of the art world. Thurs Jan 31 at 7 pm, Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St, $7; for tickets and information call 654-3121.


ONE NIGHT ONLY: 11 SHOWS IN 12 MONTHS

Finally, someone with an idea: Artist Randy Wood is arranging a series of one-night-only exhibitions, which he hopes will achieve the buzz and impermanence of rock shows. Will it work? God, I hope so. Fri Feb 1, 6-10 pm, Thinklab, 1932 Second Ave, free. For information contact Wood at randy@randywood.cc or 720-9909.


RUMMAGE

A new monthly market for artist-made goods. Cheap brunch is also available, with (being that it's held in a club and all) Bloody Marys and mimosas and DJs. Sun Feb 3, 12 noon-5 pm, Nation, 1921 Fifth Ave, 256-9667, free. For more information: www.iheartrummage.com.


* SMELL-O-VISION

See Stranger Suggests. Exactly what you think it is. Wed Feb 6 at the Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 7 and 9 pm, $7.