OPENING EXHIBITIONS


RALPH GIBSON, DAVID D. JOHNSON

Stark contrast and hourglass figures mark Gibson's loosely erotic works--dark, beautiful (if occasionally vapid) compositions that allow audiences the license to stare endlessly at the accentuated curves of naked women without a hint of shame. Opening reception Thurs Oct 24, 6-8 pm. Benham Gallery, 1216 First Ave, 622-2480. Through Nov 30.

RICHARD KEMP

Expertly crafted, tonally rich stock photography. Opening reception Sat Oct 19, 7-11 pm. Bossa Nova Art Gallery, 4225 Fremont Ave N, 632-3668. Through Nov 5.

UNBUCKLED

Featuring the works of Jana Brevik, Lauren Holloway, Susanne Pugh, and Leslie Teich (among others), the independent design collective known as Damsel exploits Seattle's waistline fetish with an exhibition of the clasps and hooks that keep our pants up. Opening reception Fri Oct 18, 6-9 pm. Damsel Collective, 2222 Second Ave S, Suite 100, 374-8669. Through Nov 30.

CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS


4 EYES, 4 COUNTRIES

Following his recent Photographic Center Northwest show, local Guggenheim recipient Andrew Miksys joins three other photographers (all Cyclopes, apparently) for a globe-spanning document of four continents. Sideshow Gallery, 417 Second Ave, 342-9457. Through Oct 31.

* BIG TIME

The final Vital 5 show before an open-ended hiatus, with Randy McCoy, Robert Hardgrave, Robert Adams, Greg Lukens, and Zach Corum converging for one last Pop Art blowout. Vital 5 Productions, 2200 Westlake Ave, 254-0475. Through Oct 31.

JOE BRUBAKER

Brubaker and his creepy wooden figurines stumble into Caligari country with The Somnambulists, in carved wood and acrylic. Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Ave S, 223-0816. Through Nov 2.

* COLLABORATORS

Collaborators (co-curated by The Stranger's own Emily Hall with Fionn Meade) pairs complete strangers on two coasts--nine visual artists from Seattle, and nine writers from New York--in an experiment plotting a fanatical game of pen pal pursuit, a process running the gamut of relationship woes that concludes in this exhibit at the SOIL Gallery. SOIL Gallery, 1317 E Pine St, 264-8061. Through Oct 30.

STEPHANIE CORGATELLI

Placid color experiments with titles like Eternity and Sky. Art/Not Terminal Gallery, 2045 Westlake Ave, 233-0680. Through Nov 7.

* JASON D'AQUINO

D'Aquino uses hyper-enlargement tools to craft itty-bitty fairy-tale masterpieces of microscopic proportions--sort of like those little rice grains (now that's a little redundant) with your name written on them. Roq La Rue Gallery, 2316 Second Ave, 374-8977. Through Oct 26.

DE M:XICO: OAXACA/SEATTLE

As with everything of Mexican origin, the print art of Oaxaca is naturally described as "rich with tradition." In correlation with SAM's Mexican Modernism exhibit, De México combines the art of this singular Mexican community with that of Seattle artists of Mexican decent. Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery, 1334 First Ave, 748-9282. Through Nov 9.

LANNY DeVUONO, GEORGE CHACONA

At six feet square, DeVuono's tranquil, picturesque, occasionally skewed oils beautifully configure simple scenes with bold, direct typography. Chacona's I go to Pieces collects preexisting works exploring the oft-neglected topics of love and death (oh, how passé...). Esther Claypool Gallery, 617 Western Ave, 264-1586. Through Nov 2.

KAMALA DOLPHIN-KINGSLEY

Final week. Cartoonish narratives in charcoal, watercolor, and glitter. Glo's, 1621 E Olive Way, 783-3426. Through Oct 20.

JESSICA GEIGER

Like action figures for the suburban socially inept, Geiger's meticulous sculptures take juvenile impulse to a new low with her inanely sordid representations of urban squalor. Black Lab Gallery, 5208 Ballard Ave NW, 706-7017. Through Nov 7.

ALEXANDRA GJURASIC

Final week. Social activist Gjurasic's vibrant, Zapatista-inspired work on canvas and gourd. Secluded Alley Works, 113 12th Ave, 839-0880. Through Oct 20.

HALLOWEEN ART SHOW

Thematically speaking, Halloween is the unfortunate subject of the most convoluted assortment of free associations inflicted upon any holiday. Sure, icons like Frankenstein's monster and Dracula have their fair place in the amalgam of Allhallows Eve, but what seems like a perfect place to examine our fears of security or the duality of personality or some bullshit is instead just used as a dogpile for anything remotely morbid or macabre--regardless of its specific affiliation. Cafe Venus' Halloween Art Show (featuring Juliana Bradley, Jesse Elliott, and vblast, among others) appears to fall into the latter category--with gore galore. Cafe Venus, 609 Eastlake Ave E, 624-4516. Through Nov 1.

DAVID HERBERT

Dissecting the cartoonish persona of the world's most amiable socialist dictator, Herbert's cardboard diorama The Fictitious Life of Fidel Castro takes a lighthearted stab at the eternally bearded leader through an imaginary excursion into his personal quarters. Woessner Alumni Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, 723 Harvard Ave E, 726-5169. Through Nov 2.

* SARAH HUTT

Sarah Hutt's mother met Jack LaLane once. And she often read encyclopedias. She also had a habit of reading the inscriptions on the undersides of fine chinaware. Learn more about Sarah Hutt's mother with My Mother's Legacy, a 1,000-line poem inscribed on the base of 1,000 simple wooden bowls. Elliott Bay Cafe, 101 S Main St, 682-6664. Through Oct 31.

NAN JOHNSON, ILSE KLUGE

Two solo shows with inspiration rooted in travel, Johnson's Yippee! Here We Go! combines playful images of holiday comfort with absurd visual situations, while Kluge's Pilgrimage follows a more somber tone--a multimedia installation re-creating her 500-mile journey by foot across Spain's Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Solomon Fine Art, 1215 First Ave, 297-1400. Through Nov 1.

TERI LAFFAN & DON BUTLER

Mixed-media mythology and the noble craft of calligraphy. Runnings Family Gallery, ArtsWest, 4711 California Ave SW, 938-0963 ext. 107. Through Nov 9.

JACQUES-HENRI LARTIGUE

A prodigy of the camera by age six, Lartigue is responsible for many of the more familiar photographs of pre-WWI France, the reproductions of which comprise much of the home décor of stepmothers across the nation. On display are a series of original and signed prints by the French master. G. Gibson Gallery, 122 S Jackson #200, 587-4033. Through Nov 2.

RANI LAIK, KIM MAHAR

"Environment changing" works in painting, metal art, and purposeful furniture comprise Laik's The Ambient Architectural, complemented by Chihuly-instructed glass artist Mahar. Artemis Gallery, 3107 S Day St, 323-0562. Through Oct 31.

NORMAN LUNDIN

New works demonstrating Lundin's cold, largely monochromatic palette--evoking skillfully the singularly Northwestern light of winter. Francine Seders Gallery, 6701 Greenwood Ave N, 782-0355. Through Nov 3.

JAMES MARTIN

A contemporary of Morris Graves and Mark Tobey, Martin paints his accessibly absurd narratives in gouache on paper, or paper bag. Foster/White Gallery, 126 Central Way, Kirkland, 425-622-2833. Through Nov 10.

* MATT McCARTHY

A bed of matted text--dissected, entangled, and reconfigured beyond recognition--becomes merely another visual component of the arresting, simplistic line drawings that make up McCarthy's Lexicon. King County Art Gallery, 506 Second Ave, Suite 200, 296-7580. Through Nov 1.

BRIAN McGUFFEY

In a shockingly kitschless stroke (Hey! Where the hell'd the Op go!?!?), Capitol Hill's steeply assessed vintage-furniture mecca Area 51 welcomes irony-free artist Brian McGuffey, whose creepy oil paintings of stark, rustic Midwestern landscapes patently lack the formerly requisite graphic-design-centric concentration. Area 51, 401 E Pine St, 568-4782. Through Oct 30.

GENE McVARISH

Large-scale works that mix painting and 3-D objects toward a pop sensibility. Zeitgeist, 171 S Jackson, 583-0497. Through Nov 6.

MONSTERS!

In celebration of Allhallows Eve's impending arrival, the Little Theatre's understated visual art gallery captures a random assortment of fiends and beasties for a playful exhibition, with works by Sara Lanzillota, Kevin Niereiter, Marion Peck, and Sean Hurley. Little Theatre, 608 19th Ave E, 343-9653. Through Nov 23.

LAMONT MUDD

Pop culture and other fleeting sensations, captured in painting. Kuhlman, 2419 First Ave, 441-1999. Through Nov 3.

* ANTJUAN ODEN, BOOTSY HOLLER

Pink and Brown (the show, not the band) represents the work of Seattle's most dangerous or misunderstood artist (depending on who you ask), Antjuan Oden; a series of "Tar Baby doll" sculptures (brown) contrasts with Holler's rose prints and paintings (pink). 619 Western Ave, fourth floor, Through Nov 3.

ERIC OLSON

3.141592653589... a clandestine language of indiscriminate code haunts Olson's No Connection, where random number tables take the form of acrylic paintings exploring humanity's urge to classify in such an uncertain world. LUX, 2226 First Ave, 296-6699. Through Oct 31.

ANNE PALLESEN

Photographic Center Northwest gallery director Pallesen exhibits Sleeper, a collection of hauntingly ambiguous situational images--beautiful transitory narratives in the form of lith prints. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave, 720-7222. Through Oct 30.

NANCY PETERSON

Sepia landscapes in acrylic. Fotos and Frocks, 780 N 73rd St, 285-9377. Through Oct 31.

PRINTWORKS 2002

Works by 26 national printmakers, including Weldon Butler, Squeak Carnwarth, Kara Walker, and Darren Waterston. Key Tower Gallery, 700 Fifth Ave, third floor, 684-7312. Through Oct 25.

MELANIE REED

Surreal collage. Ace Studios, 619 Western Ave, third floor, 623-1288. Through Oct 26.

* MELANIE RENECKER

A beloved former Stranger luminary centers on the downtrodden, the obstinate, and those participants in the "homeless for a summer" suburban outreach program in Squats: Shelter for the Unwanted. Rose Club, 3165 McClellan Ave S, 725-3654. Through Oct 30.

RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

I'm not sure if my thickheadedness is just making this exhibition's concept (as expressed in the e. e. cummings poem of a press release) impenetrable, but the handful of lofty concepts I garnered seem to relate to the popular question of technology and modern living space. Fisher Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, 710 E Roy St, 726-5142. Through Nov 2.

REVISITING SEPTEMBER 11, 19[72]

Though we're still a little miffed that they beat us to the punch with the idea, Lisa Hutton and Mark Polishook have fashioned what could prove to be a fairly solid concept: weaving together a collage of radio broadcasts from September 11 of last year, and connecting those sounds to images of 29 years prior, speaking, presumably, to some historical universality. Jack Straw Productions, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, 634-0919. Through Nov 29.

RICHARD REZAC

Straining visual perception and physics, Rezac's mathematical sculptures are a practice of tension--in material, in form, and in stability. James Harris Gallery, 309A Third Ave S, 903-6220. Through Nov 2.

* JASON SALAVON

Final week. See also Events. "In this show's major work--called Golem, after the Hebrew creature created out of clay and given life for the purpose of work--Salavon eliminates the shibboleth of abstract expressionism, namely the hand of the artist. Salavon's golem is a really, really big large-format high-resolution Hewlett Packard inkjet printer that spits out a painting at the rate of about one every 15 minutes, and the paintings are generated by software written by Salavon, which transformed the work of abstract, color-field-oriented painters such as Mark Rothko, Hans Hoffman, and Richard Diebenkorn (and a bit of Gerhard Richter, in his big-brushstroke moods) into algorithms, and then translated these algorithms into 100,000 possible paintings." (Emily Hall) Howard House, 2017 Second Ave, 256-6399. Through Oct 19.

* SCATTERED, SMOTHERED & COVERED

The owners of Garde Rail are spanning the globe by minivan in search of the latest and greatest in contemporary self-taught and "outsider" arts. The product of this odyssey is featured in Scattered, Smothered & Covered, an IHOP-inspired collection of works by 25 American artists from all stretches of the country. Garde Rail Gallery, 4860 Rainier Ave S, 721-0107. Through Nov 30.

SEATTLE COLLECTS 2002

The Seattle Arts Commission's Seattle Collects program acquires work for the city's portable works collection. This year's honorees include Leo Saul Berk, Phillip Roach, Charlotte Meyer, Cathy Fields, Catherine Grisez, and Jason Morgan. City Space, 701 Fifth Ave, third floor, 749-9525.

RICHARD SERRA, JOE BIEL, BRICE MARDEN, JAMES HARRISON

Serra's The Venice Notebook Etchings: extremely technical, extremely significant, extremely expensive, extremely circle-y. Marden continues in a similarly squiggly vein with a series of recent color etchings, while Los Angeles artist Biel uses line in intricately macabre graphite sketches on paper. Also featured in the outdoor sculpture court is the recently resettled DAAHOUD, Harrison's popular contribution to CoCA's Blurred exhibit: a 15-foot belled gazebo composed of 1,200 individual two-by-fours. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave S, 624-0770. Through Nov 2.

* MICHAEL SCHULTHEIS

Arithmetic never looked so damn pretty. Ballard Fetherston Gallery, 818 E Pike St, 322-9440. Through Nov 9.

* JOHN SUTTON, BEN BERES, ZAC CULLER

See review this issue. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave, 256-0809. Through Dec 6.

SWEET/TART

Featuring such artists as Eric Nielsen, Martha Carey, Laurel Anderson, and Tory Franklin, all interpreting the puckerrific theme of tongue-numbing adjectives. Otis Cafe, 1005 Boren Ave, 342-9866. Through Nov 30.

THAT'S LIFE

Teens challenging social perceptions, or something. As curated by the altogether dependable Cathy McClure. Triangle Gallery, Downtown YMCA, 909 Fourth Ave, 382-5044. Through Nov 12.

LISA ZERKOWITZ

Landscapes accumulates Zerkowitz's steel and glass wall sculptures--blithe, abstract, and deliberately precious reflections of topography, approached through the lens of childhood. Bryan Ohno Gallery, 155 S Main St, 667-9572. Through Nov 2.

EVENTS


GREGORY BARSAMIAN

Museum of Glass artist in residence Barsamian, on hand to prepare an "animated glass zoetrope--an automated flipbook that creates the illusion of motion," in the museum's Hot Shop, presents a dialogue and slide presentation on his craft. Sun Oct 20 at 2 pm. Museum of Glass, 1801 E Dock St, Tacoma, 253-396-1768. Free with admission.

RALPH GIBSON

One night only. A technical lecture with T&A photographer Gibson, in conjuncture with his current exhibition at Benham Gallery. Wed Oct 23 at 7 pm. Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th E, 324-1126. $15.

JOSEPH MONSEN

One night only. Monsen [CQ] discusses the works of Photographic Impulse--the Henry's stunning photo affair that aims to classify the motivation of photographers since the art form's inception--whose content is sampled from the collector's renowned four-decades-deep collection. Sun Oct 20 at 2 pm. Henry Art Gallery, 15th Ave NE & NE 41st St, 543-2280. Free.

* JASON SALAVON

One night only. As his first solo exhibition in our fair city draws to a close (see above), Salavon takes the time in this evening's program to explain his relative insanity. Thurs Oct 17 at 6:30 pm. University of Washington, School of Art, room 3. Free.