News from the Sector
I got a look at an advance copy of Charles Peterson’s Touch Me I’m Sick–his photographic chronicle of 16 years of Seattle music–which will be published this fall by powerHouse Books. It looks absolutely amazing:. Speaking of publishing, Roq la Rue owner Kirsten Anderson is starting a book imprint; their first projects are a catalog of work by Mark Mothersbaugh (whose solo show closes this week at the Roq) and a lowbrow coffee-table book:. If you happen to be in Mannheim, Germany, this week, artist Maria Medina has organized an international multimedia show, called Whatisart–Whatissound, that takes place September 5-7. Featured Seattle artists include Nichole DeMent, Ignis Devoco, Ian Ferger, Lara Kaminsky, Max Keene, Tiffany Larsen, Lucky O’Donnell, Elizabeth Raab, and Heide StrangeSky, as well as perennial Roq la Rue favorite Yumiko Kayukawa and other artists and collectives from around the world. If you can’t make it to Germany, the show will be webcast on www.whatisart.org, and will come to Seattle a year from now:. Also down the road is the three-day Seattle Erotic Art Festival, starting January 30, 2004, at Consolidated Works. Love it or hate it (and I have done both), there’s no better time to take a reading on the state of debauchery in Seattle. There’s still time to submit your work; go to www.seattleerotic.org for details:. In my favorite news this week, a California artist has put together a group show of all Law & Order-related art (www.brandonbird.com). The emphasis seems to fall on the highly art-a-genic Lennie Briscoe (as it damn well should), but Jack McCoy receives the more hilarious satire in a set of postage stamps of his distinctive shaggy eyebrows and unruly hair (but no face). Law & Order: Artistic Intent features a good number of quite serious-seeming portraits, an interesting translation of the show’s very attractive moral certainty. But check out Bird’s own action-hero version of Briscoe relieving a suspect of his gun:. Among the many high points of THREAD for ART’s fashion show at the Bumbershoot gala opening last week: Toi Sennhauser’s deep-fried panties, in both male and female versions, served with whipped cream and either chocolate, berry, or honey topping. They tasted a lot like wonton skins, and there was certainly a dirty little pleasure in eating them (not to mention salacious commentary from Sennhauser’s assistant). And it was weirdly fun to see miniature underpants bobbing around in all that hot oil:. EMILY HALL
Bumber-Bucket Blues
Over the years, Bumbershoot producer One Reel has hyped its annual arts fest by bombarding the press with an array of beguiling “teaser” items, from olde-style medicine bottles to always appreciated packages of Hot Tamales. This year, One Reel added to its gift parade jumbo-sized popcorn buckets, which did a wonderful job of capturing Bumbershoot’s “summer blockbuster” feel, but a less wonderful job of capturing Dan Savage’s vomit after the sickly Stranger editor executed an emergency ralph into a Bumber-bucket and discovered it leaked. ADDISON DeWITT