Openings & Events
James Brown and Paul Metivier No, this is not a collection of work from the soul-singing legend. This particular James Brown trades in abstracted oil paintings on linen, while Metivier offers some terra cotta busts of various animals heads. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Gallery I|M|A, 123 S. Jackson St., 625-0055, galleryima.com. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Nov. 1.
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Romson Regarde Bustillo
Long Stories features the local artist’s complex patterned-paper work, which attempts to delve into the universality of our personal stories. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Gallery4Culture, 101 Prefontaine Pl. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 296-8674, 4culture.org. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Ends Oct. 30.
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CHRISTOPHER CULLEN This first lecture in a new series on the scientific history of East Asia features the president of the Needham Research Institute at Cambridge speaking on historical Chinese concepts of the heavens. Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 E. Prospect St. (Volunteer Park., 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org, $5-$10. 9:30 a.m. Sat., Oct. 4.
Zanetka Kralova Gawronski and Tony Dattilo Gawronski shows her sculpture and paintings alongside Dattilo’s woodwork and ink drawings. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Core Gallery, 117 Prefontaine Pl. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 467-4444, coregallery.com. Noon-6 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Ends Oct. 25.
M.C. Escher, TOMIYUKI SAKUTA, & TYNA ONTKO Surrealism is the name of the game at Davidson this month—prints from the optical madman Escher will tessellate alongside Sakuta’s 100 portraits of bizarre faces and Ontko’s morhping, paper-cut installations. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Davidson Galleries, 313 Occidental Ave. S., 624-7684, davidsongalleries.com. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues-Sat. Ends Nov. 14.
Handiedan and Sail These two artists both go by one name. Handiedan shows new collage work in Vesica Piscis. Sail creates narrative drawings in ink, collected in Canna Intrat. First Thursday reception, 6-9 p.m. Roq La Rue Gallery, 532 First Ave. S., 374-8977, roqlarue.com. Ends Nov. 1.
Andrea Joyce Heimer and Joe Max Emminger Both of the artists wield a certain storybook sensibility in their acrylic work, which ranges from surreal images of people riding on animals to crude, metaphoric depictions of sex. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Linda Hodges Gallery, 316 First Ave. S., 624-3034, lindahodgesgallery.com. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Nov. 1.
Katy Horan The spooky, folklore-loving illustrator shows her whimsical, ghost-filled drawings at this solo exhibition. First Thursday opening reception, 5-9 p.m. Flatcolor Gallery, 77 S. Main St., 390-6537, flatcolor.com. Noon-6 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Ends Oct. 31.
KAMLA KAKARIA After an incapacitating surgery, Kakaria began incessantly observing the fish in her pond—this show collects the paisley paintings she made of the fish duing that period. First Thursday opening reception, 5-8 p.m. Shift Gallery, 312 S. Washington St. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), shiftgallery.org. Noon-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Ends Oct. 24.
James Key and Chris Dufala Key displays his encaustic “landscapes” alongside Dufala’s sculptures. Both thier work critiques modern humanity’s relationship to technology and industry. First Thursday opening reception, 5-8 p.m. Hall Spassov Gallery, 319 Third Ave. S., 223-0816, hallspassov.com. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Oct. 31.
Lineage: UW Faculty & Students This retrospective takes a look at the work of the heavy-hitting artists who have graduated from UW’s hallowed halls, including Chuck Close, Jacob Lawrence, Roger Shimomura, and Doris Chase. First Thursday opening reception, 4-7 p.m. Seattle artREsource, 625 First Ave., 838-2695, seattleartresource.com. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Nov. 22.
Carrie McGee
Suspensions displays her new creations in colorful dangling acrylic squares. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Patricia Rovzar Gallery, 1225 Second Ave., 223-0273, rovzargallery.com. Ends Oct. 31.
MATERIAL IN MIND: WOMEN AND STEEL In this group show, seven female artists tackle work dealing with one of art’s most difficult materials: steel. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. SOIL Gallery , 112 Third Ave. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 264-8061, soilart.org. Noon-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. Ends Nov. 1.
Of the Art, By the Art, For the Art To celebrate its 26th anniversary and possible impending move, A/NT is opening up this exhibition to any artists who want to participate—an arts free-for-all. Opening reception 6 p.m. Sat., Oct. 4. A/NT Gallery, 2045 Westlake Ave., 233-0680, antgallery.com. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Weds.-Sun. Ends Oct. 31.
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Pilchuck’s 36th Annual Auction Gala Preview Pilchuck celebrates its new storefront in Pioneer Square with this preview of its upcoming gala. First Thursday opening, 5-8 p.m. Pilchuck Glass School, 240 Second Ave. S., 621-8422, pilchuck.com.
New Members Exhibition Seven new gallery members show their stuff: Brandon Aleson, Elizabeth Gahan, Shelly Leavens, Ray Mack, Nate Steigenga, Liz Tran, and Brad Winchester. First Thursday opening reception, 5-8 p.m. Punch Gallery, 119 Prefontaine Pl. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 621-1945, punchgallery.org. Noon-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Ends Nov. 1.
QWALSIUS SHAUN PETERSON and ISABEL RORICK Peterson’s mixed media work deals in Salish whale myths, while Rorick’s work displays her Haida ancestral tradition of spruce root weaving. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Stonington Gallery, 125 S. Jackson St., 405-4040, stoningtongallery.com. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sun. Ends Oct. 31.
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George Rodriguez Beautiful local ceramic art that at times recalls the imagery of the Dia De Los Muertos celebrations in Oaxaca. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Foster/White Gallery, 220 Third Ave. S., 622-2833, fosterwhite.com. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Nov. 5.
Preston Singletary and April Surgent They show new works in glass. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Traver Gallery, 110 Union St., 587-6501, travergallery.com. Ends Oct. 25.
UnChain Underground stories of America Robert Horton, Roosevelt Lewis and Chaz Lindsey each interpret their vision of the black experience in America through work that confronts and explores slavery, iconic leaders, and socioeconomic empowerment. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Gallery 110, 110 Third Ave. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 624-9336, gallery110.com. Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Ends Nov. 1.
Warhol in Seattle His less-seen, musically themed works will be on display and sale. Opening 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Fri., Oct. 3. Sole Repair, 1001 E. Pike St, solerepair.com. Ends Oct. 6.
Lisa Wederquist
Desert Rhythms collects her Southwestern landscape paintings. Reception, 6-8 p.m. Fri., Oct. 3. The Island Gallery, 400 Winslow Way E. (Bainbridge), 780-9500, theislandgallery.net. 11 a.m. -6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Ends Nov. 2.
Emily Wood
To the East shows her new landscapes, painted on the far side of the Cascades. First Thursday opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Place, 443-3315, lisaharrisgallery.com. Ends Nov. 1.
Ongoing
The Art of Gaman The subtitle of this group show reveals its sad starting point: Arts & Crafts From the Japanese-American Internment Camps, 1942–1946. Over 120 objects are on view, many of them humble wood carvings, furniture, even toys made from scrap items at Minidoka or Manzanar. The more polished drawings come from professional artists like Ruth Asawa, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, Chiura Obata, and Henry Sugimoto. Some of the more touching items—like a samurai figurine made from wood scraps, shells, and bottle caps—come from family collections, not museums; they’re precious keepsakes from a shameful historical era. As for the show’s title, gaman roughly translates as “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” BRIAN MILLER Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way N.E., 425-519-0770, bellevuearts.org, $8-$10, Tues.-Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Through Oct. 12.
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Chemtrails Did you know that the feds are employing airplanes to spray airborne chemicals on civilians in order to brainwash us/construct a malevolent New World Order/conceal the one and only, totally-not-dead Tupac Shakur from the public eye? Seven painters, illustrators, and photographers take on the world’s most out-there conspiracy theory in this group show, which will likely land you on a government watch list. Wikstrom Gallery, 5411 Meridian Ave. N., 633-5544, bromwikstrom.com. Noon-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Oct. 24.
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Chen Shaoxiong The contemporary Chinese artist shows new video works and their source drawings in the exhibit Ink. History. Media, which is inspired by historical photos of major events from 1909-2009. Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 E. Prospect St. (Volunteer Park), 654-3100, seattleartmuseum.org. $5-$7. Weds.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Through Oct. 19.
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City Dwellers A dozen contemporary Indian artists are represented in this show organized by SAM and originating entirely from the private local collection of Sanjay Parthasarathy (a Microsoft millionaire) and wife Malini Balakrishnan. Scenes and icons from Mumbai to New Delhi are represented via photography and sculpture, from an all-native perspective. As tourists know, India is ridiculously photogenic, from its colorful idols and deities to the slums and beggars. It all depends on what you want to see. Photographer Dhruv Malhotra, for instance, takes large color images of people sleeping in public places—some because they’re poor, others because they simply feel like taking a nap. Nandini Valli Muthiah opts for more stage-managed scenes, posing a costumed actor as the blue-skinned Hindu god Krishna in contemporary settings; in one shot I love, he sits in a hotel suite, like a tired business traveler awaiting a conference call on Skype. Sculptor Debanjan Roby even dares to appropriate the revered figure of Gandhi, rendering him in bright red fiberglass and listening to a white iPod. Apple never made such an ad, of course, but this impudent figure tweaks both India’s postcolonial history and the relentless consumerism that now links us all, from Seattle to Srinagar. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., 654-3121, seattleartmuseum.org. $12–$19. Weds.-Sun.
Ends Feb. 15.
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Chris Crites & Samantha Scherer Crites displays his signature mugshots and crime scenes painted on brown paper bags. Scherer shows her tiny, fine-lined ink drawings in We Are OK Here, lovely and intricate works that have a hard time competing with the room. G. Gibson Gallery, 300 S. Washington St. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 587-4033, ggibsongallery.com. 11 a.m-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Ends Oct. 11.
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Deco Japan This is a somewhat unusual traveling show in that it comes from a single private collection: that of Florida’s Robert and Mary Levenson. The specificity and period (1920–1945) are also unusual. Among the roughly 200 items on view—prints, furniture, jewelry, etc.—we won’t be seeing the usual quaint cherry-blossom references to Japan’s hermetic past. By the ’20s, there was in the big cities a full awareness of Hollywood movies, European fashions, and streamlined design trends. Even if women didn’t vote, they knew about Louise Brooks and her fellow flappers. We may think that, particularly during the ’30s, the country was concerned with militarism and colonial expansion, but these objects reveal the leisure time and sometime frivolity of the period. BRIAN MILLER Seattle Asian Art Museum. Ends Oct. 19.
Rein de Lege Based in Spain, the Dutch artist shows his large paintings on linen in a show called Face to Face. Hall Spassov Gallery, 319 Third Ave. S., 223-0816, hallspassov.com. Ends Sept. 30.
EAFA Volunteer Show A collection of work from people who volunteer with local arts group Evergreen Association of Fine Arts. EAFA Gallery (Seattle Design Center), 5701 Sixth Ave. S., 821-0841, eafa.org. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Ends Oct. 31.
Lauren Grossman
Ghost Variations invokes the spectral nature of the show’s primary medium—glass. Transparent, light, and requiring breath to mold it, the material allows Grossman to draw comparisons between glass and “giving up the ghost,” he says. Platform Gallery (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 114 Third Ave. S., 323-2808, platformgallery.com. Weds.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Ends Oct. 11.
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Inflorescence Six stylistically distinct Washington artists present work all stemming from a common theme: the world of plants. Kirkland Arts Center, 620 Market St., 822-7161, kirklandartscenter.org. 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Nov. 25.
Dianne Kornberg A survey of the work from the veteran Portland artist/academic, Then/Now is made up of photographs taken during the ’90s of animal remains she found by her house, as well as collaborative works she made with poets and writers. Prographica Gallery, 3419 Denny Way, 322-3851. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. prographicadrawings.com. Ends Oct. 11.
Max Kraushaar
OHP:T is an animated GIF study on “ladders collapsing and being forcefully deconstructed,” inspired by the artist’s stint as a contractor. The work will be dispalyed on tablet-sized screens. LxWxH, 6007 12th Ave. S., 697-5156, lengthbywidthbyheight.com. Noon-5 p.m. Sat. Ends Oct. 4.
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Irene Kubota
Finding Our Way is full of charmingly childlike paintings from the East Coast artist, raised in Seattle in the building that houses the gallery, whose work was described by The New York Times as looking like a “grown-up fairy tale.” Bryan Ohno Gallery, 521 S. Main St., 459-6857, bryanohno.com. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Oct. 11.
Kathryn Lien
White Girls features lifesize photographic transfers of the artist, scuffed and sepia-toned, in an examination of the culture of the female form. Blindfold Gallery, 1718 E. Olive Way, 328-5100, blindfoldgallery.com. 1-5 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Ends Oct. 4.
Paul D. McKee He presents found objects and considers notions of collecting and preservation in Collection. Method Gallery, 106 Third Ave. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), methodgallery.com. Noon-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Ends Oct. 11
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Daniel Joseph Martinez
Reflections From a Damaged Life confronts social issues ranging from religion to the military-industrial complex to advertising. The show contains some large, startling photographs of a hunchback and an eerie sequence of storefronts, something like Ed Ruscha’s Every Building on the Sunset Strip, with political graffiti added for commentary. James Harris Gallery, 604 Second Ave., 903-6220, jamesharrisgallery.com, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Ends Oct. 11.
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Jean-Claude Moschetti The photographer’s beautiful photographs of West African ceremonial masks and costumes are shown in Magic on Earth, which surveys the cultures of Sierra Leone, Benin, and Burkina Faso. M.I.A. Gallery, 1203 Second Ave., 467-4927, m-i-a-gallery.com. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Oct. 25.
Mughal Painting: Power and Piety Some 300 years of Indian art, from the 16th century to English colonial rule of the subcontinent, goes on display. Seattle Asian Art Museum. Ends Oct. 19.
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Never Finished Lilienthal|Zamora take their intricately designed, sculptural light installation work to the big atrium. They aim to create a glowing vortex that stretches from floor to ceiling. Suyama Space, 256-0809, 2324 Second Ave., suyamaspace.org. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Ends Dec. 19.
Kim Osgood
Small Pleasures collects the Portland artist’s monotypes and acrylic paintings inspired by the changing seasons. Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Place, lisaharrisgallery.com. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon-Sat. Ends Sept. 29.
Kate Petty, Richard Rogers, And David Robertson A collection of encaustic paintings, abstract work, and textural oil paintings. True Love Art Gallery, 1525 Summit Ave., 227-3572, trueloveart.com. Noon-8 p.m. Mon.-Sun. Ends Oct. 5.
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Michelle Smith-Lewis and Sarah B. Smith
My Kingdom honors the coming of autumn with tintypes and ambrotypes, plus photographs of local flora, fauna, and underbrush. Ghost Gallery, 504 E. Denny Way, ghostgalleryart.com. 11 a.m.-7p.m. Mon.-Sun. Ends Oct. 6.
Tamara Stephas Influenced by the Hudson River School, her paintings explore the effect of humanity on the surrounding environment. University Unitarian Church, 6556 35th Ave. N.E., 370-1066, stephas.com, Ends Oct. 17.
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Skyspace James Turrell’ Skyspace stands on two concrete pillars in the Henry’s erstwhile sculpture courtyard. On the exterior, thousands of LED fixtures under the structure’s frosted glass skin create slowly shifting colors, making the pavilion a spectacular piece of public art every night. Inside, the ellipse of sky seen through the chamber’s ceiling suddenly appears to be very, very close, a thin membrane bulging into the room. Wispy bits of cirrus clouds passing by appear to be features on the slowly rotating surface of a luminous, egg-shaped blue planet suspended just overhead. Emerging from the Skyspace, I find the night wind and the light in the clouds come to me through freshly awakened senses. A dreamy, happy feeling follows me home like the moon outside my car window. DAVID STOESZ Henry Art Gallery
SuttonBeresCuller
You knew it was wrong … but you did it anyway is the local prank-happy art trio’s first big gallery show, featuring a bronze banana, scratched-up mirrors, and a giant pile of flickering lamps. (Ouch! My eyes!) Better are their small drawings of wall outlets and computer jacks, full of electrical mystery. Also on view: etchings by Martin Puryear. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave. S., 624-4031, gregkucera.com, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. Ends Nov. 1.
