Gallery
Scott Trimble
In About a Boardwalk: A Journey of a Different Scale, Trimble depicts life’s twists and turns with an imaginatively meandering boardwalk. Despite the title’s hint of unencumbered travel, Trimble’s work is ironically made up of a former barrier: recycled cedar fencing. Viewers can walk only just so far. Trimble’s seemingly inviting paths, spiraling staircases, and enigmatic doors not only shrink to smaller than life-size, they also terminate in some less than promising locales. Or dead-end altogether. The Artist in His Studio, for example, leads to a miniature gibbet. In Burning Bridges, a proverb is made physically manifest: a once intact bridge was set aflame, and the two charred remains straddle a doorway, their extremities straining to reach across the divide—just one example of the artist’s unorthodox rupturing of space. His site-specific installation is made up of multiple fragments that emphasize structural ambiguity. While a few wall-hung works exist autonomously, the vast majority of Trimble’s sculptures read as interconnected—where one work ends and another begins is anyone’s guess. His boardwalk wonderland uses architectural form as a metaphor for human adventure and misadventure: He who hesitates isn’t necessarily lost. He might just be enjoying the view. Greg Kucera Gallery, 212 Third Ave. S., 624-0770, www.gregkucera.com. Ends Jan. 27, 2007. SUZANNE BEAL
Gallery
Tivon Rice
In TV Buddha, the wry 1974 installation by Korean-American video artist Nam June Paik, a bronze statue of Buddha serenely contemplates his own image projected onto a closed-circuit TV. In his latest installation, The History of Television: 1974–2006, local artist Tivon Rice takes Paik’s play on self-reflection and idol/idle worship one step further and makes Buddha one with the TV. Thirty-two TVs, actually: suspended from the ceiling, a morphing plastic Buddha rising from each, filled with the meditative blue light of the cathode ray tube. Can a spiritual icon be trapped in the narrow confines of a TV mind-set? Rice’s glowing display is both an homage to the late “godfather” of video art (Paik died last January at 74) and a comment on “the ubiquity of TV in our society,” he says. It is also “a representation of the evolution of video art. Maybe the viewer will get hints of these themes from the work. If not, I feel the physical experience—light, color, form, and time—can be equally important.” With this work, Rice, 28, continues his exploration of the sculptural and sensory possibilities of video screens and light. A 2006 grad of UW’s MFA sculpture program, he was scooped up by Scott Lawrimore earlier this year to join his roster of cutting-edge artists. Gallery4Culture, 101 Prefontaine Pl. S., 296-7580, www.4culture.org. Opening reception: 6 p.m. Gallery hours: 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Ends Dec. 29. SUE PETERS
Music
Women’s Hip-Hop Show
Look around Seattle’s long- running hip-hop weeklies, including “Yo, Son!” and “Soul City” at the War Room and “Stop Biting!” at the Lo_Fi, and you’ll see women, but they’re unquestionably still in the minority. That’s what makes it so exciting when you notice the regulars, patiently waiting their turn in the circle or otherwise participating in the scene. Bringing together some of the most active participants— like musicians Skim, Beyond Reality, and Cristina Orbe—the Indayog Women’s Hip-Hop Show, sponsored by Filipina organization Pinay Sa, Communities Against Rape and Abuse, Youth Speaks, and Mass Line, is the first event of its kind in Seattle in way too long. Featuring MCs, DJs, b-girls, and visual artists, Pinay celebrates the intersection of strong women of color in hip-hop and grassroots activism. Other performers include Vivid Vixens, Angel 179, Laura “Piece” Kelly, DJs Mixxtress and Wasabi, and over 12 more. Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way S.W., 935-2999, youngstownarts.org. $10. 8 p.m. RACHEL SHIMP
Comedy
Michael Showalter & Michael Ian Black
The State mates, aka Coop and McKinley (for those of you who helped make the embarrassingly absurd summer-camp spoof Wet Hot American Summer a cult classic), aka the Michaels responsible for the short-lived, much-loved, surreally deadpan Comedy Central meta-sitcom Stella, take on the rock club’s stage tonight. Comic Eugene Mirman entertained a rock ‘n’ roll crowd here this summer, and with the positive outlook on comedy in the scene, it shouldn’t be tough for Showalter and Black to rustle up laughs. Maybe even a guffaw or two. Neumo’s, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. www.neumos.com. $20. All ages. 8 p.m. RACHEL SHIMP
