Lynne Hershman Leeson
San Francisco–based Hershman Leeson is one of those performance artists who delight in making folks squirm. Her best-known project, Roberta Breitmore, involved the artist assuming a completely new identity, taking out classified ads for roommates, and then recording the whole episode with surveillance cameras. These days, she’s involved in computer-generated interactive art and films that mess with accepted notions of gender and identity. This will be the first retrospective of her decades-long career. Nov. 4–Jan. 9. Henry Art Gallery, UW campus, 206-543-2280, www.henryart.org.
Ann Appleby
At first glance, Appleby’s approach to painting seems like a simple gimmick: transposing the colors of nature found near her home in western Montana into multiple, monochromatic canvases. But her method is so rigorous, so careful, and so full of nuance that her paintings, alluding to autumn aspen or cloudless skies, are deeply affecting. Nov. 17–Dec. 31. Greg Kucera, 212 Third Ave., 206-624-0770, www.gregkucera.com.
Crash. Pause. Rewind.
The disaster is the reigning metaphor of the early 21st century, and “Crash. Pause. Rewind.” will explore our fear of destruction in a variety of mayhem-inspired art. Christoph Draeger’s video Crash joins Hollywood’s depiction of plane crashes with real-life news reports, E.V. Day’s sculptures blast high fashion to smithereens, and Chris Larsen’s life-size wooden sculpture depicts the Dodge Charger from The Dukes of Hazzard smashing into the Unabomber’s cabin. Run for your lives. Oct. 14–Feb. 28. Western Bridge, 3412 Fourth Ave. S., 206-838-7444, www.westernbridge.com.
Mark Takamichi Miller and Yuki Nakamura
Miller and Nakamura are two local artists with a passion for materials. Miller, a painter whose recent subject matter has been anonymous strangers pictured in discarded snapshots, is increasingly using paint in a sculptural way. The thickly worked oils exist on a vast empty plane of canvas. Nakamura, a very skilled sculptor, works in ceramics and resin with a smooth, voluptuous finish. Oct. 6–Nov. 12. Howard House, 604 Second Ave., 206-256-6399, www.howardhouse.net.
Jeffry Mitchell
The tchotchkes you might find in Grandma’s attic are the inspiration for this local artist’s limpid work. Sweet little flower paintings, gaudy sculpture, and baroque and useless objects are all part of Mitchell’s constant toying with kitsch and sentimentality. But it’s not all irony; Mitchell seems to have a streak of the sentimental himself, and that’s what makes his art so odd and complex—an acknowledgement of the powerful attraction of nostalgia. Nov. 17–Dec. 31. James Harris, 309A Third Ave., 206-903-6220, www.jamesharrisgallery.com.
Visual Arts Calendar
Dates subject to change. Call ahead to confirm.
SEPTEMBER
14 CHRISTINE WALLERS A local artist’s site-specific installation will incorporate thousands of metal wires to create a shimmering panel titled Sea Level. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave., 206-256-0809, www.suyamapetersondeguchi.com/art.
14 ED WICKLANDER Offbeat, often blackly humorous sculpture using materials in unusual ways (a deflated inner tube executed in welded steel, for instance) by a longtime Seattle artist. Greg Kucera, 212 Third Ave., 206-624-0770, www.gregkucera.com.
14 LEO SAUL BERK & KEN FANDELL Berk’s 3-D interpretations of clouds and other forms, created with computer-controlled topographic modeling tools; plus Fandell’s video of mundane activities made grandiose by a soundtrack from Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Howard House, 604 Second Ave., 206-256-6399, www.howardhouse.net.
14 STEPHANIE SYJUCO In “Black Market,” photographs of Asian street vendors are digitally modified to erase all traces of brand-name products, while a video showing scenes from the film Platoon is similarly treated to remove everything but the native flora. James Harris, 309A Third Ave., 206-903-6220, www.jamesharrisgallery.com.
14 ROBERT C. JONES New work by the region’s most skilled abstract expressionist painter. Francine Seders, 6701 Greenwood Ave. N., 206-782-0355, www.sedersgallery.com.
14 TELLING STORIES Kathlyn Leighton’s sneakers inlaid with scenes from Greek mythology and Yvonne Lung’s installation of ceramic heads exploring issues of racial stereotypes. Kirkland Arts Center, 620 Market St., Kirkland, 425-822-7161,www.kirklandartscenter.org.
16 CHRIS JORDAN A Seattle photographer transforms views of garbage and landfills into compositions of formal beauty. Photographic Center Northwest, 900 12th Ave., 206-720-7222, www.pcnw.org.
23 CLAUDE CAHUN & MARCEL MOORE Surreal images toying with complex notions of sexuality and Jewish identity, by a team of women photographers active in Paris in the 1920s. Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., 206-622-9250, www.fryeart.org.
30 TRIMPIN The Seattle sound artist’s installation Sheng High employs 40 bamboo pipes of different tones, all played by machinery that lowers the pipes into tanks of water. Consolidated Works, 500 Boren Ave. N., 206-381-3218, www.conworks.org.
30 SOIL RETROSPECTIVE A look back at 10 years of cutting-edge stuff from this collective, artist-owned gallery. SOIL, 112 Third Ave. S., 206-264-8061, www.soilart.org.
OCTOBER
1 150 WORKS OF ART The Seattle-based art/architecture team Lead Pencil Studio curates an eclectic and intentionally disorderly show from the Henry’s collection of works from 1825 onward. UW campus, 206-543-2280, www.henryart.org.
6 JOE BIEL Minimal, surreal line drawings exploring complex metaphysical questions, by the L.A.-based artist. Greg Kucera, 212 Third Ave., 206-624-0770, www.gregkucera.com.
6 LINDA DAVIDSON New work from a local artist known for multipanel series of sky paintings. Gallery4Culture, 101 Prefontaine Place S., 206-296-7580, www.4culture.org.
6 MARK TAKAMICHI MILLER AND YUKI NAKAMURA See Fall Favorites.
13 MICHAEL BROPHY A retrospective of the Portland-based nature and landscape painter, a 20th-century “Northwest Master” whose work is not often seen in the Puget Sound area. Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253-272-4258, www.tacomaartmuseum.org.
13 LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY The show’s subtitle is “An Artist for the Ages.” Is that last “s” a typo, meant to be a “d”? Anyway, this crowd-pleasing survey of the art nouveau lampmeister also includes stained-glass panels, mosaics, and Orientalist paintings. Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St., 206-654-3100, www.seattleartmuseum.org.
14 CRASH. PAUSE. REWIND. See Fall Favorites.
16 RICHARD REZAC High-finish geometric wall sculptures in aluminum, wood, bronze, and other materials. James Harris, 309A Third Ave., 206-903-6220, www.jamesharrisgallery.com.
NOVEMBER
2 KAZUO KADONAGA An acclaimed Japanese artist brings an exacting, Zen-like simplicity and concentration to paper sculpture. Solomon Fine Art, 1215 First Ave., 206-297-1400, www.solomonfineartinc.com.
3 CAT CLIFFORD A debut solo show by a Seattle artist working in video, animation, and drawing. Gallery4Culture, 101 Prefontaine Place S., 206-296-7580, www.4culture.org.
3 CRIME SCENE Claire Johnson, Demi Rave, Rich Lehl, and several other artists explore issues of crime, investigation, and evidence in the Court TV–Homeland Security era. SOIL, 112 Third Ave. S., 206-264-8061, www.soilart.org.
3 COCA ANNUAL This year’s juried annual at CoCA is curated by New York artist Ernesto Pujol. Center on Contemporary Art, 410 Dexter Ave. N., 206-728-1980, www.cocaseattle.org.
3 EVA ISAKSEN New abstract paintings using a combination of paint, collage, and printmaking—imagining forms loosely derived from nature. Foster/White 123 S. Jackson, 206-622-2833, www.fosterwhite.com.
4 LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON See Fall Favorites.
17 ANNE APPLEBY See Fall Favorites.
17 JEFFRY MITCHELL See Fall Favorites.
17 TONY DE LOS REYES Monumentally huge paintings and a series of more intimate pictures by a California artist known for his modern interpretations of baroque imagery and Delft ceramics. Howard House, 604 Second Ave., 206-256-6399, www.howardhouse.net.
