Recent Stories in Visual Arts

This loveliness courtesy of lwestcoat from our Flickr pool.

Photo courtesy of Walsh, from our Flickr pool.

Looks like someone's come up with the next generation in mobile communications technology: for those times when your iPhone battery's dead, a telephonic device available for public use for a nominal fee, located in a public space. I smell an IPO in a few years!*

*I stole this joke from Kasia, but I'm sure she'll appreciate making it public.

TSB Flickr pool contributor Jennyrh8 snapped this shot of "Art on the Fly," part of the Beyond the Threshold Dance Festival that closed up this last weekend.

Another awesome shot of street art from our Flickr pool, courtesy of the people from Bald Man Is Watching.

And here I was just talking with someone the other about the various cultural proclivities for spitting in indoor public places. (Photo by SlightlyNorth from our Flickr pool.)

By Paul Swortz, from our Flickr pool.

Flickr pool regular Slightlynorth dropped this one on us on June 4, 2010. What is there to say? Stand back and take a moment.

Lines stretched everywhere at a sold-out SAM Remix Friday night. (The Seattle Art Museum's next Remix event will be at the Sculpture Park on August 27. Sign up for more information.) I'd dropped in at a Remix before, which had a lively, museum-at-night wine-and-cheese feel, but this was an event. I could tell because people were dressed up. For further evidence, check the #samremix Twitter stream.

From 8 p.m. to midnight, the museum was thronged with people dancing to KEXP's DJ Riz, drinking, designing a cover for the Stranger, singing karaoke, taking "highly opinionated tours" from celebrities, and watching Warhol films. The art tours began at 8:30 p.m. with Seth Aaron Henderson, designer and the winner of Project Runway's season seven, and wrapped up at 10:45 p.m. with musician and man-about-town Sean "Harvey Danger" Nelson. Henderson also gave a talk about his favorite works at SAM, and Nelson performed live.

The "Pop Culture Fashion" runway show drew a big crowd to the South Hall, and brought dayglo outfits, Warhol homages, punk rock DIY, and...well, the slideshow below will do a better job of this than I can. It was presented by the New York Fashion Academy, and featured creations by Anna D Designs, Mille Vixen, Samara Clothing Co., Evolve, Cameron Levin Couture, The House of Gina Marie, Lady Konyaku, Lekkerlife, Reyes Clothing Co., Jesse David, and Yurkanin Design House. (Complaints about my photography should be addressed to the heavens, while shaking a fist.)... (more)

Part of Alanna MacGowan's "Eat/Gather." Courtesy of the Henry Art Gallery

The sign next to Jenny Kam’s Hedonism says it all: "Please touch," placed at the farthest possible point from a more familiar sign reminding viewers, "Please Do Not Touch."

This sign lays at the invisible line between the 2010 University of Washington MFA Thesis Exhibition, on view at the Henry Art Gallery through June 27, and Vortexhibition Polyphonica, also on view at the Henry. It speaks volumes about what art is now, as opposed to the boundaries customarily laid between viewer and artwork, observer and artist.

What is the difference between a piece of student work hung unceremoniously in an art school’s hallways, awaiting critique—waiting to be altered, to be bettered—and a piece by an artist hanging with purposeful intention on a gallery’s white walls? There is no one better than a student artist to blur the distinction.

The effect of working in an academic settingwhere a student may spend as much time discussing their work with others as they do creating—is hard to ignore. Students accustomed to engaging in conversation with other students and advisors become artists who create work that directly engages with the viewer.

If you need more evidence that students represent the ideal ambassadors of changing perceptions regarding what is fine art, look no further than the design students that account for eight of the twenty-two theses hanging on the Henry’s walls. After all, by displaying the work of these eight design students alongside more traditional media—and in today’s world of contemporary art we’re not just talking oil paintings, but conceptual, video and installation art—page design becomes fine art.

A thesis is an argument, and these eight design students have proven their point. Design is art, and a designer is an artist—"fine" in any possible sense of the word.

Lauren Deger's Understanding Color makes no subtle point of this, as her thesis draws parallels between art, poetry, and science. Deger’s complex color study presents itself as easy to follow charts educating the viewer about the complexities and implications of color. At first glance, they are simply pleasing to look at, but they draw the viewer in, and then they start to get conversational.... (more)

Gabemeier, who recently joined our Flickr pool, and his brother chronicle Seattle's street art and graffiti scene at their blog Bald Man Is Watching.

The story that goes with this shot from Shadowplay (from our Flickr pool) is worth reading in its own right, involving unimpressed female companions and a lackadaisical response from Dale Chihuly. Ah Seattle, how I miss thee!

By Photocoyote from our Flickr pool.

A truly weird thing on a pole, shot by a confused Great Beyond and submitted to our Flickr pool.

Today in news of neat technological maps: Photographer Eric Fischer is plumbing Flickr's depths to create a Geotagger's World Atlas. Seattle's is shown above, with the speed of city life inferred from photos posted to Flickr. He based the color scheme on the apparent speeds of movement using the time stamps on geotagged pictures. Black represents walking (less than 7 mph), red is for bicycling (less than 19 mph), blue indicates motor vehicles on normal roads (less than 43 mph), and green is freeways or rapid transit.

Seattle's map is particularly neat for the boat and park traffic, the effect of the link light rail, and the differences between the east and west sides of the lake. Dive into the rest of the atlas for a look at the rest of the world.

(Flickr Blog via Rick Webb)

Yay! The little extra kick this photo puts in your step is courtesy of photog Chris Blakely, a regular contributor to our Flickr pool.

Photocoyote's Soundgarden call-out from our Flickr pool.

Andy Warhol's legendary film work Chelsea Girls at SAM, courtesy of Mr. Callan from our Flickr pool. Don't miss love fear pleasure lust pain glamour death at SAM.

Fans of rock poster art, take notice: This Sunday, you can ogle gig sheets, meet poster artists, and buy fiber wares at the Showbox (at the Market). It's sponsored by Pearl Jam's Ten Club fan organization, and will prominently feature "poster highlights" from the band's near-20-year touring history, but the Rock N' Art Poster Convention will include non-PJ works by accomplished print masterminds as well.

This unique event runs 1-5 p.m. and is free to the public. (Ten Clubbers get 30-minute early dibs on whatever "hard-to-find" stuff is for sale and whoever's there to meet.) Artists scheduled to be in the building: ACORN, Ames Bros., Brad Klausen, Brian Methe, Dan Stiles, Frida Clements, Geoff Peveto, GIGART, Guy Burwell, Jeff Kleinsmith, Jeff Soto, Jesse LeDoux, Justin Hampton, LMK, Mark 5, Marq Spusta, Maxx242, Munk One, and Nat Damm.

Easy Street Records owner Matt Vaughan will also be at the venue, selling audio treasures. "From their collection of rare, vinyl records," no less.

You don't have to know offset from silkscreen or Emek from Kozik. (I don't.) Just bring your eyeballs and your tubes, dudes.

This week I'm showcasing the versatility of Great_Beyond. First the time travel snaps, now a slightly creepy hot dog self-condimenting himself. And in public, so far as I can tell. This would give Warhol chills. Seriously, one mustard eyebrow and one ketchup? ARE YOU SEEING THIS?!

Kiki Smith, "Untitled (Head of Guanyin)," at the Henry Art Gallery. Photo courtesy of The Pace Gallery.

Who knew? May 18 is International Museum Day. In a program sponsored by the Association of Art Museum Directors, museums all over the world host special events, discussions, and free or reduced admissions. May 18 having fallen on a Tuesday this year, the Henry Art Gallery--Seattle's only participating institution--has delayed recognizing the event until the more convenient weekend. Today through Sunday, admission is free! (See here for hours of operation.)

So take advantage of the chance to see some of the great work currently on display. Vortexhibition Polyphonica is an ever-changing exhibition of art from the permanent collection curated by guests to create a polyphony of artistic voices through the contrasts and themes that arise from bringing together diverse works. And of course there's also I Myself Have Seen It, a show of photography from artist Kiki Smith, as well as a collection of six portraits by German artist Thomas Ruff.

Slightlynorth looks northeast from West Seattle and reveals Seattle's cloudscaped beauty, while breaking the scene into bold bands of thirds. The travel in color from the gravel to the peekaboo blue sky is a trip in itself. Perhaps now would also be a good time to remind you about the water taxi to West Seattle?

One thing I love about photocoyote's snaps is that he wakes me up to how the city looks. Do you know where these stone faces live? They're somewhere in Seattle Center, making the area look like a hip Old-World plaza. We have 84 photographers participating in our SunBreak Flickr pool. Jump in, and get Glimpsed! 

As you may have heard by now, it was thirty years ago today that Mt. St. Helens blew its top, ultimately killing 57 people and spewing 540 million tons of ash into the air. Today also marks the thirtieth anniversary of Ian Curtis's suicide. (Coincidence?)

One cannot speak of volcano eruptions nowadays without mentioning our friend Eyjafjallajokull, which is back to its old tricks, closing airports and disrupting flights as far away as India. That pesky Icelandic volcano may serve as a global travel annoyance, but in terms of destruction, it ain't no Mt. St. Helens. Still, the timelapse video above (via BoingBoing) sure is pretty. Added bonus:  Jónsi!

Today it's a very special two-part Glimpses, starring The SunBreak Flickr pool's Great_Beyond. I'll let him explain how this goes: "So here I am, 1979-ish, at Gas Works Park. And yeah, it's not a complete match with now, but you try and find a butt-ugly stripy shirt from the seventies in long sleeves these days. But I score points for having an Kodak instamatic! The garbage can is even in the right place--even though there's too many people in the background. " Compare and contrast, after the jump.

Our SunBreak Flickr pool contains a wealth of human experiences, and shots of beer. Here, troyjmorris muses on how precious and few are the moments we two can share: "This was my shelter during the winter. The fire fought the cold well, yet it was rare to see many people here. Now that summer is approaching, my shelter is becoming a well inhabited communal home."