Recent Stories in Visual Arts

ticktock dance vs. Perseus. Photo by Nikolai Lesnikov.

ticktock dance, ticktock vs. Perseus (Sat., 4:45 and on, Karkeek Park, free). A couple months ago, ticktock dance came to New York to perform as part of an aerial dance festival. The idea behind "aerial dance" is to bring the choreographic vision to what's otherwise an--dare I say it--ossified circus art. Lots of people love the idea in concept--who wouldn't?--but in practice, it's often a failure. The aerial artists on hand at the festival performed one band gimmick after another. Except for ticktock.

Comprised of lovelies Liza Rose and Jill Marissa (of the Aerialistas) and Bridget Gunning (a frequent collaborator of Keely Isaak Meehan's Manifold Motion), ticktock's work is fascinating and boundary-pushing, making broad use of the space and thinking far outside the circus box when it comes to making a show. All of which is to say that whatever the crew is planning to do when they install themselves on Miguel Edwards' Perseus statue in Carkeek Park this Saturday for a series of performances at 4:45, 5:45, and 6:45 p.m., it's going to be worth seeing.

Josephine's Echopraxia, It doesn't matter if it has been said before some things bear repeating (Fri. & Sat. 9:45, Project: Space Available, free). I saw a bit of Marissa Rae Niederhauser's current show at Project: Space Available when I was in Seattle last, and it was, to put it bluntly, disturbing. A series of tableaux vivants, entitled It doesn't matter if it has been said before some things bear repeating, the first iteration featured Niederhauser performing being subjected to a brutal domination by one of my favorite local actors, Paul Budraitis.

The second installation, Your morality tales are ignorant and arrogant and I am sick of hearing them, goes up this weekend, and continues Niederhauser's exploration of the objectification and exploitation of women through troubling imagery. As the show progresses (her residency lasts through the end of October), each previous work will be installed through video and other techniques, so that the show builds on itself. (P:SA is located on 10th Ave. near E. Pike St.; enter the building through the door next to Sweatbox Yoga and follow the hallway back to Studio D.)... (more)

This doesn't look good for your health. (By Slightlynorth, in our Flickr pool.)... (more)

Ladies love the 'stache. From +Russ in our Flickr pool.

Today, Slightlynorth's contribution to our Flickr pool helps take me on an odd wander down memory lane. My late grandfather spent most of his adult life working for the railroad, and when I was young, I remember taking the train with he and my grandmother from Portland to Idaho, where my great-grandmother lived on a ranch near Nampa and Caldwell.... (more)

First of all, this is an important photo because it reminds us all that blue skies are possible in Seattle. Great_Beyond says, "This fellow resides just west of the Ballard Locks, and is apparently meant to celebrate Puget Sound salmon and the local indigenous cultures. The glass disc depicts the salmon life cycle, giving thanks to the salmon as they migrate out to sea." A couple of things jump out: the face half-cast in shadow, the texture of his vest, the upward angle of the shot--even the fact that he's not quite vertical seems to catch him action.

Great Beyond gives us this great shot and the statue's backstory in our Flickr pool.

"The question becomes," says Chris Blakeley, "is God dead or did He just lose His lease?" It's troubling, no matter how you look at it. And that thumbtack...ominous. All this and more in The SunBreak Flickr pool. Jump in!

Nikon is getting ready to roll out a new dSLR and Seattle-based photographer Chase Jarvis was the lucky bastard to get to play around with it before anyone else had a look. Instead of grabbing the D7000 and taking thousands of shots of cute kittens, he gathered some friends, a remote controlled helicopter (omfg!), a score performed by Joshua Roman, and a white cargo van to make a film in Seattle that pushed the camera's HD video capabilities.

Aside from being a nice little movie (to me, it reads as a clever counterpoint to the one that announced the high end Canon 5D Mark II), the clip and its associated blog entry  does exactly what I'm sure the honchos at Nikon hoped: it already gearheads drooling over specs and queuing to preorder one for themselves. An unintentional side effect of the tech hype, though, might be showing off some worthy Seattle bands like Sera Cahoone, Head Like a Kite, and Victor Shade whose music appears in amazing road test video's soundtrack.... (more)

Thanks to zenobia_joy for this addition to our Flickr pool. Admit it, you've always wondered who Freeway Park is "for," besides muggers and exhibitionists. Now you know: parkour enthusiasts and the people who photograph them. I didn't even know we had hosted a Parkour Summit.

Great_Beyond dropped this photo of Seattle in the late '70s into The SunBreak Flickr pool (over 3,000 photos and climbing). This morning seems a good to consider the look of Seattle from a distance, because tonight is the Central Waterfront Design presentation at Benaroya Hall, 7 to 10 p.m. [Confidential to Great_Beyond: Don't crop out the hand--it makes the shot.]

The title pretty much sums up this shot from ozmafan, dutifully included in TSB's Flickr pool.

Photo by Slightlynorth from our Flickr pool.

Street art awesomeness from GabeMeier in our Flickr pool.

By zenobia_joy in our Flickr pool.

Some rad looking characters in this little number.

The art works of a certain fella known as "Max Clotfelter" will enjoy some prominent placement at a little art show opening party at the Wall of Sound record store September 10th from 7 to 9 p.m. Said show is entitled "Who Let The Alley Inside - Oozing illustrations of the end times." Rad title for an art show. Allegedly, the show will include over 100 drawings in pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, and other media, which will be available for purchase by you, guy.

Hype from the press release action: Richard Krauss of Midnight Fiction describes Max's work as "artfully scratchy cartoons and raw, urban fables that are more fun than dumpster diving." Impressive...

Wall of Sound is located at 315 E. Pine St.

A good point--why don't more bands have tambourinists? (Photo of the Submarines's Blake Hazard by TSB Flickr pool newbie jandrew33.)

It'll be beer o'clock soon enough, peeps. Enjoy the weekend! (Photo by :MPG: from our Flickr pool.)

+Russ is documenting how much weirder Seattle's gotten since the Lusty Lady closed in our Flickr pool. Methinks this bodes ill.

From the Great Beyond, in our Flickr pool.

From gabemeier in our Flickr pool.

Heh. "Annie Wall." It's like a pun or something. (Thanks to the indelible lwestcoat, one of our Flickr pool superstars.)

Submitted to our Flickr pool by Slightlynorth.

Kodachrome to be no more? Say it ain't so! (Via Great Beyond, in our Flickr pool, who also took this photo.)

As the daily "Glimpses" editor, it's my job to go through the submissions to our Flickr pool and select a shot that our contributors have willingly submitted, and over time you start noticing things. One of them is the near endless fascination photographers find in capturing a sense of dislocation in the urban environment. This is a really lovely example from Zenobia Joy.

The Satori Group, one of our favorite local theatre companies, contributes this shot of in-studio work to our Flickr pool. Satori themselves host both open training sessions as well as arty events like WhizArtBang! that are definitely worth checking out; for more info, visit their website or like 'em on the Facebook.