This Week's Events: Feb 25 - March 2, 2008

Thursday, February 28

Pratt Fine Arts Center – Lecture by visiting artist “Vaughn Bell,” who works in multi-media, video, and public art. She teaches the workshop Book as Art, Art with Books as part of Pratt’s Diverse Disciplines department in March. Lecture, free, at 6:30 pm in the Pratt Studios. Bell’s work will be on display in the Hallway Gallery from February 11- March 10.

Lawrimore Project – Opening reception for “Charles LaBelle - Polis/Persona: Selected Video and Projected Works 1993-2007.” Polis/Persona presents a selection of videos and slide-projection works from 1993 to 2007 which involve the direct engagement between the artist and the urban environment. Blurring the boundaries between documentary forms, performance, endurance art, and Hollywood fictions, LaBelle’s work ultimately investigates the relationship between our subjective notions of self and the space of the city. Reception 5-8 pm. Exhibit continues through April 12, 2008.

Videos and slide projection work by Charles LaBelle opening at Lawrimore Project

Howard House – “Gretchen Bennett: Hello” opens in the Front Gallery at Howard House. In her latest body of work, Gretchen Bennett continues her process of collecting and gathering found materials. No longer tracing the geographical iconography of the Northwest, she widens her focus to include an in-depth look at the pop-culture iconography of the area through drawings of the band Nirvana and its lead singer Kurt Cobain. Also opening, “Supernature,” curated by Gretchen Bennett and featuring artwork by Saul Chernick, Andrew Guenther, Matthew Day Jackson, Alexander Kantarovsky, Robert de Saint Phalle, Suzanne Walters, and Aaron Williams. Supernature examines the notion of the perfect landscape, but instead of presenting an idealized or romanticized view of the natural world, the artists allow for the possibility that the perfect landscape can be found in hybrid and abandoned settings. Opening reception 6-8 pm. Artist/Curator's Talk: Saturday, March 1, 12 Noon. Exhibit continues through April 12, 2008.

Friday, February 29

Henry Art Gallery – New exhibition, “Kader Attia: New Work” opens, presenting installations and new video works by the French-Algerian artist, his first large-scale, solo exhibition in the U.S. Attia will be in residence at the Henry Art Gallery for one month to produce new work for the exhibition. The central installation, Rocher Carré, based on a composition Attia has in the past painted directly on walls, realizes a sculpture of this subject for the first time. Attia plans to create numerous shapes out of ordinary materials, filling the space with “emptiness.” The formal beauty of his installations provokes a psychological proximity that helps visitors explore the relationship between volume and emptiness, dream and reality, wealth and poverty, power and weakness. The opening celebration begins at 8 pm. Members free, $6 students, $10 general. The exhibition continues until May 25, 2008.

Kader Attia. Holy Land. 2007. Courtesy of the artist, 1st Biennale of the Canary Islands, and Andrehn-Schiptjenko (Stockholm)

Artist Trust – “Latino Artists Networking Event.” Artist Trust announces a series of artist networking events to be held in our fabulous Artists' Assets Area (AAA) in Seattle. The events will bring artists together, introduce them to the many resources available in the AAA and provide information on services available through Artist Trust's Information Services, Professional Development and Grant Programs. The themes of the Networking Events are meant to be a starting point for conversations and interactions that lead to introductions, possible collaborations and in general – networking! Latino Artists of Washington State are encouraged to participate in this networking event. Come meet other Latino artists practicing in Washington State. Free, 6-9 pm. Contact migue@artisttrust.org for more information.

BLVD Gallery - "Residential,” a music performance series featuring Seattle's "Post Baroque Nu-Hop" ensemble FOSCIL. Each monthly performance features a new incarnation of the group- February features special guest Witnica. Foscils music is an amalgam of diverse influences touching on the atmospheric production of Wu Tangs RZA, the out-jazz of Miles, and the psychedelic meandering of Zappa. Doors open at 8pm.

Saturday, March 1

Tacoma Art Museum – New exhibition “A Couple of Ways of Doing Something,” features fifteen of Chuck Close’s delicately intimate daguerreotypes (including striking enlargements) of leading contemporary artists, paired with Bob Holman’s witty and beautifully typeset poems. As individual portraits, each daguerreotype offers an immensely revealing study of the subject, extending the hyperrealist tradition of portraiture for which Close is renowned.The exhibition includes examples of his other works, taken from each daguerreotype, in a variety of challenging photographic media, including tapestries and photogravures. The result is a transfixing group portrait of Close’s influential and highly creative circle of friends and colleagues.The exhibition is on view March 1 through June 15, 2008.

Gallery 6311 - Painter Mike Leavitt will unofficially close his "Myscapes" show this Saturday, March 1 from 11am-5pm. Leavitt will be at-work sculpting & painting all day, sitting the gallery as a closing event. This is a chance to see the process of Leavitt's hand-made action figures and more. Gallery 6311 is in Ballard at 6311 24th NW, Seattle, WA 98107.

"Myscapes' by Mike Levitt, closing March 5 at Gallery 6311