Seattle

November 14, 2011, 8:20am

Material Worlds: Nola Avienne’s 11.11.11.11

The richness of Nola Avienne’s work invites visual indulgence. Captivating the eye through highly textural, densely composed imagery, her sculptures and mixed media works hover within the classic duality of the beautiful and the grotesque without perpetuating clichés. The Seattle artist distinguishes her work through the use of unusual mediums, best known for her meticulously crafted sculptures comprised of iron filings. Some of these manifest as intricate forms reminiscent of lush, fungal-like organisms; others demonstrate the kinetic potential of their magnetic medium through geometric mechanisms that circulate quietly in slow motion. -- Erin Langner, Seattle Contributor

October 24, 2011, 8:30am

Cinematic Curiosities: Patte Loper’s Still Point of the Returning World

The small row of Patte Loper’s modest, handcrafted sculptures from new exhibition Still Point of the Returning World discretely lines a pedestal in the back of Seattle’s Platform Gallery.  Untitled (Leipzig) resembles an awkward architectural model of stacked boxes, covered by a bulbous sheet; the nearby funnel created from sticks and cardboard strips stands stagnant in space, like a film prop without a set.  Within the surrounding paintings, however, these foreign sculptural objects explode into complex cornerstones of the artist’s fantastical, painted environments.

September 21, 2011, 6:21pm

Strange, New Islands by Bluhm and Griffith

For SOIL's latest show, Islands, Seattle artists Susanna Bluhm (NAP #53, 67, 91) and Cable Griffith are creating mystical terra firma. Strange, new islands, populated with references to Guston, early video games, and feminism, are all tied together with a unified of palette of blues, greens and grays. Where Griffith is tight and controlled, Bluhm is loose and expansive.

September 01, 2011, 10:00am

Must-See Paintings Show: September

The art world comes alive again in September, as galleries reopen and collectors return from far flung locations. We reviewed upcoming September exhibitions at more than 400 galleries around the country, and there will be a lot of painting on view.

As is typical, many galleries are bringing out the big guns for the new season - from Agnes Martin at The Pace Gallery in New York to a well structured survey of Bay Area figurative painter, Nathan Oliveira, at John Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco. Among the shows opening by emerging artists, it is hard to ignore the trend towards abstract painting that has swept over the art world.