Visual Art

The Crazy Light of Desert Prisons

Buddy Bunting: Flat Time Blue

Prole Drift
Fri–Sun. Through May 27.

The Crazy Light of Desert Prisons

Buddy Bunting's Breakthrough


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Friday, May 25, 2012

Class Art: Dale Chihuly's New Museum Is Off and Running (And So Is the Debate About It)

Posted by on Fri, May 25, 2012 at 9:27 AM

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  • Kelly O

Chihuly Garden and Glass just opened Monday, so this is the first weekend to check it out. The art experience is a mixed bag, but there's plenty to see and to think about regarding art, culture, and class. Or watch the watchers: Folks love to get worked up about Chihuly.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Currently Hanging: Buddy Bunting's Breakthrough

Posted by on Thu, May 24, 2012 at 1:53 PM

For this week's paper, I talked to Buddy Bunting about three of his new breakthrough paintings on display at Prole Drift. There's a gleaming prison basketball court abandoned in the sun, a motel room in Flagstaff made on a piece of cardboard using just a handful of brushstrokes and leaving the rest of the brown paper showing through, and a portrait of the rocky area of Grand Ronde as if it were a dessert melting.

We only had space in the print edition for Bunting to talk about three paintings. Below is one more, with his commentary. The painting, oil on paper, is called The AA Meeting, from 2009, and it is just a little, haunting thing, measuring 6 by 7 3/4 inches.

bunting_aa_meeting.jpg
  • Courtesy of the artist

That is in Seattle, it’s—I don’t want to say it’s a secret—but most people see my work and think it’s in a faraway place. That painting is called The AA Meeting. They have these meetings. I don’t actually know what the hell they’re doing, but there’s always a guy standing up talking to these people. I’ll see it when I'm walking around at night.

It was one of the first I did looking into an interior space. It had this Edward Hopper-like quality. Also the abstract arrow thing, and the receding lights.

I look up there and see these people, and they look kind of interested and kind of bored, like they were sent to this meeting. It’s sort of the beginning of an idea that was in one of the drawers of my flat file in my studio.

The whole interview is called "The Crazy Light of Desert Prisons".

Wind Map!

Posted by on Thu, May 24, 2012 at 11:14 AM

"Zoom in and it looks like some of the aboriginal art at SAM," writes Slog tipper Brice.

Coooooooool.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bumbershoot to Skip Flatstock This Year

Posted by on Wed, May 23, 2012 at 3:58 PM

A tip last week suggested that Bumbershoot organizers One Reel may not be including American Poster Institute's Flatstock at this year's festival. I sent out an e-mail last Wednesday, and One Real Associate Director Aubbie Beal responded to my e-mail late yesterday with this statement: "It's true that Flatstock is taking a break from Bumbershoot this year due to current space constraints. However, we are hopeful that we will find a mutually agreeable, suitable location for them next year, when new spaces become available after the Next 50 Celebration has ended."

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Currently Hanging: Adrain Chesser and Art Camp

Posted by on Tue, May 22, 2012 at 8:42 AM

The Widow
  • Images courtesy the artist
  • The Widow

To make their pictures, [Chesser and his collaborators] bring together 10 or so people for a few days at a chosen location, usually wildernessy. Each "camp" has a theme—one was focused on hunting and the female element, another was called The Death of False Optimism—and they pre-create garments, sets, situations. For some pictures, the staging is based on, say, a Caravaggio painting; other times it's improvised ("It's dawn, grab whatever you have and let's go to the edge of the canyon").

A full story on Seattle artist Adrain Chesser, including looking at his remarkable early series I Have Something to Tell You and links to where he's showing in the city now, here. His web site here.

I have something to tell you.
  • "I have something to tell you."

Better Than Nailing Books to the Wall

Posted by on Tue, May 22, 2012 at 8:09 AM

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The image to the left of this paragraph is a book, a great collection of short stories written by Lynne Tillman titled Someday This Will Be Funny. (I reviewed Tillman's book a little over a year ago.) The image to the left of this paragraph is also a collection of tiny books by Lynne Tillman, with each story in Someday This Will Be Funny printed as its own booklet. AND the image to the left of this paragraph is a framed, interactive piece of art to hang on your wall. You can arrange the colorful books inside the frame in any order you wish. (Check out a slideshow of the book/art object right here.)

Producing a book as an art object, so you can keep the book in your life even when you're not actively reading, is a great idea. I'm leery of the price—$195 before the book ships, $250 after—but I'd love to see this format applied to other collections.

Monday, May 21, 2012

The Dissolution of the John T. Williams Mural Needs a Documenter

Posted by on Mon, May 21, 2012 at 1:21 PM

The mural as of Saturday evening.
  • Photo by Sacha Noelle Peet
  • The mural as of Saturday evening.

It was up for so many months that No Touching Ground's touching John T. Williams memorial mural on 11th Street between Pike and Pine seemed like it would stay forever—even while we all knew it couldn't.

But that time came sooner than expected. On Friday night, according to the Poster Giant employee who works that block, Keith (he asked not to provide his full name), a mohawked man began tearing it down. Keith "asked him not to touch it, but the guy wouldn't listen and Keith's been harassed a lot lately so he didn't want to get into a confrontation," Poster Giant spokeswoman Barbara Mitchell said in an email.

The email also contained photographs that demonstrated that Keith had repaired the mural in April. He wrote in the email with the pictures, dated April 30, "The other day someone asked if I'd fix it while putting up 11th and Pine, they said it would mean a lot to a lot of people, so I did. A way of giving back too [sic] the community. My good deed for the year."

Artist Emily Pothast wrote a response to this weekend's defacement—although the tearing conspicuously spares the face of John T. Williams—on Facebook.

"It's still beautiful, and to me it will continue to be beautiful even when it is just a memory of what used to be in this spot for some lovely fleeting moments before succumbing to the tides, as we all must grow comfortable with doing eventually..."

She added: "someone should take a picture of this spot from the same place every day and make a stop motion animation of the process of its eventual destruction."

That is a really good idea. Is anybody up for an easy, awesome, civic project? Couldn't we also crowd-source it and make it an interactive Bing map thing?

Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Kerfuffling!

Posted by on Sat, May 19, 2012 at 12:03 PM

ARTINFO's top ten favorite mean things that have been said about Dale Chihuly.

Aaaaaand the Chihulyseum at Seattle Center opens Monday. It'll cost you 19 bucks to get in.

Friday, May 18, 2012

What? 'Miraculous Mandarin' Is Canceled?

Posted by on Fri, May 18, 2012 at 5:10 PM

Spectrum Dance Theater just sent out a press release saying its performances of The Miraculous Mandarin no longer have a home due to a sponsorship cancellation over the content of the show. I have a call in to Matthew Richter, but haven't been able to get his side of the story yet. As soon as I do, I will update here. Yes, this is the performance Brendan liked so much last night. I was looking forward to seeing it myself.

SEATTLE -Storefronts Seattle Program Director Matthew Richter withdrew program sponsorship of Spectrum Dance Theater's performances of The Miraculous Mandarin in the Bush Hotel. Richter cited dramatic sexual depictions and implied nudity as the reason for the withdrawal.

Without support from Storefronts Seattle, Spectrum Dance Theater must vacate the Bush Hotel. Performances for the remainder of the run are cancelled until further notice. Spectrum is seeking alternate venues.

The Miraculous Mandarin was to be presented in six performances May 17-19 & May 24-26, free of charge, in the windows of the Bush Hotel overlooking Hing Hay Park in the Chinatown-International District.

People who made seat reservations will be contacted about the cancellations and potential relocation of the performances. The related tour of the historic Freeman Hotel at the Wing Luke Museum on Saturday, May 19, will take place as planned.

Based on the ballet by composer Bela Bartók, which was repeatedly banned throughout the 20th century, The Miraculous Mandarin is a work that is for a mature audience, and is not intended for children. The performances were to take place from 8:30-9:20pm in Hing Hay Park, located in the Seattle's Chinatown-International District. An audience talkback with artistic director Donald Byrd and the performers was to take place following each performance.

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