Joe Vollan

I feel like Joe Vollan’s work is a love-it or hate-it affair. But if you’re feeling the well-rendered, cutesy details of his pieces, chances are you’ll be feeling them a lot. Below, a couple pieces that serve as throwbacks to another time, complete with costumed, skeletal figures.

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Jose Rodriguez III

I don’t know much about this artist (and the internet is a bit confused as well), but if these geometrically-fragmented samples are any indication of what to expect, it should be a pretty rad show.

Every couple years or so (literally), the Seattle Art Museum changes out the installation they have on display at the Olympic Sculpture Park. The next installation round, which runs from August 28, 2010 to March 4, 2012 at the Olympic Sculpture Park’s Paccar Pavilion, will feature the colorful works of Trenton Doyle Hancock. It’s unsure what the installation will look like as of now, but here are some sample of the artist’s work for you to get a feel.

If you’re wondering what the current / last installation by Geoff McFetridge looked like, click here.

Anyway, head on over on the eve of August 27th, and enjoy the following:

Featuring artist talks by Trenton Doyle Hancock, performances by Susie Lee, Library Science, and Seattle Percussion Collective, music by I Heart Shiva and SunTzu Sound, tours with artists, writers, and much more.

SAM members enjoy priority access, a members-only bar, and more. . . . Not a member? Join SAM today.

Tickets: SAM members $12, nonmembers $15, students w/ID $12. This event is open to guests age 18 and over only.

Illuminate the park after dark: first 50 in neon get in free.

Date: 8/27/2010
Time: 8 pm-midnight
Location: Olympic Sculpture Park, Western Ave. & Broad St.

As of today, you have one more week left to snag some Bigfoot pieces from Flatcolor Gallery (528 First Avenue South, Seattle, WA) — lucky you! Snatch ‘em up while you still can! The full-color painted pieces are not cheap, but I don’t imagine they’ll get any cheaper anytime soon. Luckily, there’s some diversity in this show so that those with less funds can still -somewhat- afford a Bigfoot original.

The Reckoning - 30″ x 20″ - acrylic,ink,and resin on wood - $2,000.00

Guitarmageddon - 16″ x 20″ - silkscreen by artist and varnish on wood - $250.00

Go Green - 18″ x 24″ - silkscreen and varnish on wood - $200.00

Hey, Seattlites!

There’s a live painting going on today in Seattle, with a boatload of fun Seattle artists like Augie Pagan, Mat Savage, PaperMarbleS, CASH, Tessa Hulls, John Osgood and Sensei23 & Zach Bohnenkamp of Matamuros. Interesting collection of folks here, so head on over today, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm (thank goodness for Pacific Northwest summers) at Bherd Studios Gallery at The Greenwood Collective (8537 Greenwood Ave N Suite 1, Seattle, WA).

With the proliferation of text-messaging and chat conversations and all sorts of data! being! transmitted! at! amazing!! speeds!!! throughout the world at any given SECOND, and in all sorts of RiDiCuLuZ FoRmZ, it seems only appropriate to base one show… or maybe even tons of shows… off of this theme. Which leads me to this post.

James Harris Gallery in Seattle currently has a group exhibition going on entitled TXT. Graphics and text converge to create two- and three- dimensional works that can be interpreted on multiple levels by viewers. This show runs through August 20th. Here are some of the pieces:

Lawrence Lemaoana’s Things Fall Apart, 2009
Textile (49″ x 32″)

Walter Robinson’s Forest, 2008
MDF, Epoxy, metalflake (84″ x 62″ x 1″)

Anthony Discenza’s EVERYTHING YOU’VE HEARD, 2009
Vinyl on aluminum, Ed. of 5 (24″ x 18″)

Alejandro Cesarco’s Footnote #7, 2008
Vinyl text on wall, Ed. of 5

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On a similar note, Portland’s Recess Gallery has an open call to artists who are working with text. Call is as follows:

Work that recontextualizes the text. Work that informs, invites, or inquires. Work that sends, receives, documents messages/ideas. Work that does work. Work you made. Work that you and someone else made. Work that you want to make with people. Work that is technically proficient? Sure. Work about ideas about ideas about ideas. Work in Helvetica. Work in Garamond. Work in video. Works on paper.

Do you have something that seems to fit? Does it coincide with at least three of the above statements? That’s okay, even if it doesn’t, you should send it to

recesspdx@gmail.com by the end of July for a show opening in the middle of August.

Please include your proposal/project description/artist statement along with some contact informtion, artist bio, or link to a relevant/personal website.
Suggested Additions:
Images of proposed work
Images of recent work
Your phone number

If you have any questions or concerns, please direct them to recesspdx@gmail.com.

Our show poster for our 5-Year Anniversary Event (tomorrow, in Seattle, at Chop Suey) got Poster Of The Week at The Stranger.

What the article failed to mention is that each poster was individually blockprinted on found sheets of magazine paper; each product is 100% unique. Yeah! Here’s another sample. There’s a million more.

Get out and enjoy the sun, Seattlites. Check out this interesting interactive performance taking place downtown at Occidental Square Park today from 11:00am to 1:30pm and 4:30pm to 7:30pm. New York’s City Mediation Crew will be doing their typical tasks slowly and deliberately, to encourage thought.

From the press release:

Clad in white coveralls emblazoned with the orange “slow moving vehicle” triangle and wide-brimmed hats, CMC workers are recognizable as they walk slowly and collect silver foil gum wrappers and affix them to the sidewalk in the heart of Occidental Square Park to create a radiant, silver mosaic circle. CMC workers will loan video cameras to the public to create “contemplative videos” for exhibition on a video exhibition and exchange website. The anonymous members of the crew include those who consider themselves “Artists”, as well as those who donʼt.

Presented by Artsparks 2010, a partnership among Seattle Parks and Recreation, 4Culture Site Specific, and the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. CMC is supported by, Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts. Contemplative videos are supported by an Enitiative Grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Syracuse University School of Information Studies.

Almost missed this show by Ariana Page Russell, who works taking photographs of skin.

“How can that possibly be interesting?” you ask?

Judging by the description, I would have imagined some kind of macro biological photography analysis of skin, but Russell’s photographs of skin are just as much about the human being their stuck onto than the skin itself. Her work is conceptually creative and visually engrossing.

This show at Platform Gallery (114 Third Avenue S, Seattle, WA) closes out tomorrow, so catch it quickly!