Dealer's Choice Seattle, 2008

2008 Regina Hackett:

"If art dealers are successful in their choices of artists, they bathe in art's reflected glory. Seldom are they the target of the spotlight.

ART REVIEW

CENTURY 21: DEALER'S CHOICE

WHERE: Wright Exhibition Space, 407 Dexter Ave. N.

WHEN:

10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through October

ADMISSION :

Free admission,

free parking

"Century 21: Dealer's Choice" is that rare art exhibit whose primary focus is the dealer. Art collector Virginia Wright inspired the show by asking gallery owner Greg Kucera to curate an exhibit in the Wright Exhibition Space, and he decided to make it a collective enterprise of the Seattle Art Dealers Association.

In essence, the show is about freedom. What would SADA dealers choose to endorse if they moved outside their responsibility to the artists they represent? They were asked to select three artists (young, middle-age and veteran), none from their own galleries, to represent the aesthetics of the city in the 21st century.

Could the list they develop mean something? Well, yes, but not what Kucera initially intended. Just because dealers align themselves in a group doesn't mean they have anything in common.

	Jeffry Mitchell's glazed earthenware "Black Fu Dogs."

Like every other city with a thriving gallery scene, Seattle's galleries run on different tracks. Most specialize in intimate home decor. As long as there is a market for art that contains no criticality in its approach to content, there will be galleries to provide it.

Even those galleries that regularly rise beyond it have a tendency to cushion their bottom lines by providing at least a sampling of what is easy to swallow. But when asked to pick three artists whose work will help define the region in the new century, it is not surprising that dealers who deliver little more than a space for visual niceties have difficulty imagining what ambition might look like. What is surprising is that almost everybody found at least one plausible candidate.

In Seattle, apparently, if you're under 45, you're young. Originally, young was going to be 35 and under, but too few dealers had candidates. I tend to think of youth as an advantage in the art world, but that's not true in Seattle. If you're under 35, few SADA dealers have heard of you.

But "Century 21: Dealer's Choice" is not the disaster I envisioned when first perusing the list of participants. Walking into the Wright Space, I thought it looked plausible.

This exhibit will not mark its moment. There are too many essential artists left out and too many minor ones included. On the other hand, it doesn't entirely miss its moment, either.

Art is not a test. Artists who pass do not gather on one side of a line with failures on the other. Each artwork engages its own arena of meaning, and what is crucial to one is irrelevant to another. If the modestly ambitious keep their own company, they can be charming.

The real problem is a lack of common purpose. The magnificent brutality of Michael Spafford's painting ("Two Greeks, Two Trojans") makes Dante Marioni's jaunty glass vessels beside it ("Red and Yellow Trio") look trivial, and they aren't. Why are they together in the lobby? Because red is dominant in each? That's a decorator's reason, not an art reason.

This show is like a light bulb flickering on and off in the lost-and-found.

Here's what looks good anyway, with an assist from being at the Wright Space, one of the best places to look at art in the region.

Nola Avienne's "Small Conversation," a pair of mounds made of metal filings reaching toward each other across a gap.

Cris Bruch's "Harbinger," an ash-black twister whose dark tail uncoils from the ceiling.

Mark Calderon's "Nocturne," a vase that could be waving its tendrils at the blind bottom of the deep sea.

Claire Cowie's "The Peacock," a watercolor whose rigorous internal balances does not stabilize the essential fragility of the composition.

Dale Chihuly's lean scribble of a nesting sea form set from 1981.

Drew Daly's "Mirror Merge," a 21st-century combination of Cubism and Mystery Spot tourist trap. I'd love to see it next to Sean M. Johnson's sculptural balancing acts, but (alas) Johnson is not in the show.

Steve Davis' "Benito, Green Hill," a partially shaded head of a young man named Benito, a colossus who fuses August Saunder with Nan Goldin.

Marita Dingus' glass babies with their own aftershocks.

Scott Fife's cardboard head of Geronimo, as grave as the Sphinx.

Lauren Grossman's version of Lot's wife, the salt of her body turned to practical use.

Victoria Haven's "Double or Nothing," a roller-coaster flattened and abstracted. It looks lackluster reproduced, but in person the intricacy of its cut-out shiny metal is a clean, clear thrill.

Gaylen Hansen's "Sleeping Cowboy," a home-on-the-range update of Henri Rousseau.

Denzil Hurley's "Glyph-D," paint pulsing with a bone-weary beauty.

Doug Jeck's "Figurine," a small ceramic homage to the ancient Greeks, with wit and horror.

Lead Pencil's "Accumulation," which is a critique of painting and a closet, and a room with a ceiling, a floor and walls made of paint drips. It takes up more space than it actually has.

Alden Mason's "Summer Blusher" from his Burpee Garden series, abstraction from the 1970s that holds its own with the Color Field painters of Washington, D.C.

Peter Millett's "Weeping Woman," a seductive approach to the suggestion of massive form.

Jeffry Mitchell's "Black Fu Dogs," scribbles within scribbles within art historical scribbles.

Joseph Park's "Winogrand," a silky homage to "Women Are Beautiful," not the prints but the book, a painting of pages turning.

Samatha Scherer's "Orders," approaching the figure as a smear on silence.

Jeffrey Simmons' paintings in his "Larger Chorus" series, their buried heat.

Preston Singletary for his magisterial glass version of Pacific Northwest Coast design.

Michael Spafford's oil painting "Two Greeks, Two Trojans," which brutalizes the space it activates.

Akio Takamori's "Venus," clay dripping paint, Art Deco meets Tang Dynasty.

Whiting Tennis for his inaccessible sense of place.

Trimpin's musical tribute to John Cage's silence.

Alice Wheeler's high-life version of Kurt Cobain, the grunge king.

Robert Yoder's tough and scruffy abstraction built from road signs.

Claude Zervas for his slippery green fish, the only video in the show.

Kucera says the show turned out better than he expected. To those who complain that there are 37 male artists to 13 female, he points out the majority of dealers in SADA are women.

"To the extent that my colleagues took the challenge seriously," he said, "I think it turned out very well."

THE LIST

The 17 Seattle art galleries that make up the Seattle Art Dealers Association and participated in "Century 21" were asked to pick three artists (young, middle-age and veteran) for the exhibit, the only restriction being the artists they chose couldn't be from their own galleries.

Here's the list of who picked whom. Note that, among SADA dealers, "young" means under 45. Why? Because SADA dealers don't know enough artists under 35 to make the category work.

Sam Davidson, Davidson Galleries

Under 45: Drew Daly, Greg Kucera Gallery

45-55: Fred Birchman, Francine Seders Gallery

Over 55: Peter Millett, Greg Kucera Gallery

Betsy Fetherston, Fetherston Gallery

Under 45: Katy Stone, Greg Kucera Gallery

45-55: Robert Yoder, Howard House

Over 55: Dave Kane

Phen Huang, Foster/White Gallery

Under 45: Anne Siems, Grover/Thurston Gallery

45-55: Steve Davis, James Harris Gallery

Over 55: Joe Max Emminger, Grover/Thurston Gallery

Andria Friesen, Friesen Gallery

Under 45: Preston Singletary, Traver Gallery

45-55: Mark Rediske, Foster/White Gallery

Over 55: Patti Warashina, Howard House

Gail Gibson, G. Gibson Gallery

Under 45: Samantha Scherer, Davidson Galleries

45-55: Richard Hutter, Lisa Harris Gallery

Over 55: Scott Fife, Platform Gallery

Karen Light/Marcus Piña, Garde Rail Gallery

Under 45: Saya Moriyasu, G. Gibson Gallery

45-55: Alice Wheeler, Greg Kucera Gallery

Over 55: Terry Turrell, Grover/Thurston Gallery

Susan Grover/Richard Thurston, Grover/Thurston Gallery

Under 45: Claire Cowie, James Harris Gallery (selected by Grover)

45-55: Jeffry Mitchell, James Harris Gallery (Grover)

Over 55: James Martin, Foster/White Gallery (Thurston)

Jim Harris, James Harris Gallery

Under 45: Joseph Park, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

45-55: Whiting Tennis, Greg Kucera Gallery

Over 55: Robert Helm, Linda Hodges Gallery

Lisa Harris, Lisa Harris Gallery

Under 45: Nealy Blau, G. Gibson Gallery

45-55: Mark Calderon, Greg Kucera Gallery

Over 55: Michael Spafford, Francine Seders Gallery

Linda Hodges, Linda Hodges Gallery

Under 45: Dante Marioni, Traver Gallery

45-55: William Morris, Friesen Gallery

Over 55: Dale Chihuly, Traver Gallery

Billy Howard, Howard House

Under 45: Jeffrey Simmons, Greg Kucera Gallery

45-55: Doug Jeck, Traver Gallery

Over 55: Denzil Hurley, Francine Seders Gallery

Greg Kucera, Greg Kucera Gallery

Under 45: Claude Zervas, James Harris Gallery

45-55: Cris Bruch, Lawrimore Project

Over 55: Alden Mason, Foster/White Gallery

David Martin, Martin-Zambito Fine Art

Under 45: Nola Avienne, Catherine Person Gallery

45-55: Tod Gangler, Benham Gallery

Over 55: William Elston, Davidson Galleries

Jerry Slipman, Pacini Lubel Gallery

Under 45: David French, Linda Hodges Gallery

45-55: Marita Dingus, Francine Seders Gallery

Over 55: Gaylen Hansen, Linda Hodges Gallery

Francine Seders, Francine Seders Gallery

Under 45: Victoria Haven, Greg Kucera Gallery

45-55: Zhi Lin, Howard House

Over 55: Akio Takamori, James Harris Gallery

Carolyn Staley, Carolyn Staley Fine Japanese Prints

Over 55: Art Hansen, Davidson Galleries (Because Staley herself represents almost no living artists, she thinks she lacks the knowledge to pick anyone under 55.)

Bill Traver/Sarah Traver, Traver Gallery

Under 45: Lead Pencil Studio (Annie Han and Dan Mihalyo), Lawrimore Project

45-55: Lauren Grossman, Howard House

Over 55: Trimpin"

Hackett, R. "'Dealer's Choice' shifts the rules for art exhibits." September 22, 2008. The Seattle Post Intelligencer. http://www.seattlepi.com/visualart/380109_century23.html