Category Archives: Contemporary Art
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Gaylen Hanson : our local Maestro!
A painting of a giant grasshopper standing on a rock invites us into the Woodside Braseth Gallery for an exhibition of Gaylen Hansen, age 104. As we enter the gallery we see a swarm of bright blue fish with intense red eyes, mouths open and teeth bared. Turning to the right we see a red […]
This entry was posted on December 17, 2025 and is filed under Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Healing and Hope in War Zones
CHildren’s Art from Gaza and Ukraine There is less art from Ukraine and I did not have an explanation as to how it arrived in Seattle, but this strong image is on the cover of the brochure as an emblematic image from Ukraine. I include more at the end of the post […]
This entry was posted on September 4, 2025 and is filed under Contemporary Art, Uncategorized, WANN, We are Not Numbers. -
Ruth Asawa Sculptor of Space in three books
Ruth Asawa: Sculptor of Space Ruth Asawa had an extraordinary childhood. In her early years she grew up on a farm with her immigrant parents, sharing in the hard work. That idea of hard work stayed with her throughout her career as an artist. In April 1942, when she was sixteen her family […]
This entry was posted on August 30, 2025 and is filed under American Art, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Asian American Art, Contemporary Sculpture by Women, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
Hanaa Malallah : Ruins and Research
I first met Hanaa Malallah in 2007 just after she came to London from war torn Iraq. . Above you see her applying burned and shredded canvas to one of her works The burning of her canvas was her response to the nightmare of destruction she faced in Baghdad every time she […]
This entry was posted on July 16, 2025 and is filed under colonial images, Conceptual Art, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Zodiacs by Ai Weiwei coming to Seattle in the fall
The larger than life Zodiac heads by Ai Weiwei that are coming to Volunteer Park this fall( too bad not there for the summer) represent the following animals in the usual order: Pig, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, Goat, Horse, Snake, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger, Ox, Rat. Each of these Zodiac animals have specific traits […]
This entry was posted on May 18, 2025 and is filed under Conceptual Art, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Ai Weiwei in Seattle!
Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of AiWeiwei Ai, Rebel runs until September 7 at Seattle Art Museum; Water Lilies Lego opens March 19 at Asian Art Museum; Circle of Animals: Zodiac Heads opens May 17 at Olympic Sculpture Park. Tree, Wood, 2009-2010, with FOONG Ping, exhibition curator and SAM’s Foster Foundation Curator of Chinese Art( in […]
This entry was posted on April 21, 2025 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, Contemporary Art, Culture and Human rights, economic imperialism vs democracy, Uncategorized. -
Tomur Atagök: Painter, Historian, Critic, Curator, Mentor
Tomur Atagök 1939-2025 We are all mourning the passing of our beloved mentor and teacher I first connected with Tomur Atagök in 1997 through her collaborations with Katy Deepwell in n.paradoxa. Tomur had just published in the first volume of Katy’s amazing magaine, an essay on “Contemporary Turkish Women Artists”. ( […]
This entry was posted on March 31, 2025 and is filed under Art and Activism, Contemporary Art, ecology, Feminism, landscape, Uncategorized. -
Rita Robillard Time and Place
Nesting from the series Flower Serenade: A Gift of Time 2021 “Rita Robillard Time and Place”, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem Oregon Tuesday to Saturday noon – 5pm Until March 25, 2023 Rita Robillard was a colleague of mine in the art department at Washington State University in Pullman in the […]
This entry was posted on February 9, 2023 and is filed under Art and Ecology, Contemporary Art, landscape, Printmaking, Uncategorized. -
The Stonehenge Exhibition at the British Museum
Right after we arrived in London, we went to the Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum. I got free press passes for me, Henry and Henry’s sister, Imogen. There were so many amazing aspects to this display that it is impossible to convey the depth and extent of the experience. Not to mention the […]
This entry was posted on May 7, 2022 and is filed under Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Morgan Peterson on Greed, Power, Control and Murder
“Born of our Culture: American Excess” a recent installation at Method Gallery by Morgan Peterson tells it like it is in our contemporary moment. Morgan Petersen has long been fascinated by true crime and the amplifying role that media plays in our culture starting with the 1969 Charles Manson murders My fascination […]
This entry was posted on December 3, 2021 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Ghost of a Dream and Elizabeth ‘Mumbet’ Freeman
Ghost of a Dream and Elizabeth Mumbet Freedom at the new MassArtArt Museum
This entry was posted on November 11, 2021 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
Defusing Radical Alice Neel
Observe these two portraits On the right is the feature image of the Metropolitan Museum of Art current exhibition of the work of Alice Neel “People Come First” It is identified as a portrait of “Elenka”1936, about which there is no information except that she “presumably numbered among the several bohemians with […]
This entry was posted on August 24, 2021 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
Grief and Grievance at the New Museum in New York
Grief and Grievance at the New Museum demonstrates the many ways that artist can address grief while collectively suggesting grievance, the resistance to injustice.
This entry was posted on July 8, 2021 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Breathe! at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and several provocative new shows at the Henry Art Gallery
Provocative artists in several shows at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and the Henry Art Gallery
This entry was posted on April 14, 2021 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, ecology, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
Selma Waldman More Important Than Ever in 2021
“Lust for power and territory is the same lust that kills man, women, children and the land itself” Selma Waldman 2002 What would Seattle’s deeply political artist Selma Waldman think of our current catastrophes? On a bitter winter day in January 2008, I accompanied Selma Waldman to the last demonstration that she attended […]
This entry was posted on February 26, 2021 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
Marela Zacarias at Mad Art brings us the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Xochicalco
In case you are yearning for a trip to get away from our crazy election or now to celebrate it, go to Mad Art (325 Westlake Avenue N, open Thurs, Fri, Sat noon to 5 and by appointment necessary) Marela Zacarías brings us the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Xochicalco, a Mesoamerican […]
This entry was posted on November 6, 2020 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, Contemporary Art, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
South African superstar photographer Zanele Muholi at the Seattle Art Museum
Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness South African superstar artist Zanele Muholi bursts out of the Jacob Lawrence and Gwen Knight corner gallery at the Seattle Art Museum: “I’m reclaiming my blackness.” Their exhibition “Somnyama Ngonyama: Hail the Dark Lioness,” spills into four adjoining spaces. First, we see the huge signature self-portrait […]
This entry was posted on September 23, 2019 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Feminism, Uncategorized. -
Mary Coss’s “Groundswell” Tells About Salination and Climate Change
During a recent residency, Mary Coss was growing barnacles on Willapa Bay, the second largest estuary in the United States (over 260 square miles!) The artist described the process to me in detail: first she coated a wire mesh with cement snags to attract the barnacles, then dragged it over an […]
This entry was posted on March 23, 2019 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
“In the Fields of Empty Days: Intersections of Past and Present in Iranian Art,”
“In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art” at The Los Angeles County Museum is a show on a crucial topic. Although much of the work is contemporary, note that the title does not say that. Tirafkan’s image speaks volumes of the intersection of past and present that […]
This entry was posted on June 25, 2018 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Iran, Iranian protests, Iranian Women, Uncategorized. -
William Kentridge “Triumphs and Laments” in Boston
William Kentridge’s “Triumphs and Laments,” in an exhibition in Boston based on his 2016 giant procession and reverse graffiti along the Tiber in Rome.
This entry was posted on May 3, 2018 and is filed under "the Kentridge moment", "War and the Body", "War Experience Project" Handspring Puppets, Contemporary Art, Culture and Human rights, Uncategorized. -
Art and Bombs
August 6 a day to commemorate the most horrifying act of all time, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am giving you the work of several artists who address these acts from contrasting perspectives as a response to the horrifying comments coming from the President and perhaps for more work to be created on this subject.
This entry was posted on August 10, 2017 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, Art and Politics Now, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Indigenous Art, Gail Tremblay, Uncategorized. -
Benny Andrews: The Bicentennial Series predicts America Today *
Benny Andrews Bicentennial Series created in the early 1970s predicts the disfunction of our nation today.
This entry was posted on February 24, 2017 and is filed under African American fiction, Arican American history, Art and Activism, Art of Democracy, Black Art, Black HIstory Month, Contemporary Art, Uncategorized. -
The Spirit of Standing Rock
Art inspired by the Standing Rock resistance is appearing everywhere and in all media
This entry was posted on February 14, 2017 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Indigenous Art, Culture and Human rights, Deborah Lawrence, Standing Rock, Uncategorized. -
Mona Hatoum at the Tate Modern
Mona Hatoum overtly expresses violence in her early performance works, then through metaphor with minimal materials she brings that sense of threat into our own bodies and lives.
This entry was posted on July 12, 2016 and is filed under Art and Politics Now, art criticism, Art in Beirut, Art in War, Contemporary Art, Feminism, Palestine, Uncategorized, Women Artists. -
Break Free From Fossil Fuels Pacific Northwest Anacortes
Break Free From Fossil Fuels Pacific Northwest a coming together of more than a thousand people, on land and sea, to insist on working together to end the plundering the earth.
This entry was posted on May 18, 2016 and is filed under Art and Activism, Art and Ecology, Art and Politics Now, Backbone Campaign, Contemporary Art, ecology, global justice, indians, Indigenous activism, Uncategorized.
