Purchasing

Recent Davidson Galleries exhibitor John Grade is included in ÜberPortrait, now showing at Bellevue Art Museum.

Comprised of over 30 works by celebrated local, national and international artists, this unique exhibition examines the ‘portrait’  in all its facets – from individual likeness to overarching cultural identity. Working in a broad range of media such as sculpture, ceramics, photography, fiber, performance art and film, artists highlighted in ÜberPortrait share a common interest: exploring the age-old fascination with capturing a person’s likeness and/or recreating his or her identity, both as individual and collective entities. Continue reading…

Artists include: Nick Cave (IL), Kate Clark (NY), Sonya Clark (VA), John Grade (WA), Margot Quan Knight (WA), Ledelle Moe (MD), Darrel Morris (IL), Brian O’Doherty (A.K.A. Patrick Ireland; NY), Kukuli Velarde (PA), Dan Webb (WA) and Ah Xian (Australia). ÜberPortrait continues through October 18, 2009.

Etsuko Ichikawa’s exhibition Glass Pyrographs is now showing at Randall Scott Gallery in Brooklyn, through July 11. Elusive Element, with Leo Saul Berk, Shawn Patrick Landis and Claude Zervas runs July 3 - October 4, 2009 at Museum of Northwest Art, with an opening reception Saturday, July 11, 2-5pm.

Four Northwest artists work with the fleeting nature of the elements–earth, air, fire, and water.  Two of the artists represent or mimic nature with synthetic mediums, while two use elements to make their art.  Shawn Patrick Landis’ medium is air; Leo Saul Berk diagrams inaccessible caves deep into the earth; Etsuko Ichikawa makes calligraphic marks on paper with fire; and Claude Zervas maps Northwest watersheds in neon.  “Elusive Elements” features large-scale works and installations.

Contemporary printmaker Eunice Kim is exhibiting work in the 2009 Guanlan International Print Biennial at the Guanlan Museum in Shenzhen, China, from May 14 through July 14.  The exhibition features 253 prints from 70 countries selected from nearly 3,000 worldwide submissions.  The biennial, in its second installment this year, is co-sponsored by the China Artists Association, Shenzhen Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and Baoan District People’s Government.

Barbara Robertson has been awarded a 2009 Individual Artists Projects Grant by 4Culture for her Mixed Media Animation project which will result in hybrid work that combines large scale works on paper with projected, time-based imagery. Robertson will exhibit a solo show at Davidson Galleries in June 2010.

July 3 - August 1, 2009

Opening reception: First Thursday, July 2, 6-8pm

West Coast Drawings VIII

Curated by Norman Lundin

Bill Vuksanovich. Two Sides of the Same Coin. Pencil on paper, 2001. 30 x 44 inches.

Davidson Galleries and Koplin Del Rio (Culver City, CA) are pleased to present West Coast Drawings: Drawings VIII. A multimedia group exhibition curated by Norman Lundin on display concurrently at these two West Coast locations.

This exhibition continues a tradition that began in 1991 at Koplin Del Rio gallery of hosting summer group drawing exhibitions. Conceived from the gallery’s distinct interest in works on paper, the original concept was to curate an in-house exhibition including many of the gallery artists, as well as invite artists from outside the gallery’s regular program. This show is the eighth variation on the original “Drawings” concept and will expand the geography of the exhibition to a venue in Seattle, Davidson Galleries, with an exchange of artists between the Northern and Southern West Coast. By broadening the scope of the exhibition, both geographically and conceptually, the gallery hopes to continue the enhancement of people discovering drawings.

As part of the complementary dual format, Norman Lundin, exhibiting artist and Professor of Art, Emeritus at the University of Washington, curated the exhibition. Works chosen for the show are rooted in classical representational traditions, but veer outside the expected in both media and style.

D.J. Hall. Cake Time. Graphite and mixed media on paper, 2008. 24 x 18 inches.

Participating artists:

Davidson Galleries
David Bailin, Sandow Birk, Hilary Brace, Shay Bredimus, Wes Christensen, Melissa Cooke, Fred Dalkey, David Fertig, Kim Frohsin, Moira Hahn, D.J. Hall, Grant Hottle, Ira Korman, David Ligare, Tim Lowly, Robert Schultz, Fred Stonehouse, Bill Vuksanovich, Michelle Wiener.

Koplin Del Rio
Juliette Aristedes, Fred Birchman, David Brody, Sally Cleveland, Eric Elliott, Gary Faigin, Ann Gale, Philip Govedare, Michael Howard, Katina Huston, Etsuko Ichikawa, Mark Kang-O’Higgins, Philip Levine, Zhi Lin, Margie Livingston, Norman Lundin, Brian Murphy, Ed Musante, Linda Thomas, Kimberly Trowbridge, Evelyn Woods.

Please email Sam or call 206 624-7684 for more information.

Claus Seligmann Works on Paper

December 1971 #2. Tempera on board. 18 x 20 inches.

Davidson Galleries is proud to introduce the paintings of Claus Seligmann. As a professor of architecture at the University of Washington (1964-2006), Seligmann taught design, architectural theory, criticism and semiotics courses. His classes addressed theories of architectural history, symbolization, “meaning” in architecture and theories of culture in environmental architecture.

Seligmann applied his theoretical interests to his paintings, creating images generated by “transformation processes.” According to the artist, “transformation process refers to a code or set of rules, which systematically and progressively modifies an initial set of figurative elements. An image generated in this way often has potential for infinite growth.” His images were based on the regular subdivision of a square grid. The simplicity of the grid allows the artist to explore the complexity of the transformation processes.

Seligmann, born in Leipzig (1927), was raised and educated in England, where he received his diploma of architecture from the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic, London. He was a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers in Britain.

Please email Cara or call 206 624-1324 for more information.

M.J. Anderson The Probability of Resemblance

Wonder. Red suriya travertine , 2008. 20 x 14 x 9 inches.

In this exhibition of new work, M.J. Anderson continues working in collaboration with stone, marble and travertine. Anderson travels annually between the Northwest and the quarries of Italy to select her materials and to rough out her sculptures which are later completed in her coastal Oregon studio. Her contemporary use of marble and stone acknowledges classical sculpture while presenting a unique vision of womanhood. Her work explores the imperfections of the human figure and seeks to represent beauty beyond image. “These works continue my fascination with the torso as essence of human spirit. Each straightforward frontal pose, without drama or contortion, acts as vessel of distillation for the honesty of emotion within each figure.”

M.J. Anderson has received numerous grants and awards including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Her work has been the subject of numerous one-person museum exhibitions. She has exhibited with Davidson since 1993.

View previous work by Anderson

Please email Sam or call 206 624-7684 for more information.

Parallel Lines, featuring works by eight Seattle artists, including recent paintings by Davidson Galleries artist Tram Bui, opens tonight at the (New!) Wing Luke Asian Museum, from 6:30-8:30pm. The opening reception is free and open to the public.

The exhibition also features Mark Takamichi Miller, Jason Huff, Akio Takamori, Pattatti Warashina, Saya Moriyasu, Thúy-Vân Vu and Joseph Park. The artists are paired to accentuate thematic or biographic similarities within their work and lives.

Artist Trust has announced the recipients of their Grants for Artist Projects (GAP). The GAP program provides up to $1,500 to individual artists for various projects. In 2009, Artist Trust received 933 applications from artists working in all disciplines across Washington State.

Two Davidson artists were awarded grants:

Samantha Scherer, for assistance in the production, presentation, documentation, and storage of her current project “Floodplains.” This project will examine the ways people cope in adverse circumstances and how the media records their reactions. It will result in a collection of larger watercolor drawings focusing further on the emptiness and minutiae of the captured events. Borrowing from images collected from various sources, Samantha reinterprets and personalizes contemporary culture in the drawn and painted snapshots.

Allan Packer, for materials purchased to bring completion to a sculpture. The work, titled “The Transformation of Existence and Property in Space and Time – Ka Ba Akh,” follows in the pattern of Allan’s work in referencing a scientific device, a mathematical equation, or a culturally-specific structure or belief in generating the conceptual basis of his pieces. The cryogenic apparatus is to be represented by a machine cast sarcophagus suspending an encapsulated translucent body casting.

Congratulations to all of the recipients!

When painting themselves, artists tend to make their eyes their focal point, as befits their role - the one who sees… A self-portrait’s focus on lips suggests a sensualist, although a focus on the lips of another implies the subject is of no account. If the subject’s teeth are showing, clearly, he/she is from the underclass… Which brings me to Seattle’s John Grade, pronounced grotty. It rhymes with haughty, which is apt for his current venture, walls and folded sheets of rubberized lips. They appear to be ready to speak, but next to them, Samuel Beckett was garrulous.

• Read the full post at Another Bouncing Ball

Grade’s exhibition continues at Davidson Galleries through May 30th.

June 5-27, 2009

Opening reception: First Thursday, June 4, 6-8pm

Amanda Knowles Grids, Circuits & Vertices

Flutter I-IX. Mixed media on paper, 2009. 33 x 44-1/2 inches.

Grids, Circuits & Vertices is an exhibition of new work by Seattle artist Amanda Knowles.  The core of the exhibition is a series of two-dimensional images created using a variety of print processes such as intaglio, screen printing, and gum bi-chromate to assist with transfers. She often employs graphite and acrylic paint and combines separate panels with stitchery. This new body of work also includes a cutout steel sculpture and cut paper assemblages.

Knowles’ work is based on a language of appropriation; employing, as well as subverting the visual language of science.  The artist continues to utilize imagery from engineering, math and physics - diagrams whose primary purpose is to explain or demonstrate. The ideas are balanced between the organizational structure of scientific explanation and a more decorative reality, where the original context is obscured.  In pulling these images from the scientific bedrock and placing them on an artistic plane the artist hopes to draw an emotive or intuitive response instead of leading the viewer to think about the world in terms of reason and logic.

Amanda Knowles received her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She currently teaches printmaking at a variety of locations in Seattle including Sev Shoon Art Center and North Seattle Community College. In 2008 Knowles received an Artist Trust GAP Award (Grants for Artist’s Projects) and a Purchase Award - Portable Works Collection from the City of Seattle and 4Culture. She has received numerous other awards, artist residencies, and grants including the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award. Knowles’ work can be found in many public and private collections.

View work by Knowles

Please email Cara or call 206 624-1324 for more information.

Ajay Garg Divine Love

Radha and Krishna Playing the Flute.
Gouache on paper, 2002. 10-5/8 x 7-1/4 inches.

A native of Rajasthan, India, contemporary miniaturist Ajay Garg uses a magnifying glass and a single-haired brush to produce masterful paintings that resonate with the rich history of visual storytelling in India. Garg began studying traditional miniature painting at the age of ten with Asha Devi, and has since become one of the most prominent artists working in the traditional style.  Garg uses gouache, watercolor, and gold paint on found paper to create kaleidoscopic wonderlands of people, animals, plants and patterns—all brought to life through his painstaking attention to content, composition, and exquisite detail.

View work by Garg

Please email Emily or call 206 624-6700 for more information.

Contemporary printmaker Jenny Robinson has been interviewed for a program about the Hunters Point Open Studio. Those in San Francisco can watch on AccessSF, cable Channel 29, Thursday May 21st from 7:30-8:00 P.M.

Online, the episode can be streamed or downloaded (Robinson is final interviewee).

Catalog 73, featuring over 200 original antique and modern prints and drawings, is now available in both printed and PDF formats.

• Download as PDF (16.5Mb)

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If you would like to receive printed catalogs by mail, annual subscriptions are available for $10 per year, deductible from your first catalog purchase. Please contact the gallery for details.

Please join us this Saturday afternoon at 2pm for a talk and walk-through with exhibiting artist John Grade.

• View the exhibition online

Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart, a book about the evildoers of the plant kingdom, features 40 botanical prints by Briony Morrow-Cribbs. From Aconite to Yew, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations.

With the release of the book, Morrow-Cribbs decided to produce a limited edition set of the prints as a portfolio. The Wicked Plants Portfolio will contain all 40 of the hand-pulled prints (plus two hand-tinted prints) and will be contained in a clamshell box made by Claudia Cohen.

The artist will also exhibit work at Steinhardt Conservatory Gallery, in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. The show opens with a reception Sunday May 31st from 3:30-5pm, and continues through September 6, 2009.

• View work by Briony Morrow-Cribbs