The Formal Behind the Surreal: “Abstract Alternatives,” Jeff Mihalyo, Dendroica Gallery, April 14 to May 8, 2016   Seattle-based artist Jeff Mihalyo has built an international reputation on his mesmerizing, large-scale narrative artworks depicting surreal architectures and fantasy worlds in brilliant oil colors. This versatile creator has also experimented with cast-paint objects, and his video […]

On one wall, the blown glass head of a faun blossoms from the center of a mesmerizing lenticular print with ring upon ring of robots and baby dolls. At the far end of the gallery, a long, abstract rectangle of red and black Chinese ink subtly evokes the deaths of Chinese workers during the construction […]

A “drive-thru” restaurant. Aging wood-frame houses. Desolate T-docks. In her latest show at Linda Hodges Gallery in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood, Daphne Minkoff portrays forgotten pockets of the urban landscape through collage and oil paints. No figures populate these ordinary spaces, yet the signs of human activity remain, in the graffiti and old advertisements that […]

Roger Shimomura, “Great American Muse,” Greg Kucera Gallery, Nov. 5-Dec. 24 A sensuous, bare-shouldered woman with a broad, red smile. An homage to an artistic influence in the form of a framed Roy Lichtenstein print hanging on the wall. An arrangement of everyday household products on a table, visible beyond the (very yellow) curve of […]

What could be blander than the ubiquitous white cup? A trusty denizen of kitchen cupboards, bedside tables, and office desks, this basic container is everywhere to be seen, yet barely observed in the bustle of everyday life. Seattle’s Prographica Gallery adopted a very different stance in its fascinating recent exhibition, “Observing Observing (a white cup)” […]

Lisaann Cohn’s recent small-format drawings in black and white inspire frequent comparisons to the work of illustrator Edward Gorey. However, at closer glance, her richly symbolic work shares a greater kinship with that of the Surrealists and other influences, such as Renaissance engraver Albrecht Dürer. The modest size of Cohn’s artworks (the largest pieces in […]