Season

Winter 2020

SEASON is proud to present The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be, a show of new photographs by Chicago artist Ross Sawyers.  Opening reception is Sunday JANUARY 12, 2-5PM, AND THE SHOW WILL CONTINUE TO MARCH 31.  HOURS ARE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.

ROSS Sawyers holds a BFA in Photography and New Media from the Kansas City Art Institute, and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts from the University of Washington in Seattle. His work has been widely shown in exhibitions most recently, THE GROUP SHOW INTEGRATED PHOTOGRAPHY IN Pilsen, CzECH Republic, as part of the 7TH annual Photography Symposium and Exhibition.  He has shown at Platform Gallery in Seattle,  ACME in los angeles, and RosPhoto in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Other notable honors include the Crystal Apple Award from the Society for Photographic Education, and a nomination for the John Gitmann Fellowship. Ross lives and works in Chicago where he is an Assistant Professor in Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

Ross Sawyers, 9486, 2019, archival inkjet print on metallic paper, 24 x 16 inches, edition of 10.

Ross Sawyers, 10177, 2019, archival inkjet print on metallic paper, 24 x 16 inches, edition of 10.

Ross Sawyers, 10482, 2019, archival inkjet print on metallic paper, 24 x 16 inches, edition of 10.

Ross Sawyers, 10688, 2019, archival inkjet print on metallic paper, 24 x 16 inches, edition of 10.

Ross Sawyers, 9667, 2019, archival inkjet print on metallic paper, 24 x 16 inches, edition of 10.

Fall 2019

SEASON is proud to present A Movie or A Play, a show of paintings by Shannon McConnell, a visual artist and musician living in Seattle.  This is Shannon’s third show with the gallery as he continues to distort the figure, now obliterating all but the most necessary of features.  This garage punk animism produces characters and scenery that blend and collapse upon each other.  As a musician, Shannon was a member of The Fall-Outs, The Pulses and has worked with The Outcasts and El Vez.  His paintings have been shown along the West Coast as well as in Prague, Czech Republic.  Opening reception with the artist will be Saturday,  October 5, 3-6pm,  and continues–by appointment–until January 1, 2020.

After the Rain, 2019, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.

Surveyor, 2018, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.

Socio Politico-Oratorio, 2019, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.

Bystanders, 2017, oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches.

Discontented Woman, 2017, oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches.

August 1-4, 2019

Andy Heck Boyd

Ben Coode-Adams and Justin Knopp

James Cicatko

Nkululeko Malangeni-Berg/The Ninevites

Félix Gonzáles-Torres

Pedro Vélez

I’m very excited for my fifth return to Seattle Art Fair!  The theme of the SEASON booth this year will deal with contemporary protest art and how these individual artists approach it, internalize it and produce unique works.

Andy Heck Boyd

Six untitled collages (detail), 2015 

acrylic, ink and collage on comic book pages, 10 x 7.5 inches each.

The paintings by New Hampshire artist Andy Heck Boyd are motivated in part by his paranoid schizophrenia and delusions of hearing the voices of Satan.  These burdens have led Andy to multiple college drop outs, and forced him to become self-taught.  These starts at an art education places his work between that of pure Outsider artist and seasoned grad.  Pulling from numerous aesthetics and styles, his work ranges from short novellas, comics, film, photography and painting and addresses concerns about identity, memory and humor.  In this series of altered comic book pages, characters have been given new conversations that demand, ignore, and ultimately accomplish nothing.  

Ben Coode-Adams and Justin Knopp

Proof, 2018

letterpress on cardstock, dimensions variable.

Ben Coode-Adams and Justin Knopp (Essex and London)  have collaborated to produce PROOF. a large multi-paneled letterpress print that is fluid and rearrangeable according to whim.  The artists worked together to collect the most popular words from protest signage from a London rally.  With each word printed boldly on a single card, various arrangements can happen, each calling the viewer to action but for no specific cause.  Ben has a busy drawing and sculpture practice with extensive exhibitions in Europe.  Justin operates Typoretum, an extensive letterpress shop using a variety of traditional types including a fully restored 1857 Columbian Press.

James Cicatko

En Passant, 2016-18

graphite on paper, 36 x 52 inches.

James Cicatko (Seattle, Washington) incorporates layers of symbolism in all his work, pulling images from history and pop culture as well as folklore and current news. In this large graphite drawing, two unseen experts play a game of chess in a Piranesi ruin with a view to a Syrian street bombing. Nero, Caligula, Elagabalus, and Diocletian watch and feast surrounded by cash, music boxes, and the dead. Game pieces range from a traditional bishop to Jake the Alligator Man as well as figures from Picasso, Bosch, and Giotto. Please note the scene takes place on a sarcophagus that is a nest for spiders and scorpions.

Nonkululeko Mlangeni/The Ninevites

Sankara Rug, 2019

hand-woven wool, 72 x 48 inches

Nonkululeko Mlangeni (Johannesburg, South Africa), founder of The Ninevites, saw a lack of representation in the South African design firms so rather than complain about the overall whiteness of it, she started her own.  With The Ninevites, she encourages the underemployed and the youth to appreciate local craft traditions while learning design and entrepreneurship.  Using traditional imagery adapted to modern tastes, The Ninevites produces home textiles by providing jobs to artisans in Africa and South America.

Félix González-Torres

“Untitled” (Death by Gun) [detail] 1990

lithograph, unlimited edition, 45 x 33 inches.

Félix González-Torres, (1957 Guáimaro, Cuba-1996 Miami, Florida).  Inspired by an article published by TIME magazine in July 17, 1989, González-Torres explored the relationship America has with guns with this piece “Untitled” (Death by Gun) 1990, and pays homage to the 460-people killed in America by gunshot for the week of May 1–7, 1989. He makes us reflect on the grim reality of the gun violence in America, presenting a sobering view of the many lives lost. Originally, this piece is composed of a nine inch high stack of lithographs with the picture of the deceased with the description of the individuals, their age, city and state where they lived, followed by a brief description of the cause of death. Viewers are allowed to remove a sheet for themselves and the exhibiting venue updates the stack to the original nine inches.  This print was acquired from an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, 1996.  The most pervasive reading of González-Torres’s work takes the processes his works undergo (lightbulbs expiring, piles of candies dispersing, etc.) as metaphor for the process of dying. However, many have seen the works also representing the continuation of life with the possibility of regeneration (replacing bulbs, replenishing stacks or candies).

Pedro Vélez

Benetton Identityless, 2003-18

acrylic and marker on vinyl with embellishments, 76 x 76 inches. 

Pedro Vélez (San Juan, Puerto Rico) has been an outspoken voice against the colonization of Puerto Rico.  His current work portrays the hypocrisy of the appeal of the island as a tax haven and the total abandonment of the people during and after Hurricane Maria.  His work has been exhibited at The Newcomb Museum in New Orleans, Loyola University in Chicago, The Luminary in St. Louis, the Whitney Biennial 2014, and at Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Summer 2019

SEASON is proud to present PARTY PEOPLE, the official launch of UFO Parfums two newest scents, Autumne/Hiver and Printemps/Été.  Also showing will be vintage fashion designs from the 1940s and 50s.  Opening reception is Sunday, July 14, 2-5 pm and the show will continue to September 30.  Hours are by appointment only.

Maxwell Williams/UFO Parfums has been producing and collaborating on perfumes since 2014.  Autumne/Hiver is an appropriate scent for the Pacific Northwest, it is the smell of cut woods and being indoors for too long; an introverted decay.  Printempts/Été is livelier scent, like that of a sexy watermelon party in the deep woods where there is a magical beach.  Maxwell Williams is an olfactory artist, researcher, and writer based in Los Angeles. His work uses fragrance, scent, perfume, and odor as a tool for hedonic enhancement, blending it with music, flavor, visual aesthetics, and touch to create mood-altering experiences. His auditory-olfactory horror play “LUXURE/OCCIRE” was performed in 2018 in London at the Experimental Scent Summit. His “Scent Rave” series of club nights in Los Angeles brings together rave culture with perfume. With his fine fragrance brand, UFO Parfums, he launched “Liquid” with Los Angeles fashion label Come Tees, and “literalvolcano” with the Los Angeles Metaphysical Library. He is on the Board of Directors at the Institute for Art and Olfaction, and he recently finished writing several chapters of The Empire of Scent: Explore the realm of perfumes, smells, and aromatic incense to reveal the enduring allure of fragrance (Gestalten, 2019). He is also the West Coast Editor for L’Officiel USA, one of today’s leading fashion and lifestyle publications.

Also contributing to PARTY PEOPLE will be a collection of vintage fashion designs by Charlotte Berns, Francis Layman, Vetha, KT Kellog, and other anonymous/unknown artists.  Designs for formal, casual, and costume will be exhibited, including one costume design for the character Dardanella, the subject of a popular song by Fred Fisher, first published in 1919.  These drawings also have contributed to the inspiration for the two perfumes as well as the design for the labels.  

Maxwell Williams/UFO Parfums Autumne/Hiver

Maxwell Williams UFO Parfums Printemps/Été

KT Kellogg, Dardanella, date unknown, watercolor and graphite on paper, 14 x 11 inches.

KT Kellogg, Dardanella (detail), date unknown, watercolor and graphite on paper, 14 x 11 inches.

Charlotte Berns, Patriotic costume for a girl, detail, 1940, gouache and graphite on illustration board, 15 x 11 inches.

Unknown artist, unknown date, graphite on stationary, 11 x 8.5 inches.

Unknown artist, unknown date, graphite on stationary, detail, 11 x 8.5 inches.

Spring 2019

SEASON is proud to present ME AND THE TELEPHONE THAT NEVER RINGS, a show of paintings and mix media drawings by  Ilya Okazis (Kaliningrad, Russia) This will be Ilya’s first US show.  Opening reception is Sunday April 7, 2-5pm and the show will continue to June 30.  Hours are by appointment.

Kaliningrad is the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.  Kaliningrad was an important port during the Cold War and as such it was closed to foreign visitors.  Isolation and introspection are recurring themes in Ilya’s work, many characters have come from his large scale graffiti paintings which are often wildstyle personifications of his last name.  He began painting in 2007 and is entirely self-taught.  When he’s not painting or riding his bicycle, Ilya plays drums in garage punk bands.  Please help me welcome these paintings to Seattle.

Constellation, 2019, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 31.3 x 27.5 inches.

Tom Cat, 2018, acrylic, graphite, and spray paint on paper, 34 x 24 inches.

Baltic Tea, 2018, acrylic, graphite, and spray paint on paper, 34 x 24 inches.

War Drum, 2018, acrylic, graphite, and spray paint on paper, 34 x 24 inches.

Ilya Okazis, Raincoat, 2018, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 39 x 27.5 inches.

OKAZIS

November 16-18, 2018

SEASON is proud to present a solo exhibition of work by Anthony Palocci Jr at EXCHANGE BERLIN, an international exposition of artist/curator-led presentations organized by Sluice, London, around ideas of transnational localism.  This expo will take place at KühlhausBerlin, Luckenwalder Strasse 3, 10963 Berlin, November 16-18, 2018.

eXCHANGE BERLIN encourages integrated, collaborative and even spontaneous modes of exhibition and critical evaluation. The aim of all Sluice projects is to offer an independent alternative to the dominant organizational paradigms whilst demonstrating a belief in the importance of international engagement for otherwise local projects.  EXCHANGE BERLIN was born from previous manifestations in New York under the title Exchange Rates. The expo’s first iteration was in October 2014 in Bushwick, Brooklyn. A second Exchange Rates took place in October 2016, again in Bushwick. The EXCHANGE exhibitions now travel to a new city every two years. In addition to the EXCHANGE project, Sluice is also responsible for the London based Sluice Biennial and the international Sluice magazine.

for each EXCHANGE project, Sluice partners with an organization from the host city, for EXCHANGE BERLIN Sluice has partnered with The Institut für Alles Mögliche, an artistic project that sets about questioning, scrutinizing and probing the institutionalization and presentation of contemporary art. These mostly playful experiments deal with interrogations of the ‘art space’, the operations of the ‘project space’ and ideas surrounding the ‘exhibition’. The central concept for both Sluice and The Institut für Alles Mögliche is to develop spaces of possibility in which exchange and experiences can take place and space where artistic activity can come in to being.

Anthony Palocci Jr., Untitled (Pencil Stub) 2018, gouache on paper, 11 x 14 inches.