Andie DeRoux

While an artist's inspiration isn't necessarily evident in the work, nor necessarily relevant to an observer's experience of it, sometimes the initial creative impulse is still discernable in the final result. "Running Through the Forest" is artist Andie DeRoux's pursuit of a recurring lucid dream using kinetic zoetropic sculpture and heavy canvases of resin-coated trees. In his ongoing experimentations with sculpture, DeRoux has created a faux-stone pillar made of resin and sand containing small windows with photographs of Northwest landscapes. When it's turned on, it spins (as fast as several hundred revolutions per minute) while four strobe lights illuminate it, flickering images in an attempt to re-create the fragmented visions excavated from the artist's subconscious. But it's the trees that have the starkest, most commanding presence in the show. From a few steps back, they look like heavily varnished, high-contrast black-and-white photos. But on closer inspection, over-layers of paint and sumi ink emerge. In Follow and Encounter, DeRoux's artifice is more obvious, while Departure and Moment, the most ethereal of the four, most artfully achieve the blend of nature and interpretation created by the artist's involved process. DeRoux begins with photos he took in Washington Park Arboretum, where he played as a child. (The 36-year-old painter and sculptor grew up in Madison Park.) He lays the image down on a panel prepared with acrylic, watercolor, and dry pigment. He peels back the photo, leaving the dark impression, which he then embellishes or removes. Between the layers, DeRoux adds a coat of tinted epoxy resin, creating depth of field. The ultimate effect is that the trees are captured in this artificial substance, like an artifact of nature—or, indeed, a dream caught in amber. Friesen Gallery, 1200 Second Ave., 206-628-9501, www.friesengallery.com. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. Ends Feb. 28.