Japanimation

Courtesy of the artist

Details

BLVD Gallery Project Room at Triple, 5227 Ballard Ave., 448-8767, www.blvdart.com. Ends April 12 with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m.

Related Content

• Takoyaki and a Tender Touch at Wann
  September 8, 2011
• Even a Blind Squirrel Busts a Nut at Aoki Sushi
  September 29, 2010
• Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles on Singing Cellists, Songwriting, and Working With a Vampire
  January 25, 2011
• Close Sushi Is Good Sushi
  December 22, 2010
• “Abraham Obama” Finds a Home on the Hill
  January 28, 2009

More About

• Osaka
• Nhon Nguyen
• Damion Hayes
• Visual Arts

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Trolling Ballard for the perfect sneaker, you might happen across a one-room version of Osaka, Japan. Climb the wooden stairs just north of Rudy's and you'll find shoes hanging from the ceiling: Triple, the shoe store. Down the hall is the 150-square-foot Project Room, curated by BLVD Gallery's Damion Hayes, where you'll find an installation depicting a street scene in Osaka. Painted onto the walls, the buildings are tall, dark gray boxes, with details still being added: the round face on a smiling sign, or a row of vending machines on the sidewalk. Electric cords running to a small screen (a slideshow of photos of Osaka) are left exposed, doing double duty as tangible power lines strung to the four-walled mural. On the screen: bikes, skateboarding kids, tall apartment buildings, and a cherry tree in bloom. Like the one on the wall, its blossoms interrupt the blue sky. This installation by Nhon Nguyen (the first in this space) is very much a work in progress, and will grow more detailed in its three-month residency. Already, the work has been tagged (specifically, the images of vending machines have been painted with appropriately sized bits of graffiti), and parts of a (real) bike locked to a heating pipe have been stolen. It's all part of Nguyen's concept: a city in growth and decay. Nguyen lived in Osaka for three years, and this work is a Seattleite's meditation on life in a big city. A parallel exhibit in Japan will focus on the role of technology in Seattle's urban landscape: In Osaka, Nguyen will install a mural of Gas Works Park.