Grant Barnhart: Remember Me When

Artist Grant Barnhart grew up in Topeka, Kansas, the heart of red-state America, where wheat fields meet cattle country. Now based in Seattle, Barnhart reflects on his quintessentially Midwestern upbringing in a new collection of acrylic paintings and sculptures. In “Remember Me When” (through December 7), his subjects are iconic: football players, cowboys and cowgirls, beauty pageant queens, and cheerleaders all rendered in red, white, and blue. These supercharged, super-patriotic images push national identity beyond cliché. There’s sly comedy, too, like the giant chickens—cousins to the jackalope?—that roam this mythic prairie. Showered in Fourth-of-July fireworks, Barnhart’s paintings burst with American absurdity. OKOK Gallery, 5107 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-6242, www.okgallery.com. Free. 11 a.m.–5 p.m. ERIKA HOBART

Related Content

Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Nov. 8. Continues through Dec. 7, 2008