Because it is pink, and because it glows, Tyler Cufleys Untitled (Dumpster) was the hit of the First Thursday artwalk this month. But the translucent polyethylene container might have looked even cooler outside in an alleyway, parked among its green, battered brethren. Indoors, the thing is lit from within by two Dan Flavin-style fluorescent tubesboth white, since the color comes from the paneled exterior. Sliced, glued, bent, and assembled, the plastic material couldnt be worth much more than the recycling you find in an ordinary Dumpster; and the lights look to be standard order from Home Depot. (Fun fact: Youre not supposed to recycle light bulbs, but toss them out.) Seattle-based and UW-trained, Cufley has previously Photoshopped the wheels off carsto make them levitateand the signage off buildings, to make them unidentifiable. This ordinary urban receptacle is similarly transformed. As with the floating cars and featureless strip mall buildings, a new strangeness is imparted. But its not conceptual art (maybe one reason its so popular). This Dumpster is empty of meaning, full of light. (Also on view: paintings by Heather Hollenbeck.) BRIAN MILLER
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: June 3. Continues through June 26, 2010
