Sergio Vega’s “Tropical Rush” at Open Satellite.

Published 7:00 am Thursday, June 19, 2008

To create the central piece in Sergio Vega’s exhibit “Tropical Rush,” the artist enlisted a team of helpers using X-Acto knives to create a forest of stenciled trees, stretching from floor to ultra-tall ceiling. They’re overgrown with flat, wide leaves, obscuring the light from the street-side bank of windows. Vega, whose work has been seen at a slew of biennales around the world, continues his exploration into the theme Paradise in the New World, after reading a book of that name written in 1650 by Spanish historian Antonio de Leon Pinelo. Located in a gleaming high-rise, Vega’s false forest sits just blocks away from Bellevue’s malls and its rush of highways. The near-black silhouette conjures fairy tales, the fear of getting lost in the forest, Dante’s Inferno—which begins in a dark wood—and the fact that there’s no primordial forest to get lost in in Bellevue anymore. It’s a meditative spot, but an ominous one. Crafted from ashy, roughhewn automobile carpet, Vega’s piece is no subtle reminder of the why of the felled trees. Ends July 5.

Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: June 18. Continues through July 5, 2008