Send listings two weeks in advance to visualarts@seattleweekly.com.

Lectures and Events

Biannual Art Walkabout SAFA’s biannual walkabout opens studio and classroom doors to the public, with opportunities to meet with faculty, attend lectures, and view new art by students and instructors. 5-8 p.m. Fri. Feb. 11. Seattle Academy of Fine Art, 1501 10th Ave. E., free, 206-526-2787.

Buffalo Soldiers Exhibit As part of Black History Month, this one-weekend exhibit showcases the history of the “Buffalo Soldier” cavalry units involved in the Indian Wars and settlement of the American West. Uniforms, artifacts, and photos will be on display. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Feb. 14-Sun. Feb. 15. South Seattle Community College Gallery, 6000 16th Ave. S.W., free, 206-764-5337.

Openings

Billy King “Viet Nam Now” showcases work by five painters currently working in Hanoi, with works ranging from boldly colored abstraction to expressionist figurative portraiture. Opens Sat. Feb. 12. 1211 First Ave., 206-264-6263. Noon-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Capitol Hill Cafe Garth Lens’ photos of clear- cuts bring attention to the timber practices of Weyerhaeuser. Speakers from Seattle Rainforest Action Group to appear on opening night. 6-8 p.m. Sat. Feb. 10. 216 Broadway Ave. E., 503-261-3349.

Francine Seders Illustrations of Chinese-American life from Beth Lo’s children’s book Mahjong All Day Long.Reception: 2-4 p.m. Sun. Feb. 13. 6701 Greenwood Ave. N., 206-782-0355. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.- Sat, 1-5 p.m. Sun.

Howard House Joseph Park shows new work (he also has a solo show opening at the Frye next week). The Seattle artist’s slick paintings have the precision and drama of animation stills, and each combines influences from film, manga, and possibly even Edward Hopper. He’ll also display a series of road signs funded by Seattle’s 1 Percent for Art Fund. Also on display: spare but luminous abstractions on vinyl by Monique van Genderen. Opens Thurs. Feb. 10. 604 Second Ave., 206-256-6399. 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Kinsey Gallery The late French philosopher Jacques Derrida is much admired and rarely understood in academia and the arts. The creator of deconstruction and différence is celebrated in “Bâtir,” a smart little group show featuring work by Robert Yoder, Buzz Spector, Ryuta Nakajima, and several others. Reception: 5-8 p.m. Thurs. Feb. 10. Casey Building, Seattle University, 900 Broadway Ave., 206-296-5360. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Seattle Art Museum “Between Past and Future,” new video and photography from China (SEE SW THIS WEEK, P. 49) 100 University St., 206-654-3100. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun.; 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. Thurs.

Square Room This gallery and interior design shop celebrates one year in business with a group show featuring work by Brian McGuffey, Leif Holland, and others. Reception: 5-10 p.m. Sat. Feb. 12. 1316 E. Pike St., 206-267-7120.

Last Chance

Platform Blake Haygood’s “Buck Fever” features spare, cartoony paintings of Rube Goldberg machines coming apart at the seams. 114 Third Ave. S., 206-323-2808. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Ends Sat. Feb. 12.

Galleries

Art Institute of Seattle Gallery Joey Robinson’s 27 stark, roughly sketched portraits of black maids are accompanied by stories of their struggles during the civil rights movement. 2323 Elliott Ave., 206-448-0900. 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.

Ballard/Fetherston Gary Komarin’s big, splashy paintings of everything from noodly abstraction to birthday cakes seem naive and childlike at first glance, but there’s something formal and calculated about the composition of these ham-fisted but likeable paintings. 818 E. Pike St., 206-322-9440. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Bluebottle I have to confess a big weakness for Kamala Dolphin-Kinglsey’s lush paintings inspired by tattoo art and stained glass. Her new work, “Somnium,” is stocked with a peaceable kingdom of pets, wild creatures, nuns, saints, 1930s Chinese film stars, and mythological figures—all entwined in tentacles of foliage. Sure, a lot of her stuff is dreamy and puppy-sweet, but sometimes you need a break from all the angst and irony. 415 E. Pine St., 206-325-1592. 1-7 p.m. Tues.-Fri., noon- 6 p.m. Sat.-Sun.

Capitol Hill Arts Center Edward Matlock’s pop portraits of friends, painted on birch plywood. 1621 12th Ave., 206-388-0600. 6-10 p.m. Wed.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat.

CoCA “People Doing Strange Things With Electricity,” a collection of electric-powered visual art, robots, and other stuff Edison never imagined by Iole Alessandrini, Ginny Ruffner, W. Scott Trimble, Ellen Ziegler, and others. 410 Dexter Ave. N., 206-728-1980. 2-8 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., noon-5 p.m. Fri.-Sun.

Cornish College Gallery “Record,” a group show by Cornish alums, examines how an event or image is always modified in the retelling. It’s a hit-or-miss show: Neal Bashor’s intentional artlessness is starting to get old, and both of the surreal videos by Michelle Sciumbato and David Herbert are clever but don’t quite work. More effective are Rhonda Dee Pritchett’s still shots of death and transfiguration from a family video, Rich Lel’s strange little cartoons, and Dennis Raine’s hilariously banal word-paintings. First Floor, 100 Lenora St., 206-726-5011. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Davidson Selene Santucci’s paintings in “Left Hand Turns” offer well-proportioned geometric abstractions into which she tucks little symbolic figures—creating a visual cabinet of curiosities. 313 Occidental Ave. S., 206-624-7684. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

Forgotten Works “Levity” collects expressionist paintings of urban and symbolic scenes by local artist Richard Rocha. 300 S. Washington St., 206-343-7212. Noon-3 p.m. Sat.-Sun.

Foster/White Computer viruses, jumbled text, and miscommunication are all themes in Bratsa Bonifacho’s “Habitat Pixel” series of paintings, which call to mind the language works of Ed Ruscha 123 S. Jackson St., 206-622-2833. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun.

Francine Seders Michael Spafford has been doing silhouettes of scenes from mythology for well over 30 years, and for me the shtick never gets old. Spafford’s new work includes a series of four large paintings and assorted smaller woodcuts from the Iliad. The brutality and pathos of soldiers ripped to bits and babies gutted by sabers is, unfortunately, all too timely. Also on display: illustrations of Chinese American life from Beth Lo’s children’s book Mahjong All Day Long.6701 Greenwood Ave. N., 206-782-0355. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.- Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun.

G. Gibson Gail Gibson’s gallery returns to Pioneer Square, taking up residence in the Tashiro-Kaplan building alongside Garde Rail, SOIL, and Forgotten Works. The housewarming show will feature gallery favorites Larry Calkins, Mona Kuhn, Lori Nix, and others. 300 S. Washington St., 206-587-4033. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat.

Gallery 4 Culture I’m not sure what all Peter Mundwiler has in store for us in his solo show “Epics of Wallingford,” other than a life-sized ceramic Bigfoot en homage to the film Harry and the Hendersons.506 Second Ave., Suite 200 (Smith Tower), 206-296-7580. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Gallery 1412 “Tusovka,” a collection of work based on snapshots of friends by local artist Marianne Goldin (also know as Superjew). 1412 18th Ave., 206-322-1533.

Garde Rail The fact that Seattle artist Greg Blackstock is autistic is both completely irrelevant and totally integral to his art. Blackstock, who spent 25 years working as a dishwasher for the Washington Athletic Club, creates sly drawings that catalog everything under the sun. Each generally monochrome work is filled with berries, hand saws, speedboats, fighter planes, freight cars, terriers, Monsters of the Deep, things that make noise, and police vans, just to name a few. The captions, with their deadpan style, are absolutely brilliant, and there’s something wonderful about the way Blackstock crams all sorts of stuff into his pictures, like an anthropologist or a modern-day Audubon. As much as he’s a talented artist in his own right, there’s no denying that autism is an intricate part of these compulsive, fanatically detailed pictures. 110 Third Ave. S., 206-621-1055. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wed.-Fri.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.

Greg Kucera In her second solo show at Kucera, Katy Stone displays new, three-dimensional works incorporating strips of painted Mylar that cascade and flow with showers of exuberant color. Many of the works are derived from nature, while others imply blood, oil, or copious tears. Also on display in Kucera’s expanded gallery: Gregory Kucera. No, not the gallery owner but the L.A.–based conceptual and video artist of the same name (I’ll admit I was tripped up last year when one of Kucera’s videos was part of CoCA’s “Domicile” show). Kucera The Artist does an assortment of stuff, including deadpan videos, digitally created stripe paintings, and sculpture that “inverts” space. 212 Third Ave., 206-624-0770. 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat.

James Harris Hawaii-based artist Tom Baldwin creates nominally realist little images electronically, then engages in an e-mail give and take, transforming the pictures in collaboration with Vienna artist Gilbert Bretterbrauer. The resulting images, framed in circular compositions, are reduced to nearly abstract studies of shape and color, with occasional repeated motifs. Like maps, the pieces imply layers of information, though they represent nothing but playfulness in form. 309A Third Ave., 206-903-6220. 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat.

Photographic Center Northwest Elinor Carucci’s photographs are almost uncomfortably intimate. In “Closer,” the Israeli-born photographer records the minutiae of bodies behind closed doors: the photographer lying nude with her mother, the imprint left by bedsheets or a zipper on skin, black stitches poking like eyelashes from a loved one’s injured finger. There’s a frank and tender eye in these starkly lit scenes—and layer upon layer of narrative. This is about as close to poetry as you’re likely to achieve in a photograph. 900 12th Ave., 206-720-7222. Noon-9:30 p.m. Mon.; 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Tues.-Sun.

Roq La Rue Kustom Kulture is one of those bizarre hybrids that happen when Japanese enthusiasts become completely obsessed with one aspect of Western culture—in this case good old American hot rods. The Roq will show work by six artists (all with names like Mr. G, Rockin’ Jellybean, and Sugisack). Expect lots of Funny Car paintings, pinstriped maneki neko dolls, and a mess of other nitro-burnin’, low-ridin’, skulls-and-eagles badass happy fun goodness. 2316 Second Ave., 206-374-8977. 2-6 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun.

Solomon Fine Art In “Small Tales,” Ellen Garvens, Chris St. Pierre, Nik Tongas, Peter Stanfield, and Linda Welker showcase small paintings, photographs, wall sculptures, and charcoal drawings. 1215 First Ave., 206-297-1400. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat.

Suyama Space Roger Feldman’s site- specific architectural sculptures (See Visual Arts Spotlight, p. 75). 2324 Second Ave., 206-256-0809. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Vain Cut Kulture United, an urban design/art collective, stages “Blow Up the Spot,” featuring Nhon Nguyen’s very cool Sumi-inspired break-dance paintings, cut-vinyl designs by George Estrada and Vittorio Costarelli, and Dave Ho’s assemblages from destroyed skateboards. 2018 First Ave., 206- 441-3441. Noon-7 p.m. Sun.-Tues.; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Wed.-Thurs.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

Museums

Museum of Glass Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre create glass wall sculptures with contemporary twists on Mexican folk art. 1801 East Dock St., Tacoma, 253-396-1768. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. (third Thurs. of the month until 8 p.m.); noon-5 p.m. Sun.

Museum of Northwest Art “Northwest Matriarchs of Modernism” showcases work by a dozen artists working between 1940 and 1970, including figurative painter Viola Patterson, abstract painter Mary Henry, and sculptor Hilda Morris. 121 South First St. (La Conner), 360-466-4446. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.

Nordic Heritage Museum “Mirror on Wood” is a fantastic journey through 100 years of Finnish woodcut prints, from angst-ridden symbolism to serene rural landscape. 104 N.W. 67th St., 206-789-5707. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tues.-Sat.; noon-4 p.m. Sun.

Seattle Art Museum “Africa in America” provides a varied and complex exploration of slavery, displacement and ethnic culture portrayed in African-American art of the late 20th century. James W. Washington Jr.’s bird sculptures are intensely spiritual, while Kara Walker’s disturbing silhouette transforms stereotypes into highly personal symbols of anger. Ellen Gallagher’s not-so-abstract painting, Host, employs lips and eyes in a very nuanced exploration of her biracial background; meanwhile, Oliver Jackson’s huge, furious volcano of a painting can be seen as both an explosion of fury and a transcendent creative frenzy. The centerpiece of the show is Marita Dingus’ powerful collection of small fabric torsos, 400 Men of African Descent, inspired by the slave forts of Ghana. 100 University St., 206-654-3100. 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Tues.-Sun.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.