Works of Art Worth Giving at Ghost Gallery

Five remarkable pieces from one of our favorite local galleries.

Bloom II by Meggan Joy Trobaugh This emerging artist and photographer creates strange, lush digital collages that mesh organic and man-made materials. Her Bloom series, available at Ghost Gallery (504 E. Denny Way, 832-6063), isolates these hybrid forms against a black background. Some look like a corsage for a sabbat. Others feel like a fragment of an Arcimboldo painting, such as Bloom II, which uses sprigs from various plants to suggest a pair of hands, one offering a pearlescent bead to another. Apt for a gift. 9´ x 9´ digital collage. Framed and ready to hang. $150

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The Prettiest Star by Mariel Andrade 2016 was a year of falling stars. Some are still mourning the loss of David Bowie and Prince. Painter Andrade has been painting small, colorful portraits of the two music gods. Her portrait of Bowie is embellished with small crystals that up the kitsch factor, and in this case that’s kind of a good thing. (It’s not as if Bowie was known for subtlety.) It’s a perfect icon the shrine or altar of a Ziggy devotee. 10´ x 10´ acrylic and crystals on canvas. Ready to hang.

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Thunderstorm by Stasia Burrington This painter and illustrator creates sweet cartoons in an instantly recognizable sinuous style and portraiture in brooding realism. In the case of her small sumi paintings, the result is both sweet and brooding. The bond between the two figures in Thunderstorm may be sisterly, motherly, or sapphic, but however one views it, their tender embrace between the splotchy, black clouds above is familiar for PNW residents. 4´ x 6´ sumi ink on watercolor paper. Framed and ready to hang. $75

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Cascade Can by Hickory Mertsching Mertsching often includes bits of trash in his paintings of natural scenes and wildlife. In the small works at Ghost Gallery, he focuses solely on the rubbish with oil paintings of crumpled beer cans. They are certainly perfect for party pads and man-caves, but even a teetotaler can appreciate his cheeky, sympathetic renderings of blue-collar empties. 8´ x 8´ oil on canvas, mounted on wood. Ready to hang. $250

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Don’t Explain by Asher Loctor Fans of jazz will love Locter’s hand-cut paper portraits of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. As a street artist, he’s quite adept at capturing a dynamic moment in a simplified stencil form. By suspending these paper cuts in square floating frames, he allows for the works to cast a their image as a shadow, depending on how they are displayed. They look great on the wall or on a desk. 8´ x 8´ in white floating frames with glass. Ready to hang. $250