If you climbed John Grade‘s wall, your footholds would be mouths.
Grade (pronounced Grotty for no good reason) is part of UberPortrait at the Bellevue Arts Museum, curated by Stefano Catalani and featuring more than 40 artworks from 11 artists.
Detail:
She also offers a critique of Catholicism, the original, ritualized source of spiritual S&M:
Ah Xian‘s painted porcelain busts make good on Mao’s false promise, to let a 100 flowers bloom.
Detail:
I love the video that documents the burial of Brian O’Doherty‘s protest-against-British-occupation name, Patrick Ireland. Speaking of funerals, Ledelle Moe fails to animate his material version of brooding.
Nick Cave’s Soundsuits are ubiquitous. This exhibit takes that extra step of showing them in motion on video as well as present in the gallery.
Dan Webb‘s Little Cuts documents the carving a block of wood from a youthful face through aging and death to a mound of sawdust.
Margot Quan Knight takes an episodic approach to daily life in Mirror:
Sonya Clark celebrates the entrepreneurial genius of Madam C. J. Walker with a portrait woven in combs:
Detail:
Using white thread on black cloth, Darrel Morris sewed a jittery version of a send-off.
I don’t usually go for this sort of thing, but Kate Clark‘s species-scramble sculpture (just) manages to save itself with a hint of deadpan wit:
Through Oct. 18. With Judy Hill and the amazing Michael Peterson in solo shows on the second floor, BAM has never looked better.
Ah Xian animated bust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPa05KYJYgs
BAM’s show is BRILLIANT and a culmination of a series of sophisticated curatorial projects that are right on the mark…challenging but offputting. Stretching but not tearing! Bravo BAM. Bravo Stefano and Michael.
B A M = Brilliant Arts Museum!
Can’t wait to see the next episode of programming!