Belly up to the art at Vermilion Gallery

On the same block of Seattle’s Capitol Hill are two galleries that take chances while hedging their bets. Both Grey Gallery and Vermillion are also bars. If
the art doesn’t sell, the drinks will. Even in the current climate,
however, the art tends to move more quickly than in Seattle’s gallery hub in Pioneer Square.

Of the three artists showing currently at Vermillion,
painter Ryan Molenkamp has almost sold out. With one exception, it’s been a long time since that many red dots appeared in the Square.

If I were going to imagine a stage set for college professor’s suburban interior in
mid-20th Century America, I’d put one of Molenkamp’s paintings over the
sofa. The people who lived there would have loved high and loathed low. The abstraction they’d like best would be European, as the New York School would have seemed a trifle crude. Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, showing up later in the decade, would not have qualified as artists at all. Yes to Satie, no to Chuck Berry.

Early in the 21st Century, Molenkamp’s style of painting is most frequently found in Goodwill. What goes around comes around, but possibly because I remember the off-putting originals from my childhood, Molenkamp’s updates are a problem I’m not equipped to solve. He’s a better painter than the anonymous stereotype I have in my head, but that stereotype blocks my view.

Sharon Arnold weaves and cuts with a gentle hand. Because her work evokes more exuberant versions by others, the word that I couldn’t push away is timid.

Here’s Claude Zervas‘ version of an adding machine spitting out clouds, from 2002.

Cumulus, Receipt printer, computer, roll paper
48″ x 48″ x 48″ variable

And here’s Arnold’s:

Detail:
Eva Hesse:

Arnold:

Again,
I may not be the right person to look at Arnold’s work. Art seen across
a lifetime can be tea leaves clogging a drain. There are days when the
only thing I say to myself is, I’ve seen that before.

On the
other hand, I love Trevor Johnson’s sculptures. He showed up in Seattle
a couple of years ago as a potter without access to a kiln. To keep his
hand in, he started to work with salvage. His blocks of Styrofoam have
the monumentality of ancient homes carved into cliff faces in Chaco Canyon. The arena of his endeavor includes as models Judy Pfaff and Frank Stella. It’s a tribute to Johnson that he doesn’t disappear in the comparison.

Through Nov. 28.