Gift Shop: Project #5

We gave love a bad name
We made a screaming masterpiece
Joe Plummer came up from Portland
At some moments, everything was illuminated
And it was loud

WORK SONG

Joe Plummer
Eric Fredericksen
Tyler Cufley
Ben Chickadel
Leo Saul Berk
Gretchen Bennett
March 3rd – March 14th

The Gift Shop

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The Gift Shop Project #5 of 6

This is the fifth in a series of projects initiated and developed by Seattle artist Matthew Offenbacher which have turned the abandoned Henry Art Gallery gift shop into an autonomous, artist-powered, alternative exhibition space. Goals include: involving a diverse and interesting group of artists; developing means and methods which acknowledge the contingent nature of this particular site; generating new understandings of what an exhibition can be; and enjoying the pleasure and energy generated by working together. This iteration of the gift shop may include a drumming residency and the spontaneous formation of new bands. gift.shop.project@gmail.com.

Opening Friday Evening: The Atlas of Gifted Ideas

The Atlas of Gifted Ideas
Opening this Friday, 7pm

The Gift Shop
An atlas is usually a collection of maps, charts and tables, most commonly of the earth’s geography, but there are also atlases of the solar system, moons and planets and things further out. In the end, an atlas is a collection of visual material and text on any subject of interest. Atlas is the brother of Prometheus. Prometheus plays with fire and Atlas has to hold up the skies; he creates space and separates the divine from everyday experience; his duty is not to mix up things and to keep the overview. Our atlas consists of a selection of ideas, sent to us by people we know and others we don’t, from Seattle, Missoula and Berlin — poems, drawings, photographs, xeroxes and essays. We kindly invite you to visit this black and white constellation.

Damali Abrams, Gretchen Bennett, Buddy Bunting, Jennifer Combe, Kate Costello, Claire Cowie, Simona Denicolai & Ivo Provoost, Carola Deye, Stefaan Dheedene, Dahlia Elsayed, Richard Gleaves, Michelle Hagewood, Elizabeth Haines, Alfred Harris, Jenny Heishman, Benno Hinkes, Naotaka Hiro, Allison Hrabluik, Barbora Klímová, Leora Lutz, Sid M. Duenas,
Rebar Niemi, Melanie Noel, Nicholas Nyland, William Owen, Matthew Offenbacher, Vesna Pavlovic, Barak Reiser, Susan Robb, Rob Schlegel, Mary Simpson, Simpson/Meade, Steven Sewell, Max Sudhues, Maki Tamura, Jo-ey Tang, Regina Weiß, and Julia Zay

Edited by Heide Hinrichs & Shaw Osha
On view until Sunday, January 17th

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The Gift Shop Project #3 of 6

This is the third in a series of projects initiated and developed by Seattle artist Matthew Offenbacher which have turned the abandoned Henry Art Gallery gift shop into an autonomous, artist-powered, alternative exhibition space. Goals include: involving a diverse and interesting group of artists; developing means and methods which acknowledge the contingent nature of this particular site; generating new understandings of what an exhibition can be; and enjoying the pleasure and energy generated by working together. Artists! You do not have to accept the context which you are given. Create your own context! gift.shop.project@gmail.com

Your weekend art events hit parade

Two events this evening:

Yann Novak and Jamie Drouin: Performance
Friday, February 6, 2009, 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Henry Members FREE | $5 General Admission
Tickets available at the Henry admission desk.

This performance in conjunction with the exhibition +ROOM-ROOM will be a conversation in sound between Yann Novak and Jamie Drouin. Like the exhibition, this presentation will showcase their distinct approaches to utilizing the ambient recordings they create and manipulate. (Facebook it.)

TIVON RICE
7:30
Between Here and a Kind of Fleshlessness
911 Seattle Media Arts Gallery
9th & Harrison, South Lake Union
Seattle, WA (Facebook it.)

New exhibitions to see here at the Henry:

William Kentridge. Medicine Chest. 1999. Charcoal on paper Courtesy of the artist.

and

+ROOM-ROOM a pair of sound installations for two adjacent galleries at the Henry. Artists Yann Novak and Jamie Drouin will each individually explore how the perception of these familiar places is transformed by sound.

Plus, brand new art to see, all over town!

Claudia X Valdes. The Trinity Series, 2006 – ongoing. (At Lawrimore Project) Click the picture for more info!

We were alone then and I was singing this song for you Joey Veltkamp and Gretchen Bennett. At Fancy - February 5–March 12, 2009

At Davidson Galleries – 313 Occidental Ave S. Ben Beres. Opening, 2008. Etching, relief roll. Edition of 30. 6 inches diameter

When I was alone, singing a song for you…

Was the song…
a) the theme from Golden Girls (Thank you for being a friend)?
b) Bootylicious?
c) David Bowie’s Queen Bitch?

Take the poll:

Then, go see this show at Fancy. (Complete Hankblog disclosure – Fancy is owned and operated by my adorable and talented little sister, Sally Brock.)
However, if this show were in a stinky dumpster, owned and operated by Satan, it would be worth seeing. 
Gretchen Bennett and Joey Veltkamp are two of Seattle’s finest.
By that, I do not mean they are cops. They are talented artists with generous spirits. I can’t wait to see what kind of magic they spin together.

We were alone then and I was singing this song for you
Joey Veltkamp and Gretchen Bennett

February 5–March 12, 2009

Just in time for the sweetest month of the year, Gretchen Bennett and Joey Veltkamp give you, We were alone then and I was singing this song for you. Rooted in sentimentality, they take you on a journey with stickers, steers, rockers and deer standing in for the people and places they have loved along the way. Each artist’s work involves a cataloging and documenting of their influences and a translation of the emotional and psychological impact those influences have on them.