Art on a Yacht, Art in a Shed, and a New Museum Director for the Frye

On behalf of Seattle, I’d like to take a moment to publicly thank local artist-hero Light Guerrilla for doing the Lord’s work and tagging “TAX THE RICH” in massive light letters across the side of Mark Zuckerberg’s 390-foot supervillain megayacht, Launchpad, which unceremoniously rolled up in our front yard the same day Meta announced 1,400 impending job layoffs. We’re living in a real-life comic book, if you haven’t noticed. We may not have a bat signal, but we’ve got Light Guerilla. 

Unfortunately, the text piece blasted the boat only briefly. Zuck’s security team tried taking the projector and laptop mere minutes after Light Guerilla began projecting, the artist told me. At least we got the photo.

Last week the Frye Art Museum welcomed new leadership: Rangsook Yoon, PhD, arrived to fill the newly created role of Senior Director of Curatorial Affairs. Her institutional track record is robust; over the years she worked her way from research intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Senior Curator at the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where she was most recently employed. Yoon has a penchant for working with contemporary artists on big commissions as well as an extensive knowledge of the Munich Secessionists (a core of the Frye’s permanent collection), thanks to a few years’ stint in Germany while working towards her doctorate. These are just a few of the things that make her a “unicorn” (to quote Frye executive director Jamilee Lacy) perfectly suited for the new job that will oversee the museum’s curatorial department. 

It’s a noteworthy expansion, as the Frye gears up to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2027, and continues to define its place in the art world. Because Seattle lacks a contemporary art museum—something that’s stunted our standing as a serious art city—the work of filling that void has fallen on our big three: Seattle Art Museum, Frye Art Museum, and Henry Art Gallery (rumored to be getting an official “Museum” rebrand next year, on the occasion of its 100th anniversary). Each of the institutions has continued to carve out space to showcase local contemporary artists and become more enmeshed in local culture. Recently, SAM has expanded its Betty Bowen footprint from postage-stamp small to a proper gallery (thank you, Tariqa Waters, for your unwavering advocacy). Last year, the Henry permanently and heroically waived its admission fees. But in my quarter-century in Seattle, the Frye is the institution that has arguably done the most to gently reinvent and restructure in a way that honors its historic mission while meaningfully moving toward contributing to an arts ecosystem that supports local artists as much as it does national and international ones. Yoon’s appointment appears to be another push in the direction of strengthening that ecosystem. 

Finally, I would be remiss to not speak of the passing of Hilde Lynn Helphenstein, also known as Jerry Gogosian, who was prolific and unapologetic in her flavor of art world commentary. In a satire-illiterate world that hates to see smart women thrive, you dared to be funny and loud. Rest in peace, Hilde. 

Now, here are a bunch of things to get on your radar for the next two weeks.

First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square
June 4
Among my top picks is Lars Bergquist’s Recognize Me in Everything at Europa Gallery. Shows at Europa are usually one-night only, so don’t skip this during the art walk. It’s Bergquist’s first solo exhibition in a decade, and it signals a significant evolution in his work—from wheat paste to oil painting—while dialing in an exquisite, hyperrealistic trompe l’oeil style. There will also be sound elements perfectly disguised as bricks.

In the backspace at SOIL Gallery, Philippe Hyojung Kim’s WHAT THE RIVER GAVE ME debuts the first part of a painting series begun in 2024 that features imagery of the Duwamish River. Kim’s deep dive into the harrowing history of our river—pummeled with poison, straightened, and industrialized beyond recognition—offers fresh visualizations of what otherwise languishes in the realm of data sets and dusty maps. 

At Antipode, Forouzan Safari is an Iranian artist living in LA whose early style was inspired by fashion illustrations from her mother’s sewing magazines, which she developed into a practice that documents aspects of the immigrant body, liberation, and landscapes, “from the known history of Isfahan to unknown highways of LA.” 

Foster/White Gallery presents Folded Earth, Open Sky, a collection of new works by Sarah Winkler that begin as paper collage and are developed into full-scale landscape paintings. A very different read on landscape (presented by Koplin Del Rio at Foster/White) is Eirik Johnson’s Pine. These works—nocturnal, long-exposure photographs of trees with love-lorn messages carved into their flesh—are steeped in Green Gothic noir. 

The art-tech fantasy isn’t hypothetical for Gabriel-Bello Díaz (a.k.a. GABO), an artist and clothing designer who holds degrees in architectural engineering, civil engineering with sustainability, and robotics. This summer his work is featured at the ARTS at King Street Station in Ancestral Future: Taino Archives. A few months ago I visited Díaz’s studio to get a preview and was swept into his universe—the definition of Gesamtkunstwerk—where worlds and work intertwine seamlessly. In Díaz’s case, works range from the most decadent sustainable outerwear to paintings that come to life with augmented reality. 

In Drie Chapek’s Then Is Now at Greg Kucera Gallery, the paint is thick, caked in places like slabs of smeared icing. It’s the kind of materiality that gets me horny for painterly painters. Chapek’s work qualifies. Her canvases are rife with hints of limb-y flesh and landscapes churning with murky, incandescent white, cobalt, rust, and PNW-coded greens. Also opening this week is Cyril Hatt’s Domestic Glitch: The French artist takes photographs of objects, then cuts, folds, splices, and staples them back together as 3-D objects.

Forest For The Trees at RailSpur Studios proves that artists can, in fact, be good at sports, with a showcase of works created by the artists representing FFTT X Seattle FIFA World Cup 2026. Artists include Al-Baseer Holly, Barry Johnson, Caratoes, Chloe King, Dana Blume, Devin Liston, Erlin Geffrard, Kwonny, Mauricio Ramirez, Paul Nunn, Spencer Keeton Cunningham, and more. The art walk after-party is slated at Hometeam Gallery from 9 p.m.–midnight.

June 5
Andy DeLapp’s Hang In There, Baby debuts at Geheim Gallery in Bellingham. It’s worth the drive! Also, buy up his work now, while it’s still affordable, because DeLapp is one of the most exciting young painters working today. Named a Neddy Artist Award finalist fresh out of art school last year, DeLapp has carved out a way to queer the classical by infusing scenes plucked from antiquity with contemporary pops—like trompe-l’oeil stickers of cartoon characters and imagery from video games that look like they’re taped to the surface of the canvas, except they’re oil paint too.

This weekend is a big one for the Frye, with  the opening of Lotus L. Kang: I hear the hollow boom of time. I’m so excited for this exhibit that I arrived to the press preview a week early. Lotus Kang (whose work is currently featured at the Venice Biennale) manipulates photographic materials and processes in epic, non-traditional ways. Since the work was not yet installed upon my arrival on Friday, I cannot report on the details of her largest museum exhibit to date, but I beseech you to get your ass to the exhibit. Friday is the reception (June 5, 6–7:30 pm for members & VIP; 7:30–9 p.m. open to the public), or on Saturday see Lotus L. Kang and Nour Mobarak in Conversation. Also, on June 7, catch The Legacy of Tom Lloyd: Panel Discussion—another excellent exhibition that recently opened.

June 6
At AMCE Gallery, Sum of Its Parts is a three-person show exploring perception and how we use sensory information to inform our engagement with a place. Artists Chris Lael Larson, Morgan Rosskopf, and Emily Somoskey each offer a unique entry point into drippy, trippy, crystalline, jeweltone, internet-art-flavored landscapes. One through-line across the work is an explosive use of color—dripping peachburst, melted turquoise, pinked and purpling glossing and glitching tinted metallics. Artist talk on June 6 (4–5 p.m.) and reception June 7 (3–5 p.m.).

June 7
Nothing But The Memory at Tacoma Art Museum (1:00–2:30 p.m.) is a chance to hear the inimitable Mary Ann Peter discuss her practice, with her piece Impossible Monument (on my eyes and my head) as a point of departure. If you haven’t had a chance to see Haunted—including Peters’s 300-pound flour tapestry painstakingly spread across the museum floor—this is your last chance, on the exhibition’s final day. 

Also on June 7 (2–4 p.m), We build this city! Art and the civic imagination (at Common Objects in Belltown) continues a series of panel discussions hosted by the ARTS at King Street Station. Moderated by Matthew Offenbacher, the panel (Lila Thomas, Milvia Pacheco, Fox Whitney, and Molly Jae Vaughan) delves into the theme of “future dreaming,” discussing the civic roles of art and artists in Seattle. There’s an added “low-stress” adult playtime afterward, in which to craft a city made of construction paper, pens, popsicle sticks, and other crafty materials (“no special skills required”). This part makes me a little anxious—perhaps because it often feels like popsicle sticks and string are just about the only resources we artists are given to help move civic work forward—but the panel is stellar, so I endorse it!

June 10
Vermillion is finally legal! Celebrate with Seattle’s beloved art bar and gallery, and give owner Diana Adams her flowers. I’m not sure how she’s managed to weather the storms this city has seen, but thank goodness, because Vermillion remains one of the most consistently supportive places for both emerging and established artists, as a place to gather, exhibit, and hold conversations (here’s looking at you, John Boylan). The party starts at 6 p.m. with food, drinks, music, and more. (And ICYMI, Vermillion has a monthly queer figure drawing night called Figure.It.Out, every second Tuesday.)

Capitol Hill Art Walk (June 11)
Once again, we’re opening our doors at The Stranger offices for the Capitol Hill Art Walk! This month we’ll be exhibiting works by Timothy White Eagle, in collaboration with photographers Adrain Chesser and Steven Miller. Along with video and photographs from White Eagle’s recent Duwamish River art residency, a new print of epic content and proportions, The Devil, is debuting. Nearby, Steve Gilbert Studio hosts a group show of work by queer artists and a solo exhibition by Madeleine Schroeder, who studied figure painting in Paris and has developed a style that teeters toward the surreal and fixates on the human hand.

Nearby, Steve Gilbert Studio hosts a group show of work by queer artists and a solo exhibition by Madeleine Schroeder, who studied figure painting in Paris and has developed a style that teeters toward the surreal and fixates on the human hand.

Queer artists: there’s still time to participate in QUEER FOR ALL at the Factory: “No theme. No jury. No need to define yourself at the door. Just bring something.” Riffing on April’s FREE FOR ALL, this month the community group art show is open to all LGBTQIA+ artists. From now until June 7, the venue has designated times for artists to drop off (details here). 

June 12
The Belltown Art Walk and Gallery ERGO welcome Graham Franciose back for WE ARE ALL WEARING MASKS OF OUR OWN MAKING. ERGO is one of my favorite art venues, due to the fact it’s tucked away in a dreamy little corner of Pike Place Market. Also, owner/artist Matt Midgley has a superb eye for delicate, meticulous, atmospheric (and highly collectible) art. 

June 13
Your destination: a house somewhere in West Seattle. It’s the second installment of ONCE REMOVED, a curatorial stroke of genius that softens the blow of gentrification, just a little. The first event happened in February in a little bungalow in Greenwood. This time the artists (Julia Monte, Michael Higgins, Chloe King, Hannah Simmons, Isabella Rinald, and Beni McAllister) have a longer runway and an even bigger house to fill. Sofiiak will be on decks for the night, with a performance by atm/overdraft. For the address, message ONCE REMOVED on Instagram or email hello@onceremoved.org.

If you’re in the Northern Territories and West Seattle is a bit of a stretch, you can explore something different but similar, at Winona Gallery, an art gallery in an 8-foot-by-six-foot shed in Ballard that is dedicated to “whimsy, experimental play, and creating under the weight of history.” The inaugural shed-hibition, Fortune and Her Misgivings, opens June 13 and features Becca Fuhrman and Mira Soutos.

Finally, trans and queer joy is poised to take over in Pioneer Square, where the Children of Shelly’s Leg present And Her Children Sang at Actualize Space. The full program runs through July 7 and is stacked with film screenings, drag shows, workshops, a rooftop party, and performances by Marco Farroni, Miss Texas 1986, and more. (Full list of events here.) And Her Children Sang, a group art exhibit curated by Molly Jae Vaughan, kicks off with a reception and party at Actualize on June 13. In addition to a long list of participating artists, the exhibit will feature a huge new mosaic by the iconic Hot Rat Summer, plus a Hot Rat Summer outdoor arts festival, featuring hundreds of rats from dozens of trans artists. All hail, Saint Rat!  

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