CULTURE CLUB: VISUAL ART CURATED BY MICHAEL VAN HORN

City Arts Festival’s visual art program features three one night only exhibitions at Fred Wildlife Refuge, with a new opening event each day. Peering through the lenses of three diverse local curators, the exhibits will showcase a wide array of visual art genres and uncover how the contemporary visual art scene interacts with music and comes to life in our city and the festival setting.

Curator Michael Van Horn presents: Hashemi + Hirata 

Opening Reception with the artists 6 – 8PM

Exhibit on view 1PM – 1AM 

This show presents new work by artists Sol Hashemi and Jason Hirata. Their “making and doing” draws from shared and individual personal interests (Japanese rock gardens, “audiophilia”, and seasonal décor to name a few) and utilizes whatever media, processes or activities they determine to be appropriate. Referring to early collaborative work with Hashemi, Hirata said “We would do whatever we do in the world and use it in our art.”

This June they created a dust cloud inside the Richard Serra sculpture Wake, at the Olympic Sculpture Park, by spinning a radio-controlled truck in circles in the gravel surrounding the sculpture. During a month long exhibition at Punch Gallery in 2010, they hid snack foods around the Northwest, and then used the gallery to display photos and videos of the hidden snacks. Recent individual shows include Hashemi’s rock sculptures and rock photographs at James Harris Gallery. Hirata’s Let Me Be A Stranger at The Living Room in Seattle incorporated chance and a degree of “self-removal” from his working process. He utilizes elaborate written scripts, texting and cash rewards to get strangers at Cal Anderson Park to participate in the making of a sculpture without them realizing it.

The visual art program for City Arts Festival is being conceived and curated by Sierra Stinson in collaboration with festival arts curator Sara Edwards.

A portion of the proceeds from bar sales goes to benefit Shunpike.

Check out other Visual Art at the festival:

Thursday exhibit curated by Free Sheep Foundation
Thursday Pop-up Art Market 
Friday Visual Art Happy Hour with Sierra Stinson and Klara Glosova
Friday Pop-up Art Market
Saturday exhibit curated by Serrah Russell and Amanda Manitach 
Saturday Pop-up Art Market