Culture Fiend

All images courtesy Seattle Art Museum.

Paul Gauguin, Vahine no te Tiare (Tahitian Woman with a Flower), 1891, oil on canvas, 27 3/4 × 18 5/16 in.

Paul Gauguin, Faaturuma (Melancholic), 1891, oil on canvas, 37 × 26 7.8 in. Courtesy Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.

Though Gauguin is famously known for his seductive portraits of Tahitian women, his early paintings featured them in conservative western dress, looking forlorn. People “can remain hours and days sitting immobile and gazing sadly at the sky,” Gauguin wrote to his wife.

Gauguin, Te raau rahi (The Large Tree), 1891, oil on fabric, 29 1/8 × 36 9/16 in. Courtesy the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Gauguin left Tahiti’s capital and ventured 45km away to the village of Mataiea, where he sought out authentic daily life.

Paul Gauguin, Parahi te Marae (The Sacred Mountain), 1892, oil on canvas, 26 × 35 in. Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art.

When Gauguin didn’t find the paradise he was looking, he made it up, said Pam McClusky, curator of Art of Africa and Oceania at SAM. The yellow hillside could invoke yellow feathers, which are a sacred element in Polynesian culture.

Moal Kavakava (Cadaverous Male Figure), Easter Island, early- to mid-19th century; wood, bone, obsidian.

This handsome fellow with obsidian eyes is similar to the artwork Gauguin saw at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889—a collection of pieces that inspired his desire to see both the savagery and beauty of “the Promised Land.”

Paul Gauguin, Arearea no Varua ino (Words of the Devil, or Reclining Tahitian Women) , 1894, oil on canvas, 23 5/8 × 38 9/16 in. Courtesy Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

Constantly plagued by wanderlust, Gauguin continued to paint Tahiti even when he was back in Paris from 1893–1895. It doesn’t help that he contracted syphilis and only sold nine of 47 works while he was home.

Paul Gauguin, Three Tahitians, 1899, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 × 37 in. Courtesy National Gallery of Scotland.

Gauguin returned to Tahiti from 1895 to 1901, where he was both prolific—abandoning ethnographic portraits for lush, seductive paintings—and frustrated by syphilis, a lack of cash, and run-ins with local authorities.

Photo: Laura Dannen. Pota (Tiki Figure), late 18th to mid-19th century, stone, Marquesas Islands.

This tiki comes from the island of Hiva Oa, where Gauguin lived at the end of his life in the early 1900s. “It was the Tahiti of former times that I loved,” he once said.

Photo: Laura Dannen.

En route to Tahiti for the second time, Gauguin passed through New Zealand, where he became engrossed with a collection of Maori carvings at the Auckland Museum. This piece (pictured) covered in fine spirals is one of the oldest on display (ca. 1865), but was sadly turned into a collection basket (note the key hole).

Photo: Laura Dannen.

Don’t forget to say hello to Pou (ca. 1840). This figure typically welcomes visitors to a Maori meeting house, and you’re expected to greet it when you pass by.

All photos by Carey Rose.

The Tommy gun: an always-excellent means of ensuring speedy service.

The season two premiere of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire took place at the Big Picture, a bar and theater beneath El Gaucho in Belltown. Specialty cocktails were available in addition to the usual selection of beer, wine, and bubbly.

Kieran Archer works the bar at the Big Picture, serving up drinks to attendees who were encouraged to dress (and party) like it’s 1919.

The premiere “should be great,” said Todd Hattori, decked out in a full suit and bowler.

Chris Warner, second from right, sits with a group of friends before the premiere. “We’re fans of the show, and fans of dressing up,” said Warner, who purchased his bowler hat from a Goorin Bros. Hat Shop in Seattle.

Leah and Marty Ross pieced together their outfits from a costume shop in Northgate, leftovers from a wedding, and a Value Village. “We decided to roll it into Halloween,” Leah said.

Another group gets a last-minute drink order in before the show.

A group hailing from Issaquah said they love the show, and when they saw the suggestion to dress up, decided to be “good sports.”

There were no smartphones in 1919 — you’re breaking character!

Shea Whigham, who plays Sheriff Eli Thompson on the show, chatted briefly before the screening about their latest round of taping (which had just wrapped). He withheld all juicy tidbits about the second season.

Eric Warner, with friends Lee Kalfan (left) and Kate Solomon, exit the premiere and head over to the first spot on the “speakeasy crawl,” the Sarajevo Lounge (aka the old Del Rey).

The Sarajevo Lounge was booked exclusively for participants in HBO’s pub crawl, and offered drink specials, snacks, and a photo booth.

Kate Solomon makes sure the bartender mixes that drink right at Sarajevo Lounge.

Lee Kalfan and Kate Solomon have a souvenir photo taken at the Sarajevo Club photo booth.

Ravenna Woods lead singer Chris Cunningham plays a lively set at Neumos.

Seapony, a new Seattle band on the Hardly Art label, play the Vera stage.

Bellingham natives Federation X play a KEXP live session on the Caffé Vita Bean Room stage.

People lounge after a KEXP Live Session at the Caffé Vita Bean Room.

A family takes a break from all the rockin’ to enjoying some homemade ice cream. (I confess, after I took this picture I decided they had the right idea and indulged myself with a frozen treat—rockin’ out is hard work, after all.)

Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces plays a song from her just-released solo album Last Summer at Neumos.

Nikki Benson of Lovesick Empire thanks the crowd at Neumos after a power-house set by the band.

Local purveyors of frosted goodness, Cupcake Royale, hawk their tasty almost-too-pretty-to-eat treats at the Block Party.

A fine question.

Singer Carolyn Berk of Portland band Lovers.

Crowd? What crowd? Fans gather at the mainstage on Day 2 of CHBP to hear Los Angeles garage rock band Best Coast.

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast sings lazy hazy garage-tinged odes to summer, Saturday night on the main stage.

The Vera Project booth. Can you spot the musician?

Still rocking Chris Ballew and the Presidents of the United States of America play PUSAFest 2011 at Showbox at the Market, Feb. 18-20. All photos by Lucas Anderson.

Andrew McKeag has been playing guitbass for PUSA since 2004. He’s kind of the new guy.

THEESatisfaction and Shabazz Palaces share the stage at Neumos on Feb 17, 2011. All photos by Lucas Anderson.

Shabazz Palaces’s Ishmael Butler (aka Palaceer Lazaro) at Neumos on Feb 17, 2011.

Shabazz Palaces’s Tendai Mairaire at Neumos on Feb 17, 2011.

Shabazz Palaces’s Tendai Mairaire at Neumos on Feb 17, 2011.

THEESatisfaction’s Stasia Irons at Neumos, Feb 17, 2011.

THEESatisfaction’s Catherine Harris-White at Neumos, Feb 17, 2011.

THEESatisfaction’s Stasia Irons at Neumos, Feb 17, 2011.

Shabazz Palaces’s Palaceer Lazaro at Neumos on Feb 17, 2011.

Shabazz Palaces’s Tendai Mairaire at Neumos on Feb 17, 2011.

Shabazz Palaces’s Palaceer Lazaro at Neumos on Feb 17, 2011.

Where’s Emmett? (Hint: tan blazer.) Photos by Lindsay Borden.

Best icebreaker: Are you on that wall? Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Host Chase Jarvis gives a wave…or does a little dance. We can’t tell which. We like to think both. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

I didn’t run into Cliff McCrath—the second winningest soccer coach in NCAA history—at the party, but his photo (middle row, far right) was one of my favorites. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Proceeds from the sale of Seattle 100: Portrait of a City will go to 4culture.org, which supports public art and historic preservation in King County. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

My husband got into a conversation about consumerism with Michael Seiwerath (pictured), former NW Film Forum artistic director-turned-champion of affordable housing. Safe to say that Seiwerath is not a fan of consumerism. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Wexley School for Girls cofounder Cal McAllister (center) is known for his outside-the-box marketing strategies, but we got him inside the box for this shot. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Photo: Lindsay Borden.

“Food provocateur” Michael Hebb has been known to head-butt people as it gets closer to midnight. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

When we asked Michael Hebb (right) what he’s up to these days, he replied: Stuff. What kind of stuff—tech? Sidewalk chalk artist? Nope.Then he scampered into this photo with Chase Jarvis. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

“They’re not the Seattle 100; they’re a Seattle 100. They’re our cultural leaders.” —Chase Jarvis. Photo: Lindsay Borden.

Those who donned one of the special VIP passes (yes, that included us) got to chill in a private lounge with cushy couches, a private bar, and a prime view of the stage.

Contestants in the Best Back Tattoo contest had to bare it all for the judges as they deliberated.

The contestants vie for more than just the title of Best Back Tattoo; they want the trophy— a beer stein that comes with free refills of beer all weekend.

Despite getting some flack from the announcer for “showing too much crack,” John Osiris scored third place in the Best Back Tattoo contest. His back piece was done by Colin Delgado from Hidden Hand Tattoo in Seattle.

Second place winner Kim Coerner keeps things PG-13 with a little help from some self-censoring electrical tape.

Friends Bree Siers and Sullivan Giles are no strangers to the tattoo world. Siers’s tattoo of a Tibetan skull breathing luna moths won her the title of Best Large Tattoo at the National Tattoo Convention—because “it’s bad ass,” she says. Giles even has eyeliner tattooed on. " It’s great, if I don’t want to put on makeup in the morning, I don’t have to."

Bree offers a piece of advice to keep colored tattoos bright and vibrant: stay away from the sun and keep covered up. Of course at an event where showing off your tattoos is as important as hitting the beer garden, this rule is mostly ignored.

Sullivan Giles doesn’t hesitate to show off her favorite tattoo.

You wouldn’t expect a Tattoo Expo to be a place for kids, but several tattooed moms and dads had their little ones in tow. A face painting and airbrush tattoo on-site catered to this younger set.

Two My Little Ponies grace the feet of Amber Rothrock. Rothrock, who works at Slave to the Needle, says these two pedi-tattoos are her favorite, “because I like My Little Ponies, and because I’m a dork.”

Amber Rothrock’s back piece is one of the few large tattoos she has covering her body.

Inside the Northwest Rooms at Seattle Center, hundreds of tattoo shops set up tables where prospective clients could view portfolios of the tattoo artist’s work, set up consultations, and even get a tattoo, right then, right there.

Suzanna Fisher of Supergenius Tattoo here in Seattle has been a professional tattoo artist for three years now, and says there is a lot of pressure for someone holding the needle, especially when you are just starting out. However, her board game skills are giving her an upper hand.
“I’m a Scrabble fanatic, so I’m kind of like the spell-checker for the shop”.

What’s an underage kid to do at a tattoo expo? Damian Winter, 13, found an alternative to the real thing: “I’m not old enough to get tattooed, so I get Sharpied.” Damnian’s dad, Mattias Winter, is a tattoo artist at Hardline Tattoo and Piercings in Monroe. Will he let his dad give him his first tattoo once he turns 18? “Probably.”

Mattias Winters, tattoo artist for Hardline Tattoo and Piercing, works on a leg piece for David Cochrin, who chose to get a tattoo in honor of his son, Zach.

When not browsing potential body art, most of the tattooed attendees kicked back, relaxed, and enjoyed a beer. Nothing wrong with that.

The exhibit opens with “people who bear direct witness to Kurt Cobain,” says Michael Darling, curator of contemporary art at SAM. Alice Wheeler. Kurt Cobain at MTV’s Live and Loud, Pier 63, Seattle WA, Dec. 13, 1993, 1993 printed 2010, color photograph.

Sound clips of Kurt grunting and groaning in concert provide the soundtrack for this room with iconic photos of him crashing into his drum kit. Charles Peterson, Nirvana, Rajis, Los Angeles 2/15/90, 1990 Inkjet print, 66 × 44 in.

In Alice Wheeler’s Tent City, she photographs a boy from the Midwest who moves to Seattle to embrace his grunge dream—bleached-blond hair and guitar included. Alice Wheeler, Tent City, Seattle, WA, April 1999, color photograph, 27 × 40.5 in.

Evan Holloway’s Left-handed Guitarist captures Kurt’s signature stance: slightly hunched over because of back and stomach problems, scraggly blond hair drooping in face, seeming to hide from his own fame. Evan Holloway, Left-Handed Guitarist, 1998, foam, paper, plastic, graphite.

Elizabeth Peyton, Zoe’s Kurt, 1995, oil on board.

In Slater Bradley’s Doppelganger Trilogy—which includes this still image and a video installation—the artist hired someone who resembled both him and Kurt Cobain to pose in a series exploring mimicry and the malleability of identity. Slater Bradley, Silver I Love You So Much It Makes Me Sick, 2008, silver marker on Chromogenic print.

German artist Friedrich Kunath borrows from the melancholy of Kurt’s notebooks and doodles in this wall-size sketch. Fans will recognize the unicorn on the top right as Kurt’s own. Friedrich Kunath, Untitled, 2010, mixed media on canvas.

By placing his sculpture of Kurt Cobain on the ground rather than on a pedestal, local artist Scott Fife gives a sense of the rocker’s ennui, says Darling. Scott Fife, Kurt Cobain, 2006, archival cardboard, glue, screws.

Beyond a black curtain is a series of pieces exploring the early demise of Kurt Cobain, including Jordan Kantor’s Greenhouse, which interprets photographs of a shadowy figure presumably standing over Kurt’s body on the day of his suicide. Jordan Kantor, Greenhouse, 2006, oil on canvas.

Budding actress Holly Solomon, one of Warhol’s Factory girls, “performs” for the photobooth camera in this 1966 strip. “I wanted to be Brigitte Bardot. I wanted to be Jeanne Monreau, Marilyn Monroe all packed into one,” she once revealed. Photobooth strip courtesy the Andy Warhol Foundation of the Visual Arts, New York.

If you came into the Factory between 1964 and 1966, you might sit for a four-minute screen test with Warhol, says Marisa Sanchez, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at SAM. Twenty of nearly 450 Screen Tests—essentially, silent black-and-white video portraits of his friends and muses—are projected onto the walls of two separate gallery rooms.

When Edie Sedgwick arrived at the Factory in 1965, she became Warhol’s number one muse: “the woman he couldn’t be,” says Sanchez. Her image never made it onto a Warhol canvas, though—a comment on the type of “celebrity” he deemed worthy for his art. Screen test (16mm) courtesy the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York.

In the exhibit’s Polaroid Gallery is a series of self-portraits, including this “playful” one from 1977— Self-Portrait (Being Choked) —of Warhol simulating being strangled by an unknown aggressor. Courtesy the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.

Warhol also played with ideas of femininity and identity by posing for a series of Polaroids called Self-Portrait in Drag, including this one from 1981. The person who actually took these photos is unknown. Courtesy the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.

Warhol satisfied his appetite for immediacy (of process and delivery) with Polaroids. He captures his “superstars,” including Dennis Hopper (pictured, 1977), Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, “Baby Jane” Holzer and Jack Smith, in screen tests and photos, stripped of any Hollywood gloss. Courtesy the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York.

At the end of the exhibit, you’re encouraged to pose in the photobooth and add your own “portrait” to the collage on the wall. The quote on the wall? “I don’t think art should be only for the select few, it should be for the mass of American people…” Andy Warhol