Painting Highlights from the Seattle Art Fair and Out of Sight

No one knew what to expect from the Seattle Art Fair. We barely knew to expect it at all. This may have been due, in part, to the absence of any significant art fair in the region since the 1990s. Most us in the Seattle arts community were still holding our collective breath just several months before now, when none of the local galleries that applied for a booth knew of their acceptance status. — Erin Langner, Seattle contributor

Seattle Art Fair entrance, including Negar Farajiani’s “Made-in-China”, presented by Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

But, the Fair’s rapid progression, from an abstract idea, conceived by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, to the 60 booths that made the cut, became very real Thursday night, when a thick line of art fair attendees ran alongside CenturyLink Field—normally the place to gaze at a different source of local interest, the Seattle Seahawks. The white labyrinth of booths, a leafy VIP lounge, the glasses of golden bubbles were all there, shiny and ready for the masses, as if by magic.

Several blocks away, another exhibition opened its single door on the same night, in the opposite fashion. Pointedly titled Out of Sight, this show of over 100 Seattle artists was built before our eyes, on a discrete, 24,000-square-foot floor of the King Street train station. Blood, sweat and tears was the sensibility that came to mind as the show’s quartet of local curators Kirsten Anderson, Sharon Arnold, Greg Lundgren and Sierra Stinson Instagrammed the making of Out of Sight, more or less in real time. Everything from the studio visits to the drywall sanding that brought the exposed-brick and -beam space to its current, stunning state, in a matter of weeks, was revealed for all to see.

Below are highlights from the Seattle Art Fair and Out of Sight, both of which are on view through this Sunday, August 2.