Hollywood Depicted in Needlepoint and Lace: a new project by Amelia Bauer

Opens Thursday July 23rd, 7 pm

Amelia Bauer’s work considers ways in which the decorative arts throughout the history of western civilization have attempted to organize the chaos of the natural world. The pieces in her newest show entitled STILL reflect that tendency, while also examining the coinciding romanticization of, and fascination with violence. In STILL, Bauer presents a peculiar kind of rubble: a pile of pillows on the gallery floor. Each pillow in the pile uses needlepoint to photo-realistically depict a different car explosion scene from a Hollywood movie. Handkerchiefs line the walls of the gallery. In each handkerchief, a cinema-derived scene of defenestration is rendered in lace.

The movie stills Bauer has chosen to translate into needlepoint and lace are pulled from varying film genres--from romantic comedy to horror--produced between 1948 and 2009. Significantly, all of her sources are American productions. These bright flowering explosions and shards of shattering glass are the decorative elements that bejewel so many Hollywood films. The natural impulse to violence is depicted in cinema as glamourous decoration. The Hollywood machine is America’s own decadence of empire. The artworks in STILL resonate between an homage to this decadence and a mourning place for the fictional victims within these stories.

Amelia Bauer is a Brooklyn based artist born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has been living in New York for the past 12 years, excluding a ten-month working vacation in Seattle in 2005. She is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and received her BFA with honors from the School of Art at The Cooper Union. Her work has been exhibited at Capricious gallery in Brooklyn, the Swarovski Crystal Palace at Art Basel Miami, Helen Pitt Gallery in Vancouver B.C., CCA Santa Fe, the Center on Contemporary Arts in Seattle, American Fine Arts in New York City, New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts, Miami Museum of Art, and National Museum of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution. Her drawings have been published in The New York Times, the Believer and Warrior Magazines, and several McSweeney’s publications.

Photos from Toby Leibowitz opening

A huge success, thank you to everyone who came out and enjoyed an incredible evening!!



Toby on the right!

Opening reception for Peg and Awl, by Toby Liebowitz: Saturday May 30th 7-10 pm



Brand new work by Seattle artist Toby Liebowitz. Immaculate drawings, and accompanying collaborative installation (Max Liebowitz and Sean Pecknold) introduce us to the fictional depression era Peg and Awl Society.





Peg and Awl is a fictional society based in Douglas County, Oregon between the spring of 1933 and the winter of 1934. A community built from the dreams of the great depression; a place for artists, carpenters, writers and adventurers with visions of a utopian society. Through a series of graphite drawings, that span the seasons of a year, we witness the rise and fall of a community of people who are forced to face the realities of human desire and the harsh unknown.

The name of the community "Peg and Awl" comes from the song of the same title, popular during the industrial revolution of the late 1800s in America. The song prophecies the demise of handcrafts in favor of the machine. This fictional Peg & Awl society, created by Leibowitz, largely based on handcrafts, is an ode to the simplicity and creative spirit in our past, present, and potentially our future communities.

Toby Liebowitz attended Parsons School of Design for Illustration & Currently, is pursuing a degree in Agriculture at the Evergreen State College. Toby has shown her work in Seattle, New York and London.

Artist Statement about the installation:

Early in the 20th century hundreds of small sustainable communities were popping up around America. One of the most common ideas was the notion of free land and the liberation to builds ones shelter however and wherever they pleased. It was always with what they had and just the amount of space that was needed. The installation is trying to reenact a space of handmade and time spent shelter. Inside the shelter a sound piece is looped. Taking fragments of human life, a baby first laugh, and fragments of sound clips appropriate to 1933, clips of FDR’s fireside chats. The sound piece will aurally express the arc of the society “Peg and Awl” through the seasons and cyclical nature of patterns in human nature and the repeating of history past.

Sculpture Installation by Max Liebowitz
Sound Piece by Sean Pecknold

Heidi Anderson show on view until May 17th

gorgeous. gallery is open friday 2-7, saturday and sunday 12-6

Ghost Of Plants - Heidi Anderson - May 8th

Ghost of Plants

New Work from Heidi Anderson

Opening Reception Friday, May 8th at 7.00 PM

Heidi Anderson’s work is of a parallel world where her visions are rendered into fantastical apparitions. Spirits come to life in vivid color and float freely in atmospheric landscapes that reflect inner realms, personal mythology and an appreciation for the mysteries of nature.

Heidi Anderson was born in Seattle, WA. She received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2003. Heidi has shown work in San Francisco, Brussels, London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Miami, and most recently at the Salon Du Dessin Contemporain in Paris.

Website for Heidi and her twin sister Erika: http://www.heidianderikadraw.com/

April 10th and 11th at Cairo. Two great shows

We have two great music shows at Cairo on April 10th and April 11th.

Friday April 10th Weekend, Flexions, and Katherine Hepburn's Voice, 8 pm, $7

Saturday April 11th Braidstorm (tape release), Dimples, and Fuck you Safari, 8 pm, $5

New LULU Jewlery in!

Check out the new LULU Jewelry that arrived at our online store

Cairo Collection

Jesse Brown & Aaron Harris, Opens Saturday March 21st, 7-10 pm

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, BUT IT PROBABLY WON’T, a two person show of new work by Jesse Brown and Aaron Harris.

Jesse: http://www.papervspencil.com
Aaron: http://aaronharris.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html

OPENING Reception Saturday, March 21st 7-10pm
Show runs through April 26th

JESSE BROWN

ARTIST BIO
---------------
Jesse Brown is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Seattle, Wa.
His work has been exhibited at galleries in Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, New York, Tokyo, Berlin, London and Paris.

Jesse’s work is often an exploration in geometric forms, pattern, shape and repetition which display a very clean, graphic quality. He is known for working in a variety of mediums including drawing, painting, paper sculpture, limited-edition artist books, installation, video and textile works.

In addition to creating work to be shown within the gallery setting, Jesse has also been involved in creating murals and public installations in Seattle, for nearly ten years he worked as the Artistic Director at the Seattle based non-profit Urban Artworks, an organization that creates murals throughout the city with at-risk youth.

Jesse is currently designing a permanent public art installation for one of the Sound Transit LightRail stations in the SODO neighborhood, scheduled to be completed in June 2009.

AARON HARRIS

ARTIST BIO
---------------
Aaron Harris is a Seattle based artist, working primarily in painting, drawing, printing and film. His work has been shown in Seattle, Chicago and New York.

Artist Statement: These paintings, unless otherwise noted, take place in or near West Seattle. Scandinavia and Japan are also involved. Some are based on true things that have happened, and for those, I’ve included descriptions in the titles.

You should imagine Whale “sounds” when possible while viewing these paintings.

Some thinking ideas while viewing the paintings are: the internet, stucco walls, salt water, wood saunas, how many people there are in this crazy world, how you feel about what happened to you in your day so far, or what’s happening to you right now, how long or short things have been around, and what they where before they are what they are now, and if you’re around people, you can think about them.

Please refrain from thinking about your boss, your crazy schedule, downward spirals, or pussyfooting around. Remember to enjoy! Yourself.


Please contact Joel Leshefka or Justine Ashbee at this email or for phone conversations, call 206.453.4077.

In addition to the opening at Cairo, Mike de Leon (whose photos can be found in the Cairo print viewer), will be having a going away to NYC/print sale/party at NoSpace, and and and Spike Mafford, whose studio is next to Top Pot Doughnuts, will also be having an opening that very same night. Three great spots, three great shows, one night....see you there

Suspension of Disbelief, a show by Cornish College of the Arts students


Friday Feb. 27th-March 8th, Cairo introduces it's series of INTERLUDES, with a show curated by Mandy Blouin of Cornish College of Arts students in a exhibition entitled Suspension of Disbelief.Opening Friday February 27th 7-10pm

Ben Mast
Justin Lytle
Kelsey Fein
Ryan Fedderson
Matt Holmes
John Ruszel
ManDilla

INTERLUDES is a new series of shows lasting nine days. Hosted by Cairo these shorter show will fall between longer six week shows booked throughout the year. INTERLUDES, focuses on younger up and coming artists, and will also be a platform for artists showing later in the schedule to preview works in progress. Look for upcoming INTERLUDES by Heidi Anderson, and Derek Bourcier and Robin Stein (both showing in the September group show at Cairo, entitled "80 and up").

for information on this series please contact Joel Leshefka, or Justine Ashbee at 206.453.4077

Great Weekend of music.

Thanks to all the bands who played, and everyone who made it out this weekend, especially those who helped us create our first sold out show on friday!! who knew we could fit some many people into such a small space....

Tiny Vipers, PWRFL Power, Generifus, Talbot Tagora, and Love Tan. Friday Feb. 20th and 21st 8 pm.

photo by kyle johnson


ever wish you could see your favorite artists perform in your living room?

well, it's not your living room, but cairo's performance space gives you all the intimacy and comfort of watching a show from home.

no noisy bro's in the back of the bar, no drunk fools elbowing for room.

come out Friday February 20th at 8pm for:

Tiny Vipers
PWRFL Power
Generifus

$7
all-ages

and Saturday February 21st at 8 pm for:

Talbot Tagora
Love Tan

$5
all-ages

Nicholas Kamuda Seascapes Show continues through January 25th. Cairo Winter hours: Saturday and Sunday 12-6 pm

We are pleased to offer a ONE NIGHT EVENT, this thursday night...

Weston Jandacka and Steph Kese present their newly illustrated book "he says, she says" for the very first time! Please join us, everyone is welcome.

Thursday, December 19th from 7-10 pm. Limited edition prints from the book will also be available.

Seascapes by Nicholas Kamuda, Opens Friday Dec. 12th, 7-9 pm

SEASCAPES

Solo show of Seattle-Based Artist and Designer Nicholas Kamuda

Opening Reception Friday, December 12th, 7-10pm
Show runs to January 25th, 2009


Cairo is honored to present Seascapes, new work by Seattle artist, Nicholas Kamuda. Please join us for the Opening Reception the evening of December 12th, 7-10pm


‘Sea is meeting point between the physical and intangible in both painting and landscape.’


When living in Japan, South of Tokyo, Kamuda would ride his bike to the beach. He liked the physical experience of being by the sea, feeling the rhythm of the sea, and never wanted to live far from it. Drawing the sea is, in essence, a way of communing with the sea and its rhythms. The rhythmic movements in his drawings are variations in splashing and control. For Kamuda, the experience of a highly physical mark-making process opens doors into the complex dynamics of the sea, and establishes a mental familiarity with the properties and surface of the texture of water itself.


The Seacscapes series serve as a vehicle for Kamuda to experience the nature of water through the physical process of familiarization. Through documentation, intimacy, and relationalism, Kamuda creates a moving representation by making use of the very element he seeks to represent.

Kamuda received a BFA in Painting & a BA in East Asian Studies from the Washington University in St. Louis and Waseda University in Tokyo in 2002.

Stephen Eichhorn-Extended through November

New Cairo Hours:

Thursday 2-7 pm
Saturday and Sunday 12-6 pm

Supervideografen Film Screening

Thanks to Sean Pecknold for organizing/producing such an epicly awesome evening. you can see an encore showing Saturday October 25th at NoSpace gallery as part of expo86








handmade dvd covers (!!!!)

Advance Tickets now available for Expo 86

Come by Cairo or The Anne Bonny to get yourself advance tickets for this weekend's big/small festival!! Cairo is open 2-7 pm, The Anne Bonny is open 12-7 pm. Tickets will also be sold at the door, but these spaces are small, and we won't oversell the event.

Trailer for the Universe and You, screening Wed. October 22nd at 8pm

http://www.supervideografen.com/universe.html

Supervideografen Collective presents, The Universe and You, Wed. October 22nd at 8pm

Cairo is proud to present a free screening of The Universe and You, from the Supervideografen Collective

Screening to be at 8 pm on Wednesday Oct. 22nd, 2008.

Supervideografen Presents: The Universe and You
A collection of animated explorations and visual interpretations of our place in the big unknown.

Animations by:

Justine Ashbee
Britta Johnson
JJ Walker
Emanuele Kabu
Sean Pecknold
Bill Porter
Matt Smithson
And many more!

This is a free event, please join us!

expo86 Seattle, three days of music, film, and dance. October 24-26th.

We are psyched to announce a mini-music, film, and dance festival being hosted by ourselves, NoSpace Gallery, and the Anne Bonny store. It will be amazing. Advance tickets available, with a $10 ticket getting you in to see a days worth of events at all three spaces. In all 32 performances over the weekend.

This is an epic opportunity to see performers you alreaday know and love in a small, intimate setting, and expose yourself to amazing performers you've never heard of. good stuff:

Official expo86 Website

Stephen Eichhorn

House Plants, opens Friday Sept. 12th from 6-9 pm

HOUSE PLANTS

Solo show by Chicago-Based Artist Stephen Eichhorn

Opening Reception Friday, September 12th, 6-9pm



Cairo proudly presents House Plants, new work by promising young artist Stephen Eichhorn. Opening Reception Friday, September 12th, from 6-9pm. Eichhorn will be in attendance.

Stephen's Website


Chicago-based artist Stephen Eichhorn creates delicate hand cut paper collages from reproductions of foliage - palm fronds, grasses, leaves and flowers. Mining a variety of sources including National Geographic magazines and the dead stock of 70's and 80's wall coverings, he composes works that mimic the natural world, and yet seem almost outside reality. Eichhorn's work formally transcribes the simplest elements of the pastoral onto a conceptual framework, generating a visual language exclusive to its own world, one rooted in anthropology and humans quest to understand and recreate architecture found in nature. The final product eerily retains a sense of its origins.



House Plants is an allusion to both the source material and the popular use of the plant as a structural object. Banal & everyday, but also an artful cultivation of structure and form, the hand and sensitivity to the plant form are the mystique of his pieces.



House Plants will be on display in the Cairo gallery space through October. Exhibition to include a window installation with fellow Chicago Artist, Cody Hudson.

Cody's Website

Stephen Eichhorn lives and works in Chicago. he received a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been exhibited at José Bienvenu Gallery in New York, Bucket Rider Gallery in Chicago, and the Illinois State Museum. His work is included in a number of private and corporate collections, including a recent acquisition by Fidelity Investments. This is his first solo exhibition in Seattle.



For more information please contact Justine Ashbee or Joel Leshefka at 206.453.4077

Garden of Earthly Delights Review by Steven Vroom

very nice article about the gallery and our last show by steven vroom:

article found here

cairo at dusk

photo courtesy of michael j de leon.

Opening for Jesse Brown at Wonderful Union Gallery

Very dear friend and all around talented man, Jesse Brown is having an opening at the Wonderful Union Gallery in Ballard Next Saturday (August 9th). Show is in conjunction with Ballard Artwalk.




"Escape Route"
By Jesse Brown
OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, August 9th, 2008, 6-10 PM
Wonderful Union Gallery
2221 NW 56th St. Suite 201, Seattle WA 98107
(1/2 Block West of the Ballard Library)

Exhibition Dates
August 9th - October 3rd, 2008

ABOUT THE SHOW
Paintings, sculptures and a book of drawings are inspired by a number of consistent concepts in Jesse's work - structures, pattern, type, escapism and nostalgia.

Jesse will be releasing a book of drawings exploring ideas in death, language, concrete poetry and typography, titled "The Light Inside Your Coffin." The book will be available at the opening reception.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jesse Brown is an artist / designer originally from Seattle, now living in Chicago where he divides his time between personal work and commercial projects. Jesse's work has been exhibited in Seattle, Los Angeles, Berlin, Tokyo, Chicago and New York.

http://www.wonderfulunion.com/gallery

Coming in September

Work by Chicago based artist Stephen Eichhorn. Opens Friday September 12th 6-9 pm

The Garden of Earthly Delights, Opening Reception Saturday July 19th 6-9 pm

The Garden of Earthly Delights
Group Show of Intimate Portraits On View July 19th – September 9th, 2008


Alika Cooper
Pete Kuzov
Kyle Ranson
Chad States
Edie Tsong

Cairo presents portraits from an unlikely group of artists that share an interest in gender, sexuality, and intimate relations.

Painted worlds of visual fantasy and photographic portraits of the real and intimate, the erotic becomes a place filled with the intoxicating air of liberty. The Garden of Earthly Delights moves beyond the exploitative and voyeuristic, to a place of confidence in how we choose to encounter our own sexuality.



ALIKA COOPER received an MFA from California College of Arts. Her work evaluates and captures the fading gloss of the American Dream, glamour, and fame. With the understated synthesis of an opaque, neutral gouache palette on earth-toned printmaking paper, she harnesses sketch by sketch the transforming aura of the stars. Alika's work comes at an important time when our media focus on celebrity is pervasive and highly influential throughout our society. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Alika Cooper lives and works in San Francisco. www.alikacooper.com

PETE KUZOV was born July 5, 1972 in Delta, Colorado. Interest in storytelling brings Pete to almost everything he does. In 1999, Pete received his MFA in Acting and Theatre Direction from Louisiana State University. After appearing in 3 film shorts and a feature film, he joined his partner in Roswell, where he began making one-man productions. Pete currently lives in New Mexico.

KYLE DAMON RANSON was born July 31st in 1969 in New York City. With an encouraging hippie mother, Ranson began to draw and paint at an early age. By the time he began high school, he was already taking life drawing classes at Connecticut's Lyme Academy. He went on to complete three semesters at the Maryland Institute College of Art, before relocating to San Francisco in 1994. Since his arrival, Kyle Ranson has slowly become a pillar of the San Francisco art scene. His bold murals and paintings often deal with dark mythological, fairy-tail like scenes depicting strange sometimes violent sexual subject matter. Yet, at the same time, Ranson also creates the most delicate portraiture. Inaddition to his several Bay Area solo shows, he has exhibited in Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and London. Kyle Ranson lives and works in San Francisco. www.kyledamonranson.com

CHAD STATES grew up in Seattle area and attended Evergreen State College. He received his MFA from Tyler School of Art in 2007 and currently lives in Philadelphia. His work investigates the construction of identity and the psychological need to be photographed as way of constructing and maintaining ones identity. http://chadstates.com

EDIE TSONG is interested in the practice of portraiture, as a way to explore the relationship between self and other. Her projects have used video-conference, facsimile, plasticene, performance, and drawing to explore identity through portraiture. Tsong has lectured and exhibited nationally. She currently lives and works in Santa Fe, NM.

Aaron Osborn Paintings & Drawings On View Through July 14th

Beautiful works on display, Graphite Drawings and Wood Stain Paintings. Seen above:

I Feel Close to You, but What Does That Mean?
Graphite on Paper, 22.5” x 15” 2008

Aquarius
Wood Stain, Acrylic on Canvas, 24” x 20” 2008

It’s A Slow Growth To A New World
Graphite on Paper, 22.5” x 15” 2008

Press Reviews

We've had some nice reviews over the past two weeks, you can read them here, or come check things out for yourself. Cairo is open Thursday-Sunday 2-7 pm.


NWSource


The Moment, The New York Times


The Daily Candy

Opening Night at Cairo

thank you to everyone for making this such an amazing evening.

More images coming soon.

cairo GRAND OPENING Saturday June 7th from 6-10 pm

Make Me One With Everything

Make Me One With Everything
Seeking connection between natural and man-made forms, five contemporary artists use geometry to reinterpret the invisible.

Opening reception June 7th 6-10pm. On view through July 14th.

Drawings & Paintings

Cairo presents new works from Aaron Osborn: Make Me One With Everything, a series of graphite drawings of fragmented architectural spaces and a collection of wood stain paintings of geometric conjecture. Pulling from the languages of crystals, constellations, and conventional American architecture, Osborn uses form to diagram his own esoteric investigation. His work seeks out the intangible, and abstracts the process of growth and the invisible structure of belief systems. http://www.aaronosborn.net

Jewelry

Stephen Eichhorn and Jessica Paulson are Chicago-based artists, partners, and, most recently, jewelry designers. Their jewelry line, LULU, is made from new and vintage components. Their designs reference natural and man-made patterns--clean black and white pieces are mixed with informal colorful details.

Apparel

Premiering pieces from Civilian, a new collaboration between two Seattle apparel designers, Katie Nash and Keiko Ichinose. ‘Civilian: where beauty meets function, cultivating awareness between the modern and natural worlds – simple and sleek.’

Cairo

Cairo is a forum for creative inquiry and exposure, showcasing visual arts, design, performance, sound, film, and artist-in-residence opportunities. We renegotiate the traditional relationships between artist and institution in partnership with our visiting artists, and, in the process, create an ever-evolving arts space open to all kinds of circumstance.

Cairo is a gallery, a boutique, and a working artist's studio. In addition to our ongoing arts exhibitions, always available in the gallery are independent arts publications, emerging artist flat-files, and our own collection of unique Cairo apparel.