Cliff Notes
Each week, our regional Cliff Notes columnists Mariah Green, Vanessa Perez Winder, Jas Keimig, and Sam Wrigglesworth pick the most exciting events and exhibitions on the West Coast.
Klara Glosova: Diving into the Wreck
Koplin del Rio, Seattle, WA
September 23 to October 28
Czech-born, Seattle-based painter Klara Glosova’s latest solo exhibition at Koplin del Rio, Diving into the Wreck, explores the depths of the subconscious, the unexpressed, and the primordial. Much of the work depicts human bodies near and surrounded by the ocean, whether on its sunny shores or on the lonely seafloor. Inspired by the tradition of Japanese women who dive for pearls without supplemental oxygen (called ama), Glosova composed a series of monoprints called “Ama Divers” that depicts these women at work, reaching for their treasures in the inky, splatty ocean or swimming near the light at the surface.
The exhibition also features sculptures and drippy oil paintings of swimmers contemplating the jewel-like sea. Throughout Diving into the Wreck, there are bodies swimming, diving, straining, floating, and resting against the big expanse of the water, just one drop in the bucket of life teeming in the ocean. There’s a dreamy and profound vision of solitude in Glosova’s prints that welcomes the viewer to consider their own body, their own consciousness, and their own solitude against the vastness of the world around us.
Reflection Question: Where do you find your solitude?
Raúl de Nieves: A window to the see, a spirit star chiming in the wind of wonder…
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA
September 30 to August 25, 2024
New York-based multimedia artist Raúl de Nieves is taking over the entire bottom floor of the Henry Art Gallery and transforming it into a cathedral of sorts for his newest solo show, A window to the see, a spirit star chiming in the wind of wonder…. With the title taken from a poem he wrote while making work for the exhibition, de Nieves has composed an experience that will take viewers on a poetic, spiritual, and colorful journey of self-actualization.
de Nieves’ practice is rooted in humble and found materials like beads and rope transformed into something greater than the sum of its parts. He draws heavily from his Mexican heritage and queer subcultures, mashing Catholic imagery with club kid sensibilities to compose works that speak to the many selves he inhabits. For his immersive show at the Henry, de Nieves has made twenty-one “stained glass” pieces made of acetate and tape that will cover the gallery’s giant skylights and cast brilliantly-colored light onto the floor below. A window to the see… will also feature de Nieves’ complex beaded sculptures, 2D works, temple-like seating in the center of the space, as well as his entire original poem wrapped around the perimeter of the exhibition space.
Reflection Question: If your brain were an inhabitable space, what would the windows of your mind look out onto? What is your soul a cathedral to?