Strobel & Sands

03/08/2020

This video work, Cosmic Generator by is so good we had to watch it twice. @ Henry Art Gallery

02/08/2020

is having a show of her paintings at Frame Up Studios on Fremont. Opening tonight. @ Frame Up Studios

09/15/2019

Parergone Series, 2019 by Philippe Hyojung Kim, is one piece featured in Ordinary Extraordinary. Today is the second to last Sunday to see the exhibition before it closes on the 22nd.

07/14/2019

https://www.thestranger.com/events/40446559/brooklyn-witteman-and-colleen-rjc-bratton-creature-comforts

Thanks Stranger, for including us. Last Day to see the show!

Sat June 15 & June 23–July 14, Sundays - Strobel & Sands (Emerson Garage) - Seattle

07/06/2019

Tomorrow is the second to last day to view Creature Comforts. Open 12-5pm.

Strobel and Sands is pleased to present Creature Comforts, an exhibition of drawings by Brooklyn Witteman and sculpture by Colleen RJC Bratton. Creature Comforts seeks to explore the human desire for physical and mental comfort through humor, introspection, self-care, and altered states of mind and imagination. The need to escape from the here and now allows us to recharge our minds in order to cope with the present.

This exhibition brings together works by two Seattle-based artists that exhibit close relationships between design and visual art. The artists pull from popular culture mythologies, Pop Art movements of the 1960s-80s, and elements of design to elicit self-reflection through anamorphic avatars.

Both Brooklyn and Colleen’s art works have a graphic, expository quality. Stylistically, the works share curvilinear shapes and appear ready for action, yet remain still, like they are frozen in the midst of telling a story. Brooklyn’s Creature Collective drawings have anamorphic attributes, reminiscent of traditional tattoo styles and 1980s Pop Art. Colleen’s work appears to spring from 1960s psychedelic illustrations and Pop Art, as well as 1970s textile and graphic design.

By envisioning humanness through the lens of fantastical beings, we feed our desire for unity. It is a testament to this desire that the fantasy genre has become so immensely popular in contemporary culture. The ability for artists to create new worlds and beings that live within, enables our imagination to overcome imposed and self-created limitations, thus creating new ways to overcome challenges and create a sense of well-being.

Left: drawing from Brooklyn Witteman, drawing, 2019, dimensions TBD
Right: Colleen RJC Bratton, sculpture from Lamentation, 2018, acrylic on panel, pantyhose, resin, 8 pound iron weight

03/10/2019

Strobel & Sands
Ryna Frankel: There’s No Place Like Home
March 30¬–May 12, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 30, 5–8pm
Gallery Hours: Sundays from 12-5pm (closed March 31)

03/10/2019

Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me
- “Over the Rainbow” by Yip Harburg

Strobel & Sands is pleased to present Ryna Frankel: There’s No Place Like Home. This is Ryna’s second exhibition with the gallery. Strobel & Sands has selected art works from Ryna’s two series, Plants Remind Me of Home and I Sit and Think of You, to explore the concept of what home means to us as individuals and as a broader society.

The idea of home is complex and varied. As eluded to in the theme song from the fantasy movie, The Wizard of Oz, home is an abstract and elusive concept that carries comforting yet conflicting connotations. On the comforting side, home is a cozy, safe nest that addresses our individual needs and wants as we personalize our space. On the other side, home can denote an ongoing yet obscure pursuit for a place that fits.

Ryna’s drawings and collages of house plants from Plants Remind Me of Home, sit in a line on the paper, like they would line a windowsill of a residence. This image conjures both the idea of looking outward from inside one’s own created ecosystem, and also looking inward to further develop the idea of one’s own world. By bringing the outside living world into one’s interior space, the house plant becomes a symbol of humanity’s need to control our environment.

I Sit and Think of You is an ongoing project in which Ryna places her sculptures on sofas and chairs left on the sidewalks and streets of Seattle. These creature-like sculptures have taken a new home, discarded by someone who no longer needed it, a refuge to the new resident. The works on paper and sculptural installations are in dialog with one another regarding the common elements of home as an abstract idea, and that of a comforting and physical place. These divergent views are not necessarily at odds, but show that home can be a comforting thought, and also something we continually strive to build.