Category Archives: Current Exhibitions

In Search of Identity

September 7 – 30, 2023

Artist Li Turner attempts to sort out the gender question in In Search of Identity. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time. Consequently, this term is used broadly to denote a range of identities that may not correspond to established biological ideas of male and female. Turner’s series of watercolor paintings explore identities that stray from the more stringent biological definition.

From a biological stand point, gender interacts with but is different from sex, which refers to the different biological and physiological characteristics of females, males and intersex persons, such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs. Gender, in contrast, refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms, behaviors and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other. In Search of Identity explores how gender identity refers to a person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s physiology or designated sex at birth.

In Search of Identity highlights different genders and explores the intersections between gender’s social and economic inequalities as well as how gender-based discrimination overlaps with other factors of discrimination.

In Search of Identity will be on display at Gallery 110 from September 7 – 30, 2023. Gallery hours are Thursday – Saturday from 12pm – 5pm and by appointment. Please join us for the First Thursday Art Walk on September 7, 2023 from 4-8pm.

On the work of Li Turner
A review of In Search of Identity written by Saundra Fleming
August 25th, 2023 / Seattle, WA

A social critic for contemporary moral subjects, Li Turner finds herself squarely in the art
historical realms of Honore Daumier, William Hogarth or Barbara Kruger – racism and sexism
are her targets. She has stated that she hopes to focus our conscience onto all forms of
prejudice, ageism and stigmatization. How does she do this?

Her works can be seen as an articulated form of “Technicolor” and the intensity of her palette
seems to reflect her continual effort to delineate, and unambiguously so, a transformation of
morality into artistic products. You want to access the exceptional clarity she provides in her
watercolors and gouache paintings because one senses she is holding your hand and steering
us through a kind of mine field that has nearly always threatened our humanity.

There is no avoiding Li Turner’s message. Ethics and art woven together are her focus.
Scapegoating and stigmatization are the things to shine a spotlight upon. And the ambition of
this work is no less than to support each of us in a evolution of the spirit!

– Saundra Fleming
8/25/23
Seattle, WA

 

Under Audit

September 7 – 30, 2023

Artist Tabitha Abbott’s current body of work answers the age-old question: What happens when a young artist is immersed in the world of regulatory corporate auditing?

As the oldest of five siblings, Abbott’s upbringing was marked by constant movement across the American Midwest, attending thirteen schools across four states while completing her primary education. While a career in art had always been her goal, seeking financial security Abbott went on to pursue an M.S. in Accounting at the University of Wyoming. A primarily self-taught oil painter, Abbott refined her craft while simultaneously building her career, working full-time for esteemed financial institutions such as the prestigious accounting firm EY, the renowned brokerage and investment firm Charles Schwab, and the media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company.

In Under Audit, Abbott playfully acknowledges her career in corporate IT auditing through a captivating series of colorful, insect-inspired oil paintings. The work captures the profound influence regulatory corporate auditing has had on her development as an artist. Abbott’s artistic vision intertwines audit-related themes like evidence gathering, objective documentation and reporting with the organic subjects that inspire her — using her fascination with insects and oil paint as the medium of expression.

By integrating the values and themes adopted from her time in the heavily regulated world of American corporate IT audit, Abbott’s work takes on the unique and compelling perspective of artists influenced by non-creative fields. The resulting pieces are a delightful fusion of precision and whimsy, offering the viewer audit-quality documentation that is symbolic of the artist’s conflicting worlds.

Under Audit will be on display at Gallery 110 from September 7 – 30, 2023. Gallery hours are Thursday – Saturday from 12pm – 5pm and by appointment. Please join us for the First Thursday Art Walk on September 7, 2023 from 4-8pm.