Let’s Get Lost
LIC Gallery • Seattle, Washington
Seattle has a new art gallery! It’s called LIC, which is an acronym for the phrase Lost in Composition, or the name that owner Paul Drinkwine gave to the blog he started during the pandemic when he was suffering from art withdrawal. But that acronym stands for other things. For instance, if your idea of a good time is becoming lost in contemplation of some beautiful art on a perfect summer day, this is the place to do it.
LIC is located on Alaskan Way, directly opposite Colman Dock, the Seattle ferry terminal, where you can watch the parade of people strolling by to enjoy the shops, restaurants and views of Elliott Bay. And it’s next door to the cool new Sub Pop waterfront store. In fact, the first time I visited LIC, several people popped in after shopping for music merch to check out the gallery’s current exhibit, “Grunge to Glamour.”
The show features paintings by hyperrealist Chris Klein, an artist whose career Drinkwine has been following for several years. When Klein’s work first came to his attention, the artist was making large paintings of smashed-up cars, crushed and mangled together in junkyards; two of those are in “Grunge to Glamour.” And then—as artists do—he shifted his focus from mechanical chaos to glamour and elegance, and began pulling costumes from wardrobe shops located in theatres, opera house, film studios, and concert halls; Klein arranged them on rolling racks, and painted them as they might look backstage, waiting to be occupied by actors and performers before the curtain rises. They’re no longer merely costumes; they’ve become vibrant color studies of characters in search of a play.
This new direction was inspired by Klein’s long career working as a scenic artist for films and theatrical productions. Born in England, he now lives in Canada, where he has worked as the head of scenic art at the Stratford Festival and the National Arts Centre. He also created backdrops and scenic artwork for theatre productions on Broadway and on London’s West End, for several major Hollywood films, and for a few Cirque du Soleil productions. The luminosity, reflected light, rich textures, and slightly surreal colors of theatre and film sets inhabit and animate all Klein’s paintings.
In addition to what I like to call the large rolling-rack stories, this show features some smaller paintings of individual costumes, over-the-top masks and props, and crumpled swathes of iridescent fabric created by British designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Dame Zandra Rhodes. There’s a delightful painting that perfectly captures the rock-star insouciance of a jacket worn by Queen guitarist Brian May during a 2002 concert on the rooftop of Buckingham Palace and then dropped on the floor of the dressing room when the show was over. At least that’s my theory.
Another favorite of mine is a striking image of a relaxed but very self-assured Balenciaga bag that caught the artist’s eye from a shop window and will catch yours the moment you walk in LIC’s front door. Although these are all inanimate objects—there are no people in sight—they are so infused with the spirit of the real and fictional personalities they were designed for or worn by that they feel like portraits. Or maybe they’re landscapes of pop culture.
Drinkwine (yes, that really is his name) grew up in the Pacific Northwest where he worked for a while in the technology sector before he started collecting art; he quickly became active in the art community here. During the COVID-19 years when he was feeling isolated from in-person encounters with the real thing, he launched a social media campaign to promote his favorite artists and their work. That project morphed into the blog that became LIC Gallery.
LIC represents the work of two dozen artists from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. The unifying idea behind his approach to curation and collection is diversity, both in subject matter as well as in the people who produce it, which is why this group includes emerging artists as well as established masters. Paul’s taste leans toward contemporary work—especially hyperrealism that’s served with a twist—and anything that offers an original take on current affairs. He embraces the challenge of curating, designing and hanging every exhibit, and that dedication is evident here. Although this space is small, he manages to take advantage of every inch while allowing the art enough space to breathe.
Finally, if you’re lucky, you might be there on a day when Paul’s two French bulldog puppies are on duty, greeting visitors and chasing each other around the gallery. Being dogs, they’re only willing to work part-time, so if you want to catch them on your visit, you should probably call ahead to check.
Kathy Cain
Kathleen Cain was a journalist and a creative director at the legendary Heckler Associates for many years before starting her own communications consulting firm. Find her writings at www.postalley.org.
LIC Gallery, located at 908 Alaskan Way, Suite B, is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information, visit https://lostincomposition.com.
