Variable West

since graduating yale in may 2024, i have been making a very gradual and intentional effort to write consistently and publish occasionally. this is 1/3rd of a long overdue grid post on that activity. links to the articles can be found in my bio and/or on my website on a brand new page under the heading “RECENT WRITINGS” this post features an interview between myself and laura camila medina @lil___lau for our solo exhibitions (at @ivestercontemporary and @nationale respectively) which happened to be simultaneously occurring, albeit halfway across the country! however we saw this as a cool opportunity to do a cross posted collaboration between the two best regional art publications for these areas, @glasstire which specifically covers texas and @variablewest which covers the entire west coast.

🤩 If you haven’t yet seen our group exhibition, “Sculpted Light,” join us this evening for First Thursday! The gallery will be open until 7:00 pm for February’s art walk. In the meantime, ➡️ head to the link in our bio to read Variable West’s latest Cliff Notes column featuring “Sculpted Light,” written by @yashi.pdf . In a beautiful reflection on experiencing light through art and ecology, Wilder writes, “I try to make sense of each artwork by tracing its biographies back to ecology—where light began. Light becomes a wandering moon suspended in the atmosphere, driftwood headed towards collision or embrace, desert sand flushed at daybreak, algae nested in water, a linen curtain breathing through dusk. The exhibition becomes a speculative landscape where light becomes a memory of the earth’s gestures.” ✨ 🧑🏻‍🎨🗓️ “Sculpted Light” brings together the works of Dan Flavin, @petergronquist , @fabiolamenchelli , Gregg Renfrow, and @haptivey and is on view through February 28, 2026. Hap Tivey Study for Pearl Moon, 2008 LED light and acrylic 42.25 x 56.25” Peter Gronquist Signs of life 10 (detail), 2026 Polyurethane, oil, acrylic, ink, graphite, salvaged paper, thread, lace, satin, Ilford rc photo paper, resin, PLA, quartz paint, plexiglass, aluminum, wood 60 x 84” Fabiola Menchelli Lumen (From the Parallelogram series) (detail), 2025 unique silver gelatin photogram folded inside custom color frame 14 x 11 x 1” 17 x 14.25 x 2.5” framed Gregg Renfrow Delight and Desire (detail), 2025 polymer and pigment on cast acrylic triptych: 21 x 12 each 21 x 48” overall 📸 Images by @mariogalluccistudio #LightAndSpaceMovement #Ecology #VariableWest #ContemporaryArt #ElizabethLeachGallery

I’ve been looking closely at AR and VR lately, and what stands out isn’t just the tech, but how long people have been trying to get this right. As a kid, I remember optical viewers that needed no batteries, just light and film, and they still work today. Many digital devices built over the last 20 years already don’t. The image quality of some modern viewers is stunning. That part is real progress. Where this truly shines is hands-free work and training, wearing glasses that guide you while fixing an engine, working on a boat, or learning a complex task. What I still question is mass consumer use. A display inches from your eyes, tracking eye movement, feels more suited to specialized or industrial applications than everyday life. Maybe that changes. Technology has surprised us before. For now, it’s a fascinating space to watch. . . . #augmentedreality #virtualreality #mixedreality #wearabletech #futuretech opticalengineering humancomputerinteraction techhistory innovation emergingtechnology engineering trainingtechnology industrialtech handsfree uxdesign spatialcomputing hardwaredesign deeptech technologythoughts GVS9000

Grateful to begin 2026 with this attentive, evocative reflection on Zoe Alameda’s current solo exhibition “It Takes Two Wrongs to Make It Right” by Renée Reizman for Variable West 🤍 @unradmotions @reneereizman @variablewest

Applications for the 2026 Hallie Ford Fellowships in the Visual Arts are now open through Monday, January 26, 2026. This program annually awards up to three unrestricted $35,000 fellowships to Oregon visual artists who have demonstrated excellence and potential for significant future accomplishment. Meet previous Hallie Ford Fellows and apply at the link in our profile. Image, Sara Siestreem, 2025 Hallie Ford Fellow. Photo: Sam Gehrke #VisualArts #OregonVisualArts #HallieFordFellows #TheFordFamilyFoundation

So excited that my newest exhibition Bitter Sweet on view NOW @wanawariseattle was reviewed by Phillip Russel for @variablewest ✨ In “Interiors and Exteriors: Black Life and the Archive,” Phillip Russell reviews the current suite of exhibitions at @wanawariseattle , including Victoria Dugger’s exhibition “Bitter Sweet.” “Across her work, Dugger showcases the twoness of the identities she embodies. How femininity, disability, and Blackness hold multiple truths: toughness, softness, the grotesque, and the beautiful. The work makes apparent the ouroboros of it all, how each of these positionalities can engulf itself and become its antithesis, and how this paradox is paramount to lived experience.” Read the full article at @variablewest ✨ Image: Victoria Dugger Bending Over Backwards, 2024 Metal arch, nylon stockings, roses, and tiaras 60 x 37 x 20 in.. . . #victoriadugger #sargentsdaughters #blackartist #disabledartist #mixedmedia #painting#sculpture #contemporaryart #americanart #americanartist #art #figurativeart

In “Interiors and Exteriors: Black Life and the Archive,” Phillip Russell reviews the current suite of exhibitions at @wanawariseattle , including Victoria Dugger’s exhibition “Bitter Sweet.” “Across her work, Dugger showcases the twoness of the identities she embodies. How femininity, disability, and Blackness hold multiple truths: toughness, softness, the grotesque, and the beautiful. The work makes apparent the ouroboros of it all, how each of these positionalities can engulf itself and become its antithesis, and how this paradox is paramount to lived experience.” Read the full article at @variablewest ✨ Image: Victoria Dugger Bending Over Backwards, 2024 Metal arch, nylon stockings, roses, and tiaras 60 x 37 x 20 in.

THIS FRIDAY! October 10th at 6:00PM! Join us for an artist lecture with Laura Camila Medina!! Laura is a multidisciplinary artist, and PNCA alum. And don't forget to see Laura's exhibition "Ceremony for the Winged" on view in the Project Room at @nationale This lecture is free & open to the public! For more information look on the link in our bio!

Christopher Baliwas discusses his 2024 exhibition at Theta ‘Skin 2 skin’ in an interview with Mark Pierson for @variablewest ‘CB: ntervening in unconventional ways with inkjet prints is central: whether I trace onto, pull apart, or tear the substrate, the point is always to confer a haptic sensibility with the material as a feedback process. I feel liberated from the standard way of handling that paper and the power that holds over me. A lot of what drives my practice and insecurities is this sort of doing away with technical skills—a gravitation towards a negative capability, to be okay with not knowing. MP: Interesting. And in many ways, this negative capability exists before and beyond language. CB: Very much so. My current understanding of this is informed by writers like Audre Lorde, Nathaniel Mackey, and José Esteban Muñoz. They offer me a position to have a grounded relationship to what’s about to be birthed, a relationship with death, the underbelly: a sense of brown…’ The full interview is linked in our bio. Pictured: Installation views of ‘Skin 2 skin’, Theta 2024 #christopherbaliwas

Congrats to Yuval Pudik’s for the excellent review in Variable West. Thank you to @variablewest for covering the show! “The Hom(o)stead Act: Kaiserpanorama” by Yuval Pudik is on view through November 8, 2025 For more information email [email protected] @yuvalpudik @variablewest #yuvalpudik #tha_kp #variablewest #noonprojects

Spent the past five days in Atlanta feeling affirmed that I chose the right path in being an arts writer ❤️‍🔥 When I began writing about the arts back during the pandemic in 2020, I wanted to put into words how the photography of Martine Barrat made me feel after seeing an exhibition of her work at a Miami gallery. I cold pitched the Miami New Times, I received a yes to proceed, and from then on out I’ve continued these past five years on my journey. I always say I come from a lineage of truth tellers—my abuelo was a writer in Cuba, my parents are in broadcast news—it’s kismet to have found a niche of how to gift my words. Thank you @artpapers team, @pistachiocake , @tksmith106 for organizing the Art Writing and Publishing Symposium, all the speakers and publications present, the writers. editors, and publishers who were in the room, said hello, and spent time getting to know one another. To being a part of the @burnaway team, @sheatsb , @courtneylmcclellan , @folkstarfolkstar and getting to finally meet @robertalangrand <3 Here are my handwritten notes, my visual recollections, including touch bases with lovely humans I rejoice at reconnecting with over bomb af food and much needed hair trims, and an iconic shot of Madeline and I running around last year at the first iteration of the Atlanta Art Fair that was still circulating for this year’s iteration 🤓 This field is small but it’s abundant .𖥔 ݁ ˖

Hot off the press! 🗞️🔥 @variablewest recently published a review of Joe Park’s exhibition, “You Are the Space Between,” shown at the gallery July 17 - August 30, 2025. Writer @michelle.d.marsh frames the exhibition as a pivotal moment in Park’s multi-decade career, noting the energetic pulse and layered visual depth of the paintings, which she refers to as “visual harmonies.” 🌀 ▶️ Click the Linktree in our bio to read the full article. Select works from “You Are the Space Between” are available at the gallery. 🖼️ Stop by, or contact us to learn more! Featured works: The day after this day, 2025 Mixed Media on walnut panel 28 5/8 x 28 5/8” footage, 2025 Mixed Media on walnut panel 28 5/8 x 28 5/8” Glint, 2025 Mixed Media on oak panel 28.375 x 28.375 x 1.5” Images by @mariogalluccistudio #JoePark #YouAreTheSpaceBetween #Painting #Impressionism #MixedMedia #ContemporaryArt #SeattleArtists #ElizabethLeachGallery