Kirsten Anderson Talks About BLVD

Friday night Seattle gets a new art gallery -- BLVD, dedicated to urban contemporary art. (Note to the uninitiated: that's "boulevard," not "beloved.") We talked with gallerist Kirsten Anderson, who also owns Roq La Rue, the neighboring lowbrow/pop surrealism gallery, about urban contemporary art and what to expect from BLVD.

You've said that, in a nutshell, lowbrow and pop surrealist artists grew up listening to punk and new wave, while urban contemporary artists grew up listening to hip-hop. That's a great snapshot. Could you elaborate some more on what urban contemporary art is?

It's art that was spawned from the graffiti, hip hop, and corresponding scenes, like skateboarding...originally kind of an outlaw art movement that over time started to incorporate more sophisticated elements like a appreciation for sharp design aesthetics. It actually started on the street, but became pretty big as "art" in NY in the 70's-80's. It's always been around but now there seems to be a new renaissance, particularly on the west coast.

People tend to think we are talking about "tags" or straight up graffiti and that's not the case. There is some very sophisticated art making happening here.

What spurred you and your partners to open BLVD?

I noticed there wasn't a proper gallery for this type of art in Seattle, even though there seemed to be huge interest in it, and a group of artists making it. My old Roq la Rue Gallery space was kinda free--so I re-snagged it for BLVD. Then I went to Damion Hayes, who is firmly entrenched in the urban art scene, and asked him to be a partner. I wouldn't have opened BLVD without him. Then we heard from movers and shakers Brian Rauschenbach and Marcus Lalario that they had been thinking about how they could create a gallery like this and when they heard Damion and I were doing one they asked to be part of it, and we were thrilled to have them.

What inspired the name BLVD?

It's basically a riff on "street" art, as well as a companion name for Roq la Rue..."rue" also meaning street en francais.

Before BLVD, where would Seattleites have had to go to see urban contemporary art?

There are actually a lot of places showing it, Vinyl toy shops like OkOk and Schmancy, the War Room has a huge Shepard Fairey installation, Vain Salon, The Ace Hotel has work, various skateboard shops....

Are there similar galleries in other cities?

There are some in Los Angeles, Portland, Vancouver, and San Francisco.

What do you have on tap for the grand opening on May 12?

We have a huge group show called "Groundswell"...lots of amazing local artists like Robert "FarmerBob" Hardgrave, Iosefatu Sua, Sam Sneke, Warren Dykeman, Tra Seltrow, Darvin Vida...these guys are gonna be big. Hardgrave is already taking off in a big way. Then assorted national artists we dig a lot, like Sylvia Ji, Bigfoot, Oliver Vernon, Greg "Craola" Simpkins, Joshua Krause, Martin Ontiveros, Bwana Spoons, Damon Soule, Joshua Petker, Mear One, Invader, and Thomas Han. A bunch of the artists will be at the opening.

The art has been coming in and frankly I'm blown away but how fabulous and varied everything is. It is very different but I think anyone who likes what they see at Roq La Rue will dig it. Speaking of which, it also corresponds with a really fantastic show I'm opening at Roq la Rue with Travis Louie and Robert Craig, so it will be the place to be Friday night.

What are your dream exhibits for BLVD?

I'm basically letting Damion handle that stuff--he is our urban arbiter of cool. But of course I want to see the big guys like Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, and I loves me some Banksy. I also love people like Jim Houser and Marcel Dzama (who has a show at Greg Kucera by the way). But I'm mainly interested in building up the Northwest Urban scene...the talent we have here is stupendous, on par with any place else and it's really untapped. I'd also really like to show more girls doing art in this scene. That's pretty important to me.

Are there any websites or books you'd recommend to someone who's unfamiliar with the urban contemporary scene but wants a crash course before visiting BLVD?

Great websites are Fecal Face Dot Com and Wooster Collective. A great book is Beautiful Losers, which is coffee table companion book to a museum show of the same name. Magazines you could check out are Beautiful Decay, Arkitip, and Giant Robot as a start.

Groundswell, BLVD's first show, opens Friday night from 6-10.
BLVD is at 2316 2nd Avenue, right next door to Roq La Rue.

Image is "Shockthra," by Robert Hardgrave, one of the pieces that will be on display at BLVD.