The success of Travis Louie's work rests on his uncanny ability to juggle two completely contradictory tendencies at once. On the one hand, the aesthetic of his work is a brilliant pastiche; with photorealistic precision, he carefully crafts works that nail the particular qualities of Victorian photographs that makes them look incredibly "real." On the other, he's creating a dream world of monsters that never existed in reality. And beyond the simple derangement of the creatures he portrays with life-like faithfulness, he adds yet another layer of complexity by crafting them with these inscrutable facial expressions. It's verisimilitude meets fantasy meets something deeper, and the magic of how all those layers collapse is what gives his work its oddly compelling quality and charm. more ›

The premise of Roq la Rue's new group show is that it's in response to the shift in the pop surrealist art world towards street art, e.g., the sort of stuff that used to be on display at the sadly departed BLVD gallery. But Roq la Rue is pushing back with , and you'll get the idea. more ›

There's some sort of primeval or subconscious part of our brains that remains fascinated with the potential magic of spaces we can't enter, whether it's down a rabbit hole, on the other side of a mirror, or the life of things within the walls of our home. The work of Dutch artist Femke Hiemstra, which goes on display at Roq la Rue tonight, captures that fascination with whimsy and wit. Her paintings demonstrate a miniaturist's attention to detail as well as a wildly active imagination. Her paintings on found objects, like , beg us to see the potential magic in the everyday. more ›

"Pretty," she said of Joshua Petker's "There Is a Light that Will Never Go Out." more ›

When it comes to art, Seattlest is in the "we know what we like" camp. We're not unversed in art theory or history, but when you cut to the chase, we want to look at pretty pictures. That's one reason we're so fond of Roq La Rue and now BLVD -- Kirsten Anderson and her cohorts have an eye for pretty that resonates with us. more ›

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. more ›

Roq la Rue, Seattlest's favorite purveyor of lowbrow art and pop surrealism, is opening its new gallery space tonight with "Bad Moon Rising," their annual Halloween group show. Stop by and ogle artwork by Ojimbo, Jim Blanchard, Lisa Petrucci, Pooch, Mike Leavitt, Mike Curato, James McLeod, Travis Louie, Ryan Bubnis, Joshua Petker, Brian Despain, Anthony Ausgang, Johnny Crap, Nicole Steen, Yo Ueno, Joe Vollan, Amanda Wachob, Jason D’Aquino, David Rauschenberg, Chuck Demorat, Justin Hampton, Quintin Gonzalez, Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, and Luke Chueh. more ›