First Thursday ARTSy Joy at King Street Station

Did you know there is an art gallery at the top floor of the King Street Station in Pioneer Square? ARTS at King Street Station is a free art gallery open Wednesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm, and closes at 8pm for the monthly art walk. The arts department at ARTS also houses many programs for youth and young adults to be involved in, whether that be visual or performative arts.

ARTS is currently hosting Zabia Colovos’ Luminous Being show. The pieces, both 2D and 3D works, show stories of a celestial and almost spiritual journey, evident of her knowledge from her Religious Studies degree.

The Luminous Being show consists of roughly ten hung canvases and some sculptures behind a showcase glass. Colovos uses large, thick brush strokes across bannered cloth. With dark, black paint against the ivory-white canvas, hesitation could easily appear, but Colovos boldly and intentionally paints. Colovos’ works resemble icons and sacraments from a Christian or Catholic background. Two filled chalices star in one of the works resembling the blood of Christ. One of Colovos’ works has a boat sailing through a rough storm with massive waves throwing it, a reference to the great flood in the story of Noah’s Arc. The pattern of the sky outlines of the waves and boat are not as defined as the other works at the show. The painting pattern mimics what is typically seen through the rubber of a lithograph without complete contact of the paper. Another work to mention features a seemingly angelic being: Genderless and with a crowned halo, the winged being flies through a dark, night sky with ten long stemmed roses growing from the bottom of the banner.

Work by Zabia Colovos at ARTS / The Evergreen Echo

Along with the large black and white works, there are some photographs and bronze sculptures. The additional works showcase the female body’s shape, particularly of female breasts. The confident postures of the subjects are emphasized through the warrior breastplates for the model. The breastplate and arm cuff look to be hammered bronze throughout each frame of various perspectives and poses. Although decisive, it is also one of the smaller shows. Walking through the Luminous Being display may not take up too much of your time, but there’s another show at ARTS.

Sire One, a Graffiti Writer Coordinator for the City of Seattle, and Babe-G Carswell, the Curator of the American Graffiti & Urban Art Conservation Project, co-curated COMPLEXITY. COMPLEXITY celebrates the art of aerosol expressionism (what people may know as spray paint). The medium differs greatly from its non-aerosol counterparts with a lack of texture performed in aerosol. Aerosol provides the artist with high coverage and more defined contrast of color that is not always used in the traditional color blending of non-aerosol paint. Further, the large amount of coverage requires a large canvas to apply detail within the work without the colors getting lost. Through COMPLEXITY, the artists utilize this technique to help blur and highlight edges between color and give a more 3D effect to the script and character of a piece. 

An aerosol (“spray paint”) work at ARTS / The Evergreen Echo

Sire One and Carswell highlight many of the art unrecognized throughout the community. Street art murals are displayed across Seattle buildings, but some establishments are being fined for uncoordinated street art on their property. While street art and graffiti has been viewed as vandalism and unprofessional, COMPLEXITY highlights the skills necessary and the capabilities of the aerosol medium. The curated works are composed of many prolific artists that Sire One and Carswell have found throughout the last 50 years in the realm of street art. 

The two shows at ARTS in King Street Station will be on your August First Thursday art walk. COMPLEXITY has had its closing showcase and will be rotated out soon. Zabia Colovos’ Luminous Being can be seen until September 7, 2024.