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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Visual Art These Guys Aren't Going Anywhere

Posted by Jen Graves on Wed, May 20, 2009 at 3:09 PM

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Yesterday, in reporting that Oscar Tuazon and Eli Hansen aren't showing at Howard House anymore, I quoted gallerist Billy Howard, who told me the brothers simply aren't interested in Seattle anymore.

Not true, says Hansen in an email titled "i heart seattle":

we split up with billy in november, but it took him this long to get the work off the website. he still owes me money, and once i started pressuring him to pay up, he pulled us off the website.

we still love seattle, and will forever. we both have the tattoos to prove it.

i just met with scott lawrimore last night, we are preparing a formal announcement that we are going to start working together.

It hasn't been an easy couple of years for Howard.

^{Photo by The Kozy Shack of Tuazon and Hansen's periscope at Western Bridge last summer}

UPDATE: We took this post down temporarily when Howard contacted us to dispute the artists' account of the payment dispute. Howard did not answer an email asking for additional comment. But in an email objecting to the original post, he admitted that the artists are owed money, but wrote that the artists are aware that they will not be paid in full until the collector pays the dealer.

Hansen said he'd rather not comment further after being contacted by Howard's lawyer.

Everybody clams up once lawyers get involved. But I'm glad the artists will continue to show in Seattle, and here's hoping that everybody—galleries, artists—eventually gets paid.

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Interesting. I think of Seattle galleries as all having very distinct personalities. Howard House, to my mind, tends more towards art that has an academic, studied quality to it, and much of it has something to say. Howard House also seems a little less susceptible to the trends of the moment: collage-art, new interpretations of wilderness, new interpretations of ready-mades, shellacked and shiny pieces that look like candy. This is ok. What I find at HH is usually surprising and different from what I can expect to find elsewhere, but it is still clearly chosen with great care.

All that said, the current show -- Ten Years at Howard House -- feels a bit like they're cleaning out the storage closets and trying to pay some bills. Also ok, I suppose.

Posted by arts&letters on May 20, 2009 at 3:40 PM