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  • JG / Courtesy the Henry Art Gallery

You can see this Katinka Bock sculpture at the Henry Art Gallery. The door was discarded by a Seattle school. Bock found it when she arrived in Seattle a week ago. Among the materials she brought to Seattle, rather than found, was the white ceramic slab in the picture, which in reality is snow-white. On the slab, you can make out the faintest print of an actual piece of paper, blank but clear and smooth.

Bock, German-born and Paris-based, figures out what she's going to make when she gets somewhere. She knows a little before she arrives. Here, she knew that she would be showing in the museum's north galleries. Artists for centuries have wanted northern light in their studios; it's known as the best light. The Henry's north galleries face due north. But there are no windows. It's like being inside a head with the mouth and eyes shut. In the school-door sculpture, a message is making its way from one room to another, tongue-like. Bock makes art that's in more than one place at a time.

See more recommended art shows right here.