Rainier Square

images courtesy Lead Pencil Studio and Lawrimore Project

RETAIL/COMMERCIAL

LEAD PENCIL STUDIO 

February 6th through March 14th, 2009 

Rainier Square Shopping Center 

411 Union Street (Between 4th and 5th) 

Seattle, Washington 

Hours: Fridays/Saturdays 1-6pm 

Project Summary: Retail/Commercial is a site specific installation that responds directly to a 4,300 SF former Italian men’s clothing retailer. The site was selected for its proximity to the thriving and continually regenerating retail core of the city and for its adjacency to the exclusive shopping boutiques surrounding the store. Within this retail environment, there is nothing for sale. Instead, the artists present only the armatures used for the sale of goods and the interior surfaces that contain them. 

The project deploys the sectioned spatial configurations of three retail environments overlapping within the shell of an existing musty fourth. With the exception of some new material for the shell re-configuration, the primary material for the exhibition was sourced from neighborhood dumpsters and “going out of business” liquidation sales that occurred during January 2009, most within a two blocks of the site. 

The artists are principally interested in the architectural section as a full scale method for analysis and as a means to quarantine individual spatial environments. Other interests in evidence include a pursuance of color across space, architectural phase changes, incongruous formal collisions, observations on the disquiet of architectural influence and emptiness or the lack thereof. 

This project was made possible by the generous support of UNICO Properties, The Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, King County 4 Culture, Creative Capital and Artist Trust. 

Here is a link to Jen Graves' article on the Slog, describing the project and the really strange opening night.

Also, here is a link to a podcast interview that the artists did with The Stranger in 2006, after being award their Genius Award.