It’s officially August, and the art world is quiet. Collectors are putting up their feet in their beach houses, galleries are either trotting out playful group shows or closing their doors altogether. But that’s not to say there’s nothing noteworthy going on. In fact, the lack of activity on the calendar makes this week’s big event, the Seatle Art Fair, all the more intriguing, as art-world stars from around the world are alighting upon the Emerald City for a taste of the Pacific Northwest scene.

For its fourth year, the fair is hosting more than 100 galleries across the CenturyLink Field Event Center. A bevy of aesthetic delights will be on display, aiming to entice the elusive “tech collector.” We’ve highlighted six booths from the fair that you don’t want to miss before fair fatigue sets in.

Allan Stone Projects

James Havard’s Outside Pojoaque (1990). Courtesy of Allan Stone Projects.

For New York-based Allan Stone Projects, maximalism is the order of the day. The gallery is showing thick impasto canvases peppered with Pop art references, hazy color studies, and prime examples of the Abstract Illusionism movement that was pioneered by the American painter James Havard. Another highlight is a lollipop lithograph by master draftsman Wayne Thiebaud. It’s a timely selection as Thiebaud is currently the subject of an impressive show at the Morgan Library and Museum in NYC.

Booth H07

F.L. Braswell Fine Art

Sol Lewitt’s Brushstroke #17 (1996). Courtesy of F.L. Braswell Fine Art.

Based in Chicago, F.L. Braswell Fine Art is bringing a top-notch selection of prints that reads like a who’s who of contemporary art in the 20 century. Highlights include Sol Lewitt’s undulating ribbons of primary colors and a series of mesmerizing grids from Carlos Cruz-Diez. Richard Serra’s Extension #3 etching is exemplary of the artist’s ability to capture form and space in a two-dimensional medium. (Assuming you can’t fit one of his mammoth corten sculptures in your home, this might be the next best thing.)

Booth E24

Forum Gallery

Maria Tomasula’s All the Breath We Can Hold (2016–2018). Courtesy of Forum Gallery.

Figuration is the theme of Forum Gallery’s presentation in Seattle this year, but it comes with a twist. All the portraiture in the gallery’s booth features a dose of magical realism. Brooklyn-based painter Alyssa Monks partially obscures the figures in her works using elemental effects like steam and water. And Maria Tomasula, riffing on tropes like still lifes and memento moris, injects her works with a hyperrealism that blends the sacred and the profane to luscious effect.

Booth G09/G09A

M.S. Rau Antiques

Bernard Buffet’s
Nature Morte à l’Étoile de Mer et aux Coquillages (Still Life with Starfish and Shellfish) (1982). Courtesy of M.S. Rau Antiques.

Hailing from New Orleans, M.S. Rau Antiques is bringing their wares to Seattle with a selection of paintings that conjures the vitality of the French Quarter with a healthy serving of Americana. The booth is featuring an absinthe-tinged painting of the reclining nude Salome, an atmospheric painting by Claude Monet, an impressive six-foot-tall Norman Rockwell painting, and Bernard Buffet’s Nature Morte à l’Étoile de Mer et aux Coquillages (Still Life with Starfish and Shellfish) from 1982.

Booth B23

Miles McEnery Gallery

Tomory Dodge’s Figment (2017). Courtesy of Miles McEnery Gallery.

A color explosion is on view at Miles McEnery’s booth, where the Chelsea-based gallery has brought a wide spectrum of pigment-heavy offerings. The German Markus Linnenbrink’s horizontally situated work is dappled with tiny pools of colored rings, mesmerizing and impressive in its formal qualities. A highlight of the gallery’s display is Tomory Dodge’s Figment, a prime example of the artist’s ability to distill photographs into purely abstract gestures that evoke the pigmentation of colorists like Joan Mitchell and Gerhard Richter, with a frenetic dynamism that is completely his own.

Booth D15

Yufuku Gallery

Niyoko Ikuta’s Ku (Free Essence) (2018). Courtesy of Yufuku Gallery.

Seattle is also bringing in a slew of international galleries, including the Tokyo-based Yufuku Gallery, which opened its doors in 1993 to introduce the innovative sculptural works of Japanese artists. This year’s presentation includes the gravity-defying work of Kiyoko Ikuta, whose precise mastery of glass yields elegant and dynamic forms. Also on display is the stainless steel Kiss sculpture by Satoru Ozaki that recalls the bird-like shapes of Brancusi.

Booth F07

The Seattle Art Fair is on view from August 2 – 5, 2018 at the CenturyLink Field Event Center.