Politics In Black And White -- Friese Undine's Paintings Probe The Dark Side Of Power

------------------ VISUAL ARTS REVIEW ------------------

"Friese Undine: I Will Fall Apart/I Will Not Fall Apart" Runs through Aug. 31 at William Traver Gallery, 110 Union St.; 206-587-6501.

One of several things to say about Friese Undine's artwork is that it is highly recognizable. The thirtysomething Seattle artist some years ago found a figurative, very graphic, black-and-white painting style that perfectly suits his bleak, tension-laden themes, and he has stuck to it, perfecting it and honing it to a fine distillation.

He painted murals in the now-closed Moe's nightclub on Capitol Hill, and has done a sign for a Seattle union local. Even if you didn't know him as an artist, his style has been distinct, deceptively old-fashioned and plain at a time when many artists his age are working in cartoony figuration or graffiti-inspired scratchings. For years Undine showed at alternative galleries, such as the now-defunct Galleria Potatohead and later at MIA Gallery.

In his latest show, which is his first solo show at William Traver Gallery, Undine offers a couple of hundred small, illustrative acrylic paintings, along with a few artist's books and one mixed-media work. The show explores some of his favorite themes: political power, authoritarianism, morals and the razor's edge where the human psyche cracks under internal or external pressure. At a time when there's not much other new work in Seattle galleries, the show is disturbing and compelling.

There are a couple of dozen tense little 10-inch-by-8-inch paintings that have a quiet, Kafkaesque horror about them. In one called "The Band Played On," three men in identical, striped bathrobes sit side by side in paper hats, desolately waving toy swords. These guys are clearly in the nuthouse, but the depressing part is that they seem to be missing their emotions.

In another, two children stand around a playhouse. The girl stands outside looking into the playhouse's window, where a boy is staring out, smoking a cigarette. He looks as though he's in prison, despite the fact that they are children. The title of the painting is "We All Make Political Decisions."

Elsewhere, Undine shows a man sitting in front of a low, stone wall in the country, a herd of sheep swarming around him. The title of the painting is "They Say This Is the Century of the Common Man."

One of Undine's signatures is his regular use of German text. The titles are usually in German, and often written directly on the canvas. Undine's family came from Germany, although he grew up in a highly religious Mormon family in Utah. He has often used what he considers his repressively religious and authoritarian upbringing as a springboard for art, as in the art and performance shows he created in 1995 having to do with his father and Sigmund Freud. The German text underscores those themes, since in the late 20th century it is still impossible to disassociate it with the language of psychology and psychoanalysis and politics that led to Hitler and World War II.

In the show's biggest work, Undine has painted 287 small (about 6-inch-by-4-inch) portraits of political figures and people in the spotlight of popular culture. There are paintings of Ronald Reagan, Ralph Reed, Anita Hill, C. Everett Koop and Imelda Marcos, among others, all pieced together into a crazy quilt Undine calls "Take Off the Head." Alongside is a quote from Machiavelli about the celebrity that goes with power.

There is dark, ironic humor in some of what Undine creates. One of the artist's books in the show is called "Fashions in Nervous Breakdowns Change with the Time." Luckily for the viewer, Undine seems to follow no fashions other than the ones he makes.