Upper Playground, the art and apparel store from SF, is opening a new storefront in Seattle’s University District. The grand opening is Sept 19th and 20th for the retail store and the new FIFTY24SEA gallery. Parskid and Angel179 will be showing work in the gallery on Friday and Munk One and Mears One will be doing a live art installation on Saturday from 2-6pm. One of my favorite local hip-hop artists, Portland’s Ohmega Watts, will be performing on Friday evening sometime inbetween 5-10pm. Woot woot!

Cornish College is featuring a group show this month titled, GIMME. The show explores how contemporary artists borrow objects, icons, images and sound from their surroundings, reflecting the culture in which they live, and reinterpreting it back into the works they produce.

My friend Erica over at Steel Toe Studios is showing some hot off the anvil sculptural objects tonight at Urban Hardwoods. The show opening starts at 6pm and also features photographer Adrian Goodhand and glass artist Jeanne Brennan.

Here’s two winner art shows to hit up this friday. Suite 100 Gallery is hosting artifacts by pioneers of american steampunk. BLVD Gallery is presenting it’s “Disconnected” show featuring new works by frequent collaborators Marco Zamora and Derek Albeck (shown below).

Tad Carpenter’s Mayhem, Mischief And Monsters show At Bluebottle Art Gallery includes 20 limited edition silk-screen Monster Mix Up prints that allow you to take a top particular monster and mix it with a different monster bottom. 

On September 5th Seattle’s Scott Fuller is having a show at EVO to promote the launch of his brand Diekotomy. It looks like Scott is creating large scale versions of his artwork out of wood and acrylic paint - very cool. Check out his site here to see more photos.

Moshi Moshi in Portland is featuring a show with new penquin art by Kurt Halsey on Sept 4th.

Bumbershoot has gotten even better with the addition of The Seattle-Tehran Poster Show. This is a selection of 50 posters from each city in a variety of mediums sharing cultural themes such as music, film, theater and contemporary art. Don’t miss!!!

The annual Bumbershoot festival is again hosting Flatstock 18, which will feature the art of the most popular poster artists working today. Don’t miss a chance to fill up your empty living room with affordable silkscreened art!

Portland’s FIFTY 24PDX Gallery presents “Save My Life”, a show from painter and graphic designer Cody Hudson. This exhibition will feature his drawings, paintings, screenprints and installations through September 27th. I have always enjoyed seeing what’s next from the man behind Struggle Inc.