Rich Lehl serves up two canvases in the Northwest Magical Realism style and a drawing. Cat Burgler pictured to the right is a strikingly straightforward composition with the figure barely apparent in the upper left. Of particular note is the drawing "The Art of Phrenology", a now discredited methodology which believed in the ability to diagnose criminal pathologies based on the shape of the skull, from the early 19th century. One wonders if Racial Profiling will go the way of Phrenology in the 21st century.

Claire Johnson and Larie Smoyer of Seattle collaborate to document the medical examination of a murdered sock monkey. By using a child's stuffed animal as a metaphor for the violence on human dignity that murder essentially is in essence, the artists create an almost cartoon like, surreal voyage into the process of a murder investigation. Amy Ragsdale presents a interactive performance piece and video installation centering on surveillance and interrogation. Denise Duffy uses forensic techniques in her fingerprint lifts of art world figures like Barbara Kruger and Judy Chicago.

Malayka and Tom Gormally of Seattle contribute a video piece recounting the effects of newly-gained intimate knowledge of the setting of a violent crime in "A Sunday Afternoon" They play with our perceptions of guns in "Hand Guns", probably the most effective video in the exhibition. The image of the handgun is recreated by the use of multiple subjects who also supply the soundtrack to add another layer to the video. From children to senior citizens, the hand gesture mimics the form of the gun but the vocalization of the sounds of the guns by what could be someone's grandmother is quite disturbing.

Bonnie Reid gives us another bravura painting with "Easier to Digest". The composition recalls the photomontages of Raoul Hausmann and Hanna Hoch. I have long admired Reid's work and look forward to her next solo venture. Her composition and subject matter are always eery and disturbing, a sort of Northwest film noir. Stylistically her works play off and contrast those other paintings in the exhibition.

Fourteen gives us celebrity crime which is our culture's guilty pleasure. From OJ to Michael Jackson we stand like deer in the headlights looking at the train wreck of celebrity and crime. "I am not painting their portraits...I paint only the gossip, buzz, chatter and brand image the particular celebrity projects or attracts. I seek to capture a peculiar segment of modern pop-culture mythology as it unfolds before our eyes." ...One of my favorite celebrity gossip stories is the one about David Gest claiming Liza Minelli beat him to a pulp after she got drunk and went into a rage. Powder, blush and lipstick-wearing Gest tried to sue tiny little Minelli for $10 million. This painting was inspired by a photograph and story I found in Star Magazine. The headline is actual, and was cut out of the magazine and added to the painting. I'm not too sure about the validity of Gest's claim, but if I woke up next to that thing in my bed, I'd try and swat it away too. SCARY!!! " Fourteen

SOIL is at 112 3rd Ave. South in the Tashiro Kaplan Building in Pioneer Square, Seattle. The gallery is open Thursdays thru Sundays from 12 noon until five pm. Visit them on the web at www.soilart.org