When Cris Cook was out of a job last May, the freelance art director / graphic designer decided that it was the perfect time to start up a gallery, and soon after, Seattle’s Flatcolor Gallery was founded. “It was in the back of my mind for a while,” he says, “and this situation kind of came up where I was like, ‘Do I go get a full-time job right away, do I freelance and start something of my own, or do I sit back and relax for a summer?’ I guess I decided to take the difficult route and just try to create something new.”
Flatcolor originally began in 2007 as an online venture that allowed Cook to collaborate with Seattle’s artists and make prints of their work. “I just happened to get excited about making prints for these artists and get their stuff out there further,” he says. “Online seemed like a great place to start, and that kind of snowballed into seeing an area in Seattle that didn’t have the type of gallery that I wanted to go to, so I started one up.”
Flatcolor Gallery focuses on supporting Seattle-based artists and up-and-coming national artists. The economic downturn, which has significantly impacted Seattle’s art scene, has allowed Flatcolor to stand out and provide an outlet for artists who might not otherwise be represented.
“There were some galleries that closed in Seattle about a year to six months before and after we started,” Cook says. “So we kind of find ourselves in an interesting place where two or three years ago, there would have been two or three other places that did similar stuff.”
Flatcolor typically features work by local tattoo artists, graffiti artists, and illustrators. “Right now, we’re one of the only full gallery spaces that shows local artists in the kind of underground, urban contemporary scene,” he says.
Cook often co-curates shows with his brother Luke Cook, and each one brings a different perspective to the gallery’s shows. Cris Cook gravitates towards artists with an illustrative approach, whereas his brother digs graphical work. “It’s important to keep a good mix so that people come in and they don’t see the same five artists at every show,” Cris says.
Currently, Flatcolor is showing a collection of steam-punk-inspired paintings by Seattle-based artist Joe Vollan. “He’s been showing in Seattle for probably the last ten years and started branching out nationally,” Cris says. “His stuff is kind of a story-book dreamland, but kind of on the creepy side of things. A lot of his pieces tell an interesting story or have the characters in interesting predicaments.”
Cris Cook’s printing endeavor and gallery space have progressed considerably, and he’s also thinking about branching out into producing art books, T-shirts, and developing mobile applications within the next year. “[We want] to make sure that [the artists] do a good array of work,” he says, “from the reasonably priced to the more expensive, because in the end, we want our artists’ work out there and in homes and to really be enjoyed by people.”