Rid yourself of absolutes. Purity is a tyranny of the abstract. Everything is in flux: in darkness there is always light but equally true is that pleasure is always accompanied by pain. No pure state exists. These are the hard-won lessons on full display in the paintings of Drie Chapek, showing now at Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle.

Making a Better Painting: Thinking Through Practice examines the “absurdity, passion, and even shame” of being a painter today. It is an ambitious survey of contemporary Northwest Painters, and exemplifies the regional shift in artists’ ambition we’ve witnessed over the last decade: each of the 18 artists make a living largely outside of this region.