A while back I interviewed Kirsten Anderson, the owner of Roq la Rue gallery and author of "Pop Surrealism -- The Rise of Underground Art," which is a great book on the lowbrow/pop surrealist movement and a must to have if you wanna know anything about anything.

Kirsten was nothing if not gracious in answering my stupid questions, including the inevitable why.

"I think our general art scene is really subpar, despite the talent here; I feel it really gets ignored compared to the music scene," she said in an email. "The reason I still do this is that I do still find more art and artists that completely inspire me."

That was four years and a few dozen openings ago. I still see Kirsten at Roq la Rue openings, but she's usually too busy helping to hold up an entire tentpole of the international art scene to make chitchat. Four years on, Roq la Rue remains Seattle's bridge between the so-called fine art world and the tattooed hooligans painting pretty pictures of mutants. No other joint comes close.

Roq la Rue will fete its 10th year much in the way you'd expect: with cupcakes, beer and a "greatest hits" show that'll warp your mind.

On Friday, July 11, the gallery begins its second decade with a group show featuring (deep breath) Mia Araujo, Glenn Barr, Johnny Bergeron, John Brophy, Chris Crites, Brian Despain, Lori Earley, Andrew Hem, Femke Hiemstra, Ronald Kurniawan, Mike Leavitt, Travis Louie, Gabe Marquez, Liz McGrath, Scott Musgrove, Marion Peck, Lisa Petrucci, Anthony Pontius, Mark Ryden, Viktor Safonkin, Shag, Tin, Kay Tuttle, Christian Vanminnen and more.

There are some well-known names on that list, artists whose popularity has gone dizzingly vertical over the last decade. (Mark Ryden and Shag probably own shares in Hot Topic by now.) But what's more exciting to me is the number of local names in that lineup. If not for Roq la Rue, I wouldn't know that such astonishing talents as Chris Crites, Lisa Petrucci and Brian Despain were living and working in this town. Whenever I feel like I've seen everything, Kirsten Anderson manages to unearth some amazing thing that was happening right aropund the corner from me, unnoticed.

In that long-ago interview, I asked Kirsten what she'd be doing if she wasn't discovering new talents and promoting a (still-)new aesthetic. She said she would be interested in pursuing a career in wildlife conservation. Then she added, "Or maybe I'd have a kitschy souvenir tiki stand on some beach in Hawaii. That sounds pretty good, too."

Well, whichever way Kirsten is leaning these days, here's hoping for another 10 years of prolonging the invitable. The wild kingdom's loss remains Seattle's invaluable gain.

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