But is it an art gallery?

Critiquing the shows at non-traditional spaces

by Jenna Russell

OVER DINNER: Mary Harrington's semi-abstract "Nude" at Katahdin

If you tried hard, you could probably live your life without going near a piece of art. It would be difficult, however, in this art-happy age, and sacrifice would be involved. No museums or galleries, but also no coffee-to-go, no meals in a lot of area restaurants, no furniture shopping.

Death is everywhere, Depeche Mode told us, and art is everywhere, too. Touring some of the city's non-traditional galleries on a recent Saturday, while rain and sun alternated in 15-minute cycles, we saw some promising starts. It wasn't all good, but it felt good to be out there paying attention.

Starting at the Arts District Starbucks (594 Congress St.), you get an idea why the coffee mega-chain has been so successful. It's a triumph of common sense that the java experts here have deferred the art decisions to the art experts upstairs. The art on the maize-colored walls appears courtesy of the Hay Gallery, and gallery owners Laura Fuller and Duane Patricio have an eye for what works. In general, it's a mellow mood, matched by the mellow jazz soundtrack, with dreamy landscape photographs, Patricio's handmade wood mirrors, and a series of large, black-and-white camera studies of plants by Steve Traficante. There's plenty of wall space, and the layout allows easy access to most of the art. The current standout is a gorgeous night shot of Times Square by photographer Michael Vitti, all melting neon lights and liquid color.

The environment is more challenging over at Coffee by Design (620 Congress St.) If Starbucks has something for everyone, this cafe has a take-it-or-leave-it approach, devoting all the wall space to a single artist. Adam Earley makes strange, bold, super-simplified paintings of rams on grass, toothy wolves, and balloon-headed businessmen. His cartoonish seascapes feature rocks that jut like teeth, and appear influenced by Maine painter Philip Barter, whose portrait by Earley also hangs in the show (through July 29). There's lots of foot traffic through the front entry and narrow back room here, the walls are scarred, and the doors stand open to passing police sirens. All in all, it's a grittier salon, and with the help of French song lyrics that played during our visit, it felt kind of like 1940s Paris.

Across the street, but a world away -- at least in terms of lyrics -- the Skinny (625 Congress St.) is also showing art. We checked out the current exhibition during Bluntfest, a showcase of local teen bands, and heard one tune dedicated "to any Poison or Van Halen fans." The key theme of the nightclub ambiance is darkness, or rather, pitch blackness, so the art was hard to find, let alone examine. Portland local Amanda LaCourse makes large abstract oil paintings like microscope studies of enlarged stalks and pods, their floating shell shapes adhering to a semi-cellular order. The colors were sapped by the low-light setting, but hopefully the room is occasionally brighter. If not, this is the perfect venue for artists working with glow-in-the-dark paint. (Through Aug. 4.)

A place to feed the eyes and stomach at once is Katahdin Restaurant (106 High St.), where the Hay Gallery has another satellite arrangement. The gems, hidden in a narrow doorway in a back corner, are a group of pen-and-ink drawings by Gary Robinov. (More on Robinov in a moment.) These are small, skilled pictures with titles like "Mardi Gras" and a corresponding spirit of commotion; each is a jazzy, busy cacophony of tangled figures and limbs. The restaurant is similarly busy, and it's tough to examine these closely without being in somebody's way. Elsewhere are some bland hand-colored photographs and a plethora of fruit-and-vegetable still life paintings, including more than a few overworked peppers and gourds. The subject matter is appropriate to the dinner setting, yes, but Mary Harrington's semi-abstract "Nude" is more interesting.

No one suffers caffeine deprivation in the Old Port, and coffee addicts rarely lack art to look at, either. Starbucks (176 Middle St.) hosts art from the Hay Gallery, though hanging space is limited by the large picture windows. Grouped around a purple velvet sofa are big, vibrant, fruit-toned paintings by Gary Robinov, amplifying the cranked-up caffeine atmosphere. Robinov uses hot pinks and lime greens, a dog's head, a giant red hand, toothy mouths, and an orange Modigliani-style nude -- all in one painting, "On the Hunt." There are some unidentified color photographs in the claustrophobic hall to the restrooms, but they might as well be in purgatory. You can't get far enough away to see what's going on. Coffee by Design (67 India St.) has more space and light than the Congress Street location, and David Snow's collages (through July 29) are a good fit, showing strong design sense. Subtly shifting variations on a theme, they puzzle together snippets of road maps and Lucky Strike packages with black-and-white images of fire escapes and brick buildings. Color is sparingly used to power each distortion, and the view is like looking through stained glass or rainwater on a window. At Portland Coffee Roasting (111 Commercial St.), Tama Louden's photo portraits are most successful when something unexpected happens: a cat's face is superimposed over a gnarled tree trunk, a woman in a fur mask dabs her mouth with a napkin. The tables against the walls make the pictures hard to approach, but glare is not a problem. (Through July 20.)

In spaces where something's for sale, it stands to reason that the art will be inoffensive -- no sense chasing customers off. While the cases at Sophia's (81 Market St.) display a thrilling array of baked goods, Meri Page's photographs are charming, not exciting. They depict granite sculptures in soft snow, and they nearly disappear against the pale, exposed-brick walls. (Through July 31.) The same less-is-more philosophy prevails at area furniture showrooms. Clean, conservative watercolors by Boothbay Harbor artist Monique Parry line the walls at Thomas Moser Cabinetmakers (149 Main St., Freeport). The flowers are efficient, the vases are pleasingly round, and nothing competes with the understated beauty of the tables and chairs. There are more flowers, lovely ones by Andrea Van Voorst Van Beest, at Green Design Furniture (267 Commercial St.). More engaging are the Pownal artist/illustrator's loose gouache sketches of the French countryside, sunny, storybook scenes of liquid hills and trees in a warm, blue-and-yellow Mediterranean palette. (Through July 16.) You can't beat furniture stores for looking at art; in a perfect world, every gallery would have couches.

If there's one place you'd expect to find cutting-edge art outside New York, it would be your local tattoo parlor. Sanctuary Tattoo (20-36 Danforth St. #213) doesn't disappoint. Follow the purple arrows upstairs, and you'll be greeted more courteously than at many mainstream art galleries. (They don't have fuchsia floors, either.) The current show is very male, but varied. There are unusual clay sculptures, posters by Local 188 darling Patrick Corrigan, and plenty of dark humor in titles like "Let's Do Wrong" and "I Am Not On Acid." Sean Foley's drawings range from blind-contour spirals to primitive faces with boldly lettered labels: "LAUGHINGSTOCK," "FAVORITE SON." Experimentation is in the air, the adrenaline of daring, set to a soundtrack of buzzing needles and unlikely conversation. ("You can get away with tattooing deceased people's names on you -- you're not going to get in a fight with the dead.") The tattooing-in-progress makes Sanctuary a kind of open studio, so settle in on the floral sofa and savor the spectacle.

Jenna Russell can be reached at russelljenna@hotmail.com.