Up, Up and Away

Dragons and Asian culture fit perfectly within Hardy's eclectic interests. Born in Southern California in 1945, he has lived in various places around the world and now spends part of the year in Oakland and the rest in Honolulu. While working on his BFA in print-making at the San Francisco Art Institute during the late 1960s -- when else? -- he also took an apprenticeship in the art of tattooing. Being a tattoo artist had been a goal of his since he'd been a child. Dragons, of course, are a traditional tattooing motif, both in Asia and the U.S.

In the early '70s, Hardy lived in Japan for a year in order to study with a traditional Japanese tattoo master; he subsequently returned to work in Japan in the 1980s.

Several years ago, Hardy established a Colorado connection when he contracted with Boulder County printmaker Shark's Inc. to pull his prints. The artist subsequently designed the shark that is now the symbol for Shark's and designed and executed a matching tattoo for master printer Bud Shark.

Through Shark, Payton came to know Hardy, and she exhibited his work at BMoCA. Then, a few months ago, while Hardy was in the area to work with Shark's again, Payton learned that 2000 Dragons was traveling and had an opening in its schedule. So, presto, a compelling summer attraction was lined up in the nick of time.

The scroll, painted on untearable paper, winds its way around nearly two thirds of the Main Gallery at MCA, with the remaining third closed off to the public. It's been cleverly installed by being suspended from wires that run along the top of the scroll. Unrolling of the entire piece was expertly done by the MCA's exhibition coordinator, Jason Musgrave.

As you wander through the scroll, laid out in the manner of a simple, easy-to-follow labyrinth, it unfolds in a captivating way. The dragons, in a variety of sizes from tiny to huge, have been done in a range of styles; some are clearly inspired by Oriental art, and some are fairly abstract. In addition to the dragons, there are other Asian-inspired images, including waves and clouds clearly derived from Japanese prints. Other parts of the scroll are thoroughly non-objective, with a lot of abstract expressionist scribbles, drips and runs seen throughout.

Regardless of the imagery, all of the drawings have been carried out with a deft and quick hand. Most of the scroll has a tremendous immediacy, with the artist's touch being downright palpable in places.

This same quality is seen in many of the works on paper in The Sensational Line as well, and many of the artists here look for inspiration in unlikely sources, too. Hardy finds tattoos inspirational; these artists have used underground comix, graffiti, surrealism and dumb art.

A few years ago, Payton was one of the organizers of a BMoCA show that explored the related influences of dumb-art pioneer Philip Guston and underground comix master R. Crumb. In a way, The Sensational Line revisits these concerns, but without Guston and Crumb. Many of the works Payton chose for this show are difficult, owing to a decidedly in-your-face attitude. In Chris Johanson's "Untitled," an installation in ink on paper in which a doglike man is on all fours facing a leering man, the text that's part of the drawing is sprinkled with obscenities such as "asshole" and "fucks." Perhaps Johanson has expressed his sentiments too directly, but we all understand what he means when he points out that bad bosses sometimes push you around just because they can.

Johanson's style, as is the case with many of other artists here, has a cartoonish quality, but his work isn't whimsically conceived. Neither are the two pencil, clearfilm and enamel-on-paper works by Elliott Green from his "Un-named" series, which may be the best things in this show. A secret to Green's artistic success is his careful craftsmanship. He may be looking at underground comix to create his figures, but he's using a scrupulous and meticulous technique to render them.

Nearly everything in the show is representational and concerns contemporary refinements of the figural revival that began in the 1970s. Even those few pieces that are abstract are one step removed and are more like representations of abstracts. In Nina Bovasso's "Untitled," hundreds of little shapes are crammed into the drawing. Many of the shapes are seen in various, often opposing perspectives suggestive of inconsistent three-dimensional spaces.

This fall, after the current shows close, MCA will present the first major exhibit since Payton took over and the only one in which there has been a gracious amount of set-up time. Go Fish will be a show of photo-based work on the topic of fish, and it will be put together by Jane Fudge. Now living in Oregon, Fudge spent her entire adult life, from the 1970s until last year, contributing to the local art world. "I thought it was important to keep Jane involved with the Denver art scene," says Payton. "So I asked her to do the big fall show."

Considering the many remarkable things that Payton has done since she got to MCA just a few months ago -- and all without breaking a sweat -- don't be surprised if you think of that old saying: If you're given lemons, make lemonade.