Matthew Rose: Spelling With Scissors

A couple of years ago, Lauri Lynnxe Murphy opened a funky gallery dedicated to showcasing artists who were doing experimental work. This gallery is called Capsule (554 Santa Fe Drive, 303-623-3460), and it was the immediate successor to Murphy's boutique, Pod. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end, and the end has come for Capsule, which is set to close next month after the current exhibit finishes. Murphy is closing the gallery so that she can concentrate on her other art-business venture, the Capsule Art & Event Center next door.

The last show at Capsule is Matthew Rose: Spelling With Scissors, which is made up of almost 900 collages by an American artist who lives in Paris. Murphy met Rose on the Internet two years ago, and since that time, he's been sending collages to Capsule through the mail. These postcards from the cutting edge are hung so that they line the two walls from floor to ceiling. As you can tell, Rose is interested in the mail-art movement of the '70s, and he was actually friends with the late Ray Johnson, a proponent of the anti-market sensibility inherent in distributing art this way. Rose often uses found images and graphics, and many of his pieces look like faux magazine covers, such as "Le Mon" (pictured). Others, however, are completely hand-done. Spelling With Scissors comes down on December 16.

The closing of Capsule is sad, but there's an even sadder situation that's enshrouded the gallery recently. On Tuesday, November 14, Brandon Borchert, a promising artist who was associated with Capsule, was found dead in his garage, an apparent suicide. Borchert, whose work involved an elaborate system based on the Powerball lottery, was also the instructor for the screen-printing program at the Capsule Art & Event Center, where he maintained his studio. Murphy is dealing with her grief by planning a memorial show that will hopefully be presented in a proper venue. Borchert certainly deserves the respect. He'll be missed by his friends, and by those of us who admired his work.