Japanese Art. The spectacular exhibit Japanese Art From the Colorado Collection of Kimiko and John Powers is installed in the Gallagher Family Gallery of the Denver Art Museum's new Hamilton Building. It was put together by Ron Otsuka, the esteemed curator of Asian art who has built an important collection during his thirty-plus years at the institution. Decades ago, Otsuka established a friendship with the Powerses, which is why they put their collection of more than 300 Japanese masterworks on long-term loan with the DAM. It's from this hoard that Otsuka chose the more than 100 objects he included in Japanese Art. As collectors, the Powerses were old-fashioned connoisseurs who chose things based on their innate fineness. "They were certainly very selective," says Otsuka in something of an understatement, considering the high quality of these pieces. The Powerses, who are also known for their stunning modern-art collection, sought out Japanese works of art that anticipate modernism despite that fact that they are hundreds of years old. Through September 9 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000. Reviewed January 25.
(New) Disasters of War. The title of this exhibition organized by Simon Zalkind refers to etchings done in the early nineteenth century by Goya titled "Desastres de la Guerra," or "Disasters of War." Goya depicted the tragedies associated with the occupation of Spain by Napoleon's French troops; Zalkind invited artists to create work in response to these etchings and sent each a copy of Goya's "Disasters" to use as a reference for their own work -- and with a handful of exceptions, they did. The resulting pieces fall into various categories, though everything is essentially representational. Contemporary realism predominates, and some of the great painters working in that style here are featured, including John Hull, Jerry Kunkel and Margaretta Gilboy. Also intriguing are figural abstractions by Bill Stockman, Steve Altman and Margaret Neumann, while Enrique Chagoya and Eric Zimmer make pieces that look like comics. Some of the best things are the photos, notably those by Edie Winograde and Jimmy Sellars. Using Goya to inspire new anti-war pieces is a timely topic, given the ongoing events in Iraq and Afghanistan. Through April 6 at the Singer Gallery, Mizel Center, 350 South Dahlia Street, 303-316-6360. Reviewed February 22.
RADAR. With its outlandish appearance, the Denver Art Museum's new Frederic C. Hamilton Building has overshadowed what's on display inside. There are a few exceptions to this, and first among them is RADAR: Selections From the Collection of Vicki & Kent Logan, installed in the Anschutz Gallery on the second level. Put together by Dianne Vanderlip, the outgoing curator of the Modern and Contemporary Art department, RADAR includes sections on the cutting edge in Asia, Europe and America. Many of the works were donated by the Logans, who live in Vail and are among the most important collectors of contemporary art in the country -- and, in recent years, among the DAM's most significant donors, having given as gifts over 200 works of art and promised hundreds more. Some of the biggest names in international art are in the show, among them Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Zhang Huan, Damien Hirst, Jenny Saville, Michel Majerus, Neo Rauch, Carroll Dunham, Kiki Smith, George Condo and Fred Tomaselli, all represented by major works. An absolute must-see. Through July 15 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000. Reviewed December 28, 2006.
Residual Memory. To come up with this show, Arvada Center exhibition director Jerry Gilmore invited photo-based artist Jimmy Sellars to show alongside ceramics whiz Marie E.v.B. Gibbons; both are longtime habitués of the Denver art scene. Having the center's capacious Lower Galleries at their disposal encouraged the two to soar, and they each created impressive new bodies of work expressly for this do-not-miss exhibition. For several years, Sellars has been using G.I. Joe action figures to stand in for human models in his digitally based photographs. In the pieces he created for Residual Memory, Sellars used the figures to refer to his own memories. Gibbons is a talented ceramics artist who is especially good at surfaces, using a variety of techniques to achieve them. Each of the three Gibbons spaces has been conceived as an installation, with two of them anchored by bathtubs meant to reinforce her water theme. All of the sculptures are part of her "My Ocean" series, which refers to her childhood love of the sea. Through April 1 at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, 720-898-7200. Reviewed March 15.
2007 Faculty Exhibition. Lisa Tamiris Becker, the director of the CU Art Museum, organized this exhibit as one of the last in the old fine arts building, which is to be torn down to make room for a new Visual Arts Complex. The exhibit has pieces by full-time professors as well as adjuncts, and it demonstrates that the art teachers at CU embrace a range of mediums and a variety of styles. Despite all this diversity, the show looks good and, more surprisingly, holds together. Becker began by making studio visits to each of the artists, and together they chose the piece or pieces to be incorporated. The standouts include a work by the late Antonette Rosato, along with creations by Yumi Janairo Roth, Chuck Forsman, Ken Iwamasa, Kay Miller, Chris Lavery, Scott Chamberlin, Alex Sweetman, Albert Chong and Mark Amerika, among others. The CU Art Museum will close in May, and the new complex will take two years to build, so it'll be a long time before the CU faculty has a chance to show again. Through March 23 at the CU Art Museum, Sibell Wolle Fine Arts Building, 303-492-8300. Reviewed March 8.
Weekend in So Show. Making a striking aesthetic statement is not of paramount importance to Liam Gillick in Weekend in So Show, now at the still-nascent Laboratory for Art and Ideas at Belmar (aka the Lab). Gillick is more interested in telling some kind of story about politics, society and culture, and he uses language along with visual elements to do it. Gillick emerged in the 1990s as part of a generation of artists showing in London dubbed the "YBAs," which stands for Young British Artists. Lab director Adam Lerner invited Gillick to come to Belmar as a visiting artist. While in residence there, he worked with around a dozen students from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, which is also in Lakewood. Despite this seeming collaboration, the resulting piece is signature Gillick, right down to the miles of wall text and the elegantly simple three-dimensional elements that recall the work of Donald Judd. Gillick used a documentary made by agitprop collective the Medvedkine Group about a strike in France as the starting point for his intriguing installation about rising expectations. Through April 1 at the Lab at Belmar, 404 South Upham Street, 303-934-1777. Reviewed February 15.
