Tipping Point

Frequently the alternative art spaces in town feature work that only a mother could love, but every once in a while they feature a show that's as good as anything else around. That's the case with the stunning exhibit now at Edge Gallery (3658 Navajo Street, 303-477-7173), the city's front-running artist cooperative. Tipping Point combines the work of Gayla Lemke with that of Tim Flynn; the two live and work together in their mountain home in Pine.

Details

303-477-7173

3658 Navajo Street

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• Tim Flynn
• Gayla Lemke

Both artists have impressive individual careers, and each has shown in the region for the past decade or so. Lemke is principally known for her abstract ceramic sculptures and installations, while Flynn works in metal and wire to create his non-objective three-dimensional work.

As you enter Edge, two large installations come into view. Ahead is "Consequence: Landscape I," for which Lemke assmbled scores of abstract clay forms on a low L-shaped stand. The objects look like pebbles, rocks and even boulders. To the left is the wall-hung "Re-generation," Flynn's dense arrangement of pod-like shapes made of woven and galvanized steel, copper, brass and aluminum. The effect of all these elements -- which look like wire drawings -- is spectacular. Though Lemke's "Consequence" really has nothing to do with Flynn's "Re-generation," they look absolutely perfect together.

In addition to these solo pieces, there are a few works that are true collaborations between the two artists, such as the untitled sculpture pictured here. In this elegant construction, organic forms of clay shaped by Lemke are attached to a hand-forged steel construction by Flynn. The piece seems to capture the meaning of the exhibition's title -- Tipping Point -- in that the earthy orbs are held in a precarious balance on the potentially kinetic armature. Both the clay and the steel have been beautifully worked and finished.

Tipping Point at Edge runs through April 22, and I call it a must-see.