Plus Gallery

Amid a trio of great shows, Plus makes plans for the future.

A A A Comments By Michael Paglia Thursday, Apr 10 2008

There's a lot going on at Plus Gallery (2350 Lawrence Street, 303-296-0927, www.plusgallery.com), which has two solos on display and is featuring two other artists in small presentations. And there's some news: Plus will be moving to 25th and Larimer streets this fall. Denver architect Steve Chucovich has been hired to turn the former flue of the Benjamin Moore paint factory into a proper exhibition space.

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Plus Gallery

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Plus Gallery

2501 Larimer St.
Denver, CO 80205

Category: Galleries

Region: Downtown Denver

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In an unbilled feature at the gallery, John McEnroe has several recent sculptures on view, the most substantial of which, "Rape of the Sabine," is prominently featured just inside the front door. The handsome piece is a blobby red obelisk made of stacked fiberglass resin forms that are shaped — and tied off — like sausages.

Peter Illig: Full Fathom Five, in the front gallery, is made up of recent paintings that reflect the influence of pop art. In "Event Horizon," Illig has painted a full-color copy of Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa," from the early nineteenth century, and has then blocked out parts of it and inserted black and white images of people and things such as Picasso, chocolate-covered cherries and an unmade bed.

A half-dozen large pastel drawings make up Riva Sweetrocket: Handle With Care. The drawings, which look like paintings, focus on the human hand. Sweetrocket is a dyed-in-the-wool photo-realist — which, when you think about her chosen medium, is an astounding accomplishment. Using something as unwieldy as colored chalk, she's able to get hard edges and meticulously rendered details, as in "Secret" (pictured).

In the niche in the back is Bill Adams: New Photographs, a mini-solo with only a handful of pieces. But in truth, each of these complicated color photos must have taken a lot of work, because they capture scenes populated with a cast of costumed characters, with Adams himself playing all the parts, Thus, he needed to insert many separate photos — and go through many outfit changes — to come up with a single finished piece.

The shows dedicated to Illig, Sweetrocket and Adams are rapidly reaching the end of the line; all three close on April 12.