Three abstract shows mark a strong start to the fall season

See also: Photos: Fall art season under way with a handful of abstract shows

Comments (0) By Michael Paglia Thursday, Oct 4 2012

Across from these are New York-based artist Nancy Koenigsberg's series of three-dimensional wire-mesh bas-reliefs, whose geometric compositions have powerful graphic qualities akin to drawings.

Opposite the information desk are some remarkable oil paintings by Denver's Carlene Frances, who, based on these incredible pieces, should be lots better known. Frances takes what appears to be an automatist approach, assembling various elements such as scribbled squares and circles and distributing them across the painting's surface in a way that is random and, thus, unpredictable. The results, however, are unfailingly balanced.

"Shadow of the Hand," by Andy Berg, mixed media on panel.

"Plot a Course," by Mark Brasuell, drawing materials on canvas.

Location Info

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Rule Gallery

3340 Walnut St.
Denver, CO 80205

Category: Galleries

Region: Central Denver

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Edge Gallery

3658 Navajo St.
Denver, CO 80211

Category: Galleries

Region: Northwest Denver

Space Gallery

765 Santa Fe
Denver, CO 80204

Category: Galleries

Region: Central Denver

Details

See also: Photos: Fall art season under way with a handful of abstract shows

Through November 3, Rule Gallery, 3340 Walnut Street, 303-777-9473, www.rulegallery.com.Through October 7, Edge Gallery, 3658 Navajo Street, 303-477-7173, www.edgeart.org.Through October 20, Space Gallery, 765 Santa Fe Drive, 720-904-1088, www.spacegallery.org.

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Behind the gallery's dog-leg and into the back, Aardsma has paired Chicago's Corey Postiglione with Space owner Michael Burnett, an accomplished abstract painter in his own right. The Postigliones are crisp pattern works, with the compositions made up of interwoven ovals. The margins between the pigments is extremely hard-edged, the result of Postiglione using laser-cut stencils. The Burnetts are abstractions in which groups of organic shapes are organized within vertical fields.

The show reaches a crescendo of quietness in the double-height back gallery, where Aardsma has included her own pieces alongside those by Boulder's David Sawyer. Aardsma creates what look like paintings, but that is something of a misconception, because they have no paint actually on them. To create the simple bars and lines that make up her compositions, she has unwoven the canvas itself, so that the shadow of the missing threads creates the imagery. Sawyer also uses lines as his principle motif, but in his case, it's with silverpoint on and under Nihonga pigment from Japan.

The Berg and Brasuell single-artist exhibits, along with this very strong group outing, prove once again that abstraction remains a widely embraced approach for many contemporary artists.