Common Ground. The Sandra Phillips Gallery specializes in abstraction, as is shown off in the current show, Common Ground, which combines neo-abstract-expressionist paintings by Jennifer Scott McLaughlin with neo-constructivist sculptures by William Mueller. Gallery owner and director Sandra Phillips discovered both artists at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art's biennial last spring. Though McLaughlin has written that blackboards were her inspiration, her paintings will remind many of the classic work of Cy Twombly. Several of her paintings are done on wood, and McLaughlin lets the grain show through as part of the compositions. Mueller's work is from his "wall series" in which large freestanding wood sculptures are bent at ninety-degree angles like walls meeting in a corner. Mueller has lived in Colorado for the last few years, and his powdery palette and the terra-cotta clay finish he uses are tangible responses to the sights of our region. The pairing of McLaughlin and Mueller works well, even if their work has nothing in common -- other than being abstract. Through August 31 at the Sandra Phillips Gallery, 744 Santa Fe Drive, 303-573-5969. Reviewed August 12.
Dots, Blobs and Angels. Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art is presenting an enormous solo that is dedicated to the late David Rigsby, an artist who played a big part in the local art scene in the '70s and '80s. The exhibit was organized by director Cydney Payton, who installed it more or less chronologically, allowing Rigsby's stylistic development to shine throughout. The oldest works in the show are two oils on book covers done when Rigsby was a little boy; the newest were done right before he died in a car accident in 1993 -- some of these were done on book covers, too. In between, Rigsby created scores of abstract and figural paintings, as well as a body of remarkable sculptures made of wood and recycled rubber. The outlandish title, Dots, Blobs and Angels, refers to some of the things Rigsby depicted -- though much of what he sculptured during his forty-year-plus career defies description. Clearly, it's one of the hottest shows of the summer. Through September 19 at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, 1275 19th Street, 303-298-7554. Reviewed July 8.
Federico Castellon. Hugo Anderson, director of the Emil Nelson Gallery, has put together a riveting solo show devoted to the work of a prominent twentieth-century artist. Castellon was one of the few Americans who embraced European surrealism and worked in the style from the early 1930s -- when it was cutting-edge -- until 1971, the year he died, when it was an all-but-forgotten historical style. Castellon was born in Spain, but he moved to New York as a child and spent the rest of his life there. Though Castellon had no direct personal connection to surrealist masters such as Picasso, Miró or Dalí, who, incidentally, were also born in Spain, his work was influenced by them. This noteworthy show came together when Anderson acquired a cache of Castellons purchased directly from the collection of the artist's estate. The crowded exhibit includes examples of Castellon's paintings, watercolors, drawings and printmaking -- his greatest claim to art-history fame. Through September 25 at the Emil Nelson Gallery, 1307 Bannock Street, 303-534-0996.
Ordinary Adornments and Mr. Sparkle. The +Zeile Judish Gallery is highlighting the recent work of a pair of young artists. In the front is Ordinary Adornments, which is made up of New York artist William Crow's wall-mounted constructions that look like surrealist still-life scenes, among other things. The shapes are organic, but the surfaces are a riot of created and appropriated visual flourishes carried out via various materials, including paint and wallpaper. Crow's compositions have a retro feel, and the forms he uses recall those favored by Jean Arp and Joan Miró. The show in the back, Mr Sparkle, takes it's name from a Simpsons cartoon, and also reflects back on earlier modernism -- but in this case it's Andy Warhol and Kenneth Noland. Denver-area painter Colin Livingston creates smart and good-looking paintings that aesthetically are at the intersection of pop and minimalism. Livingston adds text to essentially hard-edged abstractions of the neo-minimalist sort. A pattern painting in green, black and white has the motto "The Original (Party Painting)" filling most of the bottom half. They are clever and conventionally beautiful at the same time. Through August 21 at + Gallery, 2350 Lawrence Street, 303-296-0927. Reviewed July 29.
Poetry and Stone. Cab Childress, architect emeritus at the University of Denver, has been contributing to Colorado's and neighboring states' built environments for the past fifty years. Poetry and Stone: Cab Childress Architect at DU's Victoria H. Myhren Gallery surveys his impressive career with drawings, photos, models and other artifacts that illustrate his unique vision. In the late 1950s, when Childress was right out of architecture school, he was a modernist. Gradually, as early as the '70s, he came to embrace post-modernism. His best-known works are those on the DU campus, making it the perfect setting for this handsome retrospective. Childress designed many of the buildings constructed at the school during the last ten years or so, either alone or in concert with other firms. These include the controversial Daniel L. Ritchie Sports and Wellness Center, as well as Olin Hall, Daniels College of Business and the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Together, they have completely remade the look of the campus. Through August 27 at the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, Shwayder Art Building, 2121 East Asbury Avenue, 303-871-2846. Reviewed August 5.
Repeat Offenders. The summer extravaganza at the Singer Gallery of the Mizel Center for Arts and Culture is Repeat Offenders: Serial Works by Colorado Artists. This large, over-the-top exhibit was put together by Simon Zalkind, Singer's highly regarded director and curator. The idea for the show -- work that has repeated or related imagery -- is fairly open ended since nearly all artists work in series. That means that nearly anyone could have been eligible -- which is probably why he crammed in pieces by more than two dozen artists. For the show, Zalkind selected paintings, prints and photographs by some of the best-known talents in the area, including, among a host of others, Stephen Batura, Roland Bernier, Clare Cornell, Sushe Felix, Susan Goldstein, Karen Kitchel, Bethany Kriegsman, Jerry Kunkel, Andrea Modica, Jeff Star and Eric Zimmer. In addition, Zalkind put in work by a smattering of youngsters just out of the gate. The kids hold up surprisingly well in the heady company, especially emerging photographer Jason Patz. Through August 22 at the Singer Gallery, Mizel Center for Arts and Culture, 350 South Dahlia Street, 303-399-2660. Reviewed June 24.
scene Colorado/sin Colorado. The Denver Art Museum's local extravaganza, scene Colorado/sin Colorado, has quickly become one of the most talked-about shows this year. And that's no surprise considering that it includes more than three dozen Colorado artists represented by more than seventy works of art. Dianne Vanderlip, curator of modern and contemporary art, organized the exhibit, pulling work from the impressive holdings of the DAM's permanent collection. A couple of the artists included no longer live here -- notably Gary Sweeney, whose piece inspired the show's title, and "genius grant" recipient Robert Adams -- but their works in this show were created when they did. Vanderlip decided to exclude deceased Colorado artists -- and that's too bad. However, even with this limitation, she's undeniably assembled a worthy cavalcade of talent. The pieces date back over the past quarter century, which is the period during which Vanderlip has held the modern and contemporary reins at the DAM. Though far from encyclopedic, the show does cover a lot of ground. Through August 22 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000. Reviewed June 17.
