Ania Gola-Kumor. One of Colorado's greatest abstract painters is the star of Ania Gola-Kumor: Moving Paint, at Sandra Phillips Gallery. These large oil paintings, along with small works on paper that were done in oil stick and oil bar, represent both a continuation of Gola-Kumor's longstanding interests and a new development in terms of the increased density of line she employs. For many years, one of Gola-Kumor's signatures has been her layering of overlapping forms, which creates a pure abstraction. Although the compositions are clearly non-objective, there's the suggestion that there may be recognizable imagery underneath — but Gola-Kumor has so heavily worked over the surfaces with luscious and voluptuous strokes of toned-up paint, it's truly impossible to make out the details, if there are any. Also traditional is Gola-Kumor's skill as a colorist, and whether she's using dark, rich tones, or light, airy ones, she expertly orchestrates them, coming up with distinctive palettes for each of her works. The standouts are two monumental horizontal pieces, "#11" and "#22," both of which are breathtaking. Through June 1 at Sandra Phillips Gallery, 420 West 12th Avenue, 303-573-5969, thesandraphillipsgallery.com.
Charles Partridge Adams. Rocky Mountain Majesty: The Paintings of Charles Partridge Adams highlights the career of a prominent turn-of-the-nineteenth-century impressionist who lived and worked in Colorado for decades. Adams first came to Colorado in 1876, when he was only eighteen years old. He was self-taught, but worked informally in Denver with Helen Henderson Chain, who in turn had studied with George Inness. By the 1890s, like many other landscape painters of the time, Adams embraced impressionism, with his signature style becoming increasingly more expressive into the 1910s. Adams was part of a generation of landscape painters who were grounded in Hudson River School aesthetics. But like other American impressionists, he blended this classic sensibility with the painterly devices being revealed at the time in France. In 1917, Partridge retired to California. Thomas Smith, the DAM's Curator of Western American Art, has chosen three dozen examples of the artist's best work. Through September 8 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000, www.denverartmuseum.org.
Gather and Gentle Motion. One of the largest galleries in Denver, Walker Fine Art is able to accommodate a couple of solos and a group show and still have plenty of open space. Right now the enormous front section is housing the solos Gather, featuring paintings by Pennsylvania artist Brigan Gresh, and Gentle Motion, which is made up of kinetic sculptures by Roger Hubbard of Arizona. The Gresh paintings are very labor-intensive and covered with delicate pencil lines that are only visible up close; their waxy surface treatments are also remarkable. The Hubbards — which move when touched — are made of shiny stainless-steel rods, panels and sheets, and resemble giant pieces of jewelry. In the back, artists from the Walker stable have been put together for a group outing. There are hard-edged abstract paintings with unexpected organic shapes by Angela Beloian; a group of digitally sourced collaborative works on glass by the father-and-son team of Mark and Canyon Castator; and, finally, a trio of Don Quade's earth-toned mixed-media abstract compositions. Through May 31 at Walker Fine Art, 300 West 11th Avenue, #A, 303-355-8955walkerfineart.com.
Kahn + Selesnick, van Minnen, Maker, Starr. Entering Robischon Gallery right now is like going through the looking glass into four parallel worlds. Creepy and weird — and accomplished and elegant — describes Kahn + Selesnick: Truppe Fledermaus & the Carnival at the End of the World, an enormous presentation by the New York-based collaborators. A dark mood is set immediately by the more than seventy works on paper that cover the front room's long, tall wall. The next show is Christian Rex van Minnen: Welsh Rats. The exhibit's title refers to a mispronunciation of weltschmerz, which means "world hurt." The paintings are meticulously done responses to the old masters crossed with the surrealists. The mood lightens a bit with Terry Maker: Circumference, which comprises a small set of pop-ish installations. The well-known Maker is interested in using the mundane to express the exceptional; in this case, she does so by creating gigantic resin belts hung from enormous nails. Jeff Starr: Smile, on view in the final gallery, is something of an abbreviated career survey conceived of as an installation. Through May 4 at Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street, 303-298-7788, robischongallery.com.
