Audio By Carbonatix
There are a couple of interesting shows right now at CORE New Art Space (2045 Larimer Street, 303-297-8428). Up front is Doug Craft: Collage and Montage in Golden Ratios, and in the spacious, handsome back gallery is Juhl Wojahn.
Though he’s in his late forties and has been dabbling in art for over 25 years, Doug Craft is only now emerging, and we can thus confer a kind of honorary twenty-something status on him. This show is only his second solo outing. The work — montages and collages in arrangements determined by mathematical formulas — shows a lot of promise. Craft’s a master at blending found and created images and in mixing colors. A number of the pieces comprise photo images in “golden ratio” rectangles, the dimensions of which were determined by mathematical formulas resulting in shapes that, since ancient times, have been considered aesthetically pleasing. The rectangles have been lined up horizontally as seen in the three triptychs above. Craft told me he’s planning to do a series of multi-panel paintings based on these same ratios. We’ll stay tuned.
Sculptor Juhl Wojahn is also an emerging artist, though he’s younger than Craft. (Is it just me, or does it seem as if every young guy with access to power tools is now a credible contemporary sculptor?) I know virtually nothing about Wojahn except to say that he’s very good and that he threw together this impressive show in just two short weeks. Among the most interesting Wojahns are the wall-hung lead reliefs, notably the very evocative — and sexually charged — “Pour 1” and its companion, “Pour 2.” Each piece is a panel made of lead, with a square opening in the top center. In the first, red vinyl, folded to create a vertical slit, fills the opening. In the second, the opening is nailed shut with a piece of metal. Gee, I wonder what he’s getting at? Other pieces are less clearly narrative. One of the best is the grid of conduit and electric outlets with utility lamps on haz-mat orange cords that are plugged in and arrayed across the floor.
These two noteworthy shows close this Sunday.
