Art Attack: Fourteen Ways to Celebrate First Friday in Denver

Another First Friday is rolling in, this time with the promise of true spring weather.

Enjoy a pleasant evening and greet April at a wild assortment of new shows at co-ops, commercial galleries, artist studios, and immersive and outdoor spaces.

Scottie Burgess, brands / power /objects / urban / tribes
Vinni Alfonso, Garden Level
Jeff Hersch in Treasure Chest
Pirate: Contemporary Art, 7130 West 16th Avenue, Lakewood
Through April 11
Shows by Scottie Burgess and Vinni Alfonso opened last week at Pirate, and you can still drop in before they close up shop on April 11. Alfonso’s installation of assemblage, video and paintings of figures bubbling up into the universe comments on the human side of 2020 and how we are all emerging from a year of lockdown and sociopolitical unrest. Brand Power, the amazing exploding sculptural polystyrene centerpiece of Burgess’s show, bounces off similarly fulminating cut-up paintings on the wall and a neatly subdued trio of sculptures in the corner. It’s a must-see. Pirate is open on Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.

Belgin Yücelen Open Studio
House of Serein, 103 Canyon Boulevard, Boulder
Through April 4, by appointment (email: byucelen@gmail.com)
Boulder artist Belgin Yücelen and fellow studio-mates at the House of Serein are celebrating Boulder Arts Week by inviting folks to come inside and have a look. House of Serein artists Danielle Lanslots (danielle.lanslots@gmail.com), Carly Owens (carlyowensembroidery@gmail.com) and Cindi Yaklich (cindi@vivifineart.com) will also be accepting appointments during Boulder Arts Week. Yücelen’s studio alone yields a fascinating variety of sculptures, prints and drawings with an old-world feel.

Deborah Dancy, A Faint Light
Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street
Now open
Deborah Dancy’s solo at Robischon Gallery is divided in two: One side shows large-scale abstract paintings, while the other side juxtaposes works on paper with figurative porcelain sculpture.

Joshua Houska
Valkarie Gallery, 445 South Saulsbury Street, Lakewood
Through May 2
Opening Reception: Friday, April 2, 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Guest artist Josh Houska brings a mix of gentle watercolor portraits and spare fantasy dwellings to Valkarie Gallery, with a First Friday celebration that sees off photographer Dona Laurita’s sensitive exhibition Transitional Evidence, which closes April 4. There will be live music by accordion-and-violin duo Kal Cahoone and Elin Palmer during the evening.

Night Lights: clock-watching
D&F Clocktower, 1601 Arapahoe Street
Thursday, April 1, through Friday, April 30, 8:30 p.m. to midnight nightly
Nomadic art museum Black Cube remains true to its mission to free art from the confines of gallery walls with a month-long video projection collaboration with Night Lights Denver. Seven international artists were chosen to show animation work on the Arapahoe Street side of the Clocktower in a seven-day rotation, with a different artist showcased each night. Art-viewing has never been easier: Find a good spot and look up.

Zach Reini, Denver Pog Store
Understudy, 890 C 14th Street
Open Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., April 1 through May 1
Free, register in advance for timed-entry visitors’ slot
A couple of years ago, artist Zach Reini turned his fascination with cultural symbols onto the ’90s-era phenomenon of the collectible milk caps called pogs, resulting in his own series of enlarged pog paintings. Now Reini is liquidating at Understudy with a stash of dead-stock pogs and no doubt some of his own oversized renditions.

Janice McDonald, Moment/um
Susan Rubin, Living Color
Lydia Brokaw, Radically Rebuilt Reclaimed Recreated Ridiculous Rubbish, in the North Gallery
Spark Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Thursday, April 1, through April 25
Opening Open House: Saturday, April 3, 10 a.m. to 5 pm.
Put on your shades: Spark member shows by Janice McDonald and Susan Rubin are all about springy colors at a time when emerging from a long period of neutral-colored existence feels imminent, if not completely here. McDonald contributes light and colorful collage work, while Rubin (our Colorado Creatives cover girl this week) chips in with an entire spectrum of floral illustrations. In the North Gallery, Lydia Brokaw goes her own way with found-object sculptures.

Rough Gems: Object Empathy
Union Hall, 1750 Wewatta Street, Suite 144
Thursday, April 1, through April 24, Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m.
RSVP online in advance for timed-entry visitors’ slot
For Object Empathy, the last show in Union Hall’s Rough Gems series showcasing new curators, Kiah Butcher lined up interdisciplinary artist Alejandra Abad, photographer Marco Cousins and painter Daniel Granitto to illustrate the theme of how personal artifacts encapsulate our past.

Erica Green, The Weighting Room
Boulder Creative Collective Gallery, 2208 Pearl Street, Boulder
Thursday, April 1, through April 11
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 1, 4 to 9 p.m.
Sculptor/fiber artist Erica Green smashes a virtual bottle of champagne on the Boulder Creative Collective’s new Pearl Street location with another exhibition born during 2020’s forced isolation. Green presents two works of knotted yarn and felt strips fixed to the familiar – “California King” unfolds on top of a bed, and “Weighting” swings from a chandelier. Everyday sounds – chirping birds and a chair scraping the floor – accompany the still installation.

Alex Paozols, After the Tone
Alto Gallery, 4345 West 41st Avenue
Friday, April 2, through April 24
Opening Reception: Friday, April 2, 6 to 10 p.m.
Yes, COVID-19 lurks in this show, too, where Alex Paozols’s large oils depict images lifted from the movies of women using old-fashioned telephones to drive home the idea of a landline as the overarching metaphor.

Mark Friday: continued experiments with Structure and Space
Pat Lickly, Cultural Fusion
Niza Knoll Gallery, 915 Santa Fe Drive
Friday, April 2, through May 8
Art District Sundays on Santa Fe: Sunday, April 25, 1 to 3 p.m.
Mark Friday and Pat Lickly, both members of the MIX Co-op in the back rooms of Niza Knoll Gallery, come up front for a formal exhibition of Friday’s wonderful found-object assemblages and Lickly’s mixed-media wall pieces. Don’t let that keep you from the back of the shop, where you’ll find more art from both artists. Visit the gallery Fridays and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. and for Sundays on Santa Fe in April.

Joy Redstone, Sanctuary
Tadashi Hayakawa, Art for Everyone
Next Gallery, Art Hub, 6851 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
Friday, April 2, through April 18
Opening Reception: Friday, April 2, 6 to 10 p.m.
Next Gallery has a raft of art in April, beginning with member Joy Redstone’s Sanctuary, a paean of assemblages to the solace she found in an escape to the woods. Next, internationally known artist Tadashi Hayakawa guests with Art for Everyone, a small show away from the museums and collections that usually exhibit his works. The member show Message in a Bottle continues in the community gallery.

Christine Ann Nicols and Caitlin Zeller: Sincerely, Earth
Balefire Goods, 7513 Grandview Avenue, Arvada
Friday, April 2 through April 30
Art Show Launch: Friday, April 2, 2 to 9 p.m.
The ornamentations from jewelry-makers Christine Ann Nicols and Caitlin Zeller include pieces made from junk found tossed away in the woods and recycled materials, and is based on ecological themes (hence the show’s title). Ever thought you’d go out in public wearing jewelry made out of a rusty tin-can lid? There’s a first time for everything.

Mini Vacation Screen Print Exhibit
Ink Lounge outdoor gallery, in the alley behind 29 South Fox Street
Friday, April 2, 4:30 to 7 p.m.
When Ink Lounge screenprinter Stuart Alden headed to Europe, he quickly realized that there was nothing to photographed that hadn’t already been captured on film millions of times. Not to be thwarted, he began buying up miniatures of everything from the Eiffel Tower to a classic Vespa parked in Italy to photograph in tandem with the real thing. It turned out to be pretty cool; now you can see and buy the prints in person at Ink Lounge’s new COVID-safe outdoor gallery (Alden is donating 50 percent of every sale to Access Gallery). Or check out the online shop.

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