Ann Hamilton and Jae Ko et al. For Ann Hamilton: Selected Works, the initial enfilade of spaces at Robischon Gallery is taken over by works on paper by this noted conceptualist. The first group is from her "visite" series, the name of which is taken from the term "carte de visite," a nineteenth-century calling card featuring albumen-print portraits. Hamilton has appropriated these, joining them to prints that also have pieces of cloth adhered using the chine-collé technique. There's a calligraphic character to the circles at the top center of each. Circles are even more important to Hamilton's "ciliary" works, which have a circular shape and also involve the joining of cloth to paper. In the next set of spaces is Jae Ko: Force of Nature, a showcase of works by this well-known Korean-American artist, who uses rolls of paper, inks and glues as her materials. The show includes three phases of the artist's work, with the title piece being the showstopper. In the back space is a group show that includes the work of Linda Fleming, Derrick Velasquez, Ted Larsen and Judy Pfaff, an early mentor of Hamilton's. Through January 3 at Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street, 303-298-7788, robischongallery.com. Reviewed December 4.
Don Quade & Brandon Reese. The current duet at Walker Fine Art is Don Quade & Brandon Reese: Unchartered. Quade has been creating abstract paintings for two decades but has developed a recent interest in prints; both types of work are included in this show. His signature is to lay down a color field as a background, then accent it with small pictorial elements, some representational and others abstract. Quade arranges the small elements — both representational and abstract — on the field in what would seem to be a random way, so that they cover the picture plane in an all-over arrangement. Reese, who trained with some of the most important ceramic artists of the last century — most notably Peter Voulkos — lives in Oklahoma, where he teaches ceramics at Oklahoma State University. The ceramic components he makes are technically remarkable, both for their size and their airiness (and therefore precariousness), being made of skeletal and linear elements that are stacked one on top of another like building blocks. Through January 10 at Walker Fine Art, 300 West 11th Ave #A, 303-355-8955, walkerfineart.com. Reviewed November 20.
Unbound: Sculpture in the Field. Since the Arvada Center sits on a very large site, exhibitions manager Collin Parson and assistant curator Kristin Bueb decided recently to use a small part of it – a seventeen-acre field just to the south of the complex – as a xeric sculpture garden. Parson and Bueb invited Cynthia Madden Leitner, of the Museum of Outdoor Arts in Englewood, to partner with the Venter in the effort. The MOA has made a specialty of placing large pieces of sculpture in various spots around metro Denver, and that technical expertise was very desirable. The group put together a list of sculptors they wanted to include, and the final roster of fifteen artists was established, with most being represented by two pieces. The participating artists, all of whom live in Colorado and work in abstraction or conceptual abstraction, are Vanessa Clarke, Emmett Culligan, John Ferguson, Erick Johnson, Andy Libertone, Nancy Lovendahl, Robert Mangold, Patrick Marold, David Mazza, Andy Miller, Charles Parson, Carl Reed, Joe Riché, Kevin Robb and Bill Vielehr. Through September 30, 2015, at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, 720-898-7200, arvadacenter.org. Reviewed July 10. – Michael Paglia
