Art Attack: The Best New Gallery Shows in Denver This Weekend

After a big April First Friday, this week’s gallery openings are more low-key, with shows popping up in co-ops and garages and other art communities. But you’re in luck if you like the surreal and the psychedelic, in which case be sure to hit Ryan Joseph Gallery and Threyda on Saturday. And for challenging work by a hand-picked group of adventurous art experimenters, visit TAD Projects at the Terrorium Annex taxidermy shop Friday.

Art is always there for those looking in Denver.
Jean Smith and Lydia Riegle, Falling in Love, Again: New Modernism
Dave Kennedy and Susan Tousley, Nature by Design, East Gallery
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Thursday, April 13, through May 7
Opening Reception: Friday, April 14, 5 to 9 p.m.
Jean Smith’s ceramic wall installations and Lydia Riegle’s abstract prints both spring from a modernist aesthetic of shapes and forms in interacting compositions. Viewed together, their works seem to wrap individual styles around the walls in a cohesive arrangement, with matching shapes and colors that would’ve been perfectly at home together in the mid-mod era of the last century.

The Art of Beer Here!
Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder
Thursday, April 13, through September 3
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 13, 4 to 6 p.m.
Beer Here!, a comprehensive exhibit on the growth of the brewing industry in Colorado, is already open, but now the Museum of Boulder is adding a visual companion: The Art of Beer Here!, which challenged artists to submit beer- and brewing-themed artworks for the side show.

TAD Projects: TAD @ T-Shop #1
Terrorium Annex, 3611 West 49th Avenue
Friday, April 14, 7 to 9 p.m.
As curators, artists Tobias Fike and Donald Fodness continually find new ways to set artists free to experiment and explore new avenues in their practices. For what they’ve named TAD Projects (aka “Toby and Don” or “Temporary Alternative Duty”), the duo invited a handful of artists from Denver and beyond to contribute to a pop-up exhibition in a taxidermy shop, better known as the Terrorium Annex. The show’s parameters challenge the six artists to explore ancient or classical archetypal motifs using color, abstraction and personal meaning to unveil a more modern aesthetic. The TAD show is a one-night affair, with Alan Aguilera, Vinni Alfonso, Ben McQuillan, Daphne Sweet, Lucas Thomas and Peter Yumi answering the call. If you like what you see, Fike and Fodness say there will be more to come in this vein.
Douglas Degges, here and there and polka dots
Galapago Space, 923 Galapago Street (enter through alley)
Friday, April 14, through May 7
Opening Reception: Friday, April 14, 6 to 9 p.m.
The alleys of La Alma/Lincoln Park seem to have spontaneously become Denver’s garage-gallery row. Galapago Space is the newest there, continuing its run of shows this year with here and there and polka dots, a display of works by Douglas Degges. The collection of tiny sculptures and abstract paintings depict ordinary objects, textures and memories often mined from phone images sent by Degges's family members and reinterpreted through the personal.
CHAC: Amor Es Amor
Northglenn Arts, 1 East Memorial Parkway, Northglenn
Friday, April 14, through June 9
Opening Reception: Friday, April 14, 6 to 9 p.m.
CHAC shares Amor Es Amor, a group exhibition at Northglenn Arts in support of the Chicano/Latino LGBTQIA+ community. Love is love no matter who you are.
Kristina Davies, Jazz Holmes and Jen Starling, Ternary
Elizabeth Suriani, Chromophobia
ArtWorks Center for Contemporary Art, 310 North Railroad Avenue, Loveland
Friday, April 14, through July 1
Opening Reception: Friday, April 14, 6 to 9 p.m.
Two worthy exhibitions open up in Loveland at the Artworks Center: Ternary, with Denver figurative artists Kristina Davies, Jazz Holmes and Jen Starling, who touch on themes of transformation, self-expression, ancestral ties and cultural relationships, each in her own style; and Chromophobia, by Artworks studio artist Elizabeth Suriani, whose works for the show reference iconic Renaissance and Baroque sculptures and paintings by rearranging the imagery and color palettes in modern compositions.

Flower as Taboo
House of Serein, 103 Canyon Boulevard, Boulder
Saturday, April 15, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
In conjunction with Boulder Arts Week, Belgin Yucelen and other Boulder artists address the sensual side of flowers in floral paintings at the House of Serein. Jen Stewart will chime in with a poetry reading echoing the exhibition theme.
Phobic Shadows and Moonlit Meadows
Ryan Joseph Gallery, 2647 West 38th Avenue
Saturday, April 15, through May 10
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 15, 5 to 11p.m.
Ryan Joseph Gallery dips its toes into the many worlds of surrealism and fantasy with a group exhibition that strides right over to the dark side of both. It’s a step away from tradition at the space, which usually shies away from themed group shows, but this one might be a harbinger of things to come. It promises to deliver an excellent spread of fantasy styles from a talented, name-droppable crew of artists working in the niche.
Psychedelic Abstractions: New Art by Fabian Jimenez
Threyda, 878 Santa Fe Drive, #2
Saturday, April 15, 6 to 11 p.m.
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Let Threyda psychedelicize your weekend with a new exhibition by Mexican artist Fabian Jimenez, a regular at the gallery for more than a decade who excels at painting swirling Day-Glo compositions. Along with the fresh, original work by Jimenez, enjoy complimentary drinks, new print releases and new apparel.

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