Kristen Hatgi Sink Offers Luscious Color Photos of Nudes, Fruit, Flowers

A Tented Sky: New Works by Kristen Hatgi Sink, at Gildar Gallery, is one of several choice solos associated with Denver’s Month of Photography, which straddles March and April. The design of the show is spare and elegant, providing the ideal setting for Sink’s visually rich, oversized digital pigment prints...

By Michael Paglia

March 19, 2015

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A Tented Sky: New Works by Kristen Hatgi Sink, at Gildar Gallery, is one of several choice solos associated with Denver’s Month of Photography, which straddles March and April.

The design of the show is spare and elegant, providing the ideal setting for Sink’s visually rich, oversized digital pigment prints depicting nude women. The women are seen interacting with natural materials, but in a controlled indoor setting rather than in nature.

Sink has posed most of her subjects on top of a table, and in almost every shot, the table has been covered by an old white-linen tablecloth. The women have then been covered in honey and adorned with cut flowers (Sink was a florist for a time), sliced fruit, preserved butterflies and even seafood, including an octopus. Some, like “Milk and Honey” — the one with the octopus — were the product of many hours of work, which gave Sink the chance to meet her own high standards and produce just the right image.

Also noteworthy is the extremely high quality of the prints, which were done by Ron Landucci. The show includes a related installation and a video.

Through March 27 at Gildar Gallery, 82 South Broadway, 303-993-4474, gildargallery.com.

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Michael Paglia is an art historian and writer whose columns have appeared in Westword since 1995; his essays on the visual arts have also been published in national periodicals including Art News, Architecture, Art Ltd., Modernism, Art & Auction and Sculpture Magazine. He taught art history at the University of Colorado Denver.

Contact: Michael Paglia