Ania Gola-Kumor. One of Colorado's greatest abstract painters is the star of Ania Gola-Kumor: Moving Paint, at Sandra Phillips Gallery. These large oil paintings, along with small works on paper that were done in oil stick and oil bar, represent both a continuation of Gola-Kumor's longstanding interests and a new development in terms of the increased density of line she employs. For many years, one of Gola-Kumor's signatures has been her layering of overlapping forms, which creates a pure abstraction. Although the compositions are clearly non-objective, there's the suggestion that there may be recognizable imagery underneath — but Gola-Kumor has so heavily worked over the surfaces with luscious and voluptuous strokes of toned-up paint, it's truly impossible to make out the details, if there are any. Also traditional is Gola-Kumor's skill as a colorist, and whether she's using dark, rich tones, or light, airy ones, she expertly orchestrates them, coming up with distinctive palettes for each of her works. The standouts are two monumental horizontal pieces, "#11" and "#22," both of which are breathtaking. Through June 1 at Sandra Phillips Gallery, 420 West 12th Avenue, 303-573-5969, thesandraphillipsgallery.com.
Charles Partridge Adams. Rocky Mountain Majesty: The Paintings of Charles Partridge Adams highlights the career of a prominent turn-of-the-nineteenth-century impressionist who lived and worked in Colorado for decades. Adams first came to Colorado in 1876, when he was only eighteen years old. He was self-taught, but worked informally in Denver with Helen Henderson Chain, who in turn had studied with George Inness. By the 1890s, like many other landscape painters of the time, Adams embraced impressionism, with his signature style becoming increasingly more expressive into the 1910s. Adams was part of a generation of landscape painters who were grounded in Hudson River School aesthetics. But like other American impressionists, he blended this classic sensibility with the painterly devices being revealed at the time in France. In 1917, Partridge retired to California. Thomas Smith, the DAM's Curator of Western American Art, has chosen three dozen examples of the artist's best work. Through September 8 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000, www.denverartmuseum.org.
Colin Livingston. In Colin Livingston: The Art Bucket, a marvelous solo at Plus Gallery, the artist has combined paintings and sculptures to create individual installations. One of Colorado's most interesting conceptual artists, Livingston has been creating work that deconstructs society's relationship to marketing for the better part of the last decade. He does this by employing precisely the same methods and materials as those used in advertising and promotion, including graphic design, typography and display. In The Art Bucket, there are six separate yet closely related installations, each comprising two of the buckets; one bucket is stacked on top of the other, and both have been placed on a cardboard box. On the wall behind each box-bucket pairing are two paintings, one hung above the other. The idea is that each of the buckets would have the materials necessary to make each of the paintings — which is in the realm of the imagination, as the buckets are empty. The six installations are unified into a singular coherent piece by dozens of little inflatable balls that surround them. Through May 25 at Plus Gallery, 2501 Larimer Street, 303-296-0927, plusgallery.com.
Roland Bernier, Sue Simon, Madeleine Dodge. The small exhibit Roland Bernier: Still Life of Words, in the north gallery at Spark, is made up of pieces from the "Four Letter Word" series, in which Bernier expresses words in a collaged grid of two letters above the other two. Opposite the grid are recent photos of stacks of letters. Bernier is one of Colorado's earliest conceptual artists, having done work that incorporates words, letters or symbols, for the past sixty years. In Spark's west gallery is Sue Simon: Dimensions, made up of the artist's abstracts about scientific concepts. Simon points out that art and science each attempt to explain reality, but they are often seen as antithetical, and she wants to resolve those opposites. She does so by integrating expressionist spatters and hard-edged volumes, as well as the formulas representing the ideas behind each painting. In the east gallery is Madeleine Dodge: Broken Geometry, which comprises painted metal wall-relief panels that are meant to refer to quilts and other things made of simple repeated patterns. For Dodge, these patterns are codified visual languages signifying culture. Through May 19 at Spark Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive, 720-889-2200, sparkgallery.com.
