Smear Factor

Simon Zalkind, curator at the Singer Gallery in the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, is one of many local exhibition organizers who are saluting Clyfford Still this season in conjunction with the opening of the new Denver museum dedicated to the legendary abstract expressionist. Zalkind's participation in Still-mania is Mene...

By Michael Paglia

April 19, 2012

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Simon Zalkind, curator at the Singer Gallery in the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, is one of many local exhibition organizers who are saluting Clyfford Still this season in conjunction with the opening of the new Denver museum dedicated to the legendary abstract expressionist. Zalkind's participation in Still-mania is Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin, which features the work of Andy Berg, an abstract painter who lives in Golden.

"Michele Mosko suggested that I look at his work, so I called him up and arranged for a trip to Ironton," Zalkind explained. "When I saw the paintings, I had the feeling that they took on heroic themes that most artists his age would shirk from -- cosmic or psycho-spiritual themes. When you see them, you really know that they have a reason to exist." The weird show title -- which Berg took from the Bible and refers to the story of the handwriting on the wall -- makes Zalkind's point.

Berg's handsome neo-abstract-expressionist paintings make a fitting tribute to Still, as Zalkind intended. The show is being unveiled this afternoon at a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Singer Gallery, 350 South Dahlia Street, and will run through April 15. Go to www.maccjcc.org or call 303-316-6360 for more information.
Feb. 19-April 29, 2012

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.

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