Spark & Ruin Lights a Flame at RiNo's Helikon Gallery

Michael Paglia February 19, 2015 6:00AM

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RiNo’s Helikon Gallery and Studios is currently hosting Spark & Ruin: Anatomy of a Flame, a handsome group exhibit that examines fire, which is a pretty relevant local topic.

Though gallery director Cayce Goldberg’s family has owned this particular rail-side property for decades, Spark & Ruin was guest-curated by Raymundo Muñoz and Jarred De Palo, the guys behind the nascent art magazine 1of1.

Muñoz and De Palo cast a wide net, and there’s an impressive array of mediums represented. Some of the works literally refer to fires. There’s Andrew Novick’s “Flaming Deer,” a photo on canvas of a wedge of flames on a dark ground. Regina Benson has created work about fire in dyed fabrics, such as “Burning Monoliths,” an installation dramatically perched on a second-story overlook. “Wildfire,” by Nathan Abels, an acrylic on panel, is at once a traditional and contemporary view of a hill on fire.

Other works more broadly relate to the topic, such as the abstract sculptures by Ed Johnson and the magic-surrealist paintings by C.T. Nelson.

Through February 24 at Helikon Gallery and Studios, 3675 Wynkoop Street, 720-502-5635, helikongallery.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

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