It must be hard to make credible political art, because, to be honest, most of it is pretty darned bad. The trouble is that the artist has to try to create a plausible work of art, as well as inform the viewer about a particular cause. And it doesn’t help…
For more than twenty years, Robischon Gallery (1740 Wazee Street, 303-298-7788) has set the exhibition standard in Denver’s contemporary-art world by presenting only high-quality shows. Judy Pfaff, on display now in the intimate Viewing Room in the gallery, is no exception. The show is made up of a small group…
In Spoon River Anthology, the unquiet dead of a fictional small town come back to speak. They are the characters imagined by Edgar Lee Masters in 1915; his free-verse anthology was later adapted for the stage by Charles Aidman and produced on Broadway in 1962. Today, Spoon River Anthology is…
The kettle had had the last of its solo performance. It persevered with undiminished ardour; but the Cricket took first fiddle and kept it. Good Heaven, how it chirped! Its shrill, sharp, piercing voice resounded through the house, and seemed to twinkle in the outer darkness like a star. There…
Over the last half-century, countless filmmakers great and obscure have stood in serious debt to The Bicycle Thief. But for my money, no one has borrowed so cleverly or shifted the weight of Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 masterpiece so gracefully as young Wang Xiaoshuai, whose Beijing Bicycle embodies the spirit…
To call a movie the most accessible film ever made by the Dogme 95 group is not merely damning with faint praise. It also threatens to alienate the two segments of the population who might consider going to see such a film in the first place: fans of the back-to-basics,…
It was hour fifty of the Warp, the infamous 72-hour marathon rave and underground-theater festival that takes place every November in a medieval dungeon near the Tower of London. Headlining performance artist Ian Winn was about to take the stage, when a lad who had pupils the size of saucers…
On Valentine’s Day, nothing says lovin’ like something from the oven — especially the oven at Allie’s Cabin. Nestled in an aspen grove halfway up the mountain at Beaver Creek, the ninety-seat restaurant is rife with romance — not just because of its lovely setting, but also because executive chef…
Maybe this won’t seem like such a big deal to you, since you don’t watch The Education of Max Bickford–which is on CBS Sunday nights. Or maybe you’re one of the 9 million who do, in which case, well, sorry about that. But stay tuned nonetheless, because this small tale…
Dale Chisman: Recent Paintings, now on display at Rule Gallery, is absolutely fabulous — which is not unexpected, considering Chisman’s reputation as a master in the field of abstraction and his status as one of the most important artists in Colorado’s history. As a consequence of Chisman’s accomplishments, his work…
February 14 is Valentine’s Day, and tonight, the Museum of Contemporary Art (1275 19th Street, 303-298-7554) holds its annual fundraiser and auction, Love4Sale, which includes donated paintings and sculptures. Organizers hope to raise a lot of money — no hollow wish considering the high quality of the donated pieces. But…
The Theatre Group’s version of Cabaret is heavily influenced by Sam Mendes, the celebrated English director who revived the musical in New York a few years ago to a chorus of critical praise. That run still continues. It places more emphasis on the seedy viciousness of the milieu than either…
Brother Mine is a well-intentioned play that explores serious topics. Malcolm, the protagonist, is a young black man who was given up for adoption by his jazz-musician father and raised by a loving white family. He struggles with issues of identity and community, while his much-loved older brother, Anthony, has…
After a long absence from American screens, British stage director Richard Eyre, best known for his agreeably nasty The Ploughman’s Lunch in 1982, makes his return with an alternately depressing and uplifting drama about Dame Iris Murdoch’s descent into Alzheimer’s disease and the heroic efforts of her husband, John Bayley,…
Hart’s War is little more than a movie about the movies, which is the case with most mediocre films. Set in a POW camp during the final months of World War II, it owes much of its existence to far superior films, mainly La Grande Illusion, Stalag 17 and The…
Saxophonist Fred Hess is one of Denver’s most accomplished jazz musicians. But he’s not interested in resting on his laurels — or resting at all, for that matter. “I don’t want to just keep doing what I’ve been doing,” Hess says. “It’s nice to feel like there’s more to do.”…
Nearly every American has an immigrant experience in his or her near or distant past. As such, we’re all bound up in a loose, new-world commonality: We all have roots in other places. How American culture ultimately grew out of myriad incoming traditions is a subject of never-ending conjecture. Mark…
In the anything-goes art world of the last couple of decades, contemporary art has fractured into innumerable stylistic tendencies. Contemporary artists are creating everything from conceptual installations, videos and performances to neo-traditional paintings and sculptures. Considering this stylistic anarchy, it’s interesting when a trend can be perceived. Apparently, one of…
Every year, the Colorado Photographic Arts Center (1513 Boulder Street, 303-455-8999) confers awards and presents an exhibit devoted to the winners. The latest version, 2001 Member Awards, is on view right now. The jury who chose the award recipients was made up of the City of Denver’s art administrator and…
The Denver Center Theatre Company’s production of Hamlet takes a while to jell — until after the intermission, in fact. There are good moments before that, but not enough of them; there are also moments bad enough to provoke giggles. Take the earliest scenes, in which the watchmen and Hamlet’s…
You have to like In Search of Eckstine: A Love Story: The cast is extraordinarily affable, personable and energetic, and the music is so seductive. That’s not to say, however, that this Shadow Theatre Company production is perfect. The script, by Jeffrey Nickelson and Hugo Jon Sayles, has its charm,…
When Joe Quesada, writer and illustrator of comic books, went to work as a freelance contractor for Marvel Comics three years ago, he found the so-called House of Ideas in ruin. The comic-book industry was, as Quesada recalls, “going down the toilet”: Every month, 10 to 15 percent of readers…
