Visual Arts

Artist House Tour Series featuring Mark and Kristen Sink

Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a bi-weekly feature celebrating the books that inspire Denver artists.

The Stanley Film Festival just announced its opening-night film and other special, scarey events for the four-day fest, which kicks off April 24 at the historic Stanley Hotel. “The Stanley Hotel is consistently voted one of the most haunted hotels in the world, and they give over 75,000 ghost tours…

One month into its three-month stay in Denver, Monkey Town 4 — the fine-dining experience in a video cube brought here by returning hometown kid Montgomery Knott, who fine-tuned the concept for several years in Brooklyn — is generating a buzz as more and more people suspend reality for two…

You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. “The gallery business can be extremely difficult,” says Eric Matelski, a Denver-based…

When she was in high school, Favianna Rodriguez’s parents wanted her to study to become a doctor. They supported her creativity, but subjected her to a string of math and science camps that monopolized her time. As an A+, super-star student, she went to college, found herself pregnant, had an…

The Month of Printmaking, aka Mo’Print 2014, continues this weekend with a variety of events, including tonight’s opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at Niza Knoll Gallery for Printmakers 4. The exhibit features works representing the diversity of printmaking techniques — from woodcut and monoprint to intaglio and even…

Tattoos have become a popular modern art form, but Juli Morsella is exploring tattooing’s ancient, sacred roots and has put together an exhibition with works by artists from all over Europe and the U.S., examining tattoos from around the world. The show, Tattoo in Contemporary Art, opens Friday, March 21,…

For the past several years, a pair of alternating biennials have been presented in the month of March (though the shows and events associated with them often start in February and end in April). In odd-numbered years, there’s the well-established Month of Photography, and in even-numbered years, like 2014, there’s…

Michael Paglia visits Open Press in this week’s review, taking in an exhibit made up of 125 pieces by 50 different artists. Much of the focus is on Mark Lunning, printmaster and owner of Open Press, celebrating his work from the last 25 years. Continue reading for photos from the…

It’s not far off the mark to call artist Lauri Lynnxe Murphy a force of nature, as many of her recent works grow out of a symbiosis with the natural world. And that’s what her new show, Nest/Shed, opening Friday at Mai Wyn Fine Art, is all about. Here’s a…

You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. Last year, when Emily Przekwas’s grandfather bought her “a really nice camera”…

Artists often choose to take big risks: In 1971, Chris Burden made art history when he had his assistant shoot him in the arm; just last November, Petr Pavlensky nailed his scrotum to Moscow’s Red Square cobblestones. These artists’ transgressions were aesthetic choices; when Julio Salgado, who migrated to the…

Work by Max Kauffman, a former Denver resident, will be featured in a new show opening Saturday, March 15, at Black Book Gallery in the Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe. Aether Ceremony “is a look at the interconnectedness of all things, the magic of every day and the sanctuaries…

Denver International Airport seems to have a thing for demons and devils. First “Mustang” earned the nickname “Blucifer” after it killed its creator, Luis Jimenez, and now a canine god has shown up in the middle of the Jeppeson Terminal. See also: DIA flying high as Best U.S. Airport for…

Michael Paglia visits William Havu Gallery in this week’s review, taking in two different exhibits. The main show, Emilio Lobato: The Measure of a Man, includes more than sixty works, most of them new,. The smaller show features new work from Emmett Culligan. Continue reading for photos from both exhibits…

Colorado may be a square state — in shape, if not in spirit — but History Colorado promises to break “out of the box” at its new monthly program, COmingle, which kicks off from 6 to 9 p.m. today, March 13, at the History Colorado Center. The theme of the…

Anyone visiting the William Havu Gallery right now will be thinking about constructivism — or at least the idea of making things through the assembly of rectilinear shapes — even before they get to the building and the exhibit inside. That’s because of the construction site right across the street…

New menswear is coming to town: Daniel Armitage and Darin Combs are opening Armitage & McMillan on Saturday at 1550 Platte Street, Suite D. Keep reading to find out what menswear brands they will be carrying, what inspired them to open the store, and what they will contribute to the…

W. Kamau Bell is a comedian and sociopolitical commentator who came up in the San Francisco comedy scene. Until recently, Bell served as the host and creator of Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell a political satire featuring revealing interviews and sharp political commentary steeped in the catharsis of laughter. In the wake of FXX’s cancellation of his show, Bell has mounted Oh, Everything tour, which lands in Denver at 8:00pm on Sunday, March 16th at the Soiled Dove Underground. Westword called Bell to talk about his visit to Denver, how his standup act grew more politically engaged, the debate about rape jokes he hosted on his show, and why he thinks he should a Cabinet Position in the Obama administration.

Collin Parson’s Reflections explores light in a completely new way for him: by removing it. The artist’s past work has used everything from LEDs to phosphorescent paint to explore the power of the glow, but Parson is relying solely on external lighting and mirrored acrylic in his new series. Reflections…

You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. McMean Elementary School art teacher Melinda Laz is breaking back into the…