It all began with a photograph, taken more than thirty years ago on an auspicious occasion. It pictures a smiling who’s who of a generation of Chicano artists working in Denver in the late 1970s, and at their center, seated on a couch, the great Mexican artist Francisco Zuñiga. He’d…
The University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus has a futuristic quality, what with its gigantic neo-modernist buildings, all of them dedicated to medical science. But at the north end of the campus, finishing off one side of the Boettcher Commons, there’s a scrupulously detailed little jewel of a building dedicated…
After staring at the Judgmental Denver map for a good twenty minutes late last Thursday night, I decided to write some thoughts on the neighborhood(s) I call home, and salute the map’s then-unknown creator — who then contacted me. And a few days ago, I called Trent Gillaspie, a technology…
As Tod Davies describes it, she’s “been a kazillion things” over the years. From work as a film producer (of Revengers Tragedy and Three Businessmen) to a screenwriter (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) to her current role as publisher of the independent press Exterminating Angel, Davies has been involved…
Westword photographer Christopher Morgan stopped by the second First Friday art walk of 2013 and brought back these scenes of the art, the food, the music and the people. Continue reading for a few highlights, and visit our full slide show for more. See also: – Slide show: First Friday…
My disdain for American football knows no bounds, and I don’t believe in wasting my Sundays watching testosterone-addled meatheads run up and down a field with the hopes of placing a ball. In honor of yesterday’s Super Bowl game — as well as all the attendant hoopla — I created…
Ben Kronberg could be the most successful comic to come out of the Denver comedy scene recently. Crafting Mitch Hedberg- style micro-jokes, delivered with a creepy dead-pan stare, Kronberg has developed a style all his own that’s gaining some national recognition. After showcasing on Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham series,…
Crowdfunding is no longer an interesting anomaly: It’s become a part of life in the new economy, and often a reliable way for artists and creatives of all kinds raise money to fund special projects. The latest artist in town to kick off such an effort is Lauri Lynnxe Murphy,…
Finally, something floating around the cesspool of Facebook that we can care about enough to actually unify over. The “Judgmental Denver map” appeared in my newsfeed yesterday and has since been reposted at least forty times by people I know — people who either think it’s funny or are pissed…
It’s on your mind. You can’t stop thinking about it. Your blood starts to pump. Your mouth begins to water. And while the buildup lasts for days, the actual live action (from start to finish) only lasts about ten minutes. No, I’m not talking about sex; I’m talking about the…
As we head into the Super Bowl, most Broncos fans are still smarting from our defeat by the Ravens, who are playing in our place. And we’re asking ourselves, “What do we need to get over the hump next year?” Another running back? Sure, that’d be good. Maybe some help…
February is the month of the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day, but there’s really only one holiday that counts: Groundhog Day. Not because we take that shadow stuff seriously, but because Groundhog Day is silly, and silly things — especially those having to do with Groundhog Day –…
It’s more than a little eponymous when three Westword MasterMinds decide to share a studio, but that’s just what’s happened: Fine artists Lauri Lynnxe Murphy and Jimmy Sellars and fashion designer Mona Lucero, all in a state of career flux, have thrown their fortunes together at Powerhaüs Studios, where they’ll…
Baby-faced Rory Scovel has been lighting up the comedy world with his classic observational humor, mixed with context-free voices that he applies randomly to no particular jokes or bits (he’s been known to drift into a German accent at random points in the show, and may or may not continue…
I’ve been a longtime admirer of Dave Yust’s work, so I knew I had to take the time to drive north to see Dave Yust: 40+ Years of Printmaking: A Retrospective, now in its final weeks at the Loveland Museum/Gallery. Given the topic of this large show — there are…
When “Mustang” was erected on a patch of dirt outside Denver International Airport in February 2008, you could almost hear the residents of Colorado exclaiming in unison, “What is that thing?” Just what was this massive, bright-blue, anatomically in-your-face horse sculpture with demon red eyes doing in sunny, charming Denver?…
On “Bad Friend,” the episode of the zeitgeist-courting HBO comedy Girls that aired Sunday, the characters decide to buy some coke and indulge in cocaine-related hijinks. At one point, Lena Dunham’s character, Hannah, and Andrew Rannell’s Elijah are seen chopping out lines on a toilet seat and the camera lingers…
For this week’s review, Westword art critic Michael Paglia visited Loveland Museum/Gallery, where he took in a retrospective show dedicated to local artist Dave Yust. Yust has been a large part of the Colorado art scene for years, and while he’s known mainly for his paintings, the exhibit spotlighted his…
Love it? Loathe it? Chances are good that you’ve got an opinion about the giant blue “Mustang” statue at the Denver International Airport. (Only slightly slimmer are the chances that you have a conspiracy theory about it.) This week’s cover story, “Yay or Neigh,” tackles the issue of whether it’s…
Talk about art on the cutting-edge! On Friday, February 1, the show Estee Fox: fox tales ft. 7 and marbles — an eclectic mix of videos, paintings and live music — will open at Edge Gallery, complete with a screening and discussion of Fox’s performance piece “How to: A Pretty…
The first time John Oliver agreed to do an interview with Westword, Michael Roberts noted the utter futility of pointing out when either party — but mostly the “humble scribe” — laughed due to the ubiquitous chortles throughout. Five years later, Humble Scribe No. 2 (aka, yours truly), could have…
This June, Nick Cave — not the Bad Seeds Nick Cave, but the Chicago-based artist Nick Cave — will transform the Denver Art Museum into a living garden of the fantabulous moving costumes he creates with Nick Cave: Sojourn, an exhibit of forty works, including twenty Soundsuits. And what are…
