The Stay Gallery (3519 Brighton Boulevard, 303-408-3057), run by the husband-and-wife team of John and Amy Bodin, only recently opened; in fact, the current exhibition, UNDERGO, is only the third show to be presented there. UNDERGO is a solo featuring Justin Beard, one of Denver’s most interesting young artists, and…
In January 2007, Dianne Perry Vanderlip, the founding curator of the Modern and Contemporary Art department at the Denver Art Museum, will retire, giving up the job she’s held since 1978. Vanderlip has been the most important and influential person in the Denver art world — something that will not…
Michael Burnett’s Space Gallery (765 Santa Fe Drive, 720-904-1088) is one of the highlights of the Santa Fe Arts District. It’s especially nice that it’s right across the street from the area’s flagship, the Sandy Carson Gallery — though if you’re tempted to jaywalk to get from one to the…
I can’t imagine what world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind was thinking when he took on the job of brainstorming about the Civic Center right before his new Frederic C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum is set to open. After all, the Civic Center is beloved by many, and messing…
I’m a logico-deductive sort of person, I think A comes before B, and I firmly believe that 1 + 1 = 2. And I don’t need any insider information to figure out what’s going on in the public sector of Denver, because so much of it is, well, public. I’m…
For the third time in two years, there’s a major show addressing how traditional Chicano art has progressed into post-Chicano art. The latest is Chain Reaction: Chicano/a and Latino/a Art in Colorado, at the Vida Ellison Gallery on the seventh floor of the Denver Central Library. The dialogue began locally…
There are two interesting shows installed back-to-back at Pirate: a contemporary art oasis (3655 Navajo Street, 303-458-6058). In the handsome members’ space that underwent a thorough remodel last year is Jason Appleton; in the still-as-funky-as-ever associates’ space is Strange attachments. Appleton, a longtime member of the venerable co-op, has gotten…
I’ve recently wondered why everyone seems to be so retrospective right now, with so many of the latest exhibits highlighting the state’s glorious aesthetic past. In the last several weeks, I’ve promoted a group of these shows, including the groundbreaking Decades of Influence, Colorado 1985–Present, being jointly presented at the…
Tracy Felix’s Colorado Modernism: 1930-1970 (see review) at Foothills Art Center (809 15th Street, Golden, 303-279-3922) brings together the work of around three dozen painters; one sculptor, Robert Mangold; and a single photographer, James Milmoe. There are only three Mangolds, which is in line with the other artists in the…
During the last decade or so, there has been increased interest in exploring the rich art history of Colorado, and Hugh Grant, director of Denver’s Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, has been at the forefront of this movement, having acquired thousands of works by hundreds of artists who…
Something to Consider is a wonderful summer show filled with fresh-looking contemporary paintings and ceramic sculptures at Sandy Carson Gallery (760 Santa Fe Drive, 303-573-8585). I’m not sure the title means anything, but I am sure that the show is a knockout. Is it just me, or is Denver abstract…
Boulder came of age in the 1960s, right along with the first baby boomers. The beautiful little town became a national center for the counterculture and the New Left, creating social and political currents that flowed into the 1970s. The visual arts got caught up in the times, too, thanks…
Weilworks (3611 Chestnut Place, 303-308-9345) is an elegant little contemporary gallery in the River North area, not far from downtown. It’s in a smart-looking building that’s something like a post-modern farmhouse. For the current offerings, which opened late in June, owner Tracy Weil wanted to come up with something that…
Cydney Payton’s name has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue because of the roster of 72 artists that she included in Decades of Influence: Colorado 1985 — Present, the over-the-top spectacular currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art (“Home Run,” June 22), the Center for Visual Art…
It seems like everyone has their own list of who should be in Decades of Influence: Colorado 1985 — Present at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Center for Visual Art, the Gates Sculpture Triangle and the Carol Keller Project Space. I’ve even done my own roster, “Extra Innings,” on…
Cydney Payton, the director and curator of Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, has really outdone herself with Decades of Influence: Colorado 1985 – Present, her four-part paean to the art of our region. The first chapter in the blockbuster is on view at the MCA itself, where Payton has installed the…
Of the four aspects of Cydney Payton’s marvelous Decades of Influence: Colorado 1985 – Present, the part on view at the Carol Keller Project Space (1513 Boulder Street, 303-298-7554) is by far the edgiest. When I first heard that the Keller spot was part of the Decades extravaganza, I naturally…
For the first time in its history, the Museum of Contemporary Art/ Denver is hosting a set of exhibitions that collectively work like a blockbuster. Decades of Influence: Colorado 1985 – Present sets out to be a sociological analysis, if not a historical survey, of the art scene on the…
Cydney Payton, the director of Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art, must be a workaholic. Not only was the groundbreaking for the new David Adjaye-designed building just a month or so ago, but she is now undertaking the most ambitious show of her curatorial career, Decades of Influence: Colorado 1985 -…
Sitting on the lawn of the Colorado Convention Center adjacent to Speer Boulevard is “Indeterminate Line,” that enormous rusted-steel spiral doodle. The piece, created by Bernar Venet, is one of the most important works of art in the city. The French-born but New York-based artist has an international reputation, but…
Edge Gallery (3658 Navajo Street, 303-477-7173), one of the top alternative art spaces in town, is currently given over to a group of shows that highlight the use of photography in various ways. This kind of aesthetic unity at Edge is very rare considering that there are usually three completely…
You’d think that by now artists would have tired of recording the sights of the world in the tried-and-true mediums of painting and drawing. For heaven’s sake, representational art has been done for the past 15,000 years. Just thinking about it makes me drowsy. But, no. Despite the rise of…
