The current solo in the main space of Rule Gallery (111 Broadway, 303-777-9473), James Westwater: 10 Years, Geometric Narcissism, 1995-2005, basically surveys the work Westwater has done since he settled in Santa Fe. This crowded show does not mark Westwater’s Denver debut, but it is his first major presentation here…
Many art forms, such as literature and drama, have long used narrative to convey their stories, but the visual arts, for the most part, don’t have to: Paintings and sculptures only need to look good — or at least be interesting. It’s easy to understand the appeal of the purely…
A lot of hype has been thrown around about the creation of an arts district in old downtown Aurora, an area that’s been seriously declining for the past couple of decades. So far, though, all the talk has been little more than a lot of hot air. True, quite a…
Vicki and Kent Logan are high-profile art collectors and generous donors. Former residents of the Bay Area, they first made a name for themselves in the art world when they gave a substantial gift of contemporary works to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This happened at roughly the…
I ran into John Grant from the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs last month, and he told me he was going to prove me wrong about the Performing Arts Sculpture Park on Speer Boulevard next to the Colorado Convention Center. He was referring to what I had written when Jonathan…
One of this season’s most important shows — at least to those of us with an interest in the history of contemporary art in our region — is Opened Windows, a retrospective devoted to the work of Boulder painter Virginia Maitland that is nearly through its too-short five-week run at…
It’s hard to believe that Pirate: a contemporary art oasis (3659 Navajo Street, 303-456-6058) is a quarter of a century old, but since exhibition titles don’t lie — and the current one is 25 Years of Pirate: Past and Present — it must be true. The venerable artists’ cooperative debuted…
The dead of winter is either the best or the worst time to see art shows filled with heavy psychological content. The best because it’s the time of year to go inside and to turn inward; the worst because being inside and turning inward might make you depressed — and…
Back in November, Kate Thompson, director of William Havu Gallery, got an unusual phone call from Darren Howelton, a producer for ABC’s hit reality show Extreme Makeover — Home Edition. The L.A.-based executive was doing advance work for an episode of the program that would soon be taping in Arvada…
We’ve all heard the old saw about a picture being worth a thousand words, but what about pictures of words? Are they worth a thousand words — and then some? Or are they worth less than a depiction of something else? I’m not sure what the answer is, but I…
A really smart-looking show now on view at Pirate (3659 Navajo Street, 303-458-6058) has a very matter-of-fact title: New Work by Jimmy Sellars. Sellars is an associate member of the co-op, so his work would normally be found in the back of the gallery space, under the loft. But because…
Denver artist Jeff Starr became famous locally in the ’80s, but in the late ’90s, he took a powder and disappeared. Last year he made a big comeback when his work was selected for the 2003 biennial at Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Artists step in and out of the…
Earlier this fall, the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver (1275 19th Street, 303-298-7554) launched a program called “NEW PIC” that highlights the work of worthwhile emerging artists in the area. Selected artists, who must live in Colorado and be under the age of thirty, are given a six-month residency at the…
Over the past few decades, the contemporary-art world has gotten so vast that no single approach can characterize our era in the way that abstract expressionism represents the ’50s or pop art evokes the ’60s. Now, just about anything goes, as long as it isn’t of the Bob Ross/ Thomas…
Though Spark Gallery (900 Santa Fe Drive, 720-889-2200) has been in its new digs since this past summer, the members have yet to figure out what to do with the new spot. I have an idea: Wheel some of those temporary walls into the generously sized storage area. Better yet,…
Daniel Libeskind must be happy with Denver since, unlike in New York, the Polish-born American architect has been allowed to follow his vision to its logical conclusion. In New York, Libeskind’s Freedom Tower, which will be erected on the site where the World Trade Center once stood, was neutered and…
Well-established Denver artist Michael Brohman takes an idiosyncratic route to contemporary sculpture in his solo, ME AND MY SHADOW, now at Pirate (3659 Navajo Street, 303-458-6058). Brohman has a preference for working in old-fashioned ways, using metal casting as his method and the nude human figure as his subject. However,…
One of the Denver Art Museum’s greatest strengths is its New World department, which houses two distinct collections: Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial. For more than two decades, the department’s founder, visionary curator Robert Stroessner, enthusiastically collected relevant material way ahead of supporting scholarship. He was buying things before anyone –…
Brandon Borchert’s Random Art Two, currently at Capsule @ Pod (554 Santa Fe Drive, 303-623-3460), is one of this season’s hottest prospects. Though Borchert has shown around for the past several years, he was little known until earlier this season. His big breakthrough came with an appearance in this summer’s…
The definitive art history of Colorado has yet to be written, but even without a scholarly guide, it’s not hard to list the great ones. In terms of mid-century-modernist abstraction, for instance, it is widely known that Herbert Bayer, who lived in Aspen, and Denver’s own Vance Kirkland towered over…
There’s an interesting if uneven exhibit of abstract paintings and sculptures at the enormous Studio Aiello (3563 Walnut Street, 303-297-8166). Called Quartet, it includes the work of four artists: Andrew Speer, Chad Colby, Michael Burnett and Jonathan Hils. Speer, who is well known to many because he’s taught in the…
Cydney Payton plays many roles at Denver’s smallish, newish Museum of Contemporary Art, including that of director and chief curator. She doesn’t put together every show at MCA, but she does organize the vast majority of them. In fact, it was her reputation as a first-rate curator that got her…
