Though abstraction has made a big comeback in the early part of the 21st century, representational imagery is still a persistent interest for painters and sculptures. To prove it, there are a number of shows on view right now that delve into the idea of depicting exterior reality through either…
John Denver was best known for his music, his lyrics and his activist worldview, but as a superstar of the 1970s, he was also famous for his sense of fashion — a mix of down-home Western, country chic and a bit of the psychedelic ’70s style that could probably be…
Sun’s out, guns out: Denver street art is on the grind. Last month we published a list of the ten best new street murals in the city — but more are popping up all the time. So keep reading for ten more of the best new murals in Denver. Axel…
Although he currently lives in New York, painter Paul Jacobsen is a Colorado native and still maintains a studio in Rico, near Telluride. The title of his solo, Outpost, on display at the David B. Smith Gallery, refers to frontiers – both the wilderness of the San Juan Mountains around…
I have a thing about waste. I don’t like it. As a result, it’s hard for me to throw things away. Frankly, I think it’s probably genetic. My mother doesn’t like waste either, raised by my Depression-era grandmother who was the queen enemy of waste. My mom only lasted 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. Longtime children’s illustrator Christian Musselman recently launched a fine arts career with…
Westword will publish its third annual comics issue on May 28, 2015 — and you can be a part of it. We’re accepting submissions from any Colorado artist who wants to create a cartoon about life in the Centennial State — whether it focuses on good beer, bad buildings or…
Denver artist Sabin Aell’s airy layered resin pieces look soft and cloud-like as they float across a wall so free and easy, but the process she uses to create them is anything but. In advance of Aell’s solo show The Buoyancy of Nothing, which opens this evening (May 8) at…
New and old horizons, great masters and comic book art all share the stage this week in Denver galleries. Here’s a sliver of what’s happening on the art scene over the weekend. Craig Robb: Oddities, obscura and other vague visual references Pirate: Contemporary Art May 8 through 24 Opening Reception:…
When Denver artist Judy Anderson teamed up with Mark Smith of East West Partners to found the PlatteForum artist-in-residence program in 2002, their goal was to provide participatory arts experiences to underserved youth. The concept — which was intended to foster an experiential, rather than strictly educational, platform through artist…
Dennis Pippen, co-president of Edge, makes his Denver gallery debut there with the solo Magically Delicious, in the venue’s recently spiffed up space. The title, which is taken from the Lucky Charms cereal slogan, aptly conveys the idea that Pippen is interested in engaging pop culture with works referring to…
Joan Miró is without a doubt one of the key figures in the development of abstraction in the twentieth century. In fact, aside from Picasso, he is the most important source in developing non-pictorial images. In the 1920s, Miró, a Spanish artist working in Paris, like Picasso, began to develop…
Nepal was recently devastated by the Gorkha earthquake, the largest natural disaster the country has seen in almost a century; it killed more than 7,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. If you’re one of the many Denverites who wants to help but doesn’t know where to begin, join local…
Tomorrow, May 6, would have been film auteur Orson Welles’s one hundredth birthday, and we can only imagine that the notoriously egotistical, but nonetheless genius, filmmaker probably wouldn’t have had many good things to say about the last thirty years of cinema that have rolled on without him. In honor…
When I walked into the Wagon Wheel Skate Center in Brighton last weekend for a music-video shoot, I expected to be hit with an intense wave of nostalgia. Growing up half-time in Brighton, I spent many a Friday night at the skating rink, eating microwaved pretzels and wishing I wasn’t…
I have to confess: I’ve not yet been on the roof of my own tiny house. It feels like a travesty. An even bigger confession: I’m a little terrified of heights. I’ve gotten over this fear to some degree over the years – anyone who hangs work in a gallery will…
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. Aside from an art class at Front Range Community College in 1998,…
Colorado owes a large part of it’s heritage in the arts, culture, and landscape of our city to Hispanic tradition. Influenced in what we eat, drink, and the paintings and artistic endeavors we celebrate, Cinco de Mayo is the epitome of all that we hold dear. Here are the 5…
Spring weather and fresh ideas mark First Friday explorations on May 1, with art opportunities both rare and thought-provoking. Here are a few lucky trails to follow as you meander through Denver’s art districts tonight. Bill Stockman: Someone Called Me By My Name Gildar Gallery, 82 South Broadway May 1…
Comic books are no longer guilty pleasures: This Saturday, May 2, marks the thirteenth annual Free Comic Book Day, an event now celebrated worldwide. The unofficial holiday is a great time to get acquainted with the region’s finest comic-book shops — and to pick up free reading material. Fifty-one different titles,…
With springtime comes the blooming of flowers and usually the blossoming of allergies. So what better way to stay out of nature’s way than by planning some indoor activities, relaxing in front of a big movie screen that’s showing the latest cinema curios and classic hits or, if your allergies…
The Clyfford Still Museum and Denver Art Museum just announced their collaborative effort to bring River of Fundament, a six-hour, rarely screened, star-studded spectacle by artist/filmmaker Matthew Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler to Denver this summer for the opening week of the 2015 Biennial of Americas. “We’re delighted to collaborate with…
