Visual Arts

Last night, during the grand opening of Colorado’s first Alamo Drafthouse movie theater, Pam Grier got personal with an audience of cinephile strangers. Grier, a Denver native, is a funny and engaging public speaker who spoke freely on a wide array of topics, ranging from moving accounts of her personal struggles and tragic early victimhood as well as lighter subjects like shooting women-in-prison exploitation films in the Philippines and famous exes such as Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Richard Pryor. Host Devin Faraci of Badass Digest guided the evening, screening clips and trailers from highlights in Grier’s filmography.

Space might be the place, but earth is home, sweet, home. And for that reason, tonight’s installment of Deer Pile’s monthly space-nerd evening, Space in Your Face, will turn its telescope on the place where we live, approaching the planet from a dizzying variety of angles, both scientific and out-of-this-world…

Late last week, the Denver Art Museum let the crazy dancers out of the bag: The DAM announced that fifteen out of 120 hopefuls who auditioned for artist Nick Cave last month will perform in Cave’s fantastical Soundsuits in June, alongside dancers from local professional troupes. See also: – Dancin’…

Demetri Martin’s polished micro-jokes, nervous stare and intense appreciation of aesthetics have made him a welcome antidote to the wave of loud and sloppy comedians who have dominated the scene over the last decade. In advance of Martin’s visit to Comedy Works South this Sunday for two shows (one is…

Month of Photography 2013 is far from over. A reception from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight at the McNichols Building in Civic Center, will celebrate an unusual city-curated exhibit, In Camera Abstractions, which explores images manipulated within the camera, without digital effects. See also: – Traveling Route 40: Celebrating the…

Stephen Colbert, as a real human being, is useless to us. Yes, that’s a very selfish thing to say, but we all know it’s true. When he’s stepped out of character in the past for interviews on Fresh Air or Meet the Press, it’s mildly interesting, but it’s interesting in…

Since 2005, the CU Denver Iron Pour has been an “annual rite of spring,” with professional and student artists crafting tile sculptures carved with molten iron. Not only does the Iron Pour result in pieces that viewers can take home with the, but it also gives them an amazing look…

If it weren’t for his recent, surprisingly tender performance in the Oscarific Silver Linings Playbook, Chris Tucker would be in danger of only being known for his massive IRS debt. But now he’s back, not only in his first film in years but on the road performing standup, which was…

Month of Photography, a citywide series of events going on right now, has really left its mark on Denver over the past few years — a goal that hasn’t been easy for some other recent multi-venue offerings. Remember Dialogue Denver, which coincided with the 2008 Democratic National Convention? No? Neither…

For this week’s art review, Michael Paglia visited RedLine to take in a group show celebrating the city-wide Month of Photography. The show, titled The Reality of Fiction, tackles the notion that photos can fool the eye, making them both true depictions of reality and false ones. With only a…

Comedian Mara Wiles hasn’t had it easy the last few years. After establishing herself as an intelligently goofy performer on the local comedy scene, she was diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening kidney disorder that, to say the least, interrupted her ascending career as a standup. And Denver’s comedy community, which…

Five years ago, Denver filmmaker M Van Michaels (then working as Mike Olafson), released a documentary, Gears, Grease and Guitars, that traced the intertwined cultures of hot-rodders, rockabillies and, eventually, ’60s garage rockers, all from a local perspective. The fun flashback is packed with interviews and archival footage, and just…

The studio community at Wazee Union, peopled by artists and creatives of all kinds, shows off its diversity to the rest of the world on Second Saturdays — often with fundraisers that showcase the building’s talented denizens. Unfortunately, last week’s Lucky Dog Art Show got snowed out — but it…

Valerie Savarie’s Me, Myself and You, which opens Friday, March 15, at Zip 37, is an exploration of the artist’s relationship to the viewer. For this participatory show, Savarie is asking gallery visitors to share their reactions to her work, good or bad, on postcards that she plans on mailing…

In the 1970s, when she was in her nineties, Georgia O’Keeffe was rediscovered in a big way, as images of her paintings became ubiquitous in reproductions on posters, greeting cards and prints. This was the result of the confluence of three independent factors. First, there was new interest in looking…

The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts just announced the winners of its 2013 Business for the Arts Awards at a sold-out luncheon at the Seawell Ballroom. “Congratulations to the arts and business leaders recognized today,” Governor John Hickenlooper told the crowd of crowd of arts, business and civic leaders…

Michael Paglia visits the Denver Art Museum in this week’s review, which takes a look at the later works of famed artist Georgia O’Keeffe, in which she dealt with New Mexico modernism as her subject matter. Continue reading for photos from the exhibit. See also: – Photos: Art of the…

Colorado Creative Industries, a division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade that replaced the Colorado Council of the Arts, has a new executive director, Margaret Hunt, who will be responsible for developing a statewide, shared vision for Colorado’s creative industries. “Margaret has extensive experience in regional…

Westword’s eighteenth annual Artopia combined art, food, music and live performances at Vinyl, City Hall, Bar Standard, The Living Room and The Salty Dog on February 23, 2013. And to celebrate the event turning voting age, we asked Denver artists John Vogl to create a limited edition poster (above) commemorating…

Kevin Smith fans are taking to the streets to celebrate the announcement that he is currently writing Clerks III — or at least they would be, if they weren’t too stoned to leave their houses. Even though Smith said he wasn’t going to produce a sequel to Clerks II, now…

Crazed collector Andrew Novick even collects food memories with his camera, and sometimes he shares them with the world, as he does with Sweet Tooth: 1000 Photographs of Desserts (that I ate), an exhibit that opens with a reception from 5 to 11 p.m. tomorrow at cupcake emporium The Shoppe…

Up front at Space Gallery is an impressive solo, William Stoehr: Icons, which comprises large portraits done in a wildly expressionist style. Stoehr blows up women’s faces to gigantic proportions using an action-painting approach, smearing the pigments in rapidly laid-down strokes. Despite the abstract shapes of these smears, Stoehr orchestrates…