I’ve heard it a million times. The last time, I was looking at a Kandinsky, minding my own business, when someone behind me chattered to her friend, “Look at that. Ugh. I bet it’s worth a million dollars, and my three-year-old could paint it.” The truth is, the painting is…
The republic to the northwest — you know, Boulder — is really at its best in the summertime, when the forward-thinking city’s groovy vibe moves outdoors where everyone can share it. Summer in Boulder? It’s where those now-ubiquitous outdoor film screenings first caught on and music sounds better in Chautauqua’s…
Instagram is the latest, and obviously the hippest, photo-sharing app; it allows anyone with a smartphone to play amateur photographer, transforming regular old snapshots into filtered, fogged and color-tinted works of art at the touch of a finger. Search “Denver” on Statigram, one of the app’s web-based viewing platforms, and…
José Guadalupe Posada’s engravings adorned everything from National Enquirer-style stories of monsters and grisly crimes to devout religious pamphlets. Today, artist Jerry Vigil creates three-dimensional wood carvings that translate Posada’s style for a modern age, just as the Mexican engraver translated the day’s news into unforgettable illustrations. The two artists…
Steeped in local lore, Lakeside Amusement Park, at 4601 Sheridan Boulevard, is an art-deco wonderland. Framed by mature trees and blinking lights, the classic theme park is one of the oldest still in operation in the country…
Art and food have been an item for a long time, but some places do it better than others. City, O’ City is a case in point, where a partnership with the nonprofit Art-Plant, which curates shows by emerging artists for the eatery, keeps things interesting with work that isn’t…
For half a century, the art world’s chattering class — critics and curators, mostly — has been declaring abstraction dead and buried. In the ’60s, there was pop art, which was thought to be edging out abstraction. In the ’70s, it was neo-dada and postmodernism. The ’80s saw the development…
Perhaps it was their shared propensity for posting weird ads on Craigslist that was fated to bring them, like so many missed connections, together. Or maybe they’re just two weird dudes. Whatever it is, there’s something approaching ironic about the fact that Daniel Nilsson — who had been looking via…
The most recent art toy collection from Task One, AKA Daniel Rowley, is the result of a lot of late nights. While he works, the graffiti and custom toy artist watches copious amounts of his favorite TV shows, so it was only a matter of time before inspiration caught up…
Urban adventure races and downtown scavenger hunts have become old hat in adrenaline-conscious, wheel-happy Colorado. But when AIGA Colorado, the regional design association, decides to put on an outdoor event, you know it’s going to be of a very different type. To that end, letterpress typographer Rick Griffith of Matter…
The Arvada Center galleries will greet the summer with a cheerful set of shows, Faces, Places & Spaces, which open in unison tonight with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. and remain on view through August 26. Two artist nights, each with a panel discussion and meet-and-greet, are also…
If you’re reading this, someone you know — and probably you, too — uses Instagram, the smartphone photo app that has approximately 1 gazillion users, was sold last month to Facebook for $1 billion and, most important, is the latest vehicle for everyone to take photos of themselves in the…
Keith “Scramble” Campbell’s studio moves around: sometimes it’s at the Five Points Jazz Festival, sometimes at the Fox Theatre and other times it’s at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. In fact, Campbell has painted at so many concerts that he has created a database-driven web site where you can look up one…
Pat Milbery wears many hats (and helmets), but professional musician is not one of them. That doesn’t deter him from being curious about the art form, however, and pushing that interest into the unknown. Over the winter, Milbery teamed up with Pretty Lights Music artist Michal Menert and Colorado-local clothing…
With a taste for new art and old buildings and a love of hard work, Mina Litinsky was one of the handful of people who invented LoDo as an entertainment district. She opened a pioneering business there, the Sloane Gallery (1612 17th Street, 303-595-4230), in the early 1980s — before…
Lakewood Gulch, a trickling tributary in west Denver that feeds into the South Platte River, was once a pretty good place to disappear. The area was overgrown and full of as much concrete as it was weeds; many people used it for what street artist Peter Miles Bergman calls “unsanctioned…
There are endless lists to be made about Wes Anderson films: best music moments, best drug references, best Bill Murray scenes…. Fans of Anderson treasure every second of his films, often committing whole passages to memory; many can mimic the characters on screen, and they’re always up for a repeat…
Chalk art is one of the most ephemeral forms of art — but there’s nothing transitory about the Denver Chalk Art Festival, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this past weekend in Larimer Square. Christopher Morgan was on hand to capture these masterpieces; see the complete slide show here. Follow us…
The pattern that connects the artists included in Material Abstraction, which runs through the end of this month at Robischon Gallery, is the way that each exploits the unique properties of their particular medium. And what a batch of mediums they use: automotive lacquer, vinyl and recycled objects…
Broadway has become a major contender on First Friday, and the crowds turned out to welcome the arrival of the Ladies Fancywork Society’s new brainchild, Lowbrow, a gallery that celebrated its grand opening Friday night. “It was great to see so many people come out to support us — many…
Prepare to be amazed. Prepare to be inspired. Prepare, perhaps, to reflect less favorably on your own accomplishments. It’s time for TEDxMileHigh, two days of performances and events that start with the first-ever TEDxYouth@MileHigh today from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. The main event runs from 1 to 6 p.m. tomorrow…
Looking to start a new chapter? Head to Alicia Bailey’s Abecedarian Gallery, a tiny, meticulously curated book-art gallery on Santa Fe Drive, for the last day of the Artists Book Cornucopia III exhibition. And it’s going out in style, with a special edition of Westword MasterMind Katie Taft’s Action Figures…
