Art Attack: Ten of the Best Things for Art Lovers to Do in Denver

This weekend’s gallery tour visits new places, new spaces and both old and new faces in a well-designed mashup of highbrow, lowbrow and out-of-this-world. Hop on the art freeway and see the world through new eyes at these ten events.

Cédric Le Borgne, The Travelers and The Birds
Blue River Plaza, 137 Main Street, and in the Arts District at 111 Washington Avenue, both in Breckenridge
Viewing through July 14
French artist Cédric Le Borgne makes magic with chicken wire, creating illuminated, larger-than-life installations of perching birds and human forms floating in space. Sculptures from two series, The Travelers (Les Voyageurs) and The Birds (Les Oiseaux), have been hovering around Breckenridge since mid-June, but you still have a few weeks left to view them, under the summer night skies.

Arthyve Lab Open House
Arthyve Lab, 1280 Sherman Street
June 26, 27 and 28, 5 to 7 p.m. nightly
Arthyve, the Denver artist archive project overseen by founders Jessie de la Cruz and Sigri Strand, has been working toward creating a workspace with tools where Colorado artists can document their work for future generations to access and view. After months of preparation, Arthyve is ready for its close-up during a three-evening Arthyve Lab open house. Drop by and see what's going on, and get some ideas for how to archive your own body of work. Light refreshments provided.

Joe Clower: Paintings
Rule Gallery, 808 Santa Fe Drive
June 27 through August 10
Rule Grand Reopening and Artist Reception: Thursday, June 27, 6 to 9 p.m.
Rule Gallery celebrates its new home in the former 808 Projects space on Santa Fe Drive with a show of paintings by Joe Clower, whose artistic roots trace back to Boulder’s Armory Group, an early art collective formed in 1966. The exhibition covers a range of the artist’s comic-inspired work from over the years while introducing Rule’s airy new digs. Movin’ on up!

Emek: Drawings & Prints
Black Book Gallery Pop-Up, 878 Santa Fe Drive
Thursday, June 27, 5 to 8 p.m.
Also on the move to a new space in Englewood, Black Book Gallery will pop up for a night with a trunk full of drawings, prints, handbills and other surprises from the pop-culture poster artist/illustrator Emek, known for gig posters and album covers that borrow an updated vibe from the psychedelic golden age. This is the kind of show collectors line up for: Black Box will hand out tickets for a place in line from 2:30 to 5 p.m. June 27 (no sidewalk camping allowed). And not to worry: After Black Book gets settled in its new locale, more Emek works will be on view in July. Join the mailing list and keep up with the news.

Leon Benn, Lion in the Kitchen
Su Su: Extrusion Paintings, in the project room
David B. Smith Gallery, 1543 Wazee Street
June 28 through July 27
Opening Reception: Friday, June 28, 6 to 8 p.m.
David B. Smith pairs Leon Benn, who brings art focusing on domestic narratives all the way from Maine, with Chinese-American artist Su Su, known for her musings on pop culture and Asian roots, rendered in pigment extruded from syringes onto an absorbent cloth surface. As usual for the gallery, both artists bring contemporary life views into Technicolor focus.
Dylan Griffith, Master of Your Domain
Lane Meyer Projects, 2528 Walnut Street
June 28 through July 29
Opening Reception, Friday, June 28, 8 p.m.
Denver artist Dylan Griffith blends comic-book graphics with Southwestern cultural markers in figural paintings that are compositionally pleasing and a little far out. Mushrooms, anyone?

Drew Austin and Angela Craven, Blot
Doublespace, 144 West 12th Avenue
June 28 through July 6
Opening Reception: Friday, June 28, 6 to 10 p.m.
While Angela Craven makes no bones about blots in her Rorschach-like shadow imagery rendered in resin, Drew Austin’s approach to the theme is subtler and streakier, following the tracks of thick liquid media drying on a wooden panel. Blot is also an opportunity to check out Doublespace, a new artist-run Golden Triangle space that will host a monthly series of Final Friday pop-up art shows throughout the year. This one is courtesy of the Hey Hue art truck.

In Search of Why We Draw
Sandra Phillips Gallery, 47 West 11th Avenue
June 28 through July 27
Opening Reception: Friday, June 28, 6 to 8 p.m.
At Sandra Phillips, In Search of Why We Draw digs up the nuts and bolts of drawing from the very different approaches of three college art instructors: Symbolist mixed-media draftsman Joshua Field; the drapery queen and figurist Irene Delka McCray; and Kate Woodliff O’Donnell, who homes in on the detailed beauty of candies, food and other colorful subjects.

Leah Swenson and Dawn Witter, Locus of Self
Next Gallery, 6851 West Colfax Avenue, Unit B, Lakewood
June 28th through July 14
Opening Reception: Friday, June 28, 6 to 10 p.m.
Collaborators Leah Swenson and Dawn Witter mixed up materials to observe one another’s artist experiences and underlying psychology for Locus of Self at the Next Gallery co-op. Guest fiber artist K. Lynn Bennett chimes in with a series of photo transfers on silk faille, with plexiglass details.

Ramiro Smith Estrada, Expertly Paired
Leon, 1112 East 17th Avenue
June 29 through August 10
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 29, 7 to 11 p.m.
Estrada, an Argentinean painter who’s had work hanging around Denver in the past year as part of a residency at the Taxi complex, now settles into Leon for his first solo exhibition in Denver, a series of paintings that draw from the glorified worlds of social media, where life is more beautiful, under a veneer of pure fakery.

Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to [email protected]. For more events this weekend, see our 21 Best Things to Do in Denver.