Visby, Sweden: The inspiration for a new sonic installation by Nathan Hall at Understudy.
Nathan Hall
Understudy, 890 C 14th Street
August 3 through 29
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 2, 6 to 9 p.m.
Denver contemporary composer Nathan Hall takes control of the Denver Theatre District’s Understudy project space in August with Visby, a sonic multimedia installation inspired by his time on the small island of Visby, Sweden, a place where ancient history and scenery prevail. Hall pays homage to the the island’s old cathedral, winds and rocky coastline with a motorized wind-chime sculpture, harpsichord surround-sound and video landscapes. Get lost in another world at the opening, where there will be goodies and drink, or visit between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Understudy is located at the Colorado Convention Center light-rail stop near 14th and Stout streets. Look for the B-cycle station next to the light-rail tracks.
The Faux Pas Factory
PlatteForum, 2400 Curtis Street
August 2 through September 8
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 2, 6 to 8 p.m.
Once a year, the PlatteForum art-mentorship program for youth lets its high-school-aged ArtLab interns lead the way by curating a show of work by the professionals. This time around, selected artists with studios at the Temple (which also houses PlatteForum) offer failed projects that never left the studio, symbolizing the ongoing learning process every artist pursues.
First Friday Grand Reopening: Art Is Art
Chicano Humanities and Arts Council, 222 Santa Fe Drive
August 3 through 31
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3, 5 to 9 p.m.
When the news came down this past spring that the Chicano Humanities and Art Council was facing the loss of its well-entrenched Santa Fe Drive twin spaces of more than twenty years to encroaching development, the cultural hub’s leadership didn’t think too long about what to do. CHAC executive director Lucille Ruibal Rivera announced that the Denver treasure was looking for new digs, which turned out to be in a building only five blocks south of the old location. After closing in June, CHAC members have been sprucing up the new (and larger) space, and the gallery is set to reopen on First Friday, in hopes of luring art-walkers down to the less-populated end of the art district with an opening ceremony by Aztec dance troupe Huitzilopochtli, spins by DJ Big Moe and a fresh new show, Art Is Art, a showcase of CHAC favorites old and new.
The Big Draw
William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee Street
August 3 through September 15
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3, 6 to 9 p.m.
Havu Gallery’s late-summer drawing show brings together a quintet of artists who know their way around a pencil and paper, including Denver expat Bill Amundson, whose frantic and satirical works poke fun at suburbia, politics and capitalism gone awry. Lui Ferreyra, Tony Ortega, Doug Russell and Shelby Shadwell round out the group for an exhibit abounding in simple virtuosity and skill. Think of these works as the roots music of the art world, and stand back in awe.
Julio Alejandro, Fridge Art
Dateline, 3004 Larimer Street
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3
Julio Alejandro’s canvases sling together text, doodles, dream imagery, cartoon figures and pop-cultural references in surreal two-dimensional landscapes that spring from his consciousness in pleasing arrangements. Like comic books or cartoons we affix to the fridge with magnets, this batch might cue memories, represent the slow turning of personal evolution or just make us chuckle at a familiar old joke. Fridge Art will also include works on paper drawn by Alejandro and colored by Jack Fitzmaurice and Beatrice Presswalla.
Mark/Build/Mark
JuiceBox, 3006A Larimer Street
August 3 through September 15
3006A Larimer Street
While scoping out Dateline, make sure to drop in next door at JuiceBox, where Julio Alejandro joins Drew Austin, Derek Blancey, Jillian FitzMaurice, Dalton Frizzell, Thomas Scharfenberg and Lucas Thomas in a new group exhibit that’s all about the foundational processes — mark-making, shape-blocking, pushing paint in new directions — of making art in any genre or medium. For this show, JuiceBox curators Aaron Mulligan and Lucía Rodríguez asked a handful Denver art professionals they look up to to recommend “artists who have not gotten many chances to show, are reigniting their practice or are young in their career.” Mark/Build/Mark represents the launch of what they’re calling the Open Box program.
La Vida Manca
Alto Gallery, 4345 West 41st Avenue
August 3 through September 1
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3, 6 to 9 p.m.
Alejandro also makes an appearance in a new trio at Alto Gallery, where he’ll bring the street indoors with Denver graffiti artists Jack “Voice” Avila and Leo Rivera.
Image Breaking: New Works by Mauro C. Martinez
Odessa Denver at Collective SML/k, 430 Santa Fe Drive
August 3 through September 14
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3, 6 to 10 p.m.
Odessa Denver brings artist Mauro C. Martinez to Denver from Laredo, Texas, where he covers large canvases with floating, hazy visions of blurred photographic faces and body parts in repose, sometimes splashed with color, reflecting how we are all unknowable on the surface. Says Martinez: “This exhibition uses painting as a vehicle for inquiry, where artist, viewer, subject and material all square off in a relentless search for meaning.” There will be a second reception during September's First Friday event.
Robert Green and Tiffany Matheson
Pirate: Contemporary Art, 7130 West 16th Avenue, Lakewood
August 3 through 19
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3, 6 to 10 p.m.
Pirate member Robert Green and associate member Tiffany Matheson both make materials-conscious work in counterpoint: Green makes sculpture from disparate found parts, while Matheson turns to fabric, sequins, resin and plastics for a more tactile experience. Together they make a great tag team for an August show.
Emma Balder
Balefire Goods, 7417 Grandview Avenue, Arvada
August 3 through 31
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3, 6 to 8 p.m.
Emma Balder “paints” with fiber and stitches together fabric collages to create textured works with a natural feel. She’ll be guesting through August at Jamie Hollier’s Olde Town Arvada artisan jewelry shop, Balefire, which opens its doors on first Fridays along with fellow businesses dotting the charming business district.
Chris Haven, Stick ’Em Up!
Lowbrow Denver, 38 Broadway
August 3 through September 3
Opening Reception: Friday, August 3, 7 to 10 p.m.
Denver street muralist Chris Haven, known for his large-scale building-scapes and pyramid-people characters, goes small-scale for August at Lowbrow with affordable canvases, merch and stickers of pyramidal folks photo-bombing political and safety slogans. Whatever isn’t grabbed on opening night will remain on display for a month — or you can show up on August 4 from 3 to 7 p.m., when fantasy, sci-fi and horror illustrator Skinner will also be in the house to sign copies of his new Necronomicon Pop Up Book! from Poposition Press, a must for H.P. Lovecraft lovers.
The Dairy Block's interactive art alley.
Courtesy of the Dairy Block
Dairy Block, 1800 Wazee Street
Friday, August 3, 4 to 7 p.m.
LoDo’s newly fancied-up Dairy Block, now home to the Maven Hotel and an array of upscale eateries and shops, was planned with art in mind, inside and out. NINE dot ARTS curated the art part of the project, bringing together more than 700 works by Colorado artists placed throughout the building and in an “activated” pedestrian alleyway. This is your chance to meet some of those artists, buy their work and learn more about what they do at this free, self-guided art tour.
Clay Hawkley, 86
808 Projects, 808 Santa Fe Drive
August 3 through 25
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 4, 6 to 10 p.m.
Artist Walk-Through and Q & A: Friday, August 10, 7 p.m.
RedLiner Clay Hawkley imagines what’s left behind by customers banned by convenience stores for 86, creating an archive of scraps and minutiae locked up beyond the reach of the locked-out. Hawkley comments on the pervasive make-my-day attitude taken by people in power, using elements of found objects, collage, drawing and installation.
Carlene Frances, Seijaku
Michael Gadlin in the Project Space
K Contemporary, 1412 Wazee Street
August 4 through 25
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 4, 6 to 9 p.m.
K Contemporary artist Carlene Frances suspends meditative coiled shapes against muted colors to create cool oil abstracts that reflect an Asian aesthetic and give special attention to the power of light in the darkness. Each canvas glows under layers of glaze for an effortless look that almost hides how much skill goes into every painting. Gadlin takes more of a paint-as-you-go approach in his non-objective paintings resulting in balanced compositions.
Shay Davis, Vision Quest
Abend Gallery, 1412 Wazee Street
August 4 through August 25
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 4, 6 to 9 p.m.
Abend, K Contemporary’s neighbor in the 1412 Wazee Street gallery complex, will fête fan favorite Shay Davis, who calls his fantastical representational style “futuristic surrealism.” Though they fly with lowbrow aficionados, Davis’s paintings are anything but: They’re skillfully executed dreamscapes, a little weird and a whole lot of fun. Also in the gallery this month: urban-landscape painter Jim Beckner.
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.
