Art Attack: Fourteen Ways to Celebrate First Friday in Denver

First Friday in February brings a landslide of interesting shows across town, from co-ops and alternative spaces to commercial galleries and community centers. There’s something for everyone in this great lineup — and even more to peruse in Westword’s 21 Best Events This Week list.

Nomen nudum
Sally Centigrade Gallery, 445 South Saulsbury Street, Lakewood
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 6, 5 to 9:30 p.m.
Cross a Dr. Seuss-style sense of imagination with a street-art aesthetic, and you’ll have an inkling of what Nomen nudum is all about: Sally Centigrade showcases four street artists — DINKC, Valency Genis, Dylan Pommer and Rumtum Art — riffing on the idea of unclassified animals and laying down their own contemporary version of On Beyond Zebra.

Reclaiming The Table: Ceramic Work by Clay Leonard
Plinth Gallery, 3520 Brighton Boulevard
February 7 through March 29
Opening Reception: Friday, February 6, 6 to 9 p.m.
Well-named ceramics artist Clay Leonard’s utilitarian works are inspired by the warm community one finds around the dinner table, invitingly rendered in neutral colors and modernist curves reminiscent of a Jean Arp sculpture.

Sarah McKenzie, Sanctum
David McDonald, Montello
David B. Smith Gallery, 1543 Wazee Street
February 7 through March 14
Opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 6 to 8 p.m.
Sarah McKenzie’s uninhabited architectural studies move indoors to explore pristine museum and gallery exhibit spaces through the lens of peaceful sanctuary for her latest series of paintings at David B. Smith. In the project room, L.A.-based sculptor David McDonald offers awkward shapes and weird ersatz-stone webs built using everyday construction materials.

Trine Bumiller, Via Dolorosa
First Congregational Church, 1128 Pine Street, Boulder
February 7 through April 8
Opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 6 to 9 p.m.
Artist's Talk: Sunday, February 16, noon
Bumiller picks up the trail of her past Stations of the Cross paintings for Via Dolorosa, depicting the “sorrowful way” traveled by Christ on his road to the cross in a more somber tone, using branching forms not unlike those used in her studies of the natural world instead of more representational forms. Take in this show and be prepped for the Easter season.

Colby Deal, The Ethereal Sense
ReCreative Denver, 765 Santa Fe Drive
Opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 6 to 9 p.m.
For The Ethereal Sense, curated by Drew Austin, former RedLine artist resident Colby Deal comments on the erasure of sidelined cultures in a homogenized America by capturing through photography the moments that define his own African-American milieu.

Jack Estenssoro, Nothing Is Sacred
Dateline, 3004 Larimer Street
February 7 through 29
Opening Reception: Friday February 7, 7 to 11 p.m.
Painter Jack Estenssoro satirizes famous artworks and the art world in general for Nothing Is Sacred, a show that couldn’t be more aptly titled: In some works, Adam reaches out to God against a green screen, and a pair of scooters stand parked outside of Hopper’s iconic diner. You get the drift...
Breaking// Broken// Broke
TAXI AIR, 3575 Ringsby Court
Opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 6 to 9 p.m.
Artist Amber Cobb and her Professional Practice students at the Rocky Mountain School of Art + Design pop up at Taxi’s Artist-In-Residence space as part of their learning process. The students did all the prep and promotional work for the group show, which muses on how failure can lead to transformative epiphanies. Come see what these emerging artists can do.

Underwater
Foolproof Contemporary Art, 3240 Larimer Street
February 7 through March 14
Opening Reception: Friday, February 7, 7:30 to 10 p.m.
Foolproof debuts a new group show with a bona fide ’60s-style happening for a reception. The show itself plays with the idea of going underwater — as in diving in, getting behind, going broke and, perhaps most relevant, rising water levels and environmental ruin.

Dark Heart Show
Kanon Collective, Pasternack’s Art Hub, 6851 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
Through February 16
First Friday: Friday, January 7, 6 to 10 p.m.
Artists reception: Friday, February 14, 6 to 10 p.m.
The juried group show Dark Heart opened a week ago, but will be ramping up toward a big finale on Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile, the doors are open during 40 West First Friday festivities throughout the creative district, revealing a dark twist on art about love. And who else but Denver power couple Andrew Novick and Merhia Weise could have juried this show? Get a taste this week on First Friday, but come back for some warped Valentine-y fun next Friday. Our lips are sealed.

Drew Austin, It’s Becoming Familiar
AKA Gallery, Boulder Creative Collective, 2500 47th Street, Unit 10, Boulder
February 8 through March 8
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 8, 6 to 9 p.m.
Drew Austin reveals his handiwork as an artist with a solo installation at AKA Gallery, hidden away at the Boulder Creative Collective among an enclave of North Boulder studios and small businesses. Austin has built an art-crossed home in the space, using found or gifted objects, artworks masquerading as furniture and the sense of living life in an abstract universe.
Rochelle Johnson, Portrait of a City
McNichols Building, 144 West Colfax Avenue
Through February 29
Reception: Saturday, February 8, 5 to 7 p.m.
Painter and Five Points resident Rochelle Johnson is no stranger to changes in the neighborhood, which she’s been watching from her vantage point for a long time. Some of it has been alarming, but Johnson is waking up to a new mix of neighbors and connections. These portraits and paintings reflect every side — good and bad — of what it’s like to weather redevelopment and gentrification.

Anthony Garcia Sr., Ingrained 2.0
Understudy, 890 C 14th Street
February 8 through 29
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 8, 6 to 10 p.m.
Muralist Anthony Garcia, Sr. brings along some friends from his nonprofit the Birdseed Collective to show what working as an artist in community is all about. He’s transformed Understudy into an imaginary grandma’s house, where you discover art for the first time. A diverse group of artists, including Cal Duran, Chris Bagley, Noah Phillips, We Were Wild, Moore Family Folk Art, Julio Alejandro, Patrick Mcgregor, the Cube Abides and Nathan Feniak contribute to Garcia’s domestic museum. Live music, snacks and refreshments from Ratio Beerworks and Dram Apothecary will make you feel right at home at the reception.

All We Need Is Love and Chocolate
RISE Westwood, 3738 Morrison Road
Saturday, February 8, at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In the middle of this big celebration marking the grand opening of Cultura Craft Chocolate headquarters on the block, there’s also a Valentine-themed art show, All We Need Is Love and Chocolate, curated by Mari Munez and dedicated to chocolate. Beyond that, there's more: Throughout the day, you can peruse vendor booths, make a Valentine craft, enjoy eats by Chef Jose Avila of X'tabai Yucateco, and, of course, buy some chocolate for your beloved. See the Facebook event page for details.

Maker Made 2020
Canyon Gallery, Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder
February 8 through March 30
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 8, 6 p.m.
The BPL’s big valentine to the DIY maker community is back in 2020 with a show in the Canyon Gallery hosted by the library’s own maker space, Bldg. 61. See what creative people are doing in Boulder, and you might be inspired to make stuff, too. This year’s show is so big that there’s a satellite gallery running concurrently at the Meadows Branch Library.

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