There are big changes afoot at the Edge co-op, as several members have cycled out, leaving room for new ones. To inaugurate this latest era, Edge has mounted a good-looking group show that reveals some interesting new players.
Conceptually Scattered: New Member Show — which is the neatest one-name-fits-all exhibition title I've heard lately — includes nine artists and a wide array of stylistic approaches. Among the standouts are the abstract wood-and-metal stiles in "Cultural Resistance (Defensive Mechanism)," an installation by Nouman Gaafar (part of it, "Untitled," is pictured), and the hyperrealist drawings of hands and threads by Faith Williams.
But everything here is interesting: Michael McGrath's sculptures based on male nudes; the abstract paintings by Jessica Loving and those by Dennis Stowell; the conceptual realism of John Cross; the hybrids of abstraction and representation by Rachel Prago; the abstract ceramics by Genevieve Yazzie; and the architectonic collage paintings by Frederick Pichon.
There is also a Pichon solo, Waterworks, made up of acrylic collage paintings about swimming and pools, installed in the newish back gallery.
In the space in between the front and back galleries is Abracadabra, an elegant and thought-provoking duet of paired photo portraits done collaboratively by Deborah Henson and her late mentor, Garrison Roots; they depict the artists dressed in similar getups. A sculptor, Roots joined the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1982, and remained there until he died, at the age of 59, in 2010.
The expansion of Edge's space earlier this year and the many new members joining up as a consequence has been overshadowed by the aforementioned departures. Of the several members who are splitting, one stands out: Mark Brasuell. After 25 years, having served as president for much of that time, Brasuell has decided to take a leave of absence, citing "creative and directional differences" with some other members. I'm glad Brasuell's left the door open to return, though, because it's hard to imagine Edge without him, especially with founder Ken Peterson having moved to southern Colorado.
The three attractions run through June 16 at Edge, 3658 Navajo Street, 303-477-7173, edgeart.org.
