Courtesy of K Contemporary
Audio By Carbonatix
Love conquers all at galleries and art shows this weekend, as it should with Valentine’s Day around the corner. In all the lighthearted, freaky and occasionally wicked romantic fare, you’ll find a five-year anniversary love letter to the gallery stable at K Contemporary, a stellar Mo’Print show at the Firehouse in Longmont, and a political take on Afro-Cuban art in Colorado Springs.
Love it or leave it: Which direction will you take?
Travis Vermilye, ”Love in Blue,” film still.
Travis Vermilye, Side Stories
Side Stories 2022: Love Stories
RiNo Art District, from 28th to 33rd Street, between Larimer and Blake streets
Through February 20, 6 to 10 p.m.
Side Stories, RiNo’s little festival of five-minute experimental film loops screened on an urban canvas of brick walls and water towers, is back for another round. Five artists were selected for this year’s free event, working on the theme of Love Stories, but don’t expect straight answers from them: subjects range from the fascinating world of fungus to Rilke’s “Repository of Unlived Things.” Local businesses within the Side Stories zone will offer food and drink specials to film-watchers strolling the neighborhood. Find a map, learn more about the artists, and browse food and drink specials on the Side Stories website.
Jonathan Saiz, “Fire (Cabinet No. 1),” 2021, vintage carved wood cabinet (Spain ca 1850s) filled with handmade terra cotta idols, fertility fetishes, gemstones, human teeth and secret objects of personal meaning, and encasing six wish-granting candles.
K Contemporary
As of Now
K Contemporary, 1412 Wazee Street
Through March 12
The biggest show of the weekend might be As of Now, a fifth-anniversary group exhibition of highlights from over the years for high-profile gallery artists Andrew Jensdotter, Carlos Martiel, Suchitra Mattai, Ken Gun Min, Daisy Patton, Jonathan Saiz and many others. Gallerist Doug Kacena will also give a sneak peek at what you might be seeing more of at K Contemporary over the next five years. The brave new world of NFT, AR and VR projects is coming, ready or not. A “During” celebration is also being planned for a date sometime in the middle of the run; check back online for updates.
D’art Gallery artists Lisa Calzavara and Laura Brenton, compared side by side.
Laura Brenton and Lisa Calzavara
Laura Brenton and Lisa Calzavara, Form/NoForm
Richard Jacobi in Gallery East
D’art Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Drive
Through March 6
Artist Talk: Sunday, February 27, 1 to 3 p.m.
Closing Reception: Sunday, March 6, 1 to 3 p.m.
D’art members Laura Brenton and Lisa Calzavara are well matched for their concurrent solo shows at the gallery: Both paint abstracts bleeding with bold colors, sometimes dabble in landscape works and are hanging their art here on the collective theme of Form/NoForm. How do they differ? Brenton’s atmospheric canvases seem to form in a primordial soup, while Calzavara’s flowing shapes are more solidly defined. Side by side, one’s work naturally leads to the other’s in this satisfying exhibition.
Juan Roberto Diago, “Sin T
Courtesy of private collection
Diago: The Pasts of This Afro-Cuban Present
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 West Dale Street, Colorado Springs
Through July 2
Cuban artist Juan Roberto Diago rewrites history to tell the whole story of how slavery and colonialism established the systemic discrimination that still survives on the Caribbean island. It’s his own brand of critical race theory, telling the plain truth of his Afro-Cuban roots and the ironies of living with racism while finding redemption in the Yoruba and Abakuá rituals and cultures of his ancestors.
The Firehouse Art Center exhibits art postcards selected by Inverted Syntax.
Courtesy of Firehouse Art Center
The Art of the Postcard: We Are All Artists
Through March 6
Firehouse Art Center, 667 Fourth Avenue, Longmont
In the South Gallery, the Art of the Postcard showcases an ongoing project by the art and literary journal Inverted Syntax. It’s a curated ongoing collection of art postcards that invites the participation of anyone and everyone.
Dark Heart Show
Kanon Collective, Art Hub, 6851 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood
Through February 27
Not all love is true: Kanon’s annual Dark Heart Valentine’s Day show returns with another round of heart art in the dark, humorous vein, curated with gothic relish by Denver power couple Andrew Novick and Merhia Weise.
Little Bit of Love
Spectra Art Space, 1836 South Broadway
Spectra Art Space is sprouting hearts and flowers on Friday night with a love-themed group show showing off small collections of giftable art, including Sadie Young’s cute knitted hearts and mushrooms and lots more freaky art.
Interested in having your event appear in this calendar? Send the details to editorial@westword.com.
