People don’t typically associate mid-century modern architecture with Historic Denver, the city’s preeminent preservation advocacy group, but they should. “We want to educate our members about mid-century modern by highlighting its importance, so we’re focusing on it more and more as the buildings become fifty years old and older,” explains…
Charles Parson. This must-see sculpture solo titled Charles Parson: Personal Echoes on the Horizon, at Golden’s Foothills Art Center, begins out front with a trio of hieratically composed tubular metal sculptures — basically gongs. The viewer/participant is meant to strike the gongs with clappers that are chained to them. This…
During the many years I’ve been paying attention to art in Colorado, there’s one thing that’s always bugged me: people in positions of power or influence who dismiss it or degrade it. There are many reasons for this, but my favorite is when these detractors project their own low self-esteem…
The Museo de las Américas is one of Denver’s cultural treasures, a museum that aims to promote the art of North and South America with a decidedly Latino slant. In line with this is the institution’s annual fundraising party, this year called Rojo Kermés. The unusual name comes from neighborhood…
Charles Parson. This must-see sculpture solo titled Charles Parson: Personal Echoes on the Horizon, at Golden’s Foothills Art Center, begins out front with a trio of hieratically composed tubular metal sculptures — basically gongs. The viewer/participant is meant to strike the gongs with clappers that are chained to them. This…
Billing itself as an “urban laboratory,” RedLine (2350 Arapahoe Street, 303-296-4448, www.redlineart.org) is a place where artists are provided with free or partly subsidized studio space and where there are some pretty impressive facilities for exhibitions. The handsome, award-winning studio/gallery — in a converted industrial building — could one day…
Damien Hirst. You’d have to be living under a rock — or have absolutely no interest in contemporary art — not to know that Damien Hirst is a superstar, and that everything he makes is worth millions of dollars apiece. The tight solo at MCA Denver (formerly known as the…
The human figure is the most essential referent in the world of art, and it surely has the longest history, as revealed by the Venus of Willendorf, a sculpture of a nude woman created in what is now Austria around 26,000 years ago. The Venus was recovered a century ago,…
With six galleries, there’s always something eye-catching and thought-provoking at MCA Denver, and tonight the museum will unveil two exhibits at the same time. On the first floor, in the Photography Gallery, is Kevin O’Connell, a show curated by former MCA staffer John Grant. O’Connell is a well-known Colorado photographer…
In 1991, Russell Bay McKlayer — then known simply as Russell Bay, since he hadn’t yet added the made up “McKlayer” part — came together with Ken Petersen and Mark Brasuell to launch the Edge Gallery co-op, and he put on a solo exhibit there every year until he died…
Group shows that include several artists in a gallery’s stable of talent are summertime standards in the art world. It’s easy for gallery directors to simply pull stuff out of the racks in the back room during the downtime of the dog days. But that doesn’t mean these exhibits aren’t…
The Magafan Twins. Ethel and Jenne Magafan were identical twins born in Chicago but raised in Denver. In the 1920s, their art teacher at East High School was so impressed with their talent that he paid their tuition to attend Denver’s School of Modern Art, run by Frank Mechau; they…
Despite its intimate — read “tiny” — space, the Sandra Phillips Gallery (744 Santa Fe Drive, 303-573-5969, www.thesandraphillipsgallery.com) has big ambitions. Owner Sandra Phillips has relentlessly filled the place with something worth seeing, often turning to established talents and zeroing in on those who only rarely exhibit their work. Such…
The past ten years have been a remarkably interesting time for the fine arts in Colorado. The most obvious evidence of this cultural flowering has been the museum-building boom we’ve all witnessed. But there’s also been a consequent growth in the commercial-gallery realm, with the emergence of many art districts…
This year’s spring rains have brought with them masses of flowers, sprouting up seemingly everywhere, even in sidewalk cracks. It’s quite a change from our normally parched environment, in which the blooms start to fade by early summer. More flowers are blooming in town right now, if only metaphorically, in…
Damien Hirst. You’d have to be living under a rock — or have absolutely no interest in contemporary art — not to know that Damien Hirst is a superstar, and that everything he makes is worth millions of dollars apiece. The tight solo at MCA Denver (formerly known as the…
Barbara Takenaga and Mary Ehrin. These two solos feature contemporary work that’s informed by the influence of nature. Barbara Takenaga: Fade Away & Radiate, comprises a nice selection of abstracts by a New York artist who lived for many years in Colorado. Mary Ehrin: Rockspace is an installation by a…
MCA Denver’s building was constructed with six small or mid-sized galleries (two on the first floor and four on the second), a decision that was dictated by the functional program developed by former director Cydney Payton. She laid out this idea of a multiplicity of discrete spaces instead of large…
Barbara Takenaga and Mary Ehrin. These two solos feature contemporary work that’s informed by the influence of nature. Barbara Takenaga: Fade Away & Radiate, comprises a nice selection of abstracts by a New York artist who lived for many years in Colorado. Mary Ehrin: Rockspace is an installation by a…
The board of directors of Denver’s Museo de las Américas (861 Santa Fe Drive, 303-571-4401, www.museo.org) has announced that Maruca Salazar (pictured), a well-known Colorado artist and arts educator, has been named as the institution’s new director. She’s only the third chief executive in the museum’s nearly twenty-year history. Salazar…
For more than six months, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art has been shuttered, a move necessitated by the mandated installation of an ADA-compliant elevator. The institution took advantage of the downtime to reconfigure its shop and admissions area and enlarge the theater upstairs — which will now be accessible…
The idea of basing art on things found in nature has had many adherents over the centuries and today manifests itself in a wide array of approaches, from straight-up depictions of the landscape to abstracts made up of organically inspired shapes. The latter style is found in two good-looking solos…
