Since its founding in 2012, Denver Comic Con (DCC) has become a powerful force; it attracted 61,000 attendees last year, making it the fifth-largest comic convention nationwide. But as in comic books, with power often comes turmoil. Yesterday morning, co-founder Charlie La Greca posted an open letter on a new…
In the last decades of the twentieth century, conceptualism was on the upswing in the wake of pop art and minimalism, both of which have big conceptual components. The cutting-edge work of the ’80s and ’90s was heavy with narrative, and artists often chose representational approaches to tell their stories…
Michael Paglia visits Robischon Gallery and Vertigo Art Space in this week’s review, taking in two group shows. The work at Robischon focuses on six artists and an artist pair, all of whom are working in some way that is related to conceptual abstraction. The show at Vertigo is a…
There have been rumors about trouble among the Denver Comic Con ranks. But today, DCC co-founder Charlie La Greca posted the following letter on a new Save Denver Comic Con website. Hello my name is Charlie La Greca. I am a cartoonist, lifelong comic fan, and lover of all things…
I used to have this recurring dream where I was walking along a strip mall in my grandparents’ neighborhood of Mayfair/Hale. I was always heading to La Bola, a Mexican restaurant we used to go to when I was a kid. I would walk up to the door in broad…
You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. Suzanne Heintz, a local local photographer and self-proclaimed spinster, recently saw her…
VSA Colorado /Access Gallery is bringing something very special indeed to Santa Fe Drive this month. From 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, February 21, the gallery will open a show featuring original pieces by youth with disabilities, created through the Artworks Corporate Art Venture, a program benefiting kids who…
This week’s cover story, “Beauty of the Beasts,” is all about the matchmakers who help zoo animals find love. Or at least another animal to, you know, mate with. And some animals have a strange way of doin’ it, as explained in our sidebar about weird mating habits. (Did you…
MM Serra is struggling to find a New York City venue bold enough to exhibit Charles Henri Ford’s 1971 surrealist memoir film, Johnny Minotaur. Nobody wants to bite. This experimental classic reflects on teen sexuality with explicit homoerotic imagery. Unnamed institutions refuse to show it because curators believe the performers look like minors and that the film violates basic standards of decency, she says.
Tonight RedLine Gallery and the Art Students League of Denver will present “Towing the Line?,” a panel discussion highlighting prominent women in the arts as part of RedLine’s year-long series titled “She Crossed the Line.” The panelists will discuss their own experiences in the world of art and business, and…
A smart-looking show on display at Pirate combines pieces by three artists who first met in 2006 at Cornell University, which is why the show is called Ithaca, the name of the upstate New York town where the institution is located. It was organized by one of the artists, Pirate…
Every year, Westword gathers our favorite painters, sculptors, performers, musicians and more from around Denver for Artopia, a celebration of all that’s good in Denver’s art world. This year, the celebration is taking over five venues along Broadway. See also: Artopia 2013…
Mark Mothersbaugh is a genius who doesn’t make much of himself; he is what he is and — pretty much like the rest of us — he is Devo. Best known as a founder of the Akron-based punk/new wave band of the same name, his artistic arc — from indie…
You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. In honor of the heartfelt holiday ahead, husband-and-wife duo Rob and Jen…
The Internet, as ubiquitous as it is, has yet to make much of an impact on the art world. Two works by digital artist Conor McGarrigle explore the art inherent to the ‘net in unique and intriguing ways. The first, the BitTorrent Trilogy, consists of three incomplete downloads of popular…
Brushstrokes Studio-Gallery is filling up with a lot of love this month. Larger-than-life puppies and hand-painted Valentine’s Day gifts will be taking over the space located in the heart of South Broadway’s Antique Row. The lovely lineup starts with tonight’s opening reception for mural and portrait artist Patrick McGregor. While…
During his tenure at RedLine, former director P.J. D’Amico brought an interest in social activism to the programming there. A little over a year ago, he and then-deputy director (and now director) Louise Martorano decided that the 2014 schedule would be given over to exploring the role of women in…
Michael Paglia visits RedLine in this week’s review, taking in The Transit of Venus: Four Decades, Front Range Women in the Visual Arts. The group show focuses on pieces from the group that was formed in the mid ’70s. Continue reading for photos from all three exhibits. See also: The…
Portland and Austin may claim to be the weirdest cities in the country, but Denver has its own brand of weird. Giving the “Keep Portland Weird” slogan a twist, Aaron Petitjohn captures the Denver attitude with his “Keep Denver Beard” T-shirts and other Colorado-centric designs. See also: Adam Sikorski’s Coloradical…
Though Aurora is a relatively new city in the West, it still has a rich history to share. This Thursday, February 6, at the Aurora Fox Arts Center, architectural historian Adam Thomas will take a look at the city’s story through a mid-century modern lens. The lecture is part of…
When A.J. Machete and Lianna K. were thinking of moving their custom tailor and dressmaking ventures out of New York City, Denver called. In 2009, Denver Dressmakers and Denver Bespoke — Lianna and AJ’s own handmade brands of intricately sewn women’s apparel and custom-tailored suits — took up residence in…
You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. After spending much of his early career doing commercial art, Tony Achilles…
