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At the Mirror. Ron Otsuka, who has overseen the Asian-art department at the Denver Art Museum for more than four decades, is set to step down at the end of the year. His swan-song exhibit, on view now in the cozy Martin and McCormack Gallery on level two in the Hamilton Building, is At the Mirror: Reflections of Japan in 20th Century Prints. Nearly all of the prints in the display were acquired during Otsuka’s tenure. The space has been arranged like a maze, with prints installed thematically according to subject matter as opposed to chronologically. The exhibit includes seventy prints from 1901 to 2001, with all of the important printmakers from that time represented. One of the interesting aspects of this show is the way it turns the history of Western modernism on its head. As is well-known, European and American modernism owe a huge debt to Asian art — more specifically, to Japanese prints, which first came to Europe and the U.S. in the nineteenth century. In At the Mirror, Otsuka presents the opposing narrative: how the modern art of the West affected Asian art of the same time. Through September 21 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000, denverartmuseum.org. Reviewed September 11.
Joseph Coniff (in parenthesis). This is only the second presentation to open at the Rule Gallery since the untimely death of Robin Rule late last year. It was important to Rule that the gallery continue, so three longtime associates — Valerie Santerli, Rachel Beitz and Hilary Morris — are carrying on her vision. Rule might roll her eyes at the tumble-down character of the entry to the gallery, but she’d surely approve of the exhibition space where the Coniff show is installed. The work is from Coniff’s recent “Delineation” series, made up of sublimely elegant post-minimal paintings. Coniff creates hard-edged works in which he stacks three horizontal bars. The bottom is broad and painted; the one in the center is covered in vellum adorned with a delicate graph pattern; and the one on top is a thinner bar of color. Despite the unnatural shades, it’s clear that the works refer to landscapes. Also included is an irreverent sculpture made from an upended lamppost stuck in a bucket of concrete, done last year. It provides the perfect counterpoint to the cerebral paintings and works on paper. Extended through October 6 at Rule Gallery, 3254 Walnut Street, 303-800-6776.
Natural Surroundings. Michael Burnett, director of Space Gallery, has a taste for neo-modernism — that post-postmodern style that’s been coming on strong for the last decade. You can see it in his neo-modernist building, which opened this past summer (and which, by the way, has become the place to have your cannabis-friendly same-sex wedding). And you can see it in the artists in his stable — like the group of ten that make up Natural Surroundings, all of whom are creating contemporary versions of modernist abstraction. Some are riffing on abstract expressionism, others on minimalism; still others are doing work that lies somewhere in between. Each artist is given his or her own section, and their work is shown in some depth. Most of them use encaustic, a medium in which pigments are blended with wax, resulting in translucent colors often applied in extremely thick layers. Many of the artists work in Colorado, but others come from across the country. Participants include Patricia Aaron, Haze Diedrich, Jane Guthridge, Howard Hersh, Jeff Juhlin, Stephen Shachtman, Bill Snider, Betsy Stewart, Laura Wait and John Wood. Through September 20 at Space Gallery, 400 Santa Fe Drive, 720-904-1088, spacegallery.org.
Outside in 303.This summer feature at the Museo de las Amesricas is absolutely spectacular, with each of the included artists being given lots of space to stretch out. Conceived and organized by Museo director Maruca Salazar with help from the Denver Art Museum’s Gwen Chanzit, the show looks at a generation of young Latino artists who began their careers as graffiti taggers. The group’s mentor is Jack Avila, who is represented by an incredible wrap-around mural and installation in the large back gallery. Also doing standout work is Mario Zoots; known best for his collages, Zoots is also a painter, as evidenced here in his mural. Josiah Lopez has rendered full-figure studies of the people in the neighborhood, done in a traditional realist style on separate sheets of paper spread across the wall. Then there are some funny — and great — neo-pop portraits by Victoriano Rivera that relate well to the abstracted pop paintings by “Kans 89” (Josh Rogers). All of the works reflect the shared heritage of the artists, but none are more clearly Mexican than those by Javier Fidelis Flores and Gabriel Salazar. Through September 24 at the Museo de las Americas, 861 Santa Fe Drive, 303-571-4401, museo.org. Reviewed July 24.
