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Ann Hamilton and Jae Ko et al. For Ann Hamilton: Selected Works, the initial enfilade of spaces at Robischon Gallery is taken over by works on paper by this noted conceptualist. The first group is from her “visite” series, the name of which is taken from the term “carte de visite,” a nineteenth-century calling card featuring albumen-print portraits. Hamilton has appropriated these, joining them to prints that also have pieces of cloth adhered using the chine-collé technique. There’s a calligraphic character to the circles at the top center of each. Circles are even more important to Hamilton’s “ciliary” works, which have a circular shape and also involve the joining of cloth to paper. In the next set of spaces is Jae Ko: Force of Nature, a showcase of works by this well-known Korean-American artist, who uses rolls of paper, inks and glues as her materials. The show includes three phases of the artist’s work, with the title piece being the showstopper. In the back space is a group show that includes the work of Linda Fleming, Derrick Velasquez, Ted Larsen and Judy Pfaff, an early mentor of Hamilton’s. Through January 3 at Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee Street, 303-298-7788, robischongallery.com. Reviewed December 4.
Blurred Lines. The Sandra Phillips Gallery is a cozy space, making it a challenge to put on a group show, especially one made up of artists who work in large formats. But that’s exactly what’s on tap there now with Blurred Lines, which brings together large abstract paintings by three separate artists — Ania Gola-Kumor, Sandra Kaplan and Barbara Groh. Broadly speaking, these artists have at least one commonality: Each creates paintings that are expressively done and non-objective in subject matter. But the similarities end there, which might explain the vagueness of the show’s title. First up is Gola-Kumor, represented by her signature taste for bold colors and her characteristic all-over compositions. Then there’s Kaplan, who creates work inspired by outer space (previewed this past year at the Fulginiti Pavilion) in which vaporous fields are overlaid by skeins of lines done in a muted palette of black and gray. Finally, there are Groh’s paintings, in which dense grounds of saturated color are the predominating feature — at times the only feature. Through December 31 at Sandra Phillips Gallery, 420 West 12th Avenue, 303-573-5969, thesandraphillipsgallery.
Don Quade & Brandon Reese. The current duet at Walker Fine Art is Don Quade & Brandon Reese: Unchartered. Quade has been creating abstract paintings for two decades but has developed a recent interest in prints; both types of work are included in this show. His signature is to lay down a color field as a background, then accent it with small pictorial elements, some representational and others abstract. Quade arranges the small elements — both representational and abstract — on the field in what would seem to be a random way, so that they cover the picture plane in an all-over arrangement. Reese, who trained with some of the most important ceramic artists of the last century — most notably Peter Voulkos — lives in Oklahoma, where he teaches ceramics at Oklahoma State University. The ceramic components he makes are technically remarkable, both for their size and their airiness (and therefore precariousness), being made of skeletal and linear elements that are stacked one on top of another like building blocks. Through January 10 at Walker Fine Art, 300 West 11th Ave #A, 303-355-8955, walkerfineart.com. Reviewed November 20.
Judy Chicago. Curator Simon Zalkind and exhibition designer Ben Griswold have put together Surveying Judy Chicago: 1970-2014 as the closing act in a year-long program at RedLine dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of women artists. Chicago burst onto the radar of American art back in the 1970s when she coordinated an acknowledged masterpiece, “The Dinner Party.” This piece was meant to recast the history of women and, at the same time, bend the course of contemporary art in a new direction — and it did. “The Dinner Party” isn’t included at RedLine, but there are a number of pieces related to it — notably, an impressive set of 39 presentation drawings laying out the full iconography of all the final plates. There are also a few of the test plates in porcelain, decorated with china paint. The central space at RedLine is dominated by these works, and it’s undeniably the high point of this or any Chicago survey. Thus, even in its absence, “The Dinner Party” is the centerpiece of the exhibit. The show also includes a couple of later mural-sized works that are worth noting. Through December 27 at RedLine, 2350 Arapahoe Street, 303-296-4448, redlineart.org. Reviewed December 4.
Unbound: Sculpture in the Field. Since the Arvada Center sits on a very large site, exhibitions manager Collin Parson and assistant curator Kristin Bueb decided recently to use a small part of it – a seventeen-acre field just to the south of the complex – as a xeric sculpture garden. Parson and Bueb invited Cynthia Madden Leitner, of the Museum of Outdoor Arts in Englewood, to partner with the Venter in the effort. The MOA has made a specialty of placing large pieces of sculpture in various spots around metro Denver, and that technical expertise was very desirable. The group put together a list of sculptors they wanted to include, and the final roster of fifteen artists was established, with most being represented by two pieces. The participating artists, all of whom live in Colorado and work in abstraction or conceptual abstraction, are Vanessa Clarke, Emmett Culligan, John Ferguson, Erick Johnson, Andy Libertone, Nancy Lovendahl, Robert Mangold, Patrick Marold, David Mazza, Andy Miller, Charles Parson, Carl Reed, Joe Riché, Kevin Robb and Bill Vielehr. Through September 30, 2015, at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, 720-898-7200, arvadacenter.org. Reviewed July 10.
