Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, who work collaboratively as Kahn + Selesnick, have made a name for themselves by creating works meant to document phony historical events. Their current offering, Eisbergfreistadt, which roughly translates as “free floating iceberg,” is loosely based on an actual iceberg that struck a Baltic port…
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…
Denverites have had a long love-hate relationship with our Western heritage. We either laugh or cry about it, because maybe, just maybe, the Mile High City really is just an overgrown cowtown. All joking aside, however, the result of this syndrome has been a collective low self-esteem — and some…
Mark Falcone, head of the board at MCA Denver and the founder, former board chairman and current boardmember of the Lab at Belmar, is apparently running both not-for-profit institutions as though they were his own private business interests — which they are not. With the announcement that Adam Lerner, the…
This is the beginning of what could be called “Rex Ray Days” in Denver. Tonight he’s the guest of honor at the opening of his eponymous solo at Gallery T; tomorrow evening, there’s a reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, where he’s taking over the Promenade Space. Rex…
Like many other people, I’m pretty bummed out about the closure of the Rocky Mountain News. But for me, it’s mainly because Mary Chandler (pictured), the paper’s ace art reporter, is now out of a job. Chandler graduated from the University of Missouri in 1970, and she’s worked in the…
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…
Ever since word leaked out that Adam Lerner, who’s guided the Belmar Lab, would replace Cydney Payton as executive director of MCA Denver, many art-scene observers (me included) were concerned that he would bring his hip geegaws and trendy gimcracks to the museum, and in the process start to dumb…
Ary Stillman. Singer gallery director Simon Zalkind is a brilliant curator who has made the humble Mizel Arts & Culture Center an important destination for art lovers. Being a Jewish institution, the Singer often features shows devoted to the efforts of Jewish artists, and that’s the case with Ary Stillman:…
The story is well known in art circles and taught to students in art schools. Fifty to sixty years ago, a group of painters in New York began to develop the first truly American style of art: abstract expressionism. As a result of their efforts, for the first time ever,…
With the closing of the Rocky Mountain News last week, many in the community — other than Jared Polis, of course — have been disappointed, if not downright angry. This is definitely the case in the art community, which is reeling from the loss of Mary Chandler’s excellent art column…
Spark Gallery is the granddaddy of artist cooperatives in Denver, and that means it’s also the godmother of the city’s contemporary art scene. This position has been bolstered over the years by the high quality of its members, who reflect the full range of artistic experience, from younger artists to…
Ary Stillman. Singer gallery director Simon Zalkind is a brilliant curator who has made the humble Mizel Arts & Culture Center an important destination for art lovers. Being a Jewish institution, the Singer often features shows devoted to the efforts of Jewish artists, and that’s the case with Ary Stillman:…
For those of us whose hearts belong to the arts, it was discouraging to see Republican opponents of the economic stimulus package — signed into law by President Barack Obama last week in Denver — use the paltry $50 million increase in the budget for the National Endowment for the…
Update below: According to reliable sources, MCA Denver will soon announce that Adam Lerner, the director of the Lab at Belmar, is to be hired as its new executive director. The MCA is supposed to have mounted an international search, so it does seem strange that the institution wound up…
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…
Dan Jacobs, who’s been the director of the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery at the University of Denver for a couple of years, has really brought the place around in a short time. Before he was hired, there was an ad hoc quality to the gallery. There was no real program,…
Last year, Christoph Heinrich, the curator of the modern and contemporary department at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, decided to take on a complete reinstallation of the permanent-collection galleries on the third and fourth floors of the Hamilton wing. His selections were chosen according to how…
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 Carson van Straaten Gallery (760 Santa Fe Drive, 303-573-8585, www.vanstraatengallery.com) is currently showcasing a paean to nature in the form of a strong solo, New Works by Lorey Hobbs, installed in the front spaces, and a handsome duet, Colorado Abstract: Homare Ikeda & Lorelei Schott, in the back. Hobbs,…
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…
For many years, I’ve abided by a belief — and hit readers over the head with it — that our best local artists represent a collective cultural treasure. They continue to create things that are as interesting and accomplished as anything being done anywhere in the country. I know this…
