Since he became mayor, John Hickenlooper has followed an ambitious program aimed at changing — literally, at times — the cultural underpinnings of the city. The latest idea is the Denver Biennial of the Americas, slated for the summer of 2010. And while the staff at the Denver Office of…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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,…
Five years ago, Westword added a very special component to Artopia: the MasterMind awards. Recognizing that the local arts scene needed a little fertilizer to really get going, and growing, we created a program that every year honors five cultural visionaries — artists and organizations alike — working to change…
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,…
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…
There’s a major changing of the guard in the art world right now in Colorado. The biggest news came this past fall, when Cydney Payton, the powerhouse director of MCA Denver, announced her departure. Then, two Western art curators at the Denver Art Museum — Ann Daley and Peter Hassrick…
For most of the past hundred years, the terms “abstraction” and “contemporary” were more or less synonymous when it came to fine art. In the last twenty years, however, conceptual realism and other non-abstract approaches have come to dominate the field. But despite the constant challenges abstraction has faced, it…
Michael Burnett is an accomplished painter, but unlike most of the city’s artists, he also runs his own exhibition venue, Space Gallery (765 Santa Fe Drive, 720-904-1088, www.spacegallery.org). Not surprisingly, the style of choice for the artists he showcases is the same as the one he uses in his own…
My primary interests when writing reviews lie in contemporary art and, to a lesser extent, historic modern art. But this sensibility means I don’t always get a chance to focus on traditional art from the past, which is much more popular with the general public. As a result, I have…
The art world is driven by trends, and some artists spend their careers following one after another. Others develop their own point of view and carry on with it for decades, completely oblivious to anything else. This latter type is exemplified by longtime Denver painter Sandra Wittow. She has definitely…
As regular readers of this column know, I have a special place in my heart for the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Sure, it’s far away and in the heart of a town known for its right-wing religious zealots. But there’s so much art history associated with Colorado Springs that…
Michele Mosko grew up in Denver but spent most of her adult life in New York working as an art dealer. A few years ago, she moved back and opened a tiny gallery just steps from the Denver Art Museum’s Martin Plaza, in front of the Hamilton Building. Michele Mosko…
The so-called green movement posits the idea that humanity could and should limit its impact on the planet. Oh, sure, a lot of it is little more than marketing hype; tract-house developers, for example, who have focused on paving the countryside can claim to be earth-friendly simply because the houses…
Light and Time, in the front of Rule Gallery (227 Broadway, 303-777-9473, www.rulegallery.com) consists of small, wet-plate Collodion print photographs by Mark Sink and Kristen Hatgi that have been propped against the walls. The Collodion process is an early photographic method used by Civil War documentarian Matthew Brady. In a…
Because the Project Gallery on the second floor of MCA Denver regularly showcases Colorado artists, it has emerged as one of the most interesting spaces at the museum. This is an important part of the MCA’s mandate, since one reason the institution was founded was to provide an opportunity for…
Bobbi Walker, the owner and gallery director of Walker Fine Art (300 West 11th Avenue, #A, 303-355-8955), typically has one show in the front of her space featuring two or three participants, then fills the back with the work of artists from her stable. But with The Man Show, both…
Colorado — and its prominent place in romantic notions about the Old West — has achieved celebrity status. It’s one of the reasons we’re invaded year-round by armies of scenic paparazzi seeking to hunt down picturesque landscapes and take candid photos of them. It might be an embarrassment to some,…
Earlier this summer, a project that was dedicated as “finished” in 2006 was finally completed. It’s the 16th Street Pedestrian Bridge, by Carter & Burgess, that crosses I-25 and connects the trendy Highland neighborhood to the ultra-trendy Platte Valley. The white-painted steel bridge is handsome enough, even if it’s hardly…
