The hippest of the hipsters on the art scene have been doing lots of pooh-poohing and naysaying about the blockbuster Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums, which is now playing at the Denver Art Museum. Essentially, these cool-eratti believe that impressionism is too pedestrian for them — and that the…
The O’Sullivan Arts Center, located on the campus of Regis University, is an oft-overlooked exhibition venue that always has something worth seeing. Right now in the large and handsome gallery is a duet in which painter Amy Metier has been paired with sculptor Richard Stephenson. The exhibit, called See Saw,…
The Robischon Gallery has launched its fall and winter schedule with Manuel Neri, an important exhibit that focuses on the latest creations by the world-famous California artist. Neri has become a household name around here; this is the third time in recent years that Robischon has presented a solo turn…
Collide, which closes tomorrow at the Emmanuel Gallery on the Auraria campus, is an elegantly presented and intelligently put-together presentation of some Asian-American artists who work in the region. The show was organized by participants Ken Iwamasa and Polly Chang and beautifully installed by Mark Masuoka, Emmanuel’s director. In addition…
In a way, the historically important and aesthetically compelling Vanguard Art in Colorado: 1940-1970, which just opened at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, provides a background for Colorado Abstraction: 1975-1999, the spectacular two-part exhibit now playing at the Arvada Center. Taken together, these shows provide a good big-picture look…
Craig Miller, the curator of architecture, design and graphics at the Denver Art Museum, has a gift for putting together small yet thoughtful shows. One of three exhibits showing on the second floor is John Sorbie: Graphic Designer, a lovely exploration of this important poster designer’s career. The show coincides…
The Arvada Center is presenting the epoch-defining two-part exhibition Colorado Abstraction, 1975-1999, which fills the entire two-story facility. Last week I reviewed Part I, a breezy look at the key abstract painters and sculptors who emerged in the 1970s. This week I look at Part II, which presents the artists…
Last year, the Carol Keller Gallery opened in the main space of a converted Highland area garage at 1513 Boulder Street and leased a few rooms to the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, a 35-year old Denver institution. But last month, they switched places. To kick off the switch, Keller has…
Although 1999 may not be the last year of the century, as sticklers for accuracy have pointed out, it is the last of the 1900s. So it seems only natural to reflect on the century — or at least the last part of it. That’s exactly what the Arvada Center’s…
Printmakers Portfolio, at William Havu Gallery, is midway through a month-long run. The show is a brief look at the stylistic development over the past five years of Emilio Lobato, one of the best abstractionists around. Although there are only a few older prints in the exhibit, they’re enough to…
The three thoughtful exhibits that close this weekend at Rule Modern and Contemporary Gallery illustrate both the ingenuity and the taste of the gallery’s director, Robin Rule. What makes Rule clever is that she has converted her single-room space into three distinct galleries, which allows her to present three shows…
The small and recently remodeled ILK @ Pirate gallery is currently hosting Align, an elegant solo show featuring recent paintings by ILK co-op member Bill Brazzell. The paintings are non-objective; they refer to structural abstraction and use expressive geometric shapes. Most are composed of identical components assembled into grid patterns…
Wouldn’t it be great if the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver became one of the great cultural assets of the region in the 21st century? Wouldn’t it be great if the powers that be there could get their act together? Although the museum’s current attraction, Western Vernacular: Colorado Installations, is very…
The current show at the Camera Obscura Gallery, Christopher Burkett: Intimations of Paradise, is a surprise, because all of the photographs are in color. Even more surprising is that unlike most color photos, these are really good. Since a great majority of the serious work in fine-art photography is in…
When Colorado’s Ocean Journey co-founders Bill Fleming and Judy Petersen-Fleming moved to town in 1992 with an idea for an aquarium in the Platte Valley, they appeared to be a couple of pipe-dreaming flakes. The very idea of a facility devoted to marine life seemed absurd in landlocked Denver –…
ILK, at 554 Santa Fe Drive, is a raggedy, upstart co-op that nonetheless frequently displays some of the most original art around. It is currently presenting a pair of intriguing solo shows. In ILK’s south gallery is New Works by Victoria del Carmen Pérez; in the north gallery is Size…
The Center for the Visual Arts is celebrating its first anniversary this summer in an expanded space on Wazee Street. The CVA, which operates under the auspices of Metropolitan State College of Denver, was originally located around the corner on 17th Street, in the building that is now occupied by…
Big-time local ceramics talent Rodger Lang is currently the subject of Lines & Space & Time at Artists on Santa Fe, 747 Santa Fe Drive. Though it’s economical for a solo exhibit, with only a few groupings of pieces, the show does lay out examples of each of the major…
Well, it’s that time of year again–late summer, when the art world, which is centered in New York, essentially shuts down, with many galleries actually closing for the entire month of August. This hiatus is a response to the stifling heat and high humidity that engulfs the East Coast this…
The Singer Gallery’s mid-summer offering, the absolutely fabulous John DeAndrea: Fragments, provides local viewers a rare opportunity to see the work of one of the greatest artists in Colorado, ever. DeAndrea was born in Denver in 1941 and raised in the old Italian neighborhood on the west side. “We lived…
The Spark Gallery has reached a milestone: It has two decades’ worth of history under its belt. To mark this momentous event, the current members of the city’s oldest extant art cooperative invited back its founders, none of whom are still involved with Spark, and many of whom no longer…
The Denver Art Museum has gotten good at attracting crowds. The blockbuster Toulouse-Lautrec, which just closed, brought in more than 100,000 visitors. And last year, the Berger Collection had similar success with a comparable attendance. Thousands of people also visit the various galleries scattered throughout the seven-story museum that feature…
