White Christmas

The view from our 3rd story window - we were very excited to see a white Christmas this morning. Beautiful.

Melanie Smith at Belmar Lab

In better-late-than-never news I just stopped by the Lab at Blemar in Lakewood, CO and saw the Melanie Smith show. It's a pretty diverse show that requires more time than I had allowed for it, but nonetheless there were 5 or 6 gray paintings in the show of aerial views. Here's a good example:

Melanie Smith, "Vanishing Landscape 11", Acrylic enamel on acrylic, 150x180 cm

I loved these paintings (as you can probably guess) - they were executed with what looked like a airbrush and had less minute detail than these internet photos would have you believe - but from a distance they appeared incredibly articulate. If you have a chance to stop by Belmar before the end of the year you should do it.



In other news - I've been having technical difficulties with my computer lately and with it being Chritmastime I haven't been/won't be posting much. I'll be back in full effect around the New Year. Thanks for stopping by again.

New Press: Rocky Mountain News

"Stellar seven shine at Plus"
Mary Voelz Chandler
Friday, December 21, 2007

I've quoted the part that mentions my work:

"More serious are strong grayed-out paintings of architectural details by Mindy Bray, blurred-out landcape photographs by Noah Manos, bright and edgy paintings by Travis Egedy (including a trio of cartoonish works that refer to the figure as "Busta Slimes"), and a mini-installation of drawings and a painting by Nathan Abels.

Abels' small maplike drawings Outer Edge and Layout set the stage for the soaring painting Indiana. Placing a row of tract houses at the bottom of an elongated canvas plays with the idea of perspective, while his grasp of detail is particularly strong."

Cover of This Week in Denver

"Twinkle, Twinkle" opening

Photos from the "Twinkle, Twinkle" opening have been posted at Plus Gallery.

Vincent Desiderio, Gustave Courbet

Vincent Desiderio, "An Allegory of Painting", 2003, oil on linen, 121.9 x 188 cm

Gustave Courbet, "The Artist's Studio: A Real Allegory", Oil on Canvas, 1855, 361 x 598 cm

I always loved the background on this Courbet painting.

TONIGHT

+gallery

be there.

Marc Dennis

Marc Dennis

"Vespid Mortem - Dead Wasps # 6", Oil on canvas, mounted on Masonite, 11 x 14, 2007"Vespid Mortem - Dead Wasps # 5", Oil on canvas, mounted on Masonite, 11 x 14, 2007
"Vespid Mortem - Dead Wasps # 4", Oil on canvas, mounted on Masonite, 12 x 12, 2006

"Twinkle, Twinkle" press

Susan Froyd of Westword writes, "So on the heels of Art Miami, Zeile presents Twinkle, Twinkle, a stunning group exhibition of works by seven of those exemplary emerging locals, including shining stars Nathan Abels, Mindy Bray, Travis Egedy, Martin Sammy Gardea, Noah Manos, Lela Shields and Leafe Zales. A performance of Egedy's $2.99 will add zip to tonight's opening reception, which runs from 6 to 10 p.m.; the show continues through January 19. Plus Gallery is at 2350 Lawrence Street" - Check out the whole blurb here.

Snow-inspired Post

We're supposed to get 3-6" today. Here's some images to add some aesthetic to the whiteness.


"Snowy City" stencil art by JMJ
"Little Tree" by Stark
"New Tree" by Stark
"A Tree Falls" by Stark


from Ryan Helsel's Durham City Photography Project 1.1
Ryan HelselRyan Helsel

New Painting

Nathan Abels, "Indiana", Acrylic on Panel, 80x36"

This is the largest painting I've done since grad school. This isn't the best photo of it, but close. It will be part of this Friday's opening called, "Twinkle, Twinkle" at Plus Gallery. Come on out and see it along with a great cast of Denver art talent.

Christmasasaurus

If you're already tired of Nat King Cole and the rest of the department-store Christmas music - head over to the Christmasasaurus page and get free mp3s of chip-tune/8-bit renditions of the classics. If you're not familiar with chip-tune music, it is basically made by hacking vintage video game systems - often the original Gameboy and 8-bit Nintendo. It's a real fun sound, guaranteed to help you lighten up a little. I especially enjoyed Bit Shifter's version of "Winter Wonderland."

"The New Scent" by Jason Evans

I had trouble limiting this post to just a few images. There are so many great photos on "The New Scent" by Jason Evans. Take a look.

Maggie Evans

Vacant Remnants, 38” x 60”, charcoal on paper, 2007
Quiet Tables, 7” x 12”, charcoal on paper, 2007
Quiet Stage, 7” x 12”, charcoal on paper, 2007
Vibrations of an Empty Bar, 6”x 12”, charcoal on paper, 2007

Today's artist is another friend from Savannah. Maggie Evans is a visual artist and a musician and her recent works reflects long nights at bars where her band is playing. Maggie writes, "The building process of these drawings echoes a musical improvisation. Initial strokes define the background the same way a chord progression creates the structure of a song." She reflects on how she has balanced two art-forms in her recent drawings, saying "My intimacy with music offers a different palette from which to create my artwork. Rather than keeping these facets of my life separate, I seek ways for them to interact and amalgamate."

Andrea Galvani Photos for Winter

Andrea Galvani , 2007
N^-1 # 5
C-print on aluminium d-bond, wood frame
Edition of 5 in different format + 2 PDA
L’intelligenza del male #3, 2007
C-print su alluminio d-bond
Dimensioni variabili
Edizione di 5 + 2 p.d.a.
L’intelligenza del male #1, 2007
C-print su alluminio d-bond
Dimensioni variabili
Edizione di 5

Another NEW BOOK!!!

I just finished up the final details on "Periphery; Paintings and Drawings by Nathan Abels" which is now available online. These two books have been months in the making, and I'm proud of the finished product. This book is a collection of artwork executed from 2003-2007. Its a great representation of my work from the last several years. The book is very cohesive and well organized - just like you'd expect from my work.

If you're thinking about ordering one of my books for the holidays - the cut off for non-rush delivery is the 9th (as in this Sunday). Sorry for the late notice on that - this was intended to be done much sooner. If you would like a signed copy I would be happy to work that out with you. Thanks everyone,

Nathan

Callum Innes - Exposed Paintings

CALLUM INNES
Exposed Painting Cinnabar Green
2005
Oil on canvas
115 x 110 cm

CALLUM INNES
Exposed Painting Bluish Grey 2
2006
Oil on canvas
102.5 x 95.5 cm

CALLUM INNES
Exposed Painting Royal Blue
2007
Oil on canvas
160.5 x 156.5 cm

the sky this evening

If you were in Denver area this evening, hopefully you were able to catch the beautiful cloud formations and the particularly dramatic mountain range. If not, here are a couple of shots I took - go ahead and change up your desktop background. It's time for a change.

Six Untitled Triptychs by Jason Stopa

Acrylic and Mixed Media on Panel(s) by Jason Stopa, 2007

Found Art

I picked up this "Madame X" book a couple of weeks ago because of its state of disrepair.

Upcoming Exhibition

+gallery

Leadville's Ice Palace

I was browsing the Western History and Genealogy images on the Denver Library website and stumbled on this fascinating late-nineteenth century wonder from Leadville, CO. All images and written content following the images is quoted from the Denver Public Library Western History Department/website:

"Leadville, Lake County, Colorado, Ice Palace under construction. Men work among blocks of ice; wooden poles rise in the background, 1896"



"Exterior view of the main entrance of Leadville's Ice Palace built for the 1896 Winter Crystal Carnival in Colorado. The site is known as Capitol Hill and is between West Seventh and West Eighth Streets from Spruce to Leiter. Architect C.E. Joy and Director General Wood designed the 320 x 450 foot Norman style medieval ice castle which was constructed of twenty-two deep ice blocks cut from local lakes and rivers. The entrance features an ice archway with turnstiles flanked by octagonal turrets, 90 feet high, with panelling and imitation battlements. A nineteen foot tall allegorical ice sculpture of a maiden in gown and crown, with her right arm pointing toward mines east of town, stands on a twelve foot high pedestal at the main entrance. She holds a scroll with gold letters $200,000,000 representing mining revenue produced through 1894."

"Interior view of the east entrance (Seventh Street) to Leadville's Ice Palace, which was built for the 1896 Winter Crystal Carnival in Colorado. The east entrance archway includes the Colorado Midland Railroad exhibit with painted logo of a standing American Indian on a glass plate and scenic photographs of their route frozen in colored ice blocks. A person squats outside the archway. There is a small wooden seat to the right of the entrance. Flag poles are braced in the corners of the ice wall. Wooden structures in Leadville can be seen in the distance."

"Exterior front view of Leadville's Ice Palace built for the 1896 Winter Crystal Carnival in Colorado. Features include octagonal turrets, 90 feet high, with panelling and imitation battlements. A nineteen foot tall allegorical ice sculpture of a maiden pointing her right arm toward the mines east of town sits on a twelve foot high pedestal at the main entrance. United States and Colorado state flags fly from poles on top of the turrets. Inside the castle was a skating rink, ballroom, restaurants, reception rooms, and museum exhibits."

Can you believe this? It must have been amazing in person - it had prismatic search lights outside that reflected off the ice and made the interior glow . The Ice Palace was intended to bring throngs of tourists to Leadville to create jobs, and rescue a dwindling economy. According to an article from Legends of America, "The Ice Palace entertained over 250,000 visitors during it's three month life. But, it was a financial disaster for the investors who built it, so another ice palace of its magnitude has never been built again." Its unfortunate that the Ice Palace didn't achieve all it intended to, but it is admirable for a community to propose such a grand dream.