New Ravi Zupa

This is the promotional image for Ravi Zupa's new show at Black Book gallery (opening November 2nd) - this guy is definitely one of Denver's absolute finest.

Mia Mulvey at Vertigo Art Space

After the Biographic opening on Friday we walked down to the opening at Vertigo Art Space (also on Santa Fe Dr.) where we saw a great show by Mia Mulvey. It was exceptionally installed - balancing areas of gridded patterning (see above) with more lyrical, curvy positioning on the wall (as seen with the giraffe skulls). Her use of color was restrained - consisting of mostly monochromatic skulls placed on the walls and on the floor. While the subject of extinction has been explored in a variey of ways, I found her approach to be quite fresh. I'm really glad to have caught the show - it will be up September to October. Her statement on the work is as follows:

"This body of work is taken from 3-dimensional prints of actual biological specimens. Replicating anatomy that is "true" and tied to a once-living, individual animal has been central to this work. These animals exist as X-ray CT scans of specimens in the Digital Morphology Library at the University of Texas in Austin. The 3-D scans were then printed on a 3-D printer and/or CNC milled out of foam and reproduced in porcelain.

The animals I have chosen to work with are all protected and thus threatened in the wild. They represent a larger population of animal species and their current status in the world. As humans, our views of these animals, and all of nature, is most often as a place “out there”, limitless and enduring. Our views are also often cluttered with romantic notions of exotic travels and attractive museum displays.

Our world's animal population is dwindling due to the fragmentation and loss of habitat from deforestation, farming, human encroachment, hunting, and climate change. These works deal with the ideas of beauty, collection, extinction, death and ultimately our relationship with nature."

Katherine Lee

While we were in Santa Fe we were lucky to see the Mind the Gap exhibition at Eight Modern before it closed. I really enjoyed the work of Katherine Lee:

Exterior 16 (New Mexico), 2008, Oil and Spray Paint on Paper, 30 x 40 in

Exterior 15, Oil and Spray Paint on Illustration Board, 60x80"

Exterior 8, Oil and Spray Paint on Paper, 22"X30", 2006

Exterior 9, Oil and Spray Paint on Paper, 22"X30", 2006

Exterior 7, Oil and Spray Paint on Paper, 22"X30", 2006

Opening Tonight!

‘T’ is located at 878-2 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204 (on the south east corner of 9^th Avenue and Santa Fe Drive).

What Road

I took this photo in New Mexico and it reminded me of a lunar landscape with really good warm lighting...
Here are the lyrics for this image (c/o Destroyer - an excerpt from "What Road"):

so quick let's go
it's time for the ride
the future's yours
no wait I lied

it's not yours
it's a replica of scattered ash
and the road the rain's on

Soun Hong at Site Santa Fe

I enjoyed the installation of Soun Hong's paintings at Site Santa Fe this week. They were placed high, low, and in clusters on the walls - leading you around the unusually shaped room. Here are a few photos of the installation and you can watch the Vernissage video (Hong's work comes in at about the 4:00 mark) for a taste of the entire group exhibition.

Gustave Baumann

We're in Santa Fe, New Mexico right now and this week we're going to be sure to see Gustave Baumann; A Santa Fe Legend at the New Mexico Museum of Art. Our room here is graced with his beautiful wood-block prints and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Gustave Baumann (via The Blue Lantern)

Gustave Baumann, Indiana Red Gum., Color woodcut, 1915-16. (image from here)

Gustave Baumann, Three Pines (image from flickr member j l t)

Another First Friday Not To Miss

Kay Tuttle, “Collection Amusette-Alligator”, Acrylic on Wood, 2 x 4ft, 2007

Kay Tuttle, “Bird”, Acrylic on Wood, approximate dimensions 3 ft x 4ft, 2007

Kay Tuttle will be having a show called "Collection Amusette", at the one and only Sliding Door Gallery in Denver opening First Friday starting at 6 pm on the south end of the Santa Fe Arts District. This will be one not to miss - several paintings on wood, many of which are on unusually shaped panels. The show has a playfulness to it that balances line work/drawing with painting quite well. She also employs a large amount of text/handwriting in the pieces that make up this show, which adds to the depth and complexity of her work. The press release for the show elaborates,

"Collection Amusette is a series of oil and acrylic paintings that are painted on plywood. Some of the wood is cut into silhouettes of different shapes, for example a bird or a dinosaur. Other pieces are left in traditional rectangular shapes. All of the pieces are painted, sanded and repainted in a build up of imagery that is in some places sharp and detailed and in others erroded and blurred. The imagery is derived from scraps of popular culture that Tuttle has been collecting over the years, things like firework boxes, children's text books or aprons. Conceptually she is playing with ideas of how memories transform and change, gaining and loosing in significance as the years go by.

Tuttle was born and raised in Denver but lived away for 20 years, years that included an MFA and teaching at Arizona State University, and 3 year stays in both Germany and France. She will be featured in the upcoming Western States Edition of New American Paintings and was recently accepted into the Viewing Program at The Drawing Center in NYC. "

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Kay's show will be accompanied by work from Tony Zellaha and Evan Borman called "You Guys", and a special exhibit of work by students at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design entitled "Mouth Amusements".

Sliding Door Gallery is located at 554 Sant Fe Drive, Denver, Co. The show opens Fri, Nov. 2, from 5-10 pm and closes Sun, Dec 2nd, 2007. Gallery hours are Fri, Sat, Sun, 1-5

Also

Be sure to stop by the Plastic Chapel on Colfax to see some fun and unusual work from Lauri Lynnxe Murphy called, "Incubator: Drawings and Snowglobes" - also opening on Frist Friday from 7-11pm - you can read more about it on the always up to date denverarts.org. Ken is doing a great job keeping everyone in Denver updated on openings and art events in the city. I see him regularly at openings, taking pictures and shaking hands. Be sure to check it out and bookmark it .