Nick Cave Gives Exactly What You Want
(Photo by Tyler Beard) Since I put my journalistic hat on the shelf over a year ago I was a bit surprised when I received an invitation to attend the media preview for Nick Cave’s exhibition Sojourn at the Denver Art Museum. Was this a clerical mistake? Inviting a journalistic apostate turned art dealer to a sacred press junkit seemed akin to letting a fox browse the hen house. Still, I felt the early private look at Cave’s work, which I’ve been following for a number of years, was worth any potential embarrassment when the media relations staff saw me and realized their blunder. Besides it wouldn’t be the first time I crashed a party.However, when I arrived ...Read more
Melo-Chromatic, Holly Andres
Holly Andres, highlighted by the Robert Mann Gallery of NYC, is an up and coming Portland based photographer whose hyper-stylized images work to convey a narrative while stimulating a viewers pleasure sensors associated with rich, vibrant tonality. Andres style is very similar to that of Crewdson, while hers tends to lean toward the brighter, and distinctively more feminine side of life, as do her narratives. Andres last few works have concerned themselves with adolescence loss of innocence, and seemingly without any male adult cameos. In her seductive Sparrow Lane series, Andres reveals the curious activities of three young girls in manicured environments. The thre...Read more
filed under: photography
tags: Holly Andres Sparrow Lane The Fall of Spring Hill Loss of Innocence
Interview with Liz Miller
Liz Miller, who recently visited Denver and filled David B. Smith Gallery with a lively installation, agreed to do an interview with me about her process. Here is what we discovered. Becky Jewell: Your installation at David B. Smith was conducted with Clyfford Still in mind. Have you done other installations like this? Do your installations often take inspiration from artists or sites? Liz Miller: The work of other artists is certainly inspiring to me, but is not usually a direct source of inspiration for my installations. I am much more likely to find inspiration in non-art sources. I’ve recently been fascinated with weapons, and many of my proj...Read more
Vector-Voyeur, Andrew Bush
It’s been a long time since I’ve added a new member to my favorite photographer’s list, but Andrew Bush has succeeded in making his way, not only on the list, but in my top ten, with his Vector Portraits. I hope that I have translated my enthusiasm well. The series contains a simple objective, to photograph motorists travelling at 50 to 70 mph. The images were taken in the years between 1989 to 1997, in the Southwestern parts of the U.S. and the L.A. area, a most fresh recipe for some fly images.While observing each image, I think of perhaps a psychology, or sociology behind the wheel. What do these cars say about their drivers. My initial hypothosis is that this must be ...Read more
filed under: photography
tags: Andrew Bush Vector Portraits M + B Gallery Car Psychology Fruedian
Hit it Up: Current Must-See Shows
Great current and upcoming art happenings Current: Right now, you can check out Terminal Kings as it visits Denver. Watch street artists from LA as they do live art every day. Plus Gallery’s Frank T Martinez show is almost over, be sure to see it this week. This week and onwards: Be sure to check out this Friday’s opening at David B. Smith Gallery, featuring the work of Liz Miller. A sample of Liz Miller's installation work The Invented World, by Sandy Skoglund opens this Friday at Rule Gallery. You might know Sandy Skoglund by Fox Games, famously installed at the DAM. All the more reason not to...Read more
filed under: events
tags: Art Redline Sandy Skoglund Huma Bhabha Liz Miller Terminal Kings Street Art Denver
Awesome Comic Books
For those that don’t know, when I’m not at art shows, I work at a comic book factory. I read about 8 comic books a day. Rusty math skills reveal that this means I’ve read about 2000 comic books last year. Maybe that makes me an expert, or a total nerd, or both. But I’ve seen a lot of comics, good and bad, awesome and terrible. In my time at the comic book factory, I’ve read a few comics that are really pretty great, which you should check out. These books are not necessarily new, or super-cutting edge, they are just great: these comics are doing it right. Awesome Comic #1: Infinite Vacation In ...Read more
filed under: comics
tags: comics gunnerkrigg court tom siddell the walking dead robert kirkman charlie adlard christian ward image comics archaia art speigelman infinite vacation loose ends comic chris brunner
Complex Visions of Matthew Brandt
Matthew Brandt, an L.A. based photographer, works in an interesting process. Using a combination of both the image and the physical relationship that that image, as an object, has within our realm of physicality; the photograph as document, catalogues an existence, where as an object (or the object documented) is subject to time and decay. uh, so, for example...In his work, Taste Tests, Brandt uses the iconic image of Half Dome in Yosemite, and silk screens it using condiments such as Cheez Whiz, and Mint Jelly. In Brandt’s series Lakes and Reserviors, he photographs the landscape of various bodies of water, and then submerges the images in a wash of that water until the chemic...Read more
Adventures in Pixiv
Pixiv is the deviantArt of Japan. Except, it is better. Well, sort of. The cool thing about Pixiv is that its top-ranked illustrators eventually get to throw their own themed art shows, or they get to participate in an attractive, user-generated limelight. Online art communities that swiftly and obsessively encourage brick-and-mortar efforts are uncommon: it’s a business model that should, in effect, work wonders. But it is tough to pull off. Hoping to become more internationally-minded, I joined Pixiv last year to see how the community worked. Immediately I can admit that not everything on the site is clearly navicable for an American, ...Read more
Top Ten Colorado Art Happenings of 2011
It’s almost 2012, and 2011 was an incredible year for art in Colorado. Here’s the list of the best art events of the year. 1. Clyfford Still Museum Opening This museum was a long time in the making. Like the Rothko Chapel in Houston or the Georgia O’Keefe museum in Santa Fe, this Museum will make Denver into an artist’s new home. 2. Huma Bhabha at the Aspen Art Museum This exhibition has barely happened, opening on Dec 22, but it ranks high for 2011. Usually Bhabha does sculpture, but her works on paper hold a mysterious quality. The works seem classically modernist, and they involve a lot more than you w...Read more
filed under: art
tags: Huma Bhabha Xi Zhang Robischon Gallery BMOCA MCA Denver Plus Gallery Henrique Oliveira Jessica Moon Bernstein Ricky Allman David B. Smith Gallery Hermann Nitsch Clyfford Still Clyfford Still Museum
Ricky Allman at David B. Smith Gallery
Probably the best sense of what this show is all about is the cover image on Ricky Allman’s website, which identifies just how big these paintings are. David B. Smith gallery never disappoints. I feel that geometries are overdone in art currently, but I do not gather the “This has been done before” feeling from Ricky Allman’s work. This transcending of trend occurs in the scale of Allman’s work, the controlled palette, and the maximal style. There is much to be learned and explored in these canvasses: Allman shows us that he can not only paint expertly, but that he can create worlds, feelings, and fine orchestrations of shine and shado...Read more