July 26, 2014 Art Around Denver

Recently I got to see two shows right before they closed.  However, they are worth mentioning.  Six Faces of Eve, Variations On a Shared Language, at ArtHaus featured six women artists using a great variety of media.  Inspired by poetry from Jane Evelyn Atwood’s April Hill Too Much Time, Women In Prison,  Susan Brooks stitched textile, Women In Prison, was a very powerful piece. Her choices of color, line and texture clearly communicated frustration and despair.

Detail

Brooks’ Open Window, also inspired by a poem, Rushing Water by Chara DeWolf, had a completely different sensibility of energy and hope.

Also in this show were ceramic sculptures by Leona Lazar.  Change clearly showed the effort and struggle involved in that process. 

Another example of Lazar’s work was Wonder Woman: Every Woman Kali.  This Kali is certainly a more benevolent-looking version than others I’ve seen.

At Ice Cube Gallery recently were two one person shows by Laura Phelps Rogers and Sarah Rockett.  Rogers work, Wash, Rinse, Repeat is a continuation of theme from a previous show, Woman’s Work Is Never Done.  Common experiences of women are expressed, some with humor about the tedious nature of women’s work and others with a haunting feeling of time passing and nostalgia.  The laundry in the lower photo had a wall mural and sheets blowing in the wind (by a fan) which was very effective.

A concern with fear in American culture and inspired by horror films, Rockett’s show, Gut Feeling,  uses line, mark and shape to contrast between quiet and disquieting elements and both soft and prickly elements  to explore misconceptions about fear.  The rough stitching, like surgical sutures, while uncomfortable is softened by the playfulness of polka dots and stripes.

Gut Feeling, No. 1 Ink on duralar

Intentacles-Fabric, stuffing, wire, chain, meat hooks

Detail

Fight or Flight, Insulation foam, spray paint, twine, rope, chicken wire

Detail

A must-see show now at the Denver Art Museum is Beyond Pop Art: A Tom Wesselman Retrospective on until mid-September.  No photography is permitted but much of his work is familiar.  However, I was quite unprepared for the scale and scope of his work.  Having only seen his work in books previously, I was amazed to find that works I had thought to be two-dimensional were actually three-dimensional and enormous.  The show does an excellent job of tracing his development from drawings and collage/paintings to paintings to the huge metal constructions of his later years.  Take the time to look in the cases and read some of the intriguing correspondence between Wesselman and MOMA on the subject of his black aluminum “drawing.”  And also his letters to major manufacturers such as Coca-Cola asking for models of the objects featured in their advertisements.

However, photography was allowed in the family interactive area of the museum where Jason Rogenes was showing V3H1CL3, 2014.  Using reclaimed cardboard and styrofoam packing materials, he created an environment for soundscapes.  The sound created by moving “asteroids” on an Astralagus table is very meditative and a little bit like being in an echo chamber.  I forgot to photograph the table but the “asteroids” were smallish solid white shapes and you can see one in the corner of the first photo.  This exhibit will be up for some time and is fun and thought-provoking for kids and adults alike.