Thank goodness, not all art exhibitions are high-concept, super-serious affairs.Sometimes, it feels good to just take
a break and enjoy an unpretentious
presentation meant to be fun and
provoke a smile or two.
A light-hearted, family-friendly exhibition running through Oct. 27 at East End Applied Arts fits that bill nicely.
Titled “Over the Rainbow,” it pays tribute to – what else? – “The Wizard of Oz,” a beloved book and film adaptation that has spawned fan clubs, collectors and websites.
Gallery owner Kim Harrell asked a dozen artists from as far away as Scotland to create artworks in a variety of media that relate in some way to Dorothy and her magical journey to the Emerald City.
The exhibition contains more than 60 pieces in an unexpectedly wide array of media, including “I Wanna Go Home” by Phyllis Rider of Aurora, a small floor installation evoking the Emerald City and Yellow Brick Road in a kind of toylike, semi-abstract fashion.
The biggest surprise might be the jewelry, perhaps not the first medium that would come to mind in conjunction with an exhibition of this kind. Some of the most imaginative pieces are by Peggy Maloney of Mancos.
Notable examples include an intricately crafted pendant memorializing the Wicked Witch of the East – a pointed copper hat with a pair of silver shoes – and another pendant evoking the Emerald City and Yellow Brick Road.
Lynda Ladwig of Lafayette also pays tribute to the Wicked Witch of the East with a simple yet wonderfully witty sculpture about 6 inches tall, in which two scrawny legs with bright red shoes jut out from below the front of an archetypal house shaped in porcelain.
But perhaps the most memorable work is “It’s a Twister!” a three-part wall ceramic relief in which Ladwig has used a screenprinting process to re-create elements from the movie’s depiction of the violent tornado that carries Dorothy to the Land of Oz in her dream.
To avoid unfilled expectations, potential visitors to East End Applied Arts should be aware that it is not a swank, manicured space. It is located in a converted warehouse, and the emphasis is on the art and not fancy displays.
Colfax Avenue is not exactly the Yellow Brick Road but it will take visitors to this whimsical homage to one of the most popular movies of all time.
Victim of hype
It is not too far-fetched to conclude that the Denver Art Museum succumbed to hype this past summer, when it ran at least one full-page newspaper advertisement promoting a trio of old-master paintings on loan to the institution.
While enhancing the museum’s displays of the permanent collection with long-term loans like this one is almost always a welcome occurrence, it’s important to have a little perspective and not go overboard in extolling such temporary additions.
On view indefinitely are three works of varying quality. Although one piece, “Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge” (ca. 1603), was billed in the ads as a work by the great Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, its label tells a different story.
While the oil on canvas is a fine work, it is listed as “attributed to” Caravaggio, a significant distinction that means some experts have doubts that it is actually by the celebrated Italian master.
“Landscape with Cowherd Piping” (1649-50) is a wonderful, prototypical example by Claude Lorrain, but the unfinished “Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus” (undated) is hardly a major work by Nicolas Poussin.
While such loans, whatever their limitations, are certainly a boon to what is hardly the strongest collection in the museum, it benefits neither the institution nor the public to oversell them.
Although the museum’s Louvre exhibition is dominating the spotlight at the moment, several smaller exhibitions should not be overlooked.
“Capturing America’s Game,” a small group of historical baseball photographs and artifacts, runs through Sunday, and “Clyfford Still Unveiled: Selections From the Estate” has been extended through June 29.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675
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“Over the Rainbow” Art. East End Applied Arts, 1556 Florence St., Aurora. Twelve artists pay tribute to “The
Wizard of Oz.” Through Oct. 27 Noon
to 3 p.m. Wednesdays and noon to 5:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Free. 720-203-3575 or .
Three old-Master Loans Art. Denver Art Museum,
West 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock Street. Three loaned old-master paintings on display in the sixth-floor European and American galleries. Indefinitely. Free with regular museum admission. 720-865-5000 or .
