Detail of “The Periodic Table of Elements,” left.
Found objects inevitably carry certain meanings and memories with them no matter how they are transformed and reused by artists.
Brought together as they are in a ruminative, nostalgia- tinged wall installation on view through Feb. 24 at the Edge Gallery, such a collection of things can hardly help but become something of a self-portrait, a window into the life and mind of the artist.
And so it is with Rian Kerrane’s “The Periodic Table of Elements,” a group of 103 9-inch-square panels grouped in the configuration of the periodic table, a visually and conceptually intriguing visual motif.
Kerrane, an assistant professor of art at the University of Colorado Denver, poetically describes each of these constructed drawings as combinations of “shards of intimate detritus.” Indeed, one panel carries the words “One Hundred and Three Intimacies.”
And there is a kind of domestic intimacy about these pieces, which bring together sheets of fabric and vinyl shelf coverings with everything from curlers and doll parts to rusted belts and plastic flowers.
“I could probably remember where everything comes from. Is that sad?” Kerrane said.
“The Periodic Table” debuted in 2004 at Artspace in Richmond, Va., and this is its first Denver showing.
– Kyle MacMillan
“The Periodic Table of Elements”
Art Edge Gallery, 3658 Navajo St. An installation of found-object drawings by Rian Kerrane, arranged in the configuration of the periodic table. Through Feb. 24. 7-10 p.m. Fridays and 1- 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Free. 303-477-7173 or .
