New York and Los Angeles are not quaking in their boots. But make no mistake, Denver’s visual arts scene is enjoying a dramatic upswing and getting noticed nationally.
In the past month alone, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver marked the first anniversary of its sleek new building. RedLine unveiled a $2.5 million studio and exhibition space east of downtown, and Gallery T opened with big ambitions on Santa Fe Drive.
These bold new spaces, along with other additions to the scene, have allowed for what might be an unprecedented convergence of major contemporary art shows in Denver, with such art-world heavies as Ann Hamilton, Damien Hirst and Daniel Richter all showing here at once.
Here is a quick overview of eight of the most eye- catching offerings on view now:
Damien Hirst, through Aug. 30. Say what you will about him, but it’s impossible to deny his standing as one of the most sought-after if controversial artists of our time. Who else could sell $200.7 million in art during a two-day auction at Sotheby’s in London, as he did in September?
The MCA scored a coup by pulling off a small yet revealing show with four major examples of Hirst’s work, including “Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain” (2007), a bull pierced with arrows and submerged in a glass vitrine filled with formaldehyde.
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, 1485 Delgany St. $10, $5 students and seniors. 303-298-7554 or .
Hirst and Jeff Koons, through Dec. 20. Gallery T, an ambitious new commercial space in the ArtDistrict on Santa Fe, wanted to open last week with a bang and also piggyback on the Hirst showcase at the MCA.
To that end, its inaugural exhibition features seven big-dollar multiples by Hirst and Koons, fellow art-world bad boys who have capitalized on the Warholian notion of the artist as superstar-celebrity.
Gallery T, 878-2 Santa Fe Drive. Free. 303-893-0960. Website in development.
Daniel Richter, through Jan. 11. This fast-rising German artist has made a big impression on the international scene with enigmatic narrative canvases that draw on myriad sources of inspiration and exhibit a virtuosic range of paint-handling techniques.
A midcareer survey at the Denver Art Museum, a modified extension of a touring show originally organized by the Hamburg Kunsthalle in Germany, is the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States.
Denver Art Museum, West 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock Street. Free with regular museum admission. 720-865-5000 or denver .
Jonas Burgert, through Nov. 23. If one German painter is good, two must be better, right? Burgert, who is also gaining the attention of international collectors and curators, employs eye-grabbing technical facility to create complex worlds that mediate between the real and unreal.
As part of a collaboration through Contemporary Art Colorado, the University of Denver’s Myhren Gallery is presenting Burgert’s first university exhibition in the United States — a cross-section of his recent works.
DU’s Myhren Gallery, Shwayder Art Building, 2121 E. Asbury Ave. Free. 303-871-3716 or du .
Ann Hamilton, through Nov. 22. In 1999, Hamilton was chosen to represent the United States at the influential Venice Biennale — one of the most coveted honors that can be bestowed on an American artist.
Following her participation in Dialog:Denver in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention, the Robischon Gallery is spotlighting her with a solo exhibition of photographs, prints, sculptures and video installations.
Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee St. Free. 303-298-7788 or .
“through a glass, darkly,” through Jan. 16. While RedLine’s debut exhibition comes off as somewhat disunified and diffuse, it is impossible not to credit the ambition behind it and acknowledge a few of the significant works in it.
With her vision sometimes outstretching the show’s small scale, German freelance curator Jenny Schlenzka assembled conceptual pieces by six artists that reflect key trends in the vanguard of contemporary art — the kind of work that needs to be shown here more often.
RedLine, 2350 Arapahoe St. Free. 303-296-4448 or redline .
Ernest Blumenschein, through Feb. 8. While the peak of Blumenschein’s career came in the first half of the 20th century, the sociopolitical underpinnings of his work and his ability to merge past and present have a undeniable contemporary resonance.
This sweeping retrospective, the largest and most comprehensive ever mounted, offers a fresh look at Blumenschein and gives him his due as an essential figure in the totality of 20th-century American art.
Denver Art Museum, West 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock Street. Free with regular museum admission. 720-865-5000 or denver .
“In Plain Sight: Street Works and Performances, 1968-1971,” through Jan. 4. The performance works of the 1960s and ’70s, which helped redefine what art could be, continue to exert an influence several decades later.
The show’s organizer, veteran New York art critic and author John Perreault, chose Denver for what is one of the first in-depth examinations of this small but important segment of art history. It’s an unlikely must-see.
The Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar, 404 S. Upham St., Lakewood. $5, free for students. 303-934-1777 or belmar .
