Classic scenes of the American West. Poignant meditations on China’s deadly 2008 earthquake. Provocative takes on space travel.
These groups of artworks are among the dozens on view along the Front Range, as museums and galleries finish off 2009 with some of their strongest and most appealing offerings of the year.
The exhibitions offer an ideal way to get out of the house and spend time with family and friends after the presents have been opened and the football broadcasts all start to blur together.
Here’s a look at five very different exhibitions on view at area museums during the holiday season:
In Loveland: The surreal deal
The Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali created some of the quirkiest and most iconic artworks of the 20th century. His fertile imagination, combined with his ability to merge his eccentric persona with his art, gained him enduring fame.
The Loveland Museum/Gallery, 503 N. Lincoln Ave., is presenting a quartet of exhibitions offering diverse takes on this complex artist. Central among them is “Dali Illustrates Dante’s Divine Comedy,” a set of wood engravings based on 100 watercolors illustrating verses in Dante’s epic.
Also on view is “Dali’s Vision,” a group of his book illustrations, as well as a selection of Philippe Halsman’s famous series of Dali portraits, in which the artist turns comedian, using his malleable, well-known face as a canvas of its own.
Through Jan. 31. Free. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. 970-962-2410; .
In the Springs: Atmosphere as art
In addition to sending astronauts to the moon and lofting satellites into space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has also been an active patron of the visual arts. The exhibit “NASA/Art: 50 Years of Exploration” shows the results of the agency’s inspiring efforts.
NASA established its little-known art program in 1962, inviting artists and musicians to chronicle in their distinctive ways the hundreds of projects the agency has undertaken and the people who have made them a reality.
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., is displaying 73 of the resulting works in a range of media, including examples by such notables as Annie Leibovitz, Nam June Paik and Andy Warhol.
Also on view in subsidiary exhibitions are Denver artist Monica Aiello’s evocations of the geology of Jupiter’s moons, Europa and Io, and Vance Kirkland’s fanciful representations of cosmic phenomena.
Through March 7. Opening reception 5 to 8 p.m. today ($15, $5 members). $10. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. 719-634-5581; .
Downtown: Charles M. Russell
Although Charles M. Russell stands alongside Frederic Remington as one of the two best-known painters of the American West, his artistic legacy has never received the comprehensive examination it has deserved until now.
Joan Troccoli, senior scholar in the Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute of Western American Art, led a team of scholars in assembling an authoritative retrospective, titled simply “The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell.”
This handsome offering, which will travel to the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa and Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, contains 60 key Russell works in oil, bronze and mixed media, including some that have rarely if ever been loaned previously.
Through Jan. 10. Free with regular museum admission. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. 720-865-5000; .
In Fort Collins: Retaking a tragedy
Part of an extraordinary crop of artists and musicians who emerged after the end of China’s Cultural Revolution, the painter Hung Liu immigrated to the United States in 1984 and has taught at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., since 2001.
She employs a loose, agile style to create paintings that combine past and present, dreams and reality, symbols and ciphers into complex, evocative compositions with visual and emotional impact.
In her latest body of work, a dozen examples of which can be seen at Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, 201 S. College Ave., Liu offers redemptive reflections on the massive 2008 earthquake in China. Documentary glimpses at the devastation merge with Buddhist symbols and other poignant metaphors.
Through Jan. 2. $5, $2 seniors and free for students and children. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays. 970-482-2787 or .Downtown: DAM’s big show
For “Embrace!” the Denver Art Museum, West 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock Street, has brought together an impressive assortment of edgy works by 17 international artists, ranging from rising stars to blue-chip names.
Each was asked to create a custom-made installation that responds to the sharp angles and sloping walls of the jutting, faceted Hamilton Building, a $110 million expansion designed by architect Daniel Libeskind.
The exhibition, which is spread across the structure’s four floors, is the largest and most ambitious contemporary art exhibition at the museum since “Landscape as Metaphor” in 1994.
Through April 4. Free with regular museum admission. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. 720-865-5000; .
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
