Spring is flinging into Denver’s art ecosystem in a surprising number of ways. There are gallery shows by established Colorado favorites, but also a good number of exhibits that reveal some new talents emerging locally, and also a few choice opportunities to engage art outdoors. Here are some places to start.
Angel Ricardo Ricardo Rios
K Contemporary Gallery, May 9-June 27
Angel Ricardo Ricardo Rios does not think of himself as a painter, even though he makes — and is currently exhibiting at K Contemporary gallery — oil-on-canvas works. Instead, he positions himself as “a man who paints,” choosing to work outside of the art world’s usual professional categories, using brushes but also drips and fingers to apply his colors. That approach frees him from expectations and allows him to create abstract, free-wheeling works that serve as a disconnected narrative of his own life. And what a colorful life it is, according to these objects: broad fields of earthy oranges and purples overlaid with splashes and lines of whites, yellows and pinks that resemble birds and flowers and other (possible) imagery. Itap all complicated, and captivating.
Info: 303-590-9800 or kcontemporaryart.com
Denver public art tours
May and June, various locations
Even the best public art can disappear into the background of a city — unless the people who paid for it engage and appreciate the objects over time. To that end, the city of Denver keeps its collection interactive by offering a series of free tours in which the citizens can go deeper into the history and meaning of the works they encounter in their daily lives.
The Arts & Venues department is pushing five new, free tours this summer — and they cover a lot of ground. One focuses specifically on the Denver Performing Arts Complex, starting with one of the stars of the show, artist Fernando Botero’s popular bronze “Man, Woman” sculptures that greet visitors to the cultural center. There are also tours focusing on the wider Denver Theatre District, 16th Street and City Park. More adventurous art fans can opt for a version that takes place on bikes.
The tours are available through May and June, and spots are limited. The city asks that participants register in advance through the website.
Info: denverpublicart.org/tours
Anthony Porcaro
“Observer Effect,” Edge Gallery, May 8-24
Anthony Porcaro is an art teacher at Arvada West High School, but he also has an alternative practice as a photographer who makes surreal black-and-white images through a unique process. His first-ever solo gallery exhibition is happening May 8-24 at the Edge space in Lakewood.
Porcaro describes his art as exploring “the tension between photography as a document of truth and photography as a construction of fiction,” and so he creates fictional scenes, building very small but hyper-accurate dioramas and then taking photos as a way of “validating” them as real objects. Porcaro taps vintage photo-making methods, such as using a large-format camera and a development process that leaves chemical deposits in the final print. The imagery itself is a bit mysterious, blurring lines between indoors and outdoors, between the real world and the dream world.
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Members Showcase
Chicano Humanities Arts Council, through June 20
The Chicano Humanities Arts Council — better-known as CHAC — prides itself on being “Colorado’s oldest Latinx nonprofit art organization.” The cultural group has been around since 1978, surviving on the good intentions of showing and preserving local culture — and because of the hard work of its members who stick to the cause.
Those members get the opportunity to exhibit the art they make with this event, which takes up the council’s Santa Fe Drive storefront space for eight weeks. The lineup shows the diversity that exists within CHAC’s ranks, with artists spanning both genres and generations. Some of the names: Joe Ned Martinez, Aqua One, Maru Hernandez, Christopher Hoppe, Veronica Herrera, Rebecca Rozales and Maya Gurarie.
What they all have in common is a populist bent that is meant to show Latinx culture in ways that viewers can relate to personally. Itap art “for the people, by the people,” as they say, borrowing a familiar phrase that feels particularly relevant for members of a group whose primary goals include education.
Info: 720-573-3933 or chacgallery.org
Three solo exhibitions
Robischon Gallery, through May 30
Robischon is a commercial gallery, but anytime I go there it feels more like a visit to a contemporary art museum. Itap not just the quality of the offerings, which is as good as it gets in Colorado. Itap more about the elegant and thoughtful presentation of the work. Robischon’s solos capture important phases in the careers of its artists while supplying plenty of text backup to put the work in context for the public.
Currently, three of Robischon’s stars are on display, starting with “Dark Matter” from the duo of Kahn + Selesnick, who have been creating together since they first met in the 1980s. The show is a multimedia narrative that makes references to mythology, science, theater and more. Itap a trip, and it requires a little bit of looking to fully grasp their intentions.
Next up is Boulder artist Stacey Steers, who works in both still images and video. Steers’ raw material is vintage films, featuring stars of early cinema, but she always commands things in her own dreamy directions, turning them into mediations on art, feminism and deep psychology.
Finally, “And All the Meadows Wide” provides an update on ceramicist Kim Dickey, who also lives in Boulder and shows internationally. Dickey is known for creating meticulous landscapes mirroring medieval tapestries, but this work feels looser, more at home, with a series of glazed porcelain vases as the centerpiece. The works have classical shapes and auras, but they are realized as stripped-down, abstract objects that can also be described as fully modern.
Info: 303-298-7788 or robischongallery.com
