Art galleries and museums keep life interesting in Colorado and — in the late summer months — they keep it cool, too, offering climate-controlled diversion when the weather heats up. Here are five shows at spaces big and small, nonprofit and commercial, that will help you stay shaded and stimulated through August and beyond.
“John E. Thompson and Colorado Modernism,” Denver Art Museum, through summer 2028
Museums have responded to the state’s sesquicentennial with a slew of exhibits celebrating Colorado artists past and present. None are as legit as the Denver Art Museum’s retrospective of John Edward Thompson, who was born in 1882 and died in 1945. Thompson was a prolific and talented painter and is credited with introducing modern art to the region, though he never got the widespread acknowledgment he deserved as a ground-breaking figure in the genre. Rather than being a tacit nod to our 150th birthday party, this show provides new information to the public and serves as a fresh source of local pride. Plus, it brings together a body of work that visitors are likely to appreciate — images of old-school Western landscape rendered with the sort of free hand that artists were still only experimenting with in the first half of the 20th century.
DAM is located at 100 W.14th Ave. Pkwy. Info: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.
“Sites of Memory,” Colorado Photographic Arts Center, August 7- Sept. 9
The Denver Public Library is building some drama over this year’s selection for the One Book One Denver citywide reading project, withholding the title until a public unveiling on August 7. But the corresponding art exhibition, “Sites of Memory,” is already lined up at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, and ready to be officially open for viewing the same day. The show, curated by CPAC director Samantha Johnston, features five national artists — Harlan Bozeman, Justin A. Carney, Taylor E. Edgerton, and Letitia Huckaby — each with a distinct way of capturing the world. What the photos do have in common is a realistic take on urban life that seems to embody some mysterious narrative of the subjectap personal story. One example: Harlan Bozeman’s black-and-white portrait of a young man, with a slightly intense countenance, gazing directly into the camera. Itap one of those images that inspire deep thought — and perhaps deep reading — from viewers who just might wonder what the backstory is.
CPAC is located at 1200 Lincoln St. Itap free. Info: 303-837-1341 or cpacphoto.org.
“Colorado Currents,” through Nov. 1, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.
The MCA Denver spent many years focusing its best efforts on national artists, leaving other museums to showcase local favorites. That has shifted in a big way these past months as exhibitions have emphasized Colorado creatives working in the museum’s own backyard. Itap a big and welcome shift that goes into overdrive with “Colorado Currents,” one of several shows across the region commemorating the state’s 150th year. Rather than giving any single painter, photographer or installation maker the spotlight, the exhibit mashes together a whopping 28 artists whose output, seen as a unit, “considers how historical legacies shape the present while imagining ideas that may influence Colorado’s future,” as the museum’s corresponding text explains. The cross-generational exhibit covers a multitude of media and speaks to the moment, with topics that explore indigenous communities, the history of labor, wildlife, drought and — that old Western favorite — landscape. Itap a catch-all that allows the exhibit to be something of a variety show. The extravaganza features familiar Colorado names, like Floyd D. Tunson, Carlos Frésquez and Margaret Kasahara, but also newcomers who are shaking up gallery walls in the present, like JayCee Beyale and Lydia Farrell.
The MCA is located at 1485 Delgany St. Info: 303-298-7554 or mcadenver.org.
“Resolution,” Nick Ryan Gallery, August 8- Sept. 19
In the past two years, Nick Ryan Gallery has emerged as one of Colorado’s more important commercial art spaces, bringing before the public a well-curated mix of both national and regional artists with progressive ways of making work. The soon-to-open “Resolution” promises to keep that balancing effort alive — and interesting. Leading the roster is the Boulder-based design duo Berger & Föhr, who create monochromatic, grid-based works (with the help of machine thinking) that reference 20th-century minimalism but substitute emotion and human curiosity for the traditional coldness the genre is associated with. That work is paired with oil paintings by San Francisco–based Daniel Chen, who is also interested in geometry but, in his case, with an abundance of color. Chen’s work mesmerizes viewers with patterns that shift dramatically in both shape and shade. They are logical works that speak with a loud voice.
Nick Ryan Gallery is located at 1221 Pennsylvania Ave., Boulder. Itap free. Info: 303-918-4858 or nickryangallery.com.
“Pistil Forms,” David B. Smith Gallery, through Aug. 15.
There is a long line of artists who have built their reputations by creating images of America’s Southwest, and some of them — like Georgia O’Keeffe and Agnes Martin — became global superstars. Itap a legacy that inspires contemporary painters — like Esteban Cabeza de Baca and Heidi Howard — to create their own scenes of the treasured landscape, but in more contemporary, 21st-century styles. The hard-working painters are paired in a pop-up show at David B. Smith Gallery in Lodo, giving local art fans a chance to go deep on their talents. Similar to their predecessors, both of these artists indulge in presenting the details of nature, loading up their canvases with scenes of abundant flora, rocky cliffs and wide open skies. But they also make things personal, recognizing that plants and flowers have their own living spirits and personalities, and allowing their individual relationships with nature, weather and travel to come through in the work. They represent the best of a new generation.
David B. Smith Gallery is located at 1543 Wazee St. Itap free. Info: 303-893-4234 or davidbsmithgallery.com.
