Trine Bumiller paints with a luminous and varied palette. Her subject forms found in nature such as shimmering river stones, a reflecting full moon and brilliant dogwood stems. Each work is composed of multiple and variously-sized canvases uniquely combined to further emphasize the artist’s ongoing visual themes addressing order and the organic; form and formlessness.
“The Blue Hour” refers to the cyclical transition times of each day that are neither total darkness nor full daylight. Bumiller’s explorations into this time of day reveals a monochromatic realm and offers a subtle shift in her work toward an increased depth of layering and sense of light in her canvases. Contrasting elements are unexpected yet contemplative. The work reveals a reinvigorated eye toward an increased depth of layering and sense of light in her canvases. Continue reading →
The best new gallery space in Denver is Plus Gallery at 2501 Larimer Street in the ballpark neighborhood. Owned by Ivar Zeile, the gallery has been operating since 2001, but moved into their new space (pictured below) in March.
On April 24, the gallery opened a solo exhibition of urban ambler Jean Arnold’s movement paintings.
“Onrush” is a series of oil paintings taken from Arnold’s sketchbook. When she travels, whether by bus or train, drawing allows her to gather visual information that is in a state of flux, contextualizing urban clutter. Arnold re-interprets her journeys on canvas, distilling specific portions of her sketchbooks into segments with cultural and compositional value. Her gestural techniques promote a broad, dynamic color range, converting her notes into forms that balance between the recognizable and the purely abstract. Several of the works on display were taken from sketches done during a previous visit to Denver. The work addresses issues of urban sprawl that are prevalent in cities like Denver and, as Arnold says, “essentially define our lives at this time.”
The geometric and colorful abstract paintings convey a dense layering of geography and complexity. Through her work Arnold breaks down barriers of time and space.
Arnold is currently in residence at RedLine an urban contemporary art laboratory in Denver. A talk with Jean in her studio at RedLine is tentaviely set for Thursday, May 7. She’ll present an artist talk in conjunction with her Residency at Redline next Friday, May 8th starting at 5:30pm, followed by a stroll over to Plus Gallery to hear her thoughts relating to the work on view here.
UPDATE: Jean Arnold will be in attendance Friday, May 1 at Plus Gallery. Plus Gallery will be open late till 8pm for First Friday.
Judith H. Dobrzynski takes the Denver Art Museum to task on her blog Real Clear Arts. She questions why the museum did not agree to host their former curator R. Craig Miller’s show “European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century.” An expansive exhibit she reviewed in the Wall Street Journal calling it “exactly the kind of show serious museums should be doing. It’s ambitious, it’s rooted in scholarship, it’s aesthetically interesting, and it’s displayed well.”
Read her full post by clicking on the hyperlink below:
The exhibit is currently on display at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and will travel the High Museum in Atlanta and perhaps a venue in Europe. The Denver Art Museum claims to be a partner in presenting this show, but according to Miller: “The Denver museum did not view his show as a big draw.”
So what does the museum consider a big draw? Well, Instead of a 250 item design exhibit that looks forward to where design is going, Denver Art Museum’s new design curator Darrin Alfred has put together a show currently on display that looks backward:”The Psychedelic Experience, Rock Posters from the San Francisco Bay Area, 1965-71.”
Other temporary exhibits at DAM this year? Charles M. Russell through September 2009 and a show called “New and Noteworthy: The Hopkins Family Quilt in Context,” through December 31, 2009. Wow! How exciting! I’m sure both of those will be “a big draw!”
Entering The Cell (The Center for Empowered Living & Learning) in Denver is like entering a high-tech prison. You step inside a room filled with screens and wait for the doors to slide closed behind you. Suddenly you are surrounded by images of Denver, the Civic Center plaza, bustling sidewalks on the 16th Street Mall, people going about their day, shopping, working, pushing baby strollers, enjoying a summer day in the park. Boom. An explosion. People running. Screaming. Smoke fills the air and bloodied body parts lie scattered around. Terrorism can strike anyone, anytime, anywhere, is the message.
Terrorism is the premeditated use of violence or the threat of violence targeting civilians or their property for political, religious or ideological gain. It is a tactic used to create an environment of fear, chaos and intimidation in order to further the terrorists’ objectives.
On the ground floor of the Daniel Libeskind-designed residences that occupy the spot across the plaza from the jutting planar angles of the Denver Art Museum, an art exhibit attempts to educate, empower and engage visitors about this difficult subject—terrorism. This state-of-the-art art show attempts to explain and define terrorism while tracing the tools, the money, the myths and the facts of terrorism. Continue reading →
I am in the process of preparing to moderate a symposium on contemporary architecture. Some would argue for context. Others for sensibility. When does architecture approach the condition of art? A 100-foot curve of glass curtain wall reads from the inside like a history of dental records. And the analogy’s not that far off. For what inspired Antoine Predock, the design architect for this town center without a town at Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol, was the geology of bone and fragment wrought on the sere yellow plains.
It wasn’t good news for development, though, in early March. Developers Forest City Covington laid off half, or 9 people, of their 18-number Albuquerque office. I overheard a conversation in which the actual number put as layoffs was 14. When these photos were taken around the last week of February the glass surface was being tested as a projection screen. I love the idea of a drive-in in the desert. And this is a grand building. A standalone.
A dare after a night out drinking with friends turned into media frenzy for Rachel Hultin a Denver real estate developer. Hultin launched a Facebook Page DIA’s Heainous Blue Mustang Has Got To Go in response to the Luis Jiménez sculpture “Blue Mustang” that greets visitors at Denver International Airport. The site has 10,406 followers. Hultin has been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and on CNN.com. A supporting Facebook page Support the Bad Ass DIA Mustang has only garnered 133 supporters.
However, since launching her campaign Hultin has changed her mind about having “Blue Mustang” removed. She now thinks that “pamphlets at the airport, and maybe education courses for airport bus drivers, could lead viewers into a deeper understanding of the horse and the artist,” she said to the New York Times.
Trine Bumiller Interval 2009 oil on canvas
