Yee Haw, Cowboys...and Girls. Contemporary Art says Howdy.

Last week began the annual Denver Stock Show.  As usual, it commenced with a parade involving several covered wagons, a variety of Western-style beauty queens, lots of people on horses wearing chaps and fancy hats, and, inexplicably, several old-school fire trucks.  There was also a somewhat unnerving mascot dressed as Woody the Cowboy.

As a huge crowd of pedestrians, some of whom possibly just got caught up in the shuffle on their way to lunch, stood around chatting and blocking traffic, a crowd of stampeding longhorns was shepherded down 17th Street by cowboys-and-girls (cowfolk? cowpeople?)

Suppressing an unexplained fear of farm animals, we braved the crowd and observed as the clamor moved uptown.  

The whole parade experience was extremely patriotic.  Pedestrians of all ages cheered and waved flags and cowgirls in fancy outfits smiled blindingly (and really, who isn't a sucker for a sparkly cowboy hat?)

All in all, an hour well spent.  

In honor of the stock show, Translations is currently featuring artists influenced by the culture of the American West.  The show is wide-ranging, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, jewelry and photographs, and showcasing both abstract art (traditional for Translations) and realistic work.  While the show certainly features traditional images of the west, bucking broncos are not the only offerings.
 rainbow-colored rust on an old Dodge

Bryan David Griffith
701 Dodge Print #3










an incredibly detailed rendering of Johnny Cash

Brian Curran
Johnny Cash










semi-abstract longhorn skeletons

Paula Hudson
17th Street Canyon






and traditional western landscapes approached in a thoroughly nontraditional manner give the show the element of surprise and open it up to viewers who may not necessarily be interested in conventional western art.  Even if Cowboys-and-Indians isn't your thing, there's probably something here for you anyway.  We love Bryan David Griffith's crazy colors, Paula Hudson's unusual approach to traditional subject matter, Jillian Pate's lace-like metal work, and the stunning digital prints done by Izah Gallagher.  (For the show's full catalogue, click HERE).  
Contemporary Western Art will be showing at Translations from January 6, 2011 - February 12.    

Do You Know Laura Carpenter? 100,000 People at D.I.A. Do.

Don’t worry - getting your work an audience of 100,000 people a day is simple. To accumulate this volume of viewers, you can either broadcast on the Times Square Jumbotron, which sounds costly, or you can get Denver International Airport to hang your work in one of its terminals.  Laura Carpenter, an artist with Translations Gallery since April of 2010, is taking the latter approach, participating in DIA’s Shows Promise, exhibited on level 6 of the Jeppesen Terminal East.  True, the airport is not a typical exhibition space for fine art, but it has proven surprisingly adept at housing the work of well known artists around Denver, allowing a massive audience to view the artwork each day as they mosey through the airport terminal (or sprint depending on how late they are for their flights and how long the TSA screening lasted).

Carpenter, a Colorado-based artist who is also a Masters of Fine Arts student at Colorado State University, is getting a huge amount of exposure from the Shows Promise exhibit.  The show emphasizes Colorado’s landscapes and history while providing artists seeking higher education with an audience of international viewers who get to see the work hassel-free as they travel across the terminal on one of those moving sidewalks.

Path

oil on canvas

2010

Carpenter’s work moves effortlessly between concrete objects and abstract images.  Her pieces are surprising and unexpected; partially realized representations of woods and houses are rendered in vivid colors that seem oddly at home in the work despite the noticeable contradiction of Carpenter’s bright blues and bold yellows with the muted

greens and browns typically imagined to be the base colors of the Colorado landscape.

Inside/Outside

oil on panel

2010

These works are a seamless combination of natural and imagined elements, combining traditional Colorado scenery with Carpenter's dreamlike execution, making her work fascinating to view.  Her work will next be featured in Translations Gallery’s upcoming Contemporary Western Art show, which begins January 6, 2011 and runs through February 12.

Shows Promise will be up in DIA until February 2011.

LoDo District Named One of Top 10 Neighborhoods for 2010

Translations Gallery is located in historic LoDo (Lower Downtown), one of the best neighborhoods in Denver. We were recently excited to learn that the American Planning Association (APA) just named LoDo District one of Top 10 Neighborhoods for 2010 under the Great Places in American program. APA recognized LoDo for its historic character, renovation of old warehouse buildings, support from current and former Denver mayors, and urban planning.

Translations Gallery moved to LoDo in 2009 for the neighborhood's historic nature, quality businesses including other art galleries, and top Denver restaurants. Gallery owner and LoDo District Inc. board member Judy Hagler comments, "We are excited to be part of this thriving neighborhood and will do whatever we can to continue to support the businesses and residents."

Read more about the APA's Great Places in America here.

Translations Gallery artist Jim Pittman has work in the Denver Art Museum

Translations Gallery's current exhibition of work by Jim Pittman and Mark Bowles is getting a lot of attention from both the press and the general public. Both artists create large scale, abstract, minimalist landscape paintings.

These too esteemed artists both have work in the permanent collection of the Denver Art Museum. While Bowles' piece, Intersection was recently acquired by the museum in 2009, Pittman's piece, Marble Canyon was accepted into the permanent collection in 2003. The museum stated "that the painting Marble Canyon was timeless and a perfect fit for them as it could be exhibited in either the contemporary or western collections" (from Denver Art Museum Press Release 12/03).

Translations Gallery is proud to display Jim Pittman and Mark Bowles together through the month of September. All work is for sale.

Image: Jim Pittman, Marble Canyon, acrylic on canvas, 54"w x 48"h

New Artist Cheryl Dietz Joins Translations Gallery

We are proud to announce that Cheryl Dietz is now a represented artist at Translations Gallery. In Cheryl Dietz’s work, orientation is not a rule. Her contemporary landscapes involve overlapping transparent images and multiple viewpoints. Invisible boundaries, transient exchanges, and the spaces in-between ordinary life intermingle with the textures of the Southwestern landscape and encroaching urban life. What is built, what grows, what is felt and what is imagined are all combined to express an environment of disruption and unpredictability. Dietz is interested in movements out of proportion, possibilities of unstable equilibrium and interpretations that are not to be found by simple observation. Cheryl is from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Translations Gallery currently has Cheryl's work on view. Her amazing 8ft x 8ft piece titled Midnight Burn will be on view for the month of October.

Image: Cheryl Dietz, Haughty Mangle, 36"w x 30"h, oil on canvas

We're a Best Bet in this Week's Denver Post

Denver Post Art Critic Kyle MacMillan chose our current exhibition, Mark Bowles and Jim Pittman as one of this week's Best Bets for Entertainment in Denver. Kyle noted that Mark Bowles is an emerging name in the Denver market. The Denver Art Museum recently accepted one of Bowles' pieces into their permanent collection.

Director of the Denver Art Museum's Petrie Institute for Western American Art, Thomas B. Smith states about Bowles' work, "Mark Bowles’ color fields celebrate the simplicity of the western landscape. He does not labor over specific locations but instead composes studio rendered impressions that have seared his consciousness and reflect the symbolic essence of place. His use of color and aesthetic nuances creates an intimate dialogue in which the viewer equally shares his delight for painting.”

Mark Bowles is showing alongside Boulder, Colorado artist Jim Pittman, who celebrates the Southwest landscape. While Mark Bowles is inspired by the plains, Jim Pittman is inspired by canyons, kivas, and other land forms that are present in the Southwest.

Images: (top) Mark Bowles, A Change of Seasons, 60"w x 48"h, acrylic on canvas
(bottom) Jim Pittman, Kiva, 60"w x 72"h, acrylic on canvas

See Rob Williams Aspens at Mateo Restaurant in Boulder, Colorado

Art by Colorado artist Rob Williams will be on display at Mateo Restaurant in Boulder, Colorado through mid November 2010. Mateo Restaurant features cuisine that is inspired by the Provence Region in Europe. The art on Mateo's walls is from the Aspens exhibition that was on view at Translations Gallery, a Denver art gallery, in July 2010. Several of Rob's floral pieces are also on display.

Mateo Restaurant's minimal and streamlined design are the perfect setting for Rob's work. The urban design also compliments the bold color palette and contemporary graphic quality of the pieces. (All artwork will be for sale while on view at Mateo Restaurant).

Image: Rob Williams, Suddenly I See, acrylic, ink and graphite on wood panel, 24"w x 69"