Decades : Featuring Judy Pfaff

DECADES" features ten internationally-known artists who were first shown in depth in gallery setting in the Rocky Mountain region at the Robischon Gallery. In addition to elaborate solo exhibitions, Robischon Gallery often premiered new bodies of work by the artists. Early in its history in the 1970s and 1980s, the gallery exhibited celebrated American artists Luis Jimenez and John Buck. Distinctive and socially-conscious, these progressive artists showed sculpture and works on paper containing themes both socially reflective and unique to the West. Another additional and noteworthy exhibition in the following decade in 1992 was an extensive exhibition of Australian Aboriginal artworks. The museum-caliber exhibit of Dream Painters from Central Australia – many of them now well-known – coincided with a prestigious exhibition on view concurrently at the Asia Society in New York.

By the mid-90s, Robischon Gallery was selected as one of three galleries in the country to work with the estate of pre-eminent, Abstract Expressionist artist Robert Motherwell. The gallery was the first selected to exhibit the artist's prints from his studio along with other unique works on paper. During this same period, world-renowned, site-specific conceptual artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude premiered an extensive exhibition of drawings for the proposed installation entitled, "Over the River: Project for the Arkansas River, Colorado." The large drawings and documentation photographs were simultaneously shown with many works from "The Gates: Central Park, New York City 1979-2005." The inclusion of "Over the River" drawings calls attention to the ongoing process from site studies to environmental impact statements still required for the project's approval.

In the late 1990s and on into the new millennium, Robischon Gallery featured pioneering, installation artist and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Judy Pfaff. In concurrence with "Decades," Robischon Gallery is pleased to present several of Pfaff's large-scale drawings that are linked to her successful New York run of "Buckets of Rain," an eccentric and engulfing installation exhibition which considered the eternal possibilities of light and dark; life and death. Several intimate, black and white drawings reminiscent of blueprints, botanicals or maps are also included.

Other past presentations included two solo exhibitions of innovative large-scale prints by internationally-known sculptor Richard Serra and several exhibitions of important work by American artist Manuel Neri. Neri first exhibited his large-scale sculpture and drawings at Robischon Gallery in 1992. The artist has recently been awarded the 2006 International Sculpture Center's Lifetime Achievement Award for his evocative, figural plaster and bronze works. Figure with Crossed Legs is a cast similar to the Denver Art Museum's Neri acquisition which is currently on view in the new Hamilton Building.

Noted French artist Bernar Venet began working with Robischon Gallery in 2005 in conjunction with his major commissioned works at the Colorado Convention Center and the Denver Art Museum's acquisitioned pieces. Here, Venet presented Denver with additional insight into his work through an extensive showing of bronze and steel sculpture along with works on paper from several different series.

In 2006, the gallery concluded its 30th year by featuring "Under the Radar," a critically-acclaimed exhibition of noted Chinese contemporary artists scheduled in association with the opening of the Denver Art Museum's new

Hamilton Building and "RADAR: Selections from the Kent and Vicki Logan Collection. Representative of the Chinese exhibition, Beijing artist Yu Fan draws on his nation's past for inspiration. Created from fiberglass and automobile paint, Tang Lady refers to a dynastic, ancestral tomb figure. The Luo Brothers combine images of Western money-culture with babies, the customary Chinese symbol of parental hopes. They powerfully signify the tension between official Party views and the developing entrepreneurial climate of Chinese capitalism.

"DECADES" selected artists have in their own right helped shape the dialog of contemporary art over the last thirty years. Robischon Gallery's anniversary show is meant to illuminate and reaffirm the artist's connections to Colorado audiences.