45 + Anniversary Exhibition Series: Part I

On the auspicious occasion marking over forty-five years as a contemporary art venue in Colorado, Robischon Gallery is pleased to present “45 +,” an anniversary exhibition series beginning with “PART I” in November of 2022, followed by “PART II,” opening in February of 2023.  The distinctive tandem presentations offer a unique glimpse into the broader spectrum of numerous noteworthy Robischon Gallery exhibitions. While touching upon a specific selection of the gallery’s far-reaching dialogues within art, the series symbolically features new and memorable archived artworks by several gallery artists in celebration of all of the exemplary artists the gallery has presented over its many decades-long presence in Colorado. “PART I” highlights the following twenty-nine regional, national, and internationally recognized artists in a blend of tangential or thematic modes of cross-cultural/political histories, symbiotic human relationships with Nature in form or narrative, as well as an exaltation of Nature’s beauty and issues of environmentalism.

Since its inception in 1976, Robischon Gallery has been producing museum-level contemporary art exhibitions for its audiences in Colorado and beyond. Embracing the ongoing pluralism in art, the exhibitions and artists represented and regularly exhibited, purposefully address a continuum of stylistic and contextual concerns, allowing for a diverse range of voices. Robischon Gallery’s expansive exhibition program maintains a commitment to burgeoning and mid-career artists of integrity and vision, while continuously broadening its list of historically significant artists shown to include Robert Motherwell, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Joan Mitchell, Richard Serra, and Christo, among many others. Robischon Gallery’s represented and exhibited artists of influence such as Judy Pfaff, Kiki Smith, Ann Hamilton, Enrique Martínez Celaya, John Buck, and Bernar Venet reaffirm the gallery’s vision to foster thought-provoking and meaningful progressions in contemporary art in a variety of art-making practices. The gallery has long been recognized for premiering important artists and exhibiting challenging forms of creative expression, as it continues to set bold new standards for contemporary art in the Mountain States region.

At this celebratory time, Robischon Gallery, in gratitude, wishes to offer its heartfelt acknowledgement of all of its artists’ remarkable inventiveness, dedication in the studio and loyalty to the gallery. Without the artists leading the way, there would be no story to tell, no inspiration, and assuredly, no gallery over all these years. In concert, the gallery also wishes to sincerely recognize the importance of those individuals who have chosen to generously support the artists and the gallery – whether it be private collectors, museum directors and curators, art advisors, art consultants, architects and the many colleagues in Denver, across the country and overseas, as well as each responsive exhibition visitor. Robischon Gallery owes its long presence in Denver to this exceptional patronage. It is also important to note those very special art writers who have made it their mission to enhance the local art community’s experience of art. Though the gallery has enjoyed coverage elsewhere, it counts itself as extremely fortunate to have been gifted, for the artists’ sake, a great deal of dedicated coverage in Denver since its earliest days. And finally, but no less important and critical to the gallery’s success, is its hard working, talented staff. To mount complex exhibitions at this scale, keeping each of the artworks safe, while being accessible to all those who cross the gallery’s threshold, virtually or in person, requires knowledge, skill, patience and a receptive attitude.

The artists on view and all acknowledged above ignite the true spirit of Robischon Gallery. At its core, this multi-decade anniversary series celebration, “PART I,” and the upcoming “PART II,” is a shared endeavor in devoted service of the importance and power of ART.  

 

LUIS JIMENEZ

“Art must function on many levels, not just one or two. The mechanics — color, form, etc., are important ingredients of art, but should not become ends in themselves. Art must relate to people. The most negated element or level in art now is the human one. Art should in some way make a person more aware, give him insight ‘to where he’s at’ and in some way reflect what it is like to be living in these times and in this place.”

 

 

PACO POMET

“Viewers encounter the subject of a painting and make their own decisions in the ways to experience it. I think a good painting can sometimes work as a mirror and possesses the ability to return the viewer to the reflection of his own fears and desires. The past is full of hints that can unveil the present. I have always thought that subjects and themes remain the same over centuries, and that human pursuits, aspirations and chimeras are cyclical.”

 

 

JERRY KUNKEL

“On good days, I believe we share a common appetite for self-reflection born of a collective and universal desire to comprehend, both physically and emotionally, the world around us. In that light, I am interested in our momentary reaction to everyday stimuli, that moment that summons a private response - a response that we may not feel compelled to share for a variety of reasons; perhaps because it doesn’t seem important, that our response is not fully formed, or we simply don’t care to think about why we really don’t care. Frequently we may perceive our first response to be simply unimportant, all too obvious, unoriginal, embarrassing, impolite, unnecessary, or just plain stupid. To respond may also cause us to question what we thought we knew to be true, verge on shameless sloganeering, or force us to take heed of yet another thing we seem to have taken for granted. However simple, self-protective, or diversionary the response, it can always be complicated upon closer examination, by changing a word, by questioning what we think we know and our attendant level of mindfulness, or by retracing our steps while trying to remember just where the f*** we left our keys.”

 

TOM JUDD

“I think my paintings are like hymns to the accepted myths of the American frontier and the mysterious landscape and people that we have steadfastly conquered. We have embedded ourselves – helping ourselves to the bounty of the land and beyond. I am interested in the chance associations which suggest something contradictory and hopefully create more questions than answers. It is this combining of collaged imagery that can trigger memories and thoughts, a kind of visual poetry that connects to our understanding of where we have been and who we are.” 

 

 

STEPHEN BATURA

“For the ten-year Charles Lillybridge project series, I’m trusting in the original imagery and following that, and I am not taking any liberties with it. I’m not trying to replicate any natural light, natural color. I’m really building these images from a palette that is arrived at through trial and error. I often don’t know what I’m seeing as I work. I just trust that I replicate those gray values in color. Lillybridge primarily recorded life along the river; the people who passed by, their animals and vehicles, construction workers at various locations and groups at leisure. There are celebrations, picnics, parades, crowded parks and empty bridges along with remote residences and downtown storefronts. I appreciate these modest and direct photographs, but my interest lies not in retracing the steps of the photographer or in documenting a past history, but in the common themes and recurrences of life – the work and diversions that persist and continue to define us."   

 

 

JOHN BUCK

“Cat’s Cradle is a perfect example of what I do. It shows the discovery of the New World, and that’s what inspired me. When I start out to make a work of art, I don't know where it’s going, I don't know what I’m going to find. And if you think about all the early explorers that’s all they were doing. They didn’t know where they were going, they didn't know what the conclusion would be, they thought they did, but when they got there most of the time, they were someplace other than where they started out. My sculpture is inspired by contemporary issues as well as primitive and folk art of many cultures. Wood carving and assemblage are found in practically all cultures, and I find the connection inspiring. My approach to sculpture is a combination of figurative and abstract compositions which represent the imagination as physical forms that combine the properties of balance and tension.”   

 

 

GARY EMRICH

“Like many artists who work across multiple mediums, I choose the process that will best represent the concept for each work. With So Many Windmills, the time-based medium of film suited my purposes to address the traumatic events of 2020. The pandemic, social justice demonstrations and law enforcement’s reaction were juxtaposed with an anxious and uncomfortable video of a woman and a rescue chair. By bringing these very different materials into direct contact with one another, I am raising questions about how we select and edit information to build the stories we tell about ourselves. I am interested in how and why humans endow certain objects, events, and images with special meaning. The things we choose to save shape how we view ourselves, and I often use found imagery to investigate how people create personal memories and collective histories from the countless objects and images we accumulate on a daily basis.”

 

 

WALTER ROBINSON

“The ideologies that govern us are mutable, open to questioning and interpretation. With this in mind, appropriating existing conventions of art history is one strategy I’ve used to compose work. The sculptures borrow from the genres of still life (nature morte), vanitas, and Memento Mori. These art forms were meant to remind people that life is transient, and that human behavior would be rewarded or punished in the afterlife by their behavior on earth. But they also documented the material richness of life and the expanding awareness of the larger world and its variety of fauna and flora even as there was always an underlying awareness of time passing and mortality.”

 

 

CHRISTIAN REX van MINNEN

“Within the context of my recent studio activity, this new painting, RAM blisters BOB blockage IN THE third chakra, represents one extreme position of all representational imagery. It is impulsively composed and carefully crafted. It is about staying close to intuitive whispers and not overthinking. Some after-the-fact anecdotes included vanity, autobiography, yoga, new ageism, spiritual fever, in addition to a reference, and tribute, to artist Damien Hirst’s sculpture For the Love of God. In my painting, Hirst’s skull object serves as my mask. The body is an imagined mirror-body, existing in a parallel dimension, but also a part of me, and mirroring psycho-spiritual processes happening within this dimension. So, in yoga class when they say to be ‘rooted’ with your feet, I’m imagining the mirror-body in the next dimension to be ‘rooting’ as well...something about rooting to the reptilian/bird brain. The tattoo in the third chakra backside says, ‘RAM RAM RAM,’ blistering and inflamed. It occupies the same space within the body/chakra as the character Bob, from the ‘Twin Peaks’ series. An old scar and old tattoo are dynamically charged by Ram Dass with the spiritual teacher’s new presence in the chakra. The black and white tile symbolizes a terrifying transcendence of duality, black/white, good/evil, life/death, vanity/humility, revealing healing fevers in other dimensions.”

 

 

JERRY KUNKEL

“My paintings speak to our individual appetite for self-reflection, born of a collective and universal desire to comprehend, both physically and emotionally, the world around us. Initially inspired by focusing on a primary image, I begin to investigate how I may be able to weave a narrative in a poetic or humorous fashion. Alternatively, I sometimes construct the work with no apparent end in sight and allow the consequent juxtapositions of images to create a narrative that is often a surprise even to me.”

 

 

DEBORAH DANCY

“As subtle as my abstract paintings can be, my figural ‘Oblivion’ series of works on paper and the related altered figurines are anything but. They are pointed, sardonic, and unapologetically political. Humor is a sharp tool in critiquing and dismantling idealized notions of the social, cultural, and historical narrative. Their transformative position argues for another outcome.”

 

 

KIKI SMITH

“When I was younger there was an external push to make things that ‘fit together’ and it wasn’t interesting to me. We’re all very contradictory in our being. I don’t want to make didactic work, or work that comes out of an agenda. You have to be like a lightning rod and catch as much static electricity, lightning coming through the atmosphere, and then ground it somehow in a form.

Tapestries are an incredible form. First, they blanket the world, they blanket walls. I went to Morocco when I was young and saw wall hangings that blanketed and protected and revealed the culture at the same time. And then the whole history of European tapestries is a completely insane history. It’s so fascinating. When I was about thirty, I went to Angers to see the Apocalypse Tapestry, (a large medieval series of tapestries) which were one of the best things I ever saw in my life. They still shock me every time I look at pictures of them. But I never really thought that I would have the opportunity to work with the form. Because of modern technology and innovations with Jacquard loom weaving and computers, it gave me the opportunity to use color, which is something that I was very shy about. I always found color very egocentric and so personal. It is so subjective that it made me nervous. (The tapestries) gave me color and the opportunity to make something in the form.” 

 

DAVID KIMBALL ANDERSON

“My distillations of culture and place evoke a sense of the ancient with messages of pure intent. The large, slender Buddha hand possessing a narrowed, gauged wrist hints at being part of something larger — a universal connection to the enormity of life and the compassion within it symbolized by the deity’s open hand. The Morris Graves-inspired fall leaf and celestial orb construction in the palm now embodies my personal vocabulary fully.”

 

 

DAVID ZIMMER

“Through my work I explore my relationship with nature, technology, memory, and dreams.  I bring together elements of the past, the present, and my idea of the future to create a place that seems nostalgic and vaguely familiar but has never existed. I endeavor to explore relationships between weight, gravity, magnetism, movement, and light. Where humans have introduced geometry into the landscape with structures like transmission towers, antenna, and bridge design, these spatial structures are often considered ugly and intrusive. But they show a strange beauty, elegance even, when they are seen in remote locations away from other human development.”

 

 

HALIM AL KARIM

“My entire life story can be understood through my photography and sculpture. From the time I was a young artist in Iraq, I determined the camera to be a truth seeker. The study of art was the only language that the government could not understand, and my father told me that through my photography, I could speak the truth. It is a slow but efficient process to change society and survive. People believe my works are political statements, but for me, in the end, I just want to free my soul and the souls of other people. We the people have to do something to liberate our souls – to feel justice. Even the most difficult struggles in life share the existence of hope and innocence.  Our eternal challenge is to recognize this reality and to see the presence of love reflected in all stages of the journey.”

 

 

STACEY STEERS

“I am interested in creative engagement with reality through the medium of memory, both as a social force involving shared symbols and artifacts and as an investigation of my own personal experience. Essentially, I view all of my films as different aspects of my own interiority. They are created intuitively and feel very personal in terms of what drives them. I have thoughts about relationships, aging, parenting and other themes close to my own experience, but never in a straight-forward or specific way. I want to leave the film open to interpretation and there have been plenty of those that surprised me. The process of creating a film has to occur in the context of a sense of spaciousness, where I feel a poetic freedom to consider many alternatives and playfully attempt a variety of approaches to a problem. In this sense, time is critical to the outcome. The objects present the film in a very different context. They allow for this interesting dialogue between scale and intimacy – they’re like keyholes – they draw you in.”

 

 

KAHN + SELESNICK

"We have always seen the intellectual as a master context-builder, a constructer of cathedrals of the mind, whether it be in fields of criticism, science, philosophy, etc. one can certainly admire the beauty of these edifices, but really the clocks can go overboard at any moment. Historically this was the role of the fool, which is why we think we are so drawn to absurdism in our work. The sublime functions in much the same way, and so also tends to be a running theme for us. In a world where personal and societal mythologies supersede facts, where the promise of virtual realities threaten to supersede the real thing, what better way to approach an uncertain future than through the arcane methods of augury and clairvoyance. After all, is not prophecy the original fake news?”

 

 

KIM DICKEY

"View from the Edge of the Field, a free-standing wall made of plate aluminum and clad with more than 15,000 glazed terracotta leaves, features a scene of running dogs traversing fields and stream, emerging from the leafy matrix of a wooded forest. The image, painted across a ‘field’ of three-dimensional quatrefoil ‘leaves,’ is collaged from numerous 15^th C. French tapestries of hunting scenes. In my reconstructed version, human actors have been removed allowing the dogs and their prey to run unhampered by human intervention. One in a series of tapestry-inspired wall sculpture, they foreground the background, recentering flora and fauna, the unseen details that typically serve as backdrop to the human action. Hinting at an elusive freedom within the confines of domestic spaces, these decorative traditions offer forms of escape and subversive content while beautifying the walls of confinement. Clad in variegated green quatrefoil, the opposite side is a hedge-like form reminiscent of a garden wall. Within this one sculpture I aim to suggest a suspended paradisiacal departure enacted by the escaping dogs, birds and rabbits within a flowery forest, and a boundary-defining green wall, like those which delineate gardens from their surrounding landscapes as enclosed and ‘protected’ spaces.”  

 

 

TRINE BUMILLER

“I purposefully titled the nest series paintings ‘Sheltering’ because I wanted to get away from the idea of just the nest and bring it into this larger topic of sheltering. It’s an easy cliche of an idea but it also really became important in my sense as a person in the world and how I see myself first of all being safe, but also as a mother nurturing, taking care of myself and other people, and how we all need to be aware of this feeling of comfort that’s really necessary when things are so chaotic out in the world.”

 

 

KAREN KITCHEL

“The mind envisions a painting; the body makes a painting. All along the way, I have tried to use my head as much as my eye or hand. I want to make smart, compelling, unexpected paintings of ordinary places, not glamorous, redundant landscapes we’ve seen so many times before. I am not depicting ‘nature’ instead I want to visually and critically examine the history of ‘landscape painting’ and our collective attitudes about it. What I find intriguing are the multiple realities of real places, and the romance that stubbornly persists even while those realities change and disappear. Tradition, change, and paint: this is a rich and enduring dialogue that keeps me working.”       

                       

CLAIRE SHERMAN

“My painting is less about representing a specific place, and more about how paint can create an experience of a space that is both alluring and terrifying. My interest is in a space that falls apart as it begins to congeal and questions our relationship to the conventions of landscape. The physical quality of paint is something I find very seductive. Paint has the ability to describe, fall apart, be chaotic, rigid, uncontrollable, fluid, and surprising all at once. I am a bit manic in the studio. Many of my paintings come together in a day with minor changes made after that initial burst of twelve to fifteen hours in the studio. So, the paintings that you see are mostly representative of that day’s struggles, successes, failures; when everything is wet, and anything is possible. It means that a lot is at stake, so the first day of painting is usually a whirlwind of joyful stress, pain, elation, fear, and exhaustion. I continue to work on the paintings after this initial long session, but the large decisions were made in the first day. Landscape has been presented in the same way across categories, so I wanted to try to upset this a bit and work with images that were more harsh, peculiar, and beguiling than those offered through standard representations of beautiful and sublime images of the landscape.”

 

 

NIKKI LINDT

“My paintings and drawings help me explore and reinterpret the time I enjoyed exploring the woods, climbing trees, avoiding the snakes and catching frogs in the streams of my youth. Never has the genre of figure and landscape been so critical and so urgent to my practice. Each painting portrays a fleeting, actively deconstructing moment within the natural world as portrayed in disintegrating parts, flowing or dissolving; the figure solid and seemingly permanent as it is buffeted by wind. In my mind, the figures are persistent strangers in nature, they don't seem to belong there or perhaps even know how they got there. Underground acoustics in the sound work series tell us a lot about the soils beneath us, but also about ourselves. Our human created sounds often affect this subterranean world in unexpected ways and places. The Underground Sound Project which runs through May 2023 in Prospect Park in NYC encourages you to explore this exciting and mysterious frontier but also asks you to slow down and listen deeply. And by doing so, gain a more intimate view and connection to the expansive world right beneath us.”

 

 

CHUCK FORSMAN

“I have always held a working assumption that art and nature are inextricably bound and must have sprung from parallel convulsions. Beauty and honesty are uneasy bedfellows. Still, I am trying to make honest paintings that are also beautiful.”

 

 

ELENA DORFMAN

“The seemingly ordinary sites, whose aggregate is mined until the earth has nothing left to give, have been a constant source of wonder to me. What began as a sociological exploration of the communities that gather at quarries to jump from rocky precipices into water, evolved into a study of these massive pits, often overlooked and unseen. Manipulating and reconstructing the landscape, I reassemble and layer the images emulating the natural process of stratum on stratum. As globalization and consolidation continue unchecked, the astonishing landscapes are transfigured – with landfills, golf courses, and exclusive housing communities – wherein the quarry water element has, ironically, been incorporated into the development as a scenic or recreational point of focus. When a quarry is re-appropriated, a landscape is destroyed. The images from ‘Empire Falling’ present the quotidian rock landscape in an unexpected way, such that the viewers’ perception is challenged not only by the imagery itself, but also by their own personal subjective relationships to industry and the evolving earth.”

 

DAIVID MAISEL

“Our infrastructure, our technology, our transportation systems, and even the medium of photography itself, are all reliant on metals extracted from the Earth’s crust in methods both brutal and complex. As citizens of an entrenched consumer society, we are collectively complicit in the creation of these depleted and damaged landscapes. These depictions of damaged wastelands, where human efforts have eradicated the natural order, are both spectacular and horrifying. Although the photographs are evidence of the devastation of these sites, they also transcribe interior, psychic landscapes that are profoundly disturbing. As otherworldly as the images may seem, they depict shattered realities of our own making.”

 

KEVIN O’CONNELL

“I find comfort in the forests, especially the few remaining old growth stands of the Pacific Northwest. Life is churning in such places and there is a green palette that soothes the eyes. These endangered habitats, away from the daily travails, remind of the nature of things beginnings/endings, order/chaos, temporality, reconciliation, and of course, life and death. It is a place I return to often in my mind, especially late at night on those occasions when sleep seems impossible.”