10/4/20 review of traveling exhibition Art AIDS America

Here is the link to my October 4, 2020, Twitter thread about the traveling exhibition Art AIDS America, curated by Jonathan David Katz and Rock Hushka.

As I mentioned before, this exhibition stirred up a lot of emotions in me, which I am to this day still trying to process. I could imagine myself doing at least two more threads about this exhibition... someday.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

7/18/20 survey of online info for the exhibition Art AIDS America

Here is the link to my July 18, 2020, Twitter thread review of the traveling exhibition Art AIDS America.

I spoke about this exhibition a number of times over the course of 2020. It first got my attention in 2015, because it was a huge exhibit about AIDS art. It then got my attention because the Tacoma Action Collective protested it, since only 4 of the 100-plus artists were Black. When I first heard of the protests, I thought they were great.

I thought this exhibition would be really interesting to study, like I was studying other traveling exhibitions. But the history of this exhibition, as you will see, raised a lot of emotional turmoil in me -- some related to my own emotions about AIDS (my big brother died of AIDS in 1994), and some related to my own weird reaction, much of it racist, against the Tacoma Action Collective.

I tried again and again to reconcile my emotions and write a really good, logical thread about this show. But I failed each time.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

4/19/20 review of the traveling exhibition Splendour and Misery/Easy Virtue

Here is the link to my April 19, 2020, Twitter thread review of the traveling exhibition that went under the names Splendour and Misery: Pictures of Prostitution, 1850-1910 and Easy Virtue: Prostitution in French Art, 1850-1910.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

4/5/20 review of the traveling exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power

Here is the link to my April 5, 2020, Twitter thread review of the traveling exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, based on all of the online information provided by the institutions that hosted the show.

This is definitely one of my favorite threads that I've ever written.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

2/6/18 review of artwork by Megan Angus

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of a work by British high school artist Megan Angus.

The thread discusses how I came to learn of this artwork and why I decided to buy it.

The story of Angus's piece can be found here. Basically, Angus was a high school student in the UK when she made the artwork above. The school censored the work, but claimed that it was not censored because of its lesbian imagery, but because the imagery was too provocative for other students to see.

However, this was happening at a time when other students' free speech, in junior high and high schools in the UK and US was being greatly challenged -- specifically because the schools were worried that any type of LGBTQ speech would be too provocative for other students to hear.

I bought the work, hoping I could rally Denver's art community around it -- especially Denver's LGBTQ art community.

However, as I've mentioned many times before, Denver's art community (and parts of Denver's LGBTQ community) were pushing really hard to ostracize me from just about anything they could. As a result, I was never able to do much with this work -- though I am still hoping to get it shown somewhere -- both to promote Megan Angus's wonderful skill and to raise awareness about LGBTQ youth issues.

12/10/17 discussion of media as seen through some works of art

Here is the link to a Twitter thread I did in December of 2017 connecting some thoughts I'd had after seeing the documentary OJ: Made in America, the film Manifesto, and the Getty Museum exhibit Breaking News.

I had been wondering, after seeing Alfredo Jaar's work Untitled (Newsweek) at the Getty, about how its themes seemed to contrast with those of OJ: Made in America. So in my thread, I question how the Getty exhibit and the two films I discuss explore how media "works" and how it is "broken." I also explore my own comfort levels with media, and how that influences my thoughts about these questions.

Unfortunately -- yet again, this is another thread that has been twisted around so much by Twitter's platform (all of the tweets being strung out of chronological order) that it is somewhat difficult to read.

5/17/15 review of RedLine Denver's Spring 2015 EPIC show

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of RedLine Denver's Spring 2015 EPIC Arts show.

RedLine Denver's EPIC Arts program is one of my favorite things about Denver. RedLine's studio artists participate with schools around Denver to create socially-themed conceptual art works. It's incredible.

My Twitter thread discusses EPIC Arts' philosophy, as expressed by Robin Gallite. I also gave a good deal of pictures from the show. A lot of great work was on display there.

Here is the link to RedLine's page for its EPIC Arts program.

5/17/15 review of MCA Denver's Thief Among Thieves and Kim Dorland exhibits

(Image source: https://mcadenver.org/exhibitions/thief-among-thieves)

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the Thief Among Thieves and Kim Dorland exhibits at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.

My Twitter thread review gives some details on the shows. It discusses my then-budding interest in the uses of and emphasis on technique in contemporary art. It discusses the work of Shannon Ebner but doesn't show photographs. It gives photos of the works of Zach Reini, Raqib Shaw, Matthew Brandt, Amber Cobb, Amanda Ross-Ho, Ed Fornieles, and Kim Dorland.

Here is the link to the MCA Denver's page for the Thief Among Thieves exhibit.

Here is the link to the MCA Denver's page for the Kim Dorland exhibit.

12/3/15 review of Denver Art Museum show Wyeth: Andrew and Jamie in the Studio

(Image: Jamie Wyeth's Twin Houses, from Denver Art Museum website, via UMB Financial Corporation Fine Art Collection)

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the Denver Art Museum show Wyeth: Andrew and Jamie in the Studio, which I believe was curated by Timothy J. Standring.

Wyeth: Andrew and Jamie in the Studio compares the work of father and son painters Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. My thread shows a lot of pictures of the work on display in the show. I discuss the varying styles of Andrew and Jamie. I discuss their different approaches to subjects. I discuss Andrew's drybrush and tempera styles. I discuss Jamie's visceral approach, including his use of cardboard as a canvas. And I discuss some erotic aspects of Andrew's and Jamie's works, including their nudes.

Here is a link to the Denver Art Museum's page for Wyeth: Andrew and Jamie in the Studio.

8/2/15 review of Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center show Eloquent Objects

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the 2015 show Eloquent Objects at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

The Fine Arts Center's show Eloquent Objects explored how Georgia O'Keefe and her contemporaries used still-life paintings to interprest the Southwestern United States. My Twitter thread includes some photos (taken off the internet, as photos were not allowed in the exhibition) of works by O'Keefe, Joseph Henry Sharpe, and Gustave Baumann. I also took some pics of other works in the museum, such as some crucifixes and a John Singer Sargent painting.

Here is the link to info about the Fine Arts Center's Eloquent Objects exhibition.

7/25/15 review of Momoyo Torimitsu presentation at the Dikeou Collection

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of a 2015 "video dialogue" based on the work of Momoyo Torimitsu at the Dikeou Collection.

The Dikeou Collection has two large, inflatable bunnies made by Momoyo Torimitsu on display. They are some of my favorite works at the Dikeou. The Dikeou's video dialogue series takes works on display at the Dikeou as starting points for an evening of videos. My thread discusses videos such as Richard Serra's and Carlota Fay Schoolman's Television Delivers People, Venus Angelic's Chubby Bunny Challenge, and Blackrose20's Watership Down -- The Fear Edit. I also give a full list of videos presented that night.

Here is the link to the Dikeou Collection's website.

Here is a video of Venus Angelic's Chubby Bunny Challenge.

Here is a video of Serra's and Schoolman's Television Delivers People.

7/25/15 review of Leon Gallery show East of L.A./West of Tehran

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of Leon Gallery's 2015 show East of L.A. / West of Tehran.

This was a group show of work by four Iranian-American artists: Arya Ghavamian, Laleh Mehran, Justin Mashouf, and Amiti Motevalli. The work ranged from photography to video animation to video. My Twitter thread discusses some of the themes of the works. There are some photos -- though not as many as I'd like to have posted.

Leon Gallery is definitely one of the best art galleries in Denver, Colorado.

7/19/15 review of Chad Dawkins talk at the Dikeou Collection

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of a Dikeou Collection talk with Chad Dawkins regarding his book The Role of the Artist in Contemporary Art.

Chad Dawkins is an artist and critic. He's also the curator and director of exhibitions at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio. My Twitter thread discusses how Dawkins has explored the role of different participants in the process and experience of art, such as the subject, the curator, and the artist. It also discusses some of the conclusions Dawkins has drawn over the years by examining these different roles, as well as the possibility of the specifications of roles breaking down.

Here is the link to the Dikeou Collection's website.

Here is the link to the Amazon page for Chad Dawkins's book The Role of the Artist in Contemporary Art.

7/18/15 review of Backstage Coffee Shop group show

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of a 2015 Backstage Coffee Shop group show of work by Cedric Chambers, Dunn the Signtologist, and Thomas Detour Evans.

The Backstage Coffee Shop is a nice and spacious coffee shop located in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Denver. They always have good art on display. My Twitter thread shows photos of work by all three artists. It also discusses their technique, philosophy, etc.

Here is the link to the Backstage Coffee Shop.

Here is the link to Cedric Chambers's website.

Here is the link to Thomas Detour Evans's website.

Here is the link to Dunn the Signtologist's website.

7/18/15 review of MCA Denver exhibition Now? NOW!

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver's 2015 exhibition Now? NOW!

The MCA Denver's show Now? NOW! was part of Denver's Biennial of the Americas program, which showcases, in galleries, museums, and other public spaces around the city, work by artists in North and South America. My thread gives some background on the MCA Denver's show. It also shows pictures of work by Robert Longo, Adam Pendleton, Zach Blas, Aliza Nisenbaum, Chris Coleman, Laleh Mehran, and Sarah Anne Johnson.

Here is the link to the MCA Denver's website. They're a great contemporary art museum in Denver, Colorado.

Also, here is the link for the Biennial of the Americas.

7/18/15 review of Caleb Hahne exhibit Evening Ceremonies at SVPERORDINARY

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the 2015 exhibition Evening Ceremonies by Caleb Hahne at the Denver art gallery SVPERORDINARY.

Up to this point, a lot of Hahne's work dealt with taking found images of Classical sculpture, digitally manipulating the images, then rendering the imagery, mostly in ballpoint pen, if I remember correctly, then further manipulating the images with media such as nail polish. He would also paint pop-art-style swatches of colorful paint on the images. The SVPERORDINARY show kind of broke free of some of those old styles, and I discuss that in my Twitter thread. The thread also contains a lot of images of Hahne's work.

Unfortunately, SVPERORDINARY is no longer around. It was a neat gallery that had been located in a trendy shopping center. However, they seem to have vacated that space and no longer have a website, as far as I can tell.

7/11/15 review of group art show Nothing Belongs to Us

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the group art exhibition Nothing Belongs to Us, which took place at Denver's RULE Gallery and was guest-curated by Hayley Richardson of the Dikeou Collection.

My Twitter thread review discusses some aspects of the show and gives some pictures of work by Caleb Hahne, Jessica Angel, and Michael Theodore.

In these days, RULE shared a building with the Hinterland gallery, run by Colorado artist Sabin Aell. So I also have some photos from a party that took place at that gallery later in the evening.

This was -- I think -- the first full review I did of a show at RULE. I thought I'd done one other previously. But I can't seem to find it anymore. From April of 2015 to April of 2017, RULE was a pretty big part of my life. I don't speak with anyone from RULE anymore. But they are still a great gallery, in my opinion.

7/11/15 review of Cherry Creek Arts Festival

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the 2015 Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Colorado.

The Cherry Creek Arts Festival is an annual street-fair-style art festival that takes place in Denver, Colorado. Artists from all around the country present their work. In my thread, I show pictures of some work I like, including work by Vic Lee, Anne Cubbage, Kina Crow, Helen Gotlib, Diana Stetson, and Kathrine Allen-Coleman.

Here is the link to the website for the Cherry Creek Arts Festival.

7/11/15 review of Leisure Gallery show Taken from There by Joseph Coniff

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of Taken from There, a solo exhibition of work by Joseph Coniff, at Denver's Leisure Gallery.

Joseph Coniff's work often explores the tension between perception and reflection in individual and social life. His show Taken from There did this by blowing up old family slide projector photos and then framing them behind glass which had been blurred with a sandblasting process. My Twitter discusses the work and shows a couple (not enough!) photos from the show.

Joseph Coniff also has a website. But unfortunately it seems to be having some issues right now. I will link to it later, if I get a chance.

7/3/15 review of Dikeou Collection's video dialogue about Chris Johanson

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of a 2015 video dialogue session the Dikeou Collection did on the work of Chris Johanson.

The Dikeou Collection has, over the years, done programs they call video dialogues, which are basically evenings where a number of videos, films, etc., are played that are either by or related to a certain artist, artist's themes, etc. This video dialogue discussed the work of Chris Johanson, one of the key artists in San Francisco's Mission School in the 1980s and 1990s.

Some videos included a clip from the TV series New Wave Theater. Here's a sample of that series.

Another video in the series was Antihero: Fucktards. Here's that video.

Here is a link to the Dikeou Collection's website. The Dikeou is my third-favorite art institution in Colorado.