P, P & I

Perry, her friend, Patty, and I hit the museum last night for the final Friday of the month program. We played around with button making and make silk screen family crests. We stopped by one gallery opening on the way home. It was a low key night. Here’s my favorite painting of the night. It’s by Zoa Ace. I thought it had an interesting color palette.

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Monumental Failure Or Success?

Redine asked artists to re-imagine the monument for its Monumental exhibit. I posted a picture of Tracy Tomko’s work but here’s another look:

Here’s the description of the work:

Don’t you love her sense of humor? I think Tracy turned what she thought was a monumental failure into a monumental success. Perry agreed with me as did all of the people I talked with about this piece.

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A Thoughtful Gift

My father called on Saturday to tell me he mailed a Southern Living cookbook to me he found while cleaning out one on my late mother’s stashes. I was touched my father thought I would like to have one of my mother’s cookbooks. I’m sure it will smell like cigarette smoke when it arrives and, without a doubt, spend a few weeks in the garage airing out.

My father filled up the recycling bin with copies of Better Homes & Gardens magazines my mother was saving. He still has a few more years of the magazine to recycle which will take several weeks.

My mother bought Better Homes & Gardens every month at grocery store. I don’t know why she didn’t subscribe to the magazine. It was just another one of my mother’s quirks. She read it cover to cover. Perhaps it was her way of escaping her suburban life as wife of a man she hated and mother of three kids who drove her to Valium at an early age. I can still picture my mother sitting in the living room smoking an Old Gold cigarette while reading the latest issue of Better Homes & Gardens. She would be off in a dream world as the ash on her cigarette grew longer and longer while a cup of weak coffee sitting on the end table turned cold. It was a sure sign TV dinners would be served that evening.

I remember looking at those magazines and wondering why our house didn’t look like the pictures in the magazines. None of the decorating tips or garden ideas were ever implemented in our house or garden. My father left all decorating decisions up to my mother because that was a woman’s job. Just like answering the telephone was the wife’s responsibility. Deciding on a paint color or a fabric tortured my mother. It took ages for my mother to make decision. The house I grew up in had mismatched furniture in most rooms. The only room that looked halfway decent was the dining room only because my mother bought the whole room display at the furniture store. Pictures were hung in odd groupings too high on the wall (Perry insists on sixty inches from the floor to the center of the artwork). A woman who devoured Better Homes & Gardens couldn’t decorate a room to save her life.

I had the important things like a house to live in, utilities, a bed, and food on the table. It just wasn’t like the pictures in a magazine.

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Disappointment Drive 13

I met up with a guy on Saturday night. He had described himself as forty, blondish, six foot and HIV+. I was hesitant about meeting a man eighteen years younger than me but I had nothing else to do. At least I wouldn’t spend the night in front of the TV.

He was forty and six foot but turned out to be a ginger in denial. The hair color didn’t bother me. I found it odd that he described himself as blondish when he was definitely a ginger. Given that gingers seem to be currently idolized amongst gay guys here, I don’t know why he tried to pass himself off as blond.

He was an interesting and humorous guy but there was no spark. He was thin. Really thin. He made me look overweight. He invited me back to his apartment to continue talking. Faced with being home alone on Saturday night, I went to his apartment. Initially, I wished I had just gone home after seeing his apartment. His apartment was sad. It was a small studio with shabby furnishings. The overhead florescent lighting gave the apartment an institutional feel.

On the plus side, he was engaging in conversation. Two hours flew by in no time. He had a dry sense of humor which I found refreshing. He had a job, a car and all of his teeth.

Perhaps it wasn’t a trip down disappointment drive, but rather, an interesting drive that didn’t include a happy ending.

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More Art

I thought I’d post a few more pictures from Monumental: Annual Resident Artist Exhibition at Redline.

Suchitra Mattai – embroidered needlepoint mounted on a pixelized print

Tracy Tomko

Dmitri Obergfell – powder coated steel, plaster and graphite

Stephen Batura – oil on canvas

Mai Wynn Fine Art is showing new works in cast iron by Rian Kerne. Mai Wynn always has interesting and innovative presentations that are worth seeing. This show continues that trend.

Perry and I also stopped by the Sugar Cube, a luxury downtown apartment building ($5k to 10K a month, parking not included), to see the new works at Art at the Cube. Doug Kacena’s paintings were on display. My favorites were the abstract paintings done on photographs of Colorado iconic landscapes, such as the Maroon Bells.

The party was definitely at Redline’s opening. It was a who’s who of the local art community. Perry knew most of the heavy hitters in attendance.

Redline also has an exhibit of beautiful photographs of individuals experiencing disabilities. Some of the images are simply stunning. The images show people owning their disabilities and enjoying life. A woman with what looks like a deformed body is a ballet dancer while another man is skiing. The photographs really made me grateful for how truly blessed my life has been. The people in the photographs are blessed too. They may be differently abled but they are taking charge and enjoying life. This exhibit may bring tears to your eyes but it is a must see. I was so affected by this show I forgot to take pictures.

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A Show Stopper

Perry and I hit a few galleries last night. It was a low key evening as most galleries were dark. At Redline, we encountered an installation by a trans artist that stopped us in our tracks. In fact, most of the show at Redline is remarkable and worth seeing.

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Two Good Things

Went to the colon/rectal surgeon for another post-biopsy checkup this morning. There’s nothing like an anal probe early in the morning. She said everything looked good. Best thing that happened to me so far today. Here’s the second best thing:

Seeing a woman with hot shoes!

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Praise And Endorse Me

A senior manager at my client’s company left to pursue other opportunities. He was only in the job fifteen months. Previously, he worked for another company based in Silicon Valley. He was often away at conferences that had nothing to do with his job duties. He never fulfilled his commitments. The man often missed conference calls and meetings after he agreed to attend. He sent out the obligatory farewell message thanking and praising the team for a job well done. He closed his farewell message by asking the team members to leave positive feedback and endorse him on LinkedIn.

His farewell message was generally seen as a joke. His replacement has already done more in a week for the team than the man who left did in his entire tenure. The man who left got his card punched and added a firm to his resume in an attempt to climb the corporate ladder. He has not been missed. I have yet to find a team member who endorsed him on LinkedIn.

I have seen this happen so many times. They are hired off the street from another high profile company. They announce grand plans. After a few months it is clear nothing is changing. They are soon seen as ineffective. They leave for their next opportunity before they get fired. They are forgotten in a matter of weeks.

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A Lost Master

Roland Bernier, Denver master of contemporary art, died in June. Walker Fine Art and Spark Gallery are currently exhibiting his works. Bernier’s work is in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, Kirkland Museum, and the Colorado Convention Center. His work was shown in most of the top galleries in Denver along with MCA Denver and The Arvada Center. He are two pictures of his later work for your enjoyment.

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No Strippers Last Night

The art tour last night wasn’t quite the adventure as last week but it was filled with great art. Perry, Mack and I stopped at William Havu Gallery and Walker Fine Art in the Golden Triangle before meeting Paddy, Jacqueline and Jacqueline’s friend, Josh, at Space Gallery on Santa Fe. Bradly was sick in bed at Paddy’s house. As usual, Havu and Walker had great shows. I loved Laura Truitt’s paintings at Havu. The Ben Strawn paintings and Bill Vielehr metal pieces at Walker took top honors, in my opinion, for best art of the night.

The new show at Space did not disappoint. Jason Lee Gimbel, Mark Sink and William Stoehr works were simply stunning. The next stop was Access Gallery, where Tracy Tomko curated a show by a group of eight artists called The Institute For Non-Bizarre Treatment. Stops were also made in Sync, Core and Spark. Brenda LaBier had great photos in the new show at Sync. She’s also selling a book of her photos.

The final stop for the night was the Navajo Art District. There were two video installation at Pirate by Shannon W. Kelly. The images in his black and white films were mesmerizing. One had to take time to watch both films but it was time well spent. Stops were also made in Next, which had a photography exhibit, and Zip37, which still had their invitational group show up. Edge was closed by the time the tour arrived.

And that was it. A lot was packed into three and half house. Gallery stops were made in the Golden Triangle, Santa Fe Arts District and the Navajo Art District. Perry knew everyone and made many introductions. The tour did not include any bad singers, male strippers or a very late dinner. There’s always next time.

My favorite piece by Ben Strawn:

Bill Vielehr:

Bill Stoehr at Space. Jacqueline and Josh are in the lower left corner:

Group shot. Which shoes are mine?

Jason Lee Gimbel:

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