The Arvada Center’s “Informed Space” is the surprise art exhibition of the summer. And the most rousing.
The sprawling spectacle, featuring 30 Colorado sculptors, each with a mind and style of their own, is regional art at its best. The work is elevated but unpretentious, polished yet handmade; caring and daring at the same time.
Each of these artists faced a challenge from the center’s curatorial team: produce a three-dimensional piece that would fit on a four-by-four platform. The works could go up as high as the gallery’s ceiling would allow, but they could not extend even an inch wider than the square perimeter each contributor was allotted.
The result is an unusually vertical art exhibition, in stark opposition to the horizontal shape most gallery shows — almost always built around sideways, rectangular paintings — tend to assume. This assemblage looks like a forest of colorful trees that viewers roam through as if they were meandering along one of Colorado’s famous nature trails.
The concept here is solid. Sculpture is, at its core, about form and how that form fits into the space it occupies. By forcing limits on the people who create it, the exhibition provides a swell opportunity for gallery visitors to think about the decisions sculptors make when they produce work — as they consider what is possible within the limits of materials, time and location.
The idea is also simple. In some ways that is refreshing; the work is approachable and the show is highly entertaining. The trade-off is that it is a hodge-podge intellectually. “Informed Space” is pulled together on a clever hook, rather than a profound, overarching theme.
But the show’s high energy is the thing that helps it rise up, and during a particularly high-temperature summer, when an air-conditioned gallery is as much an escape from the heat as it is a place to think deeply, this effort plays like a gift to the community.
Much of that pleasure comes from variety. The lineup is hard-core diverse, mixing artists who have defined the local cultural scene for decades with the new guard of makers who are still building their reputations here. The Arvada Center staff keeps a keen eye on the evolution of Colorado art.
That means there is space for a beloved veteran, like Jerry Wingren, who contributes a piece titled “Cross-Lap #6,” a mix of sharp-edged, geometric planes made from birch, which have been painted glossy black and red. And also for Barbara Baer’s “Chestnut,” a towering construction made from delicate organdy fabric that dangles from the ceiling, looking like an unfurled scroll. Baer decorated the cloth with organic leaf shapes, some that are printed directly on the fabric, and others that bounce off of it and are connected by tiny wires. Both pieces, by Wingren and Baer, defy any notion that artists run out of ideas as their careers mature.
Other enduring names on this show’s roster include Floyd D. Tunson, Nancy Lovendahl, Wayne Brungard and Norman Epp.
Those artists mix well with more recently emerged names like Amber Cobb, Joshua Ware, Donald Fodness, Vinni Alfonso and Melanie Yazzie.
For local art fans, the show is a chance to see some of the signature moves newer artists are putting forth in their work. Autumn T. Thomas’ “We Let it Go Because the Weight is Too Heavy” is a great example of how she transforms simple strips of exotic woods into complex, and deeply moving, 3-D assemblages. Here she hacks and bends pieces of wenge, purple heart and lima wood into a series of integrated circles that dance together on top of a waist-high podium.
Jennifer Pettus’ “Dead/Ringer,” a patchwork of fabrics shaped into a pair of odd and endearing plush toys that are placed on stakes that lift them up to eye level, shows how this artist finds “the potential hidden within the mundane” of ordinary raw material, as
she explains on the audio track that accompanies the piece.
Those audio tracks, accessible through a QR code on mobile devices, are a rich addition to the exhibit, and worth the time and effort it takes to listen to them while on site. The show has very little in the way of wall text and the audio tracks can be crucial to understanding the many ideas on display. They are, by and large, short and to the point.
That said, there are plenty of immediate thrills that require less effort. Deborah Jang’s “The Shape of Light” is a fabric column with lights positioned inside that constantly change color. Matthew Tripodi’s “Richard Serra is Dead, Long Live Richard Serra” recreates the legendary artist’s trademark horizontal wall format using clumpy “epoxy dough” instead of Serra’s traditional stainless steel — nothing wrong with a good insider, punchline in a new work of art.
Nearly every artist in this exhibit appears to have embraced the show’s concept with vigor. The Arvada Center does not have a big budget for its offerings so that means artists usually cover the costs of making and transporting their own wares. Almost all of the
objects were made specifically for this show.
It’s a considerable effort that indulges their own passions while giving the rest of us a charming diversion on 100-degree days. “Informed Space” is a delight; go see it.
If you go
“Informed Space” continues through Aug. 25 at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada. It’s free. Info: 720-898-7200 or arvadacenter.org.
