FRIDAY NIGHT ART WALK...

On the first Friday of every month here in Denver, there is a big art walk down on Santa Fe. This is an edge-of-town, older, industrial area that looks as though it has been undergoing some urban redevelopment. It is a long street full of galleries and artist studios... pretty cool. I know these photos are a little late, but here are some shots from this month's art walk. I want to thank my neighbor Walter and his lady friend for showing me around. Enjoy...



Our first stop was the Limited Addiction Gallery. I have been wanting to check this gallery out for a while, mainly because the work reminds me of LA and SF art shows. This was their anniversary group show. To see the rest of the show (and some better pictures) check out the site.
Above is the work of Robert Bellm. His style reminds me of Blaine Fontana.



Tucked away in a corner in the back of the gallery (next to the restroom) was a fun little piece from KRK Ryden, brother of art god (and personal favorite) Mark Ryden. If you are not familiar with Mark Ryden, we can't be friends. Sorry. It's not you, it's me.



Ryan Jacob Smith - arty goodness.



After I read an article in the indie-zine Copper Press a few years ago, I fell in love with the work of Chris Mars. His twisted fantasy-like characters remind me of the movie The Dark Crystal.



Blaine Fontana and Sean Christopher



My friend Bwana Spoons was all up in there.



Naoto Hattori. I am pretty sure this is what the child would look like if the premise of the Oscar Award winning film Junior came true, and Mark Ryden and Chris Mars had a baby.



I can't believe people still make this kinda crap. Easy on the Jasper Johns rip off, dude.



After leaving Limited Addiction, we wandered into every little art space we could find. These backlit photos on large pieces of acrylic were pretty nifty.




These pieces made everyone stop, stare and think. This is the work of Chinese artist Sheng Qi. From his biography...
In 1989, after the Tian'anmen Square Incident, Chinese performance artist Sheng Qi left Beijing for Rome. Before leaving, he cut off the little finger from his left hand and buried it in a flowerpot.



I'm diggin' it. Love the hair grapes.



Unfortunately, I wasn't very good about taking notes that night, so I don't know the artist. This series of photos were stunning. I felt like I was part of a turn of the century vagabond traveling circus.



Oooh... urban street art. The thing that actually caught my eye was the text on the side "Dental Fear Network."




These 2 pieces really made me feel like I was back in the Mission in SF. The skirt paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif had an amazing handmade quality to it.



Apparently, bandages are the new trucker hat.



The last stop of the night was the Spark Gallery. After I saw the work of Patricia Miller in the window, I had to go in. As a body of work, this was my favorite show of the night. Her characters, materials and narrative just drew me in. Most of the pieces were acrylic on encaustic (layers of wax).


Patricia Miller



Patricia Miller



Patricia Miller



Patricia Miller



Book arts are alive and well in Denver!



Half birth certificates and half reversed images in a mirror. I love it.