JOIN US FOR A UNIQUE ENGAGEMENT WITH TWO FASCINATING DENVER ARTISTS, CHRIS COLEMAN AND LALEH MEHRAN
One of the biggest thrills for the gallery is introducing new artists to our constituents, historically that has come in many forms whether with artists starting out from ground-zero to those who have already built credibility and interest in their careers. This month we could not be more thrilled to present for the first time at Plus Gallery the collaborative team of Chris Coleman and Laleh Mehran, two of the most engaged and celebrated artists within Denver's new media landscape. Their individual and collaborative efforts having taken center stage at some of the state's most prestigious museums and institutions including the Denver Art Museum, BMoca and Colorado Springs Gallery of Contemporary Art. Their latest collaborative body of work "Transitional Fragments" presents a seductive, multi-layered effort that illuminates the gallery through strikingly beautiful works of hybrid media with a distinct relationship to mapping as well as the earth and sky. It is the first of back-to-back exhibitions hosted by the gallery that highlight the talent inherent in Denver's new media sphere, showcasing work that is truly on the leading-edge in both art and design.
Please join us this Thursday evening from 6-8pm in welcoming Chris Coleman and Laleh Mehran and sharing in our excitement surrounding their latest effort "Transitional Fragments."
Denver Post art critic Ray Mark Rinaldi noted the exhibition as a Best Bet in last Friday's Denver Post, read what he has to say about it at:
Westword noted the opening reception for the exhibition in this week's Night and Day section, read Robin Edwards column at
Susan Froyd of Westword also interviewed Chris Coleman this week for their ongoing "100 Colorado Creatives" series. Read Chris' response at:
And read more about the exhibition context at http://www.plusgallery.com
About the artists
Laleh Mehran was born in Iran and relocated with her family to the United States at the start of the Iranian Islamic Revolution. Mehran's creative practice is inspired by both Eastern and Western philosophical understandings and aesthetic sensibilities, where art and design are merged with digital technologies and physical materials. She received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Electronic Time-Based Media. Her work has been shown individually and as part of art collectives at the Next 5 Minutes 4 Tactical Media Festival in Amsterdam, Holland; the European Media Arts Festival in Osnabruck, Germany; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art; the Carnegie Museum of Art; the Georgia Museum of Art; the Andy Warhol Museum; the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art; 404 International Festival of Art & Technology in Argentina; and Currents: The Santa Fe International New Media Festival in New Mexico. Mehran's highly regarded installation "Men of God, Men of Nature," exhibited in the Fuse Box at the Denver Art Museum for almost a year through 2012-2013, was one of the most ambitious and enthralling works ever presented by a local artist at the institution. Mehran currently works an Associate Professor and Graduate Director in Emergent Digital Practices at the University of Denver.
Chris Coleman was born in West Virginia, USA and he received his MFA from SUNY Buffalo in New York. His work includes sculptures, videos, creative coding and interactive installations. His knowledge of the trends within a transformative new medium is boundless, no doubt a component of his own international exposure in venues such as the VIPER Basel Festival in Switzerland as well as exhibitions in Singapore, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, China, the UK, Latvia and 16 other countries. In the US alone his work has been shown at more than 45 events and festivals, including Times Square in NYC. His software project (in collaboration with Ali Momeni) called "Maxuino" has been downloaded by 30,000 people in 125 countries and is used in classrooms and artworks across the globe. Locally, Coleman has been an integral part of Plus Gallery's side-project Denver Digerati and one of the first artists commissioned by the Denver Theatre District for their new permanent collection of motion-based art, unveiled in the fall of 2013 at Denver Digerati's final "Friday Flash" program. He is also an Associate Professor of Emergent Digital Practices at the University of Denver.
Both Coleman and Mehran's careers are additionally distinguished through their unique collaborations together and with others. The pair have been collaborating on works together since 2001, connecting the corporeal with the digital and beyond. Their extraordinary interactive installation "W3FI" was originally hosted at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in 2011 before moving on to other institutional settings throughout the U.S. and the world. Both artists have works presented in the immersive art/dining experience "Monkey Town 4" being held in Denver for the first time this winter, bringing their motion-based art to an even wider public in an outstanding new context. Both will also be featured in the upcoming Arvada Center exhibitions "Entropic Order | My House is not My House" opening June 5th and also featuring Plus Gallery artists Alex McLeod and Milton Croissant III.
Chris Coleman and Laleh Mehran taking in Coleman's work at Monkey Town 4
No comments:
Post a Comment