2011 was undoubtedly a tremendous year for Plus Gallery artists and our internal endeavors to positively shape the face of Denver's contemporary landscape. We'd like to share a quick recap of some of those moments, ones that many might not be aware of and those that anyone following our weekly news and program would already have discovered. But we'll start with the largely unknown:
In 2010 we started posting what works have sold through the year on our Facebook page, we feel that it's a positive way to share information about our program and develop a certain sense of transparency. We don't always update it readily throughout the year, but we've recently posted the majority of our second half of the year sales:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.175243182512019.31084.113473022022369&type=3
Our facebook page doesn't necessarily supplant our weekly newsletter, but we are developing it as a source for exciting reports, photographs and other opportunities that our patrons might enjoy, please join us there or recommend to anyone you know who is using facebook.
One of the most pleasing reports of the year that we would like to share are the exhibitions that have officially achieved "Sold Out" status in 2011. Those that hit the mark this year are:
- Xi Zhang's "Dream Dusts" (2010/2011)
- Ali Pohl's "Mirror, Mirror" (2011)
- Bruce Price "Full" (2005)
And there are three that are very close, with only single works left from each:
- Frank T. Martinez' "Complex Conformity" (2006)
- Robin Schaefer's "Mimesis" (2008)
- Jenny Morgan "This too Shall Pass" (2009)
In 2011, Tsehai Johnson was included with a major installation in the Denver Art Museum's exceptional and unprecedented exhibition "Overthrown: Clay Without Limits," and Xi Zhang became the youngest artist ever to deliver a Logan Lecture this fall, two very rare honors that we hold in highest regard. Many of our artists have been featured in Museum exhibitions in the past but few as prestigious as the DAM. We don't expect this to be a rare occurrence in the future as our artists across the board are gaining ground in their careers and reputations, not just in the region but throughout the world. In 2012 we'll see our first International Museum presence with William Betts' inclusion in the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart's group exhibition "Tracing the Grid." Jenny Morgan will have an exquisite display of recent and some of her best works from solid local collections on view at Denver's Center for Visual Arts in early 2012 in the group exhibition "Out-Figured" which will include local as well as internationally renowned artists. Mike Whiting returns with new works in February for an exhibition at Colorado Spring's Gallery of Contemporary Art alongside local luminaries Phil Bender and Chris Coleman. And later in the Spring he'll be featured at BYU's prestigious Museum of Art in Utah with a solo exhibition that will include major outdoor works. Finally, in the fall of 2012 Dave Yust will be given some due for one of the longest and most prolific careers in contemporary art by a Colorado Artist when the Loveland Museum hosts "Dave Yust: 40 Plus years of Printmaking."
Our own schedule for 2012 holds great anticipation and excitement for us, we'll be celebrating the end of times in January 2012 with a mind-boggling exhibition of works on paper by two very excellent local emerging artists Drew Englander and Donald Fodness, alongside two national artists of amazing talent and visceral visual intensity Larry Bob Phillips and Paul Nudd. Expect lots of surprises as we look to see if the Rapture is really upon us. Things get down to serious business thereafter as we host solo exhibitions by three of our top artists Xi Zhang, William Betts and Jenny Morgan. The fall will include the next solo exhibition from Karen McClanahan, an artists who has been with us from almost our very beginnings in 2001, and the rarest of rare a new solo exhibition by Susan Meyer.
2011 had so many great moments for Plus Gallery, from our first exhibition of the year by Melissa Furness that featured a full-wall video installation and some of the most intricate and genre expanding paintings of any year, to our most recent solo by Frank T. Martinez, his fourth and absolutely finest body of work yet. In between we hosted our first photography show in our current space featuring Patti Hallock's timeless, playful, stunningly composed "The West Is Here" in conjunction with Denver's Month of Photography celebration, followed by our only group exhibition of the year, the highly praised "Peaking the Edge" which featured not only some of the best talent from around the US but two terrific artists from New Zealand Shannon Novak and Sara Hughes. The exhibition ended up being wonderfully redefined following our Broadway Corridor Public Art Celebration as a team of young artists led by Liz Greene presented one of most memorable performances in recent memory. But even that couldn't prepare us and the city for what followed: Allie Pohl's debut solo exhibition at Plus "Mirror, Mirror." Allie created one of the most breathtaking and magical installations in the history of the gallery, progressing her "Ideal Woman" theme further with a floor-to-ceiling caryatid form in chromed resin, surrounded by mirrors that reflected the ideals of the online dating scene. Oh, and there was her neon and video loop too that accompanied the show. We could have just ended our careers there, going out on a high note, but nevertheless we continued forward and hosted our ten year anniversary in conjunction with a new set of paintings from Gabriel Liston. Liston presented his best work to date with an intimate collection of full-color and striking black-and-white scenes depicting youth at its finest and most real. The show and our anniversary also found us with one of the best gifts we could ever receive, a site-specific exterior graphic application for our canopy developed from across the world by Shannon Novak, an artist whom we've grown to admire quite a bit since striking up a relationship in 2010. After some well-needed time off at the end of the summer, we returned in our finest form yet with Robin Schaefer's latest highly nuanced and thoughtful body of work "Unlearning the Differences." We'll never forget the pairing of sister and brother that month in the space as Kagen Schaefer unveiled a work of the most extreme detail, beauty and inspiration to a select and appreciative crowd, his one of a kind desk commissioned by legendary contemporary film director Darren Aronofsky. And of course that was followed by the return of Bill Amundson in October with "Blurred Vision," an exhibition that broke many records for the gallery including the first time ever having to turn people away at the door for his unprecedented artist talk. And of course none of this would have been possible without our terrific team of interns, who supported the gallery program and helped us get through all of the exciting (and not-so exciting) times.
Happy Holidays to all!
