Ends + Beginnings
Ends + Beginnings
Alto Gallery
1900 35th Street Suite B, Denver, CO 80216
December 2, 2022-January 28, 2022
Admission: Free
Review by Djamila Ricciardi
Our lives are defined by a constant cycle of change. Oftentimes, it is through the gentle guidance and visual nudging of the artists among us that we can more clearly see the subtle contours of our shared human experience. The exhibition currently on view at Alto Gallery neatly captures the swirling feeling of this shifting season with twenty five works by thirteen Denver-based artists. [1]
An installation of view of works by Daphne Sweet in the exhibition Ends + Beginnings at Alto Gallery. Image by DARIA.
Ends + Beginnings centers on the general “relationship of terminus and origin” that each artist chooses to explore in their own particular way. [2] Though disparate in terms of media used and themes presented, these works are very much in conversation with one another. Taken as a whole within the spare, well-appointed gallery space, it quickly becomes clear that while each contribution to this exhibition seeks to answer some version of the question “what does it mean to end and begin again?,” the responses vary widely in tone, ranging from barroom contemplations to elegiac reflections. Indeed, the work remains united in a sense of collective uncertainty that leaves ample space for possibility, reformulation, and empowerment.
Eileen Roscina, still from All That Digging, 16mm color video and VHS family archive, 9 minutes and 16 seconds. Image courtesy of Alto Gallery.
The first story presented by Ends + Beginnings returns us to the location of our own origin: the maternal nest. Here, the viewer is coaxed by a screen that plays two films by Eileen Roscina on a loop. Appropriately, there is a sense of containment in the architecture itself which creates a small nook where we can take in the sights and sounds of Roscina’s hypnotic non-narrative films All That Digging and Chrysalis, which focus on the strange, beautiful, and inchoate experience of new parenthood.
Watching the films, we drift and find ourselves immersed in a dreamlike domestic world. At one point, the words from an original poem appear on the screen: “The nest never complete / now impossible to unravel / it encloses us.”
Ashley Frazier and Becky Wareing Steele, Untitled, egg shell, human hair, and mixed media. Image by DARIA.
Transitioning from the metaphorical realm of poetry and moving image, we see a literal nest of human hair on a small pedestal beside the screen. This offering is part of a collaborative sculptural series by artists Ashley Frazier and Becky Wareing Steele. A lone, infinitesimal human figure, painted a bright fuchsia hue, sits in the center of a softly matted indentation in the hair and nestles a tiny shard of egg shell under its arm. Whether this frozen moment captures the beginning of an adventure or the end of one is left to the viewer’s imagination. In any case, the moment is a delicate one that is pregnant with possibility.
Daphne Sweet, Dew On My Screen, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 48 images. Image by Raymundo Muñoz.
Moving across to the wall closest to the entryway of Alto’s neighbor, the Bob Ragland branch of the Denver Public Library, we are met by two paintings by Daphne Sweet. The canvases pulse with highly saturated primary colors. In particular, the work titled Dew On My Screen, which depicts the head and bare torso of a female figure rendered in rich reds, presents a visual crescendo for this exhibition and a contemporary remix of what the artist refers to as “familiar feminine tropes of antiquity.” [3]
On the left: Janelle Anderson, Forward, oil on wood panel, 8 x 8 inches. On the right: Janelle Anderson, Through, oil on wood panel, 8 x 8 inches. Image by Raymundo Muñoz.
Around the corner, Janelle Anderson’s Forward and Through comprise a painted diptych of a group of birds captured in flight against a chalky, white background. The rhythm of this avian arrangement is interrupted by a painterly glitch aesthetic that breaks up the pattern of the image in such an understated and surreal way that it is almost imperceptible at first glance. Change, at times, is hardly noticeable but is constantly happening all around us.
On the left: Brian Fouhy, KGB Bar (First), archival print and text, 12 x 16 inches. On the right: Brian Fouhy, Bar Franca (Last), archival print and text, 12 x 16 inches. Image by DARIA.
Taking on the subject at hand with a decidedly more lighthearted air, Brian Fouhy’s photographs of urinals function as very personal mementos as well as reminders of our own very ordinary humanness. Answering nature’s call is, after all, another way to mark the passing of time. With this series, Fouhy demonstrates a keen interest in the notion of the archive as he meticulously documents all the attendant details of his urinary escapades including the street address, city, day of the week, liquid consumed, time at urinal (counted in the number of “mississippis,” naturally), handwashing supplies, company kept, weather, and distance (from seemingly arbitrary locales across the world).
Brian Fouhy, KGB Bar (First), archival print, 12 x 16 inches. Image courtesy of Alto Gallery.
The accompanying text panel for Brian Fouhy’s KGB Bar (First), archival print and text, 12 x 16 inches. Image by DARIA. [4]
All of this information is listed on exhibition wall labels designed by the artist. Taking on a subject like pissing, especially within the context of contemporary art, could easily veer in the direction of abject grossness. However, in this work the gesture feels more like one of revelry and celebration. “A mixed up night of weird with a good old friend” might be the most delightful thing one will read on an exhibition label this season. [5]
Anduriel Widmark, One Quart Titanium White, acrylic on canvas, 6 x 6 inches. Image by DARIA.
While Fouhy’s work playfully highlights a basic bodily function, another set of works provokes us to contemplate the body’s role in the making of the work itself. Anduriel Widmark’s One Quart Titanium White is, literally, just that: the contents of an entire quart of titanium white paint that has been poured, one drop at a time, into a six by six inch frame. Each drop had to dry completely before another drop was added. The result is a densely-layered square with a complex mosaic of abstract white circles of paint encompassing the entire surface. This surely is a type of “action painting” but the pace of the action has been slowed to the point of creating a meditative object that inspires deeper reflection.
Emily Grace King, left to right: May We Be in Suspension; May We Be Unmoored; May We Float Away, encaustic on vellum, 11 x 17 inches each. Image by Raymundo Muñoz.
Similarly, a trio of transparent vellum sheets dipped in colored beeswax seem to almost float, as if suspended in mid-air. May We Be in Suspension, May We Be Unmoored, and May We Float Away are the contributions of Emily Grace King and fitting images to conclude the exhibition. Much like One Quart Titanium White, these pieces required an extraordinary amount of patience in order to complete, as well as a welcome dose of chance and randomness to achieve the final result. In this sense, the artist’s invisible presence is part of the work. The undulating lines and aquamarine shades evoke the movement of water and it is easy to be rocked by the imagined ebb and flow.
An installation view of Ends + Beginnings at Alto Gallery. Image by DARIA.
Ends + Beginnings is a compelling exhibition with a generous curatorial approach that allows each artist’s vision to shine through. These collective visions prove that sometimes big changes can happen in an instant, like the crack of a lightning bolt, and sometimes changes emerge in a slow, steady drip.
Djamila Ricciardi is a fifth generation Denverite who is actively involved in the local arts community. She graduated with a degree in Art History from Scripps College in Claremont, CA and is an appreciator of all forms of creative expression.
[1] The artists included in the exhibition are Janelle Anderson, Drew Austin, Brian Fouhy, Ashley Frazier, Emily Grace King, Emily Moyer, Eileen Roscina, Gregory Santos, Adrien Saporiti, Daphne Sweet, Kaitlyn Tucek, Becky Wareing Steele, and Anduriel Widmark.
[2] Quoted from the press release for Ends + Beginnings.
[3] From the “About” section of the artist’s website: https://daphnesweet.com/about.
[4] This text is taken from Fouhy’s book, Occupied, which was designed by Noa Hackett, NHP Publishing, 2021.
[5] From the wall text that accompanies Brian Fouhy’s work KGB Bar (First).
