Like Like: An Exhibition of Current TANK Studios Artists

Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design

Rotunda Gallery

1600 Pierce Street

Lakewood, CO 80214

October 31, 2022-February 3, 2023

Curated by Gretchen Marie Schaefer and Louise Martorano

Admission: Free

Review by Laura I. Miller

The word curate as we know it today means to select, collect, or arrange. But when we dive deeper into the origins of the word, we find its roots in the Middle English word curat, a “person charged with the care of souls.”

This is a fitting definition for the Like Like exhibition on display until February 3 at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design’s Rotunda Gallery. Curators Gretchen Marie Schaefer and Louise Martorano have brought together the works of 19 artists who’ve occupied TANK Studios spaces in Denver over the past few years. [1] Rather than shared themes, Schaefer and Martorano have curated people (i.e. souls) instead of the objects they’ve created.

An installation view of *Like Like: An Exhibition of Current TANK Studios Artists* at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design’s Rotunda Gallery. Image by Laura I. Miller.

Though less common than arranging works by theme—and perhaps more challenging—this exhibition delivers on its promise of encouraging community and collaboration among artists.

The works cover a wide range of media. Sculptures are crafted from resin, wood, salt, cardboard, porcelain, papier-mâché, and handmade paper. Paintings range from large to small and traditional to experimental. Then there are mixed-media pieces, photographs, a neon sign, and even broadsides that viewers are encouraged to take home.

Margaret Neumann, *Afternoon Cherries*, 2021, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches. Image by Laura I. Miller

You could say there’s something for everyone, but the cliché doesn’t do this exhibition justice. Here, the traditional and the experimental are in conversation with one another; they foster a greater appreciation for each style and evoke a sense of wonder for how a group of people working out of the same space hold such diversity within themselves. And for all their differences, the works share themes that are made more apparent by their skillful arrangement.

Jaime Carrejo, *A Whisper in a Palm No. 2*, 2021, synthetic polymer on wood panel, 60 x 60 x 1 inches. Image by Laura I. Miller.

Several of the artists, for example, take nature as their subjects. Margaret Neumann composes brightly colored cherries on a gray background, whereas the painting opposite by Jaime Carrejo depicts an areca palm’s silhouette against a brightly patterned backdrop. Neumann’s piece is more traditional in its composition and materials—oil paint on a square canvas. Carrejo’s piece, consisting of synthetic polymer paint on a wood panel in the shape of a quadrant, has a more contemporary style. Centered in the gallery, these two paintings serve as cornerstones for the ways the other works mimic and defy one another.

Gretchen Marie Schaefer, *Precarious*, 2022, papier-mâché, acrylic paint, and wood dowel, 38 x 37 x 49 inches. Image by Laura I. Miller.

Many of the pieces recreate natural elements in ways that are surprising or playful. You wouldn’t know from a distance that Gretchen Marie Schaefer’s sculpture of a boulder, titled Precarious (2022), is made from papier-mâché and acrylic paint. Nor could I distinguish Sarah Wallace Scott’s flower pots and wilted plants sculpted with paper from the real thing. Wallace Scott’s work, titled Your Failure (2009), includes tags that resemble those you’d find in plant stores. Written on the tags are phrases such as “honesty,” “financial stability,” and “sobriety,” suggesting the death of these characteristics.

Trey Duvall, *Repeat That Again*, 2021, paper and custom pallet, 11.5 x 15.5 x 22 inches. Image by Laura I. Miller.

The broadside by Trey Duvall, Repeat That Again (2021), carries on the theme of playfulness. Duvall’s anti-productivity list-poem ends with the lines, “Identify 10 actions or operations requiring time and energy to perform / that ultimately produce no tangible return. / Either do, or do not, do these things.” This sentiment speaks to the nature of art-making that this exhibition embodies. Having a supportive community produces no tangible return, but the effect is transformative nonetheless.

Mario Zoots, *Diversion*, 2022, archival pigment print on dibond, 45 x 60 inches, courtesy of K Contemporary. Image by Laura I. Miller.

Other works share the theme of found objects. David Zimmer’s Michelle (1995) features a dusty “found viewer,” which resembles binoculars attached to a small stand, and a vintage-looking photograph of a woman setting fire to a piece of paper. Zimmer’s work and the one opposite, Diversion (2022) by Mario Zoots—which layers archival prints of a woman’s face behind bejeweled hands—emphasize the supernatural. Likewise, Natascha Seideneck Past and Present Futures (2022) and Kyra Weinkle’s Collected Tape (2022) are collections of objects that are usually ignored or discarded. These pieces speak to the theme of curation as a sacred process that elevates the ordinary to extraordinary.

These works may not have existed individually or as a collection if TANK Studios hadn’t provided an environment of “resiliency and care in a sometimes hostile landscape.” [2] This exhibition makes it apparent that artists thrive best when supported by a community of friends who “like like” each other. [3]

Laura I. Miller is a Denver-based writer and editor. Her reviews and short stories appear widely. She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona.

[1] The 19 artists in the show are Mindy Bray, Jaime Carrejo, Theresa Clowes, Amber Cobb, Trey Duvall, Ian Fisher, Mia Mulvey, Margaret Neumann, Alicia Ordal, Natascha Seideneck, Gretchen Marie Schaefer, Sarah Wallace Scott, Laura Shill, Nick Silici, Joel Swanson, Derrick Valasquez, Kyra Weinkle, David Zimmer, and Mario Zoots.

[2] From the curatorial statement.

[3] The full sentence from the curatorial statement reads, “They are more than a group of artists, more than friends, they like like each other.”