Kathryn Oberdorfer / Madeleine Dodge / Patricia Miller
Kathryn Oberdorfer: Narrative - Reflective of the Pandemic Era
Madeleine Dodge: Lost Objects: The Persistence of Being
Patricia Miller: On Borrowed Time
Spark Gallery
900 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204
September 23-October 17, 2021
Review by Livy Snyder
Located in the Art District on Santa Fe Drive, Spark Gallery has presented diverse and dynamic art exhibitions driven by their cooperative members since 1979. As the city’s oldest co-op, Spark understands the importance and hardships of maintaining a creative community space despite the gentrification of Denver and erasure of co-ops in recent years. [1] Typically, Spark’s artist members arrange exhibitions by asking three artists to present solo shows in separate areas of the gallery. There is no strict curatorial direction, which allows artists the freedom to mix and match themes.
Currently on view in the main gallery are the abstract works of Kathryn Oberdorfer and Madeleine Dodge and in the north gallery Patricia Miller exhibits realist photomontage and digital paintings as well two sculptural pieces. While Oberdorfer, Dodge, and Miller produce work using a myriad of approaches, in these shows each artist focuses on how to reconcile the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the world we currently inhabit, through art-making.
Kathryn Oberdorfer, The First Night I Slept - Inauguration Day - 2, 2021, acrylic and pastel on canvas, 30 x 24 inches. Image by Livy Snyder.
Many of Oberdorfer and Dodge’s artworks were made during the pandemic and use abstraction as a vehicle to respond to the process of reemerging from isolation. In the paintings The First Night I Slept - Inauguration Day-2 and Nothing Lasts Forever, Oberdorfer uses active brushwork and dynamic and agitated improvisational gestures in deep red, green, and purple hues. The shapes shift between flatness and dimensionality brought about by a few bold lines in contrasting colors. The variations in the surfaces pull viewers closer, making us aware of the interconnectedness between color and materiality.
The title wall of Kathryn Oberdorfer’s exhibition Narrative - Reflective of the Pandemic Era on view at Spark Gallery. Image by Livy Snyder.
Oberdorfer’s works are cathartic as they offer creative control in a moment of chaos and uncertainty. At a time when “we seemed to be swimming in a vast sea with no horizon line in sight,” Oberdorfer writes in her artist statement, “we each found a way to build some sort of structure to replace what we lost.” [2] Not only do these works demonstrate Oberdorfer’s personal journey, but they are also intended to foster a dialogue with the viewer in order to “try to make sense of it all.” [3]
Madeleine Dodge, Erasure Series no. 5, pigments, ink carbon, and shellac on steel, 16 x 16 inches. Image by Livy Snyder.
Two works from Madeleine Dodge’s Erasure Series on view as part of her exhibition Lost Objects: The Persistence of Being at Spark Gallery. Image by Livy Snyder.
Similarly, Dodge laments the pandemic in her exhibition Lost Objects: The Persistence of Being. Her materials include fiber, pigments, and steel. Due to this combination of elements, the pieces are prone to rusting, which is an essential part of Dodge’s concept about the passing of time. The series, Erasure, specifically highlights this aging process of steel. Erasure is constructed of minimalist steel squares with bold parallel lines in alternating colors that have a meditative quality, akin to the works of the abstract painter Agnes Martin. Light reflects off of the surface of each square as the viewer moves around the gallery. As time goes by, the hard lines will fade as the combination of elements rust. The idea is to prompt the viewer into contemplation about the fleeting present and the inevitable process of aging. Dodge reconciles mortality and creation in her artist statement addressing COVID-19, stating that “a virus is teaching us that we are one with all creation, even as it is the erasure of a society.” [4]
Patricia Miller, Dreams of the Fallen, photomontage digital painting pigment ink on watercolor paper. Image by Livy Snyder.
Patricia Miller, Final Resting Place, photomontage digital painting pigment ink on watercolor paper. Image by Livy Snyder.
While Oberdorfer and Dodge focus on abstraction, Miller creates realist mixed media works that are on view in her exhibition On Borrowed Time. Her subject matter is ecological and includes birds, feathers, and botanical life. In her process, she utilizes digital tools such as Adobe Photoshop and digital painting as well as found natural materials. The results are visually compelling works that invite close scrutiny. Through them, we are able to contemplate the fragility of our environment, which reminds us of how the COVID-19 lockdown reduced human mobility and led to immediate insights into how humans impact nature. [5]
Through the combination of artists on display at Spark each month, it’s possible to tease out common themes. In the works of Oberdorfer, Dodge, and Miller, it is arguably perseverance during the pandemic through art that ties them all together. The broad, non-objective approach of Oberdorfer’s paintings and drawings, Dodge’s processed steel, and Miller’s detailed realism give the viewer room to contemplate their own experiences through a visual vocabulary of shapes, colors, and forms in order to reflect on the turmoil of the past two years.
Livy Onalee Snyder is a curator and writer based in Denver, Colorado. She graduated with a BA in Art History and BFA in Painting and Drawing from CU Denver's College of Arts & Media and a Masters in Humanities from the University of Chicago. Her passion for contemporary art has translated into successful internships with the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy, the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and Black Cube Nomadic Museum. Currently, she contributes curatorial projects to the Supernova Digital Animation Festival and works for punctum books.
[1] Ray Rinaldi published an article about the gentrification of Denver and its effects on co-op galleries that can be found here: https://theknow-old.denverpost.com/2018/01/11/spark-gallery-the-new-underground-review-opening-2018/172858/.
[2] Kathryn Oberdorfer’s Artist Statement available in Spark Gallery.
[3] Ibid.
[4] From Madeleine Dodge’s Artist Statement available in Spark Gallery.
[5] Read more about the study of climate change during the pandemic in Renee Cho’s article “COVID-19’s Long-Term Effects on Climate Change—For Better or Worse”: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/06/25/covid-19-impacts-climate-change/.
