X.v
X.v
Michael Warren Contemporary
760 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO, 80204
August 1-September 7, 2024
Admission: free
Review by Paloma Jimenez
The artists in the group exhibition X.v, celebrating the tenth anniversary of Michael Warren Contemporary, have tapped into an elemental energy to create works of spirited material exploration. [1] Grounded in process-led practices, they traverse the range of physical realities, from scorched paper to powder coated steel. Abstracted textures and subtle colors invite thoughts on the material transformations that happen around us on a daily basis.
Floyd Tunson, Nubian II, acrylic on canvas, 96 x 144 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Some of the artists harness fire’s dynamic movement. Floyd Tunson’s Nubian II pulsates across from the front door. Unapologetic lines move around the canvas—a wildfire of emotion blazing across the canvas. This painting isn’t easy; it packs frenzied swirls into every inch.
Jeff Baldus, two untitled works; above: white stoneware, 18.5 inches; below: stoneware, 16 x 16 x 16 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Adjacent, Jeff Baldus’ planetary collection of stoneware pottery composed of compelling fluid glazes and crackling surfaces reminds us of the extreme temperatures required to turn wet clay into a solid form. A rotund black vessel sprinkled with fragments of clay enigmatically simmers from its pedestal like a newly formed meteor.
Etsuko Ichikawa, Trace 4714, glass pyrograph on paper, 30 x 67.5 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Etsuko Ichikawa captures fire’s forceful energy more directly in Trace 4714, a glass pyrograph on paper. Calligraphic swirls of ash dance across a horizontal stretch of paper. It’s a gestural moment in time—a poignant trace of a heated exchange.
John Garrett, on the left: Desert Bosque, machine knit tubes of cotton crochet thread, 48 x 48 inches; on the right: North Valley Pond, machine knit tubes of cotton crochet thread, 48 x 48 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Fire’s elemental opposite, water, with its buoyancy and reflective surfaces, inspires another group of artists in the exhibition. John Garrett references two ecologies with starkly different landscapes in the cotton crochet works Desert Bosque and North Valley Pond. The variegated yarn captures water’s and, inseparably, mud’s mercurial colors. Like strands of tall wetland grasses, the textile tubes invite curiosity about what vistas may lay beyond.
Eva Bovenzi, From Deep Blue #3, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 60 inches. Image courtesy of Michael Warren Contemporary.
Eva Bovenzi’s From Deep Blue #3 expresses the abstract mystery of water’s depths. It could be a glowing jellyfish, or a water strider insect flitting across the surface, or even the moon’s night beams. Ultimately, the piece doesn’t settle on representing any one thing and transmits an illuminating aura.
Brad Reed Nelson, 3 of a pair, acrylic, powder coated steel, and brass plated steel, each approximately 28 x 24 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Brad Reed Nelson operates on a similar plane of reflective abstraction with 3 of a pair. Though the artist created the works out of steel, they float on the wall—islands of precise colors. In one construction, clear straps with copper fastenings bind together a glossy panel of lavender, a transparent hunter green rectangle, and caramel toned block. One imagines multiple permutations arising from this unusual color combination.
Gwen Laine, She traced the day before in her thoughts, archival pigment print, 26 x 26 inches. Image courtesy of Michael Warren Contemporary.
Other artists find their subjects in air’s rushes of wind, light particles, and sound waves. Gwen Laine’s trio of photographs distills the feeling of movement itself. Sometimes we walk past a scene and only experience a riot of color or a general blur of objects. Pixels of information become Laine’s medium and she finds infinity in the motion of a singular moment. The final print in the series appears to happen at warp speed, eschewing photography’s rectangular format all together.
Sherry Wiggins and Luis Filipe Branco, Between Earth and Sky I, archival digital print on Hahnemuhle Baryta, 33 x 22 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Sherry Wiggins and Luis Filipe Branco, Between Earth and Sky IV, archival digital print on Hahnemuhle Baryta, 33 x 22 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
In a series of “performative photographs” Sherry Wiggins channels the Egyptian goddess Isis. [2] The dark swell of clouds in the background highlights her golden-clad, electric energy. She is a bird ready to take flight, conjuring up strong gusts of wind. Powerful and in-control, these touching images reinvent the dominant narratives that force aging bodies to disappear from society’s gaze.
Jennifer Bain, Last Call, acrylic on clayboard, 36 x 48 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Allison Stewart, Mountain Canto, oil on canvas, 96 x 96 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Jennifer Bain also takes visual flight in the layered painting Last Call. Dissonant colors and scratched paint echo the crow’s crackling call. Allison Stewart employs a similar color palette in Mountain Canto. Against the impressionistic gradient of a landscape, barely legible words send a delicate song into the wind, beckoning us back to nature.
A detail view of one component in K Rhynus Cesark's Mapping Place, porcelain with ceramic pigment decals and white gold luster, 34 x 60 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
K Rhynus Cesark, Mapping Place, porcelain with ceramic pigment decals and white gold luster, 34 x 60 inches. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Earth’s time-formed layers inform another group of artists in the exhibition. K Rhynus Cesark mines the layers of human memory in her porcelain geode abodes. Decals of maps and photographs of neighborhoods breathe a ghostly depth into the structures. Affixed to the wall like rock climbing holds, the human connection to place has never felt so fragile.
Sarah Ransford, Crop Circle Study (9pc), soda-fired porcelain paper clay, 24 x 24 x 3 inches total, 6 x 6 inches each. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Sarah Ransford also displays topographic influence in her ceramic reliefs. Crop Circle Study (9pc) evokes a wide range of earthly delights, from puff pastry to a pinecone’s scaffolding. Moments of ochre yellow and rosy pink introduce levity to the muddier moments in this aerial perspective. Spend some time meandering through Ransford’s work; it’s a satisfying maze of tectonic accumulation.
Margaret Kasahara, Notation 22-21, 22-karat gold leaf on sushi rice and pencil on rag paper, 3.625 x 3.625 inches. Image courtesy of Michael Warren Contemporary.
Margaret Kasahara works on an even smaller scale in a series of works titled Notations, which are composed of graphite, sushi rice, gold, silver thread, gold thread, security envelopes, and the artist’s own hair. In one piece, golden grains of rice glow amidst a precise tangle of graphite lines. Though her mark-making is practically microscopic, the work points towards the monumentality of the origin of life.
An installation view of X.v at Michael Warren Contemporary. Image by Paloma Jimenez.
Michael Warren’s exhibition X.v celebrates an impressive roster of artists who, through unique dedication to their respective processes, find potent inspiration in Earth’s natural forces and topographies.
Paloma Jimenez (she/her) is an artist, writer, and teacher. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and has been featured in international publications. She received her BA from Vassar College and her MFA from Parsons School of Design.
[1] The artists featured in the exhibition include Jennifer Bain, Jeff Baldus, Eva Bovenzi, K Rhynus Cesark, John Garrett, Etsuko Ichikawa, Margaret Kasahara, Gwen Laine, Brad Reed Nelson, Sara Ransford, Allison Stewart, Floyd Tunson, and Sherry Wiggins.
[2] From a description on the artist’s website. https://www.sherrywiggins.com/work/the-goddess-isis.
