June 14, 2022 -- Denver

 I drew at the Denver Art Museum during the Drop-in Drawing  once a month directed by Anna Kaye.  The museum was free that day (usually $18 for out-of-state adults) and open late, until 9 PM.  We drew from the exhibition "Disruption," from the Vicki and Kent Logan collection.

DENVER ART MUSEUM

Drawn on 6x6 inch linoleum

Pink upside sculpture by Pia Stadtbäumer,

"Red Woman"

I also drew on a second 6x6 inch linoleum square, also soon to be carved and printed:

Red dinosaur sculpture by Sui Jianguo,

"Made in China"

I met my match

The drop-in artists 

gathering together before drawing in the gallery

The Drop-in Drawing session in September

will be online

The exhibition featured a large painting by one of my favorite contemporary artists -- Inka Essenhigh.

Isn't this painting by Inka Essenhigh,

"Plastic Surgery,"

reminiscent of Roberto Matta?

Roberto Matta's "The River Mom,"

was showing in a different gallery in the museum

I was caught off guard by "Discobolus,"

by the same Chinese artist, Sui Jianguo,

 who sculpted the red Tyrannosaurus Rex that I drew earlier

I had to de-escalate a situation in the museum corridor

between two sculptures by Gail Folwell,

"Tête-à-Tête"

Michael Joo, "Headless (mfg portrait)"

replaced decapitated Chinese Buddha figures

with doll heads from films, cartoons and toys

Warped Tanya

standing in front of the Victor Moscoso exhibit

Daniel Brown's "Secret Garden"

is an interactive exhibit

that places the viewer (Tanya) inside the digital painting

Roxanne Swentzell "Mud Woman Rolls On"

ART GYM

Eric and I visited the Art Gym just beyond downtown Denver.  Thinh Dinh gave us a tour of their impressive art facilities.

The huge printmaking studio on the first floor

well equipped for lithography, intaglio and silk screening

Eric Koenig carving a linoleum

at the coffee house inside the Art Gym

BANKSY

The "Unauthorized" Banksy exhibition

still cost about $28

Naturally we entered the Banksy exhibit through the gift shop:

Entering Banksy through the gift shop

I was particularly annoyed that Banksy had stolen my "BUCKET EXHIBITIONS" print idea several years before I had it.  He purposely made smaller prints in standard sizes that would fit in cheap Ikea frames:

I think this guy Ben Eine might be "the real Banksy" -- or at least part of the collective --as he claimed to pull most of Banksy's prints.  His videos were in almost every gallery, hitting us over the head, screaming for major credit:

Selling Banksy prints for £50 ($61.58 USD)

Then you could buy a cheap frame for £15 ($18.47 USD)

My current idea with the BUCKET EXHIBITIONS was to make 8x8 inch prints to fit in $2 Walmart frames, so that we can exhibit them over large distances.

However turnabout is far play.  We are going to exhibit prints in Santa Fe in July in the Axle Contemporary mobile artspace van.  I would like to steal Banksy's idea and get a police escort for the art van:

Police escort for the art van, no?

Our upcoming print show in July

in the Axle Contemporary mobile art van

My friend Eric said that I have to add to figures screaming at each other to the graphic below to make a good Fake Banksy:

Maybe my Fake Banksy lacks Key and Peele figures

screaming at each other

Me

Eric

This San Francisco review pummels the Banksy exhibition, and then one of the commenters piled on asserting that Banksy is a "relatively mediocre artist."  That emboldens me to put on a solo show of my art and call it "Better than Banksy."

Banksy is a "relatively mediocre artist"

whose idiosyncrasies have make him a celebrity

BOULDER

Tanya and I were invited up to Boulder by Meg York to hear a concert at the Unity Columbine Spiritual Center.  The world music performance was very impressive -- all the musicians were very accomplished and the acoustics were quite excellent in this venue.

Flyer for the show we saw

"Project Global Grooves"

Meg York

The concert

Meg York

Pandit Hindole Majumdar

Bijay Shrestha

Andy Skellenger

Tanya at the Boulder DushanbeTeahouse

sipping on a tequila tea cocktail

MORE

While the drop in drawing session was cancelled at the RedLine Contemporary Art Center downtown, I did get to see the quality exhibitions.   

Mural outside the Redline Contemporary Art Center

On my last day in Denver I stopped into the Crema Coffee House. I wish I had discovered the RiNo River North Art District downtown earlier, as it was peppered with loads of murals as well as interesting shops:

Shepard Fairy mural

in the RiNo North Art District downtown

Lost in RiNo

My commuter train brushed by Ball Stadium during the first game of the Stanley Cup, when Denver beat Tampa Bay in overtime 4-3, on Wednesday, June 15th.