Denver’s already unique Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, 1311 Pearl Street, took a step in an uncharted direction when its new temporary show, Driven to Abstraction: Colorado Art From 1880 to 2007, debuted earlier this month. Switching from his usual focus on modernistic art, curator Hugh Grant expanded his perime-ters to include earlier works in the show, which follows the evolution of Colorado art from early traditionalism through surrealism and referential abstraction to pure ab-straction.
True to form, Grant’s foray is a who’s who of Colorado artists, with highlights weighted toward the traditional but also including an array of 21st-century offerings (the newest being a recent painting by Clark Richert), as well as two Vance Kirkland surrealist works not seen by the public in several years. And, as the museum’s Holly Victor notes, the ma-jority of the exhibition consists of recent acquisitions.
Driven to Abstraction continues through May 4, 2008; for information, call 303-882-8576 or go to www.kirklandmuseum.org.
May 8-June 29, 2008
