Artist Tracy Tomko thinks Michael Benninghoven’s little Love Gallery could use some extra attention, but she still couldn’t believe that the February slot was actually open there when Benninghoven — who even works under the tagger’s name “Love” — invited her to curate a show. “When I heard it was the February slot, I said, ‘We have to do a love show at the Love Gallery!’ It just made perfect sense.” But it also had to fit the venue, which specializes in artists working in the pop-surreal and lowbrow niches. That’s no stretch, either, for dyed-in-the-wool pop-surrealist Tomko, who went right to work putting together Succulents and Savages, a Valentine’s show that explores love a wee bit differently than most.
“We didn’t want to restrict it just to depictions of romantic love,” Tomko explains, “but from a palette of whatever one might expect from their experiences with relationships — how some of that can be brutal and some of it can be luscious and awesome. It’s going to be more of a surreal take on love, not your typical hearts and teddy bears.” Instead, expect human hybrids swinging together like jungle plants and the like, occupying a sci-fi version of the universe.
Celebrate Succulents and Savages, which opened yesterday, at tonight’s First Friday reception from 5 to 10 p.m. at Love Gallery, 570 Inca Street. The show continues through February 24; visit www.lovegallerydenver.com or call 303-800-2900.
Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: Jan. 31. Continues through Feb. 24, 2013
