Dana Cain’s Art Collection: Louis Recchia

Dana Cain is the lady with her thumb in a million pies: The local maestra of event-planning throws several well-attended collectors expos, art shows, parties and chocolate fests each year. Her latest – and biggest – project is next summer’s Denver County Fair. But Dana is also an avid art…

How to get my job: Karaoke host

There are many jobs in this world. Some are so bizarre you probably don’t know they exist; some you might have had no idea people actually make a living at. In an effort to highlight some of these jobs, we’ve started a new series detailing the origins of people actually…

Lens crafters: Two new exhibits bring photos into focus

The fall art season is just getting under way, with several major shows open or about to open, including a few blockbusters. So this will be my last chance for a while to highlight interesting solos that fall short of that designation. Right now there are three worthwhile ones, all…

Stupid ad of the week: McDonald’s spontaneous playground

Advertising agencies work tirelessly day and night to come up with new ways to tell us consumers the same thing over and over again: “Hey, buy our shit. Don’t you want to be happy?” Much of this cultural detritus goes unnoticed, but there are always those few ridiculous ads that…

How to get my job: Social media strategist

There are many jobs in this world. Some are so bizarre you probably don’t know they exist; some you might have had no idea people actually make a living at. In an effort to highlight some of these jobs, we’ve started a new series detailing the origins of people actually…

Artbeat: Memory Trips shines a light on the civil-rights era

Around the corner from the bustling Santa Fe Drive art district is a funky two-room operation called Dark Energy Art Space (860 West Eighth Avenue, 303-719-0021, www.darkenergyartspace.com). The brainchild of emerging sculptor Ryan Raudonis, Dark Energy is a co-op of sorts, with a handful of other artists involved. Among that…

Preview: Nick Bantock works magic at the Museum of Outdoor Arts

Nick Bantock is charming and soft-spoken, hardly and at the same time every bit the superstar that he’s become, all because of the unique little idea he had twenty years ago for a book that’s also a collagist’s romantic assemblage containing pull-out letters and postcards, all loaded neatly between two…

Get lit at a craft beer neon sign art show

Though it’s your fault alone, you can blame Louisville’s Zeon Corporation, if you want, for your drinking problem. They’re the ones who make those mesmerizing neon beer signs that draw you in to bars and watering holes like flowers draw honeybees. In fact, the company, which has been around since…

The Seven Best TV Shows Set in Colorado

Television shows tend to be set on the coasts — in California or New York, usually. Anywhere else, and the show is often about that place as much as the characters: Miami in Miami Vice, Cleveland in The Drew Carey Show, or Cicely, Alaska, in Northern Exposure. So it is…

Neighborhoods: Old South Pearl Street

I go back a long way with Old South Pearl Street, and while it’s no longer as sleepy as it once was (that, by the way, is a good thing), it still exudes a heady mixture of old and new Denver: Brick facades and Victorian houses, shady trees and kids…

Photos: Cosplay at Nan Desu Kan, 9/11/10

Nan Desu Kan — “the premier anime convention of the Rockies” (read Cory Casciato’s excellent write- up here) — was held over the weekend of September 10-12, 2010 in Denver. And by far, the most popular event of the weekend was the cosplay (short for “costume play”) contest. Photographer Kate…

“Hipster Hitler,” the most ironic hipster humor of all

Earlier today, we brought you the results of a study that concluded that hipsters hate hipsters. In that vein, we’re bringing you “Hipster Hitler,” a relatively recent arrival on the web comic scene, which reimagines Der Fuhrer as a somewhat petulant, irony-obsessed fop existentially bored with his own quest for…

Preview: The Suburban Home Records Anniversary Weekend Art Show

While the Suburban Home Records 15th Anniversary Weekend actually gets underway tonight, when Mike Howard and the local label’s Virgil Dickerson spin Suburban Home tunes at Sputnik beginning at 10 p.m., the whole thing really gets rocking across the street at 3 Kings tomorrow. Along with the ongoing loud and…

ArtCrank: A preview of the posters

Somehow, bicycles, graphic design and DIY culture have all become so entangled in a passionate love-grip that each is almost synonymous with the other. That’s especially true in Denver, where all three reign supreme in indie circles, and we like it that way. For that reason, we also love Artcrank…

First Friday Preview: Anthology Fine Art debuts with the beautifully surreal

It’s probably the oldest form of printmaking, he notes, but multimedia artist Jacob Custer is using it in some unusual ways. Fresh off an MFA from Indiana University’s Herron School of Art, Custer is back in town with Introspected, a complex installation of what looks something like hallucinogen-induced trees with…

Last Weekend: The Denver Modernism Show revisited, part two

Trust me, you don’t have to be a boomer to love the Denver Modernism Show, but you do have to have a certain sense of style. During my sojourn there last Friday and Saturday, I saw people of all ages, from WWII-era grannies to babes in backpacks. But I also…