ART COLORADO
Shawn Huckins Hand of a Young Man in Purple Satin Fabric 2024 oil and acrylic on canvas 42 x 34 inches
Aleks Provocateur evokes powerful responses with her latest work
Aleks Provocateur is an internationally recognized multi-media performance artist, painter, and creative consultant whose dynamic body of work defies conventional boundaries and expectations. With over 15 years of experience, Aleks’ art is a vivid exploration of passion, sensuality, and the human experience.
Born in Russia and educated with a B.F.A. in Animation from California College of the Arts, Aleks has developed a powerful visual language that transcends cultural and artistic norms. Her art is characterized by a bold fusion of beauty, intellectual provocation, and vibrant energy, offering viewers an immersive experience that challenges perceptions and ignites the imagination.
Aleks’ journey as an artist began as a form of self-expression while navigating the complexities of language and identity in a new country. This formative experience has deeply influenced her work, infusing it with a raw authenticity and emotional depth that resonates across cultures. Her artistic practice is rooted in the belief that art should be a fearless exploration of the human condition, free from the constraints of societal censorship.
Whether through her provocative erotic pieces or her serene nature-inspired paintings, Aleks seeks to evoke a powerful emotional response, inviting viewers to confront their own beliefs and desires.
In recent years, Aleks has expanded her creative focus to embrace the natural world, particu-
larly the ever-changing beauty of clouds and landscapes. This shift reflects her desire to capture the organic, imperfect
qualities of nature, using them as a metaphor for the complexities of human emotions and experiences.
Her nature-inspired works serve as a counterpoint to her more provocative art, offering a meditative exploration of serenity, transformation, and the passage of time. This duality in her work highlights Aleks’ versatility as an artist, allowing her to connect with a diverse audience and explore a wide range of themes.
Fashion, for Aleks, is another dimension of her artistic expression, seamlessly blending with her visual art to create a holistic experience. She views fashion as an extension of identity and a powerful medium for storytelling. Through her work, Aleks often incorporates elements of fashion, using fabric, texture, and design to enhance the narrative of her pieces.
Her performances, whether live painting at exclusive events or creating multimedia installations, often include fashion as a key component, transforming the artist and her
work into a living canvas. This integration of fashion into her art reflects Aleks’ belief that every aspect of life can be a form of creative expression, blurring the lines between art, identity, and experience.
Aleks’ live painting performances are a testament to her innovative approach to art-making. At these events, she becomes an integral part of the artistic process, interacting with the audience and drawing inspiration from the energy of the crowd, the music, and the overall atmosphere. The resulting works are not just paintings; they are a visual record of a shared moment in time, capturing the essence of the event and the emotions of those present. This way, Aleks creates a direct connection between the artist and the audience, turning the creative process into an evolving, collaborative experience.
aleksprovocateur.com
February 16 March 21
Continuing through 2024
May 2
June 21
August 1
760 Santa Fe Drive, 11-5pm Tues-Sat 303-635-6255 michaelwarrencontemporary.com
Deb Adams Welles Ann Marie Auricchio Jennifer Bain Jeff Baldus
Andrew Beckham Brenda Biondo Teresa Booth Brown Eva Bovenzi
Robert Brinker Isa Catto K Rhynus Cesark Raul de la Torre
Anna Dvorak Richard Eisen Angela Faris Sharon Feder
John Garrett Jody Guralnick Liz Hickok Fred Hodder Tom Hoitsma
Jeff Horton Etsuko Ichikawa Pamela Joseph Margaret Kasahara
Eden Keil Gwen Laine Margaret Lawless Marietta Patricia Leis
William Loveless Nancy Lovendahl Mike McClung Thomas Müller
Merdith Nemirov Peter Olson Kelton Osborn Collin Parson
Jay Phillips Sara Ransford Mark Rediske Andrew Roberts-Gray
Melanie Rothschild Lorelei Schott Brian Shields Paul Sisson
Allison Stewart Floyd D Tunson Sherry Wiggins Meghan Wilbar
Jill O’Bryan / RULE Gallery
Jill O’Bryan’s new solo exhibition with RULE Gallery, “Breathing into the Moon / Drawing on the Earth” offers meditative reflections of the moon and recordings of interactions with the land, delving into our circular connection to the earth and the cosmos. O'Bryan invites viewers to contemplate unseen forces shaping our existence, mining a spirited space between the corporeal and the imagined, the universal and the personal, the literal and the intuitive. Ranging across media and using varying scales, O’Bryan invents processes of creating to ex-
plore tactile experiences of being: breathing as being touched by air, and as a corporeal repetition over time; interactions with the land in order to be held by it, and recording the resonance of this holding; and in her new series, Breathing into the Moon, she utilizes intuition, observation, and contemplation to explore moonlight –its presence and absence.
In one of her most deeply explored practices, O’Bryan creates land drawings, or frottages, by spreading enormous sheets of paper onto the New Mexican desert sur-
Jill O’Bryan Meteorite Painting #1, 2024
face. Lying atop, she grinds graphite into the paper until an impression of the ground below takes form. The paper warps, bends, and tears; markings emerge and reveal the terrain below. The process is profoundly physical, recording a corporeal connection with the ground, while revealing the cracks and crevices that have formed over time.
Two of these large frottages serve as anchors of the exhibition, encapsulating the physicality of O’Bryan’s process.
While observing and recording the land, O’Bryan simultaneously looks up to explore experiences of the moon, Earth’s closest celestial neighbor. She makes intuitive, abstract compositions using a spontaneously gestural yet carefully edited process employing gold leaf, tar, ink, and even meteorites. The materials rub, splash, cut, graft, overlay, migrate, orbit, shine, absorb, and drift, depicting O’Bryan’s impressions of
being awash in moonlight, while holding in mind humanity’s collective viewings of the moon, now and throughout time. There is a scale relationship here – the moon has existed for all humanity. This fact is simultaneously obvious, and it has resonance. When having an intimate experience of looking at the moon, you participate in a vast history of looking, contemplating, and wondering. This concept is at the core of the Breathing into the Moon paintings.
Meditation is an integral part of O’Bryan’s life and practice, one that she wishes to share along with her art. The two guided meditations held at the gallery during the exhibition are intended to allow participants moments of contemplation while learning about breathing techniques such as moon breathing.
Jill O’Bryan Breathing into the Moon: Series 2, 2024
Richard Burkett / Plinth Gallery
Richard Burkett has made pottery for over 50 years, starting in 1970 with a summer job throwing ashtrays on the potter's wheel for the late Indiana potter Richard Peeler. A new exhibition at Plinth Gallery, “Wine and Roses (and Soda)” showcases his work.
Burkett established his own Wild Rose Pottery in 1973 on a farm near Bainbridge Indiana, where he made salt glazed pottery for about ten years. Returning to school in 1983, Richard completed a dual MFA in ceramics and photography
at Indiana University- Bloomington in 1986. He has taught ceramics since that time, first at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and since 1989 at San Diego State University, where since 2019 he is a Professor Emeritus of Art. Richard's work continues to include a range of ceramics objects, from functional stoneware and porcelain to clay and mixed-media sculpture.
In January 2025, NKollectiv will be moving to Downtown Englewood. But the rest of 2024 will be spent in our home for the past 2-plus years on Santa Fe. Come see us for holiday art and gifting on Santa Fe now and then watch for our opening show reception coming in January!
Nicole Korbe
Kelly Austin-Rolo
Rita Bhasin
Craig Demmon
Naomi Gagnon
Steve Girard
Krista Lavonas
Julia Martin
Michele Messenger
Elissa Quist
Jerry Severns
Carol Till
THROUGH 2024: 960 Santa Fe Dr Denver
JANUARY 2025: 3485 S Broadway Englewood upstairs above Fellow Traveler and Muntiny Comics & Coffee
OPEN WED-SUN or by appointment extended hours on Fridays 720 722 2107 NKollectiv.com info@nkollectiv.com
Englewood’s brand new art hub:
EASEL — Englewood Art Studios, Events,
Learning
Located above* Fellow Traveler and the new Mutiny Comics & Coffee, EASEL will house artist studios, NKollectiv gallery, and an event and learning space. Space is available for artists or others to teach classes or host any number of other community or private events (yoga, tango, or writing classes). Interested? Let’s talk!