Rose Fredrick is one of the better-known figures in the Denver art scene, mostly because of her long tenure as curator of the annual Coors Western Art Exhibit. She left that job — after 27 years — when the 2023 edition closed.
It’s a hard act to follow. The Coors exhibit, which takes place at, and along with, the annual National Western Stock Show, is a major event on the city’s cultural calendar. The art is Western-themed and the out-of-town ranchers, or at least the ones who can afford it, snatch it up.
The Coors show can easily sell $1 million worth of art in its brief, 15-day lifespan, though a good deal of those sales are motivated by the fact that a portion of the proceeds go toward scholarships for future ranchers. Still, it is a flashy, cash-y endeavor every go around, and one wonders what a curator would do for excitement after such a long run.
For Fredrick, the answer is to go smaller, and more intimate, and to move the goods to commercial galleries. She has formed her own consulting company, the ArtSol, and it is currently producing its first notable event at Gallery 1261 in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood.
For Coors fans, the lineup will feel familiar. As a curator, Fredrick has her favorites, and she sticks with them for this outing, titled “Naturalism Now,” which runs through Dec. 29.
Among the notable names on display: Daniel Sprick, Stephanie Hartshorn, David Griffin, Dan Chen and Quang Ho. These are some of the artists that defined the Coors event over the years, and they are fan favorites.
The show has a distinctly Western feel, but it presents differently at Gallery 1261. It does have some unmistakable elements that define the Western art genre — mainly in the form of landscapes set in rural ranch lands, high desert plains and snowy forests. There are a lot of birds and buttes on view.
And also horses, of course. Artist Sophy Brown is showing five paintings of horses, which exalt the animal in different ways. There is, for example, the acrylic on board painting “Are You Packed and Ready to Go?,” which depicts a strong, sturdy beast of an animal loaded up with supplies and about to embark on some journey. It’s a workhorse.
Then there is “Pirouette,” which depicts a smart, obedient horse with a rider on top, demonstrating its wit and training. It’s a show horse. Interestingly, Brown frames her scene in a way that cuts off the head of the rider, leaving the viewer’s attention fully on the animal. In that way, she suggests the real talent in this moment trots on four legs rather than two.
Western art, as a distinct genre, is an anomaly in the contemporary art world. It is mostly representational and largely focused on the lifestyle of the people and wildlife that inhabit this region. It can be impressionistic and personal, but it is rarely experimental or overtly political in the way that a lot of experimental art is made today. I always say you are either into it or you are not, and both positions deserve respect.
Instead, Western art harkens back to tradition, especially the ways of Western art pioneers like Frederic Remington and Albert Bierstadt, who made the art popular in the late 1800s. The duo helped introduce the country to new lands that were joining the union, transporting city-dwellers to remote environments.
Those places are not so remote anymore — Interstate 70 cuts right through — but some of the most interesting Western artists still manage to make them seem magical and undiscovered.
In this show, that role goes to David Griffin, who uses oil paint applied to linen to connect us to the beauty of unspoiled terrain. His “Graceful Silence” shows us a speck of a wild bird soaring over a snow-coved hill. Another work, “Approaching Reverence,” focuses attention on the crest of a craggy butte just as the sunlight hits it in the morning.
These paintings point to the past, though Griffin has a contemporary eye. For one thing, his painting is square — an odd choice for a landscape that is horizontal by nature, but one that forces us to look at the scene as a whole. Viewers focus on the rocks, but also on the blue, cloudy sky above and the sparse, bushy terrain in the foreground. It’s a holistic approach to painting a Western landscape and one that asks us to consider how all of the elements of nature connect.
For another thing, it happens in the context of 2023 rather than 1883, around the time when Bierstadt made his mark. This work is not overly political, but such scenes of virgin earth, created during our era of rapid development and natural resource exploitation, hold organic arguments for strong land-preservation policies.
While “Naturalism Now” takes its cues from the Coors Western Art Exhibit, it feels different, less nostalgic. That is, no doubt, due to its location in Gallery 1261, which is housed in an elegant loft-like space in an upscale urban area rather than on the Stock Show grounds where the art is surrounded by real-life bovines the size of Utah and actual rodeo cowboys. If all that old-school romance — along with its kitschy winks and animal stink — is what you are after, it will not be found here.
But if a consumable sampling of freshly made, Western-flavored art is what you like, this exhibit will make for a nice stop. The skill level is high and the atmosphere friendly.
If you happen to miss it, there is a second chance to catch Fredrick’s work. She will curate another exhibition, titled “Contemporary Realism Now,” set to run for three weeks at Gallery 1261 starting Jan. 6, which just happens to be the opening day of the 2024 National Western Stock Show across town.
Ray Mark Rinaldi is a freelance writer in Denver who specializes in fine arts.
IF YOU GO
“Naturalism Now” continues through Dec. 29 at Gallery 1261, 1261 Delaware St. It’s free. Info: 303-571-1261 or gallery1261.com.
