Denver Art Museum Reveals Old Master's

DENVER POST
By Kyle MacMillan

Alvise Vivarini's portraits of St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome from about 1480

COLORADO - Old-master paintings traditionally have been the centerpiece of many art institutions. But at the Denver Art Museum, they share a floor with their American counterparts and objects from two other departments. They tend to be overshadowed by the museum's world-class holdings in such areas as American Indian and Spanish colonial art — and its considerably larger, crowd-pleasing display of Western American works. To help right this seeming imbalance in attention and give visitors an opportunity to see the old-master collection in a new way, the museum is presenting "Cities of Splendor: A Journey Through Renaissance Italy." The show, which runs through July 31, is by no means a blockbuster — but it is a striking, well-considered look at one of the most creative and prolific periods in art history. [link]

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Trucker Who Destroyed Art at Museum Launches Website

COLORADOAN
March 29, 2011

COLORADO - A website purportedly operated by Kathleen Folden, the Montana truck driver who destroyed an Enrique Chagoya lithograph at the Loveland Museum/Gallery last year, describes how she bought a crowbar at the Flying J in Cheyenne, Wyo., and asked God if she was "the right person for the job." The site, http://www.givegodlove.com/, also attacks the local evangelical Pastor who brought about a reconciliation with the artist. Additionally, Folden says the rapture might take place May 14 and names Bill Gates as the person she believes is the Antichrist. [link]

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DENVER ART MUSEUM'S "I HAVE NEVER READ THE BIBLE"

CALIFORNIA LITERARY REVIEW
March 16, 2011

Jim Campbell_ "I have never read the bible"
by Jim Campbell (1995)

COLORADO -- A new exhibition of artworks from the Denver Art Museum's collection, Blink! Light, Sound, and the Moving Image, is all based on electronic and time-based media. One work which has an overtly religious theme is by artist Jim Campbell, who builds a work around the language of the King James Bible. Campbell’s piece, entitled I Have Never Read the Bible (1995), consists of a well-worn, leather-bound Victorian edition of Webster’s dictionary, mounted on the wall and hooked up to a speaker. Campbell recorded himself speaking each letter of the alphabet aloud, and used this recording to create an audio track on which each letter of the Bible is spoken aloud, in order, from beginning to end. Listening to a full repetition would take 37 days. The exhibit is on view from March 13 to May 1, 2011. [link]

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New work by Chagoya won't be displayed in Colorado Museum

THE ASSSOCIATED PRESS
February 24, 2011

COLORADO — A pastor at a Loveland church has withdrawn an offer to the city museum to display a portrait of Jesus by the same artist whose work was destroyed by an intruder at the museum last fall. The Rev. Jonathan Wiggins of Resurrection Fellowship says he's withdrawing the offer as a precaution. California artist Enrique Chagoya tells the Loveland Reporter-Herald that he agrees. In October, Kathleen Folden of Kalispell, Mont., destroyed a lithograph by Chagoya that was on display at the Loveland Museum/Gallery. She and other critics called the work obscene, saying it depicted Jesus Christ in a sex act. Chagoya said his work was a critique of spiritual corruption. He painted the portrait for Wiggins after the two exchanged emails and talked. Folden has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief. [link]

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