Eric Ringsby's sublime Rodeo Series

I'll admit I've got a soft spot for rodeo imagery and subsequently have represented a few bodies of work directly relating to the subject. By my love of the genre has nothing to do with the traditions normally seen within it, rather they are a direct connection to personal upbringing and the absurdist nature of the sport. My years in Idaho proved to be filled with unusual entertainment rituals and of course rodeo was one of them. It was really the only solo bonding experience that I had with my father while growing up, as he loved to go to the rodeo and I was the only one in the family that didn't refuse to go out to the stadium with him when the rodeo came through town.

Eric Ringsby was the first artist whose work I witnessed who portrayed the sport in a contemporary vein, my first exposure of which occured at the MCA Denver's Colorado Biennial the first year I moved to Denver (and easily one of the strongest years for that exhibition). Ringsby was venturing into the realm of video, and utilized rawhide canvases to project images of rodeo onto (both in large and small-scale versions), and also exhibited a series of large format giclee prints on canvas that captured single frame video images of riders in action (of wich this piece is from). The pixelization that occurs through this technique lends itself well to the action that Ringsby captures and though I don't like the giclee concept in general, the use of it had a distinct appeal and rationale that fit the works. It is one of the largest pieces in our collection and one that both Karen and I are very fond of. We ended up meeting Eric and his family and since have become close friends. Eric used to be involved in a gallery operation in NYC when we had first opened up in Denver, and we essentially met because of the unusual parallels between our respective positions. Eric was essentially fronting a gallery that had the name "Cornell Dewitt Gallery" while our gallery name was originally "Cordell Taylor Gallery" in honor of my friend and associate Cordell Taylor who was the inspiration for the business. People used to constantly get the two confused, at least here in Denver, but eventually Eric ended up getting out of the business, which was unfortunate as it was a great conduit for Denver artists to the NY market (due to Eric being a Denver native), but ever since he has kept a close eye on Plus Gallery and remains one of the leading authorities in the area on contemporary art, both as a patron and as a collector.

Bruce Price "Frieze Fragment #3"

Plus Galleries first exhibition with Bruce Price was "The New York Paintings" in 2004 in a pairing that also marked the debut of Michael Whiting. It was a fabulous show with equal recognition given to both artists by the press and public alike, though Price's work was later recognized by Mary Voelz Chandler of the Rocky Mountain News as one of the best exhibitions across the board that year (including institutional shows) and he was also noted as Denver's top Abstract painter by the RMNEWS as well. The major works in the exhibition were diamond-shaped canvases that referenced major cultural figures whose work dealt with concepts of patterning and ornamentation, each pattern on the canvas built up through a hundred or more layers of paint. The effect of building the paint up in this fashion led to an edge treatment that was imprecise and curled over off the edge of the canvas in a highly appealing manner. The surfaces of the paintings had a distinctly rigid, plastic look, a result of the layering and intrinsic quality of acrylic paint and gel medium. The minor pieces including "Frieze Fragment #3" stood out in a similar fashion though with a slightly looser pattern structure and thicker sense of layering. I fell in love with the Frieze Fragments and ended up aquiring one a couple years after the exhibition when finances allowed. They are still some of my favorite works by Price and a period of his evolution that I think will always stand as a high point (including acquisitions from the show by renowned architect David Adjaye during his initial visits to Denver after being selected to design the new MCA Denver).