Knockout

KNOCKOUT: Pop Art Is the Future of Everything

Scott Young Studio, Dairy Block

1821 Blake St., Denver, CO 80202

Curated by Scott Young

December 1, 2019-January 3, 2020

On Dec. 31, 8-10 p.m.: Cocoon, a pop-up installation and performance by Julio Alejandro and Danielle Cunningham, will take place in the studio.

Admission: Free

Review by Lauren Shults

At the Dairy Block, a few blocks from Union Station, artist Scott Young’s studio/gallery is filled with massive, collaged paintings, a giant hand sculpture, an immersive room, and, of course, Young’s neon art (and more). From every angle in the space, works of art in the group exhibition KNOCKOUT: Pop Art Is the Future of Everything shout out over one another, vying for viewers’ attention, asking us to question the state of the world and the legacy of Pop Art.

An installation view of the exhibition Knockout, featuring Kenzie Sitterud’s Glory Hole in the foreground. Image by Lauren Shults.

KNOCKOUT features an overwhelming 43 artists.­[1] Immediately upon entering the space, from either the street or alley entrance, viewers are met with what Young defines as contemporary Pop Art in all shapes and forms. The studio’s brick walls are covered in photographs of classic cars and battered American flags, while mixed media works depicting downtown streets sit alongside ready-made and found-object sculptures.

Kenzie Sitterud, La Croix Cans, digital illustration on dibond. Image by Lauren Shults.

Just as Pop Art of the 20th Century questioned traditional fine art by using images from mass media and advertising, the works in KNOCKOUT ask what is ahead in this century by appropriating popular culture icons anew. For instance, the artist S. Legg creates a Pop throwback by covering a stuffed Mickey Mouse with mousetraps. Other modern takes on Pop in the show include LUCIA’s selfie-ready piece, which virtually turns the viewer into Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe, and Kenzie Sitterud’s painting of La Croix cans, recalling Warhol’s Campbell soup cans.

The Warhol quote “Art is anything you can get away with” was the impetus of the show for Young, the curator.[2] In fact, the exhibit is reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Warhol’s collaborative 1985 exhibition at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York City, which featured painted punching bags and was advertised with a photo of the pair of artists wearing Everlast boxing gloves—the same kind of gloves scattered about the Dairy Block studio and painted by several of the featured contemporary artists.

Julio Alejandro and Danielle Cunningham, Le chat dans le sac, sauf indication contraire, acrylic, pastel, and thread on unstretched canvas. Image by DARIA.

KNOCKOUT argues that Pop Art is the future—literally in the exhibition subtitle but also subtly and through phrases that appear in the work, such as Julio Alejandro and Danielle Cunningham’s painting Le chat dans le sac, sauf indication contraire, translating roughly to “The cat in the bag, unless otherwise indicated.” The large, unstretched canvas sums up the playful chaos of the show through needlework and almost illegible scrawls and drawings (including the title), and it seems to consciously pay homage to Basquiat.[3] By playing with the tropes and icons of Pop Art, these two artists and many others in the exhibition invite Pop to hold a mirror up to itself.

Lauren Shults is a student at the University of Denver studying strategic communications and marketing. She has a fine arts background and training from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and concentrates on sculpture and photography.

[1] About half of the artists are women. The full list is Julio Alejandro and Danielle Cunningham, Jared Anderson, Cynthia Berg, Sara Bowling, Annie Decamp, Kayte Demont, Daniel Dugan, Duser, Jeff Fierbeg, FORGE, Sara Furey, Anthony Garcia, EllynAnne Geisel, Deanne Gertner, Laura Goodson, Jackie Gretzinger, Rick Griffin, Eye Hoyt, Santiago Hurtado, William Johnston, Jack Landum, LUCIA, Viktor Martinez, Brett Matarazzo, Brea Peck, Josh Perez, Abbey Plonkey, Daniel Quay, Shawn Rivett, Evan Ross, Kelsey Rath, S. Legg, Jordan Seefried, Kenzie Sitterud, Joel Swanson, Andrew Ramiro Tirado, Michael Vacchiano, Josh Ware, Tracy Wiel, Kimberly Wolff, Scott Young, and Lindee Zimmer. Some of these artists are local while a number are based in other parts of the U.S. and other countries.

[2] Quoted on the Facebook page for the exhibition: https://www.facebook.com/events/426282728050039/.

[3] Alejandro and Cunningham will further explore notions of play in a performance in the studio on New Year’s Eve.