May – AUGUST 18: JORDAN CASTEEL: RETURNING THE GAZE –Denver Art Museum Jordan Casteel: Returning the Gaze will feature nearly 30 paintings by Denver-born artist Jordan Casteel, who is now based in Harlem, New York. This presentation represents Casteel’s first major museum exhibition, and provides audiences with a first look at new work by one of the most acclaimed emerging artists working today. The exhibition will bring together a body of work made from 2014 to 2018, with new paintings that reveal Casteel’s evolving practice and a shift in subject matter ranging from cityscapes and subway scenes to women and local business owners. Casteel’s approach to selecting subjects involves walking around her neighborhood and taking photographs. By transforming these photographs into larger-than-life portraits with subtle shifts in light, bold colors, and gestural brushwork, Casteel reveals individuals and atmospheres that often go unnoticed. Jordan Casteel: Returning the Gaze is curated by Rebecca Hart, Vicki and Kent Logan Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
THRU MAY: Amanda Wachob: Tattoo This – MCA Denver Vanguard tattoo artist Amanda Wachob uses a tattoo machine and ink to create art on canvas, paper, silk, fruit, and leather, in addition to human bodies. Inspired largely by modern painting, in 2008, she pioneered a unique tattoo style incorporating brushstrokes, washes, paint splatters and spills, commonly referred to as “watercolor technique.” During that time, she has also been using the tattoo machines and ink to push the boundaries of her field and make works for gallery walls. Wachob not only advances tattooing as an autonomous art form but also brings the medium into closer dialogue with the wider domain of art. Born in Buffalo, Amanda Wachob studied photography at State University of New York, at Purchase. Among numerous gallery exhibitions, she has shown her work at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the New York Historical Society, and done projects with the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2015, Ad Age recognized her as one of the 50 “Most Creative People of the Year.” She lives and works in Brooklyn. The exhibition is curated by Adam Lerner, Mark G. Falcone “MaFa” Director and Chief Animator.
THRU MAY: Andrew Jensdotter: Flak – MCA Denver This marks the artist’s first solo museum exhibition. Since completing his MFA at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2014, Jensdotter has honed a process that synthesizes abstraction and figuration: over a period of months, he paints layers of representational imagery, each layer successively obscuring the others, then meticulously cuts into the built-up surface to create a variegated field of color. It is his singular process that defines these “carved paintings.” In addition to several of these carved works, Flak features a group of new paintings that further Jensdotter’s experimentation with figuration and abstraction and additive and subtractive methods. The results of the new process are jagged, violent, and emotional abstractions that contrast the painstakingly composed, pseudo-organic carved works. His work has been exhibited at venues around the US and has been reviewed by Frieze, Hyperallergic and Westword. He lives and works in Denver and Vail.
OPENS IN MAY: Bolden – Mayan Theatre Bolden imagines the compelling, powerful and tragic journey of Buddy Bolden, the unsung American hero who invented Jazz. With little biographical information and no found recordings of his music, the film’s narrative composes fragmented memories of his past, against the political and social context in which his revolutionary music was conceived. The birth of jazz was the birth of American popular culture influencing everything that followed in its wake—from Louis Armstrong to Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Fugees and Dr. Dre, Bolden is where it all began. Gary Carr (“The Deuce”) stars as Bolden, and with original music written, arranged and performed by Wynton Marsalis. Bolden invites you to experience the long lost world of New Orleans in the early 1900s—a world fueled by passion, greed and musical genius. The film co-stars Erik LaRay Harvey, Yaya DaCosta, Ian McShane and Michael Rooker. Directed and co-written by Dan Pritzker.
OPENS IN MAY: Ask Dr. Ruth – Mayan Theatre The crowd-pleasing documentary Ask Dr. Ruth chronicles the incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became America’s most famous sex therapist. With her diminutive frame, thick German accent, and uninhibited approach to sex therapy and education, Dr. Ruth transformed the conversation around sexuality by hosting multiple radio and television shows throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As she approaches her 90th birthday and shows no signs of slowing down, Dr. Ruth revisits her painful past and unlikely path to a career at the forefront of the sexual revolution.
OPENS IN MAY: The Biggest Little Farm – Chez Artiste A testament to the immense complexity of nature, the documentary The Biggest Little Farm follows two dreamers and a dog on an odyssey to bring harmony to both their lives and the land. When the barking of their beloved dog Todd leads to an eviction notice from their tiny Los Angeles apartment, John and Molly Chester make a choice that takes them out of the city and onto 200 acres in the foothills of Ventura County, naively endeavoring to build one of the most diverse farms of its kind in complete coexistence with nature. The land they’ve chosen, however, is utterly depleted of nutrients and suffering from a brutal drought. The film chronicles eight years of daunting work and outsize idealism as they attempt to create the utopia they seek. They realize that to survive they will have to reach a far greater understanding of the intricacies and wisdom of nature, and of life itself.
OPENS IN MAY: Little Woods – Mayan Theatre Little Woods is a taut and moving thriller about sisters by adoption who are pushed to extremes. In a North Dakota fracking boomtown well beyond its prime, Ollie (Tessa Thompson, Creed I & II, Sorry to Bother You) is trying to survive the last few days of her probation after serving jail time for smuggling prescription pills over the Canadian border. But when her mother dies, she is thrust back into the life of her estranged sister Deb (Lily James, Baby Driver, Darkest Hour, “Downton Abbey”), who is facing her own crisis with an unplanned pregnancy and a deadbeat ex. The two find they have one week to settle the mortgage on their mother’s house or face foreclosure.
MAY 8 – JUNE 9: WICKED – Buell Theatre From the first electrifying note to the final breathtaking moment, Wicked—the untold true story of the Witches of Oz—transfixes audiences with its wildly inventive story. It will send your spirits soaring to heights you’ll never forget.
MAY 13: Julia Jacklin, Black Belt Eagle Scout Larimer Lounge
MAY 14: The Lemonheads, Tommy Stinson Bluebird Theater
MAY 16: Jenny Lewis – Ogden Theatre Her fourth full-length album, On the Line, which was just released on March 22, has already garnered an impressive reaction from fans near and far. Her music provokes the crowd to sing and sway along song after song.
MAY 18: Five Points Jazz Festival – Five Points This FREE festival celebrates the history of Denver’s Five Points neighborhood—the Harlem of the West—with music from dozens of bands across multiple stages, delicious food and beverage offerings and family friendly activities! Since its inception in 2004, the Five Points Jazz Festival has grown each year in size and popularity. 11am-Midnight
MAY 18 & 19: Firefly Handmade Spring Market – 29th Street Shopping District in Boulder Firefly Handmade’s Spring Market is returning to Twenty Ninth Street shopping district in Boulder! The weekend features: 100+ indie artisans, Live music, Food trucks, Free admission and parking Firefly Handmade is Colorado’s inspired indie art experience. We are a community of makers, entrepreneurs, and artists who are passionate about sharing craft and supporting local business. Each market is unique, with 100+ new and returning creatively curated indie artisans, musicians, eats, and DIY opportunities. Discover unique handmade home goods, jewelry & accessories, adult & children’s fashion, skin care, ceramics, art, artisanal food, paper goods, pet goods, and more. You’ll find our market in the parking lot next to Trader Joe’s. We can’t wait for you to join our community of art lovers and enjoy the spring weather!
MAY 18: Own This City: Emergency Services – McNichols Building Calling 9-1-1 for a fire or car accident makes sense. What other kinds of emergencies require a 9-1-1? Climate crisis? Health care? Racism? Poverty? What would that look like? How could we make it happen? Are there ways to prevent these emergencies so that we don’t need a new kind of 9-1-1? Well, bring the kids to have some fun with fire trucks and a ghostbuster car and let’s see what we can come up with! Come hear/see “letters” to our children and future generations, created by only the coolest of the cool folks in our community, about what emergencies they see and how they hope we can address them. Stay tuned for lots more info, but for now just know that this is an all-ages program and yes, we’ll have fire trucks and a ghostbuster car… 10:30am.
MAY 19: 27 Mile Bike Ride with Wash Park Cycling Group – Wash Park We will ride from the park to REI, then south on the Platte River Trail to Nixon’s Coffee @ Hudson Gardens, then ride back to Wash Park. Total ride 27 miles, Training ride for Courage Classic, Join our Global Down Syndrome Dare to Ride Team. Call Brian @ #720-276-9074 for more information.http://www.childrenscoloradofoundation.org/courage-classic/
MAY 19: Trevor Noah – Loud & Clear – Red Rocks Amphitheatre See a comedy giant, live! The surprise successor to take over from Jon Stewart on the Emmy-winning Daily Show, he has since made it very much his own with his boyish charm yet incredibly sharp insights into the news.
MAY 22: Rhett Miller of The Old 97’s – Oriental Theatre “His songs are like combines. Upon ignition the teeth and the gears begin churning and he just throttles it out and into the open – tearing up the fields, raping the land of its bounty . . . naked and ashamed, but somehow grateful.” – The Denver Syntax
MAY 23: Pete Yorn – Bluebird Theater We blinked and Yorn turned 40, but he isn’t settling or slowing. If the extra-musical side of his last few years has been about anything, it is hard work.
MAY 25-27: Kickoff to Summer Memorial Weekend Festival – Old South Gaylord St. Join us on the Historic Old South Gaylord Street, Memorial Weekend for live music, vendors, food, drinks, kids’ activities, and more! Sat. 4-10pm, Sun. 10am-6pm, Mon. 10am-4pm.
JUNE 1: Denver Chalk Art Festival – Larimer Square Save the weekend of June 1st and 2nd, 2019 for one of Denver’s most highly-anticipated summer celebrations – the 17th Annual Denver Chalk Art Festival! During this magical weekend, more than 200 professional, amateur and student artists spend hours turning the streets of Larimer Square into a museum of chalk art using only pastel chalks — recreating major masterpieces and sharing original works of art. Don’t miss out on your chance to be involved in this unique interactive art festival on Denver’s most beautiful block.
MAY 28: Sebadoh Globe hall
MAY 31: Samples Levitt Pavilion
JUNE 5: Billie Eilish Red Rocks Ampitheatre
OPENS JUNE 7: Clark Richert: In Hyperspace – MCA Denver Clark Richert in hyperspace celebrates the work of one of Colorado’s most important artists. MCA Denver’s major retrospective exhibition presents the breadth of Richert’s oeuvre while highlighting the specific aesthetic and philosophical questions that have informed it for more than fifty years. The exhibition reconciles Richert’s paintings with his work at Drop City by tracing the conceptual through-line that runs the length of his career. It explains how his ongoing interest in dimensionality—the characteristics of and relationship between one, two, three, and higher dimensions—has shaped his approach to art-making from the outset. Richert’s curiosity about dimensionality was informed, in large part, by R. Buckminster Fuller’s ideas. The exhibition demonstrates how his concern with the tension between two and three dimensions, specifically in painting, and geometries that suggest the existence of dimensions beyond those with which we are familiar, underpins his entire creative output.
JUNE 18 & 19: Eddie Izzard – Wunderbar – Paramount Theater A brand new tour for Eddie Izzard! British comedian Eddie Izzard is often lauded as one of the most influential comics of the last 25 years. Now he returns Stateside five years after his last tour, Force Majeure, saw him take on all 50 states!