Vibrant Abstraction
Andrea Gordon: Vibrant Abstraction
Lakewood Cultural Center, Corner Gallery
470 Allison Parkway, Lakewood, CO 80226
December 1-31, 2019
Admission: Free
Review by Mary Voelz Chandler
Andrea Gordon’s approach to making art is all about exuberance and experimentation. With paintings and a mixed-media piece, as well as voluptuously glazed ceramic objects, the exhibition Vibrant Abstraction shows an artist who is determined to learn and express her point of view.
Vibrant Abstraction is on view through Dec. 31 in the tiny Corner Gallery at the Lakewood Cultural Center. Gordon is a Denver native who has been working for about a decade as an adult art student, as an exhibitor (at Core New Art Space and numerous other venues), and as a member of the Artnaut Collective—a group of area artists who create work shown all over the world.
Installation view of Andrea Gordon’s Vibrant Abstraction exhibition on display at the Lakewood Cultural Center. Image by DARIA.
Gordon’s strength is her use of color, with bright, complementary swaths and shapes, and with occasional mini-checkerboard intrusions that make her colors stand out even more.
The Corner Gallery is set into an angled area near the Center’s entrance. One side of the gallery is dominated by a large picture window that looks out onto a plaza—a challenging space that Gordon uses for her rows of ceramic spheres and hanging 3-D works. The bright window light is balanced by dark gray walls that serve as a fitting background for Gordon’s paintings.
Andrea Gordon, For Love (146), not dated, acrylic on canvas. Image by DARIA.
Andrea Gordon, Pool Party (315), not dated, acrylic on canvas. Image by DARIA.
Two paintings displayed side by side titled Pool Party and For Love establish her ability to place bold colors next to each other and make it work. Pool Party is defined by bright blue pebbles adjacent to an open white field, wedged into an undulating grid, while For Love blazes through with hot pink floral patterns and an orange, radiating kind of sun overlaid with interventions in black and white.
Some of Gordon’s works are more muted, with an emphasis on brushwork and traditional abstraction. (Most works are untitled.) These paintings tend to balance the more vivid works, revealing her subdued approach to how colors react to each other.
Andrea Gordon, Untitled, not dated, ceramics. Image by DARIA.
The ceramic pieces are lined up for display, again showing off Gordon’s love of color. Some of the bumpy orbs mix brilliant glazes with unglazed clay. As a suggestion, it would be helpful if Gordon fleshed out the gallery list noting the techniques she uses for the clay, whether it is salt, soda, raku or other processes.
Vibrant Abstraction is a step forward for Gordon to look into the future, as she explores how she wants to proceed. Her experimentation will serve her well.
Mary Voelz Chandler writes about visual arts, architecture, and preservation, including the position of art and architecture writer at the former Rocky Mountain News in Denver. She completed two editions of the Guide to Denver Architecture and was a co-author on the 2009 book Colorado Abstract, with Westword critic, author and historian Michael Paglia. Along with numerous awards for her writing, Chandler was honored by the Denver Art Museum in 2012 with the Contemporary Alliance “Key” Award, and received the AIA Colorado 2005 award for Contribution to the Built Environment by a Non-Architect.
