SaveArtSpace has partnered with Dateline Gallery to bring more public art to Denver, Colorado starting in September 2020.

SaveArtSpace x Dateline Gallery presents SaveArtSpace for Crush Walls, a cross-media gallery and public art exhibition showcasing artists on billboards throughout Denver. Curated by Thomas “Detour” Evans and Lorenzo Talcott. Selected artists are DINKC, Joshua Palmeri, Olive Moya, Marcus Murray, Sasha the Kid, Meaghan McCallum, Crystal Marshall, Austin Blue, Danielle Klebes, Diana "Didi" Contreras and REMOTE. The public art will be on view starting September 8th, 2020 for at least one month.

If CDC and State of Colorado regulations allow, there will be an Artist Reception on September 17th, 2020 from 6p-10p at Dateline Gallery, 3004 Larimer Street. Denver, Colorado 80205

Curators

Thomas “Detour” Evans is an all-around creative specializing in large scale public art, interactive visuals, portraiture, immersive spaces, and creative directing. His focus is to create work where art and innovation meet. A born collaborator and “military brat,” Detour pulls from every conceivable experience that shapes his landscapes and perspectives. Explaining Detour’s work is no easy task, as ongoing experimentations in visual art, music, and interactive technologies have his practice continually expanding. With his ever-evolving approach to art, Detour’s focus is on expanding customary views of creativity and challenging fine-art paradigms by mixing traditional mediums with new approaches—all the while opening up the creative process from that of a singular artist, to one that thrives on multi-layered collaboration and viewer participation.

Connect with “Detour” on Instagram at @detour303.

Lorenzo Talcott is a Denver Colorado native who grew up with roots in North Denver, Five Points, Westminster and Boulder, CO. His passion is to help create avenues for artist by using his extensive background in sales, marketing, and project management. His focus and passion is Curating gallery shows, negotiating and curating mural projects, and project managing large scale mural projects. Lorenzo likes giving his time to community services in the art districts such as creating the Rino Arts Fest in 2018 and 2019, sitting on the board for Colorado Crush in 2018 and by creating jobs in the community for local and national artists. 

Lorenzo has great relationships with local Colorado artists and national artists. Being that he has this extensive network of art relationships he has been able to create numerous jobs and projects for all artists. He has relationships with local and large corporations which also helps create the jobs for artists in the community such as Aksels, Local 46, Urban Dispensary, Campari International, Espolon and Warner Bro's.

Lorenzo's passion for art and helping others has led him to curating shows at Alto gallery in the Berkeley neighborhood, Dateline Gallery in Five Points and currently at Ila Gallery in the Santa Fe art district. 

Lorenzo's focus is to continue to work in the community to help create jobs for artists and a platform for all artists to express themselves through their work.

Connect with Lorenzo on Instagram at @pincheguero1.

Participating organizations

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.

DATELINE is a contemporary art gallery in Denver, Co. Specializing in emerging and experimental contemporary art.

Location: E Colfax Ave & Quince St

“Sasha the Kid” is a 22 year old contemporary painter based out of Denver, CO. Born in Tacoma, WA of Asian American descent, unique life experiences reflect a mature intuition through a childlike composition. Seemingly ‘coming out of nowhere’, Sasha’s prolific art practice has successfully been making noise throughout the Denver art scene in less than a year after arrival.

“My work reflects on the immediacy and instability of this generation. Acting as a new visual voice of the youth, my goal is to enter viewers into a world where the beauty of bright colors and the power of a simple line can grasp personal emotions to shift one’s perspective. As some works are created as a protest, I suggest my entire career as a protest: a protest against old barriers that keep us from growing.” -Sasha the Kid

Website: www.sashaleighalexander.com

Connect with Sasha on Instagram at @sasha.the.kid

Location: Downing St & Arapahoe St

Crystal Marshall is a contemporary fine artist painter who lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally from Kingston Jamaica, her paintings pay homage to her life's experiences rooted in cultural disparities in the modern-day African diaspora. Her distinctive personal style emanates  isolation, self reflection and expresses the spirit and atmosphere of the black consciousness in efforts to reconcile its relationship with true identity and image.

Symbolic motifs such as wool, thorns, hair, figurative and allegorical  representations are just some of the visual tools used to express displacement, hostility, victimization, exclusion, oppression and withdrawal. As the artist explains, “I am a storyteller and I welcome the viewer to be a part of this visual journey, to share in my experience.”

She earned a Bachelor of General Fine arts degree from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland and also studied fine arts at Edna Manley College of Art in Kingston, Jamaica. She received a full scholarship for an exchange program at Pont Aven School of Contemporary art in France where she showcased her work in a group exhibit. 

While conducting her studies at MICA her paintings were also featured in the Baltimore Times, where she participated in the annual Vernon Jones exhibit. Crystal's artwork has been shown in exhibitions such as "Intersectionality Theory" at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, group exhibit. Most recently she has showcased a series of her artworks with the art box project in Zurich Switzerland, Miami Art Basel and Barcelona Spain.

My work explores the use of narrative to evoke emotional connections that reference all aspects of life. Through symbolism and allegory I refer to what lies beneath the surface. Through the use of varying imagery of my choosing, it allows me to explore imaginative realms that defy logic but are directly influenced by life's experiences. I also investigate different themes that affect people from all walks of life, concerning life's trials and tribulations, which include hostility, victimization, exclusion, oppression and withdrawal, all of which I believe ties into spirituality.

Website: www.crystalamarshall.com

Connect with Crystal on Instagram at @crysart1983

Location: Delaware St & W 12th Ave

Olive Moya is a visual artist from Los Angeles currently living and working in Denver.  She received her BFA from Otis College of Art + Design in 2011.

The bold graphic colorscapes, defined edges, line-work and movement are referential of Moya’s background in illustration and lettering. She most recently describes her paintings as “abstract storytelling,” influenced by how Frank Stella described his own work, saying: “[Abstraction] could have a geometry that had a narrative impact. In other words, you could tell a story with the shapes.”   Each of Moya’s works are a push and pull between intuition and control. It is a performance by and for the artist, reflecting identity back on oneself to simulate comfort and stability in the face of fear and loss of control.  

Moya pairs the soft consoling colors of her childhood with the vivid influence of her early-adulthood in Los Angeles. The pale turquoise of the wallpaper in her childhood kitchen, or the faded nostalgic hues of Disney films on VCR against saturated primaries, striking yellow-greens and hot pinks.  Cloud-like organic shapes float across her panels, clustering around each other and are sometimes interrupted by sharp black pathways referential of Keith Haring and of Cy Twombly’s blackboard drawings. Each pair of black lines can be twisted and angry, slow and methodical, meandering, decisive, or stuttering- all layering atop each other and the dreamlike colorful background. Some pieces exist only as vivid pathways tangled, layered, and overwhelming.  The work often incorporates one or more clean shifts, giving the impression of a changing timeline, comic strip or storyboard. Each piece can be the portrayal of a single moment, or a recounting of a transformation over years. 

The titles of the paintings are gathered from various movie subtitle descriptions. Each title suggests that there is something in the work that the viewer has not heard or noticed and therefore overlooked. Furthermore, pulling from subtitles represents a chain of carefully curated versions of a story- the theatrics of the music, background noise, and non-dialogue character sounds that construct a specific understanding of what is being viewed. Moya pairs these sometimes humorous decontextualized parenthetical phrases such as  “Rustling Continues” and “Slurping Loudly” with her pieces in an attempt to discuss our relationship with our own perceived identity. Often, we quickly we simultaneously neglect the truths of fear, failure, sadness and rejection and then fill it in idly in an attempt to comfort and control. The titles are also a nod to the artist’s relationship to humor in language, lettering, and text.  

Website: www.olivemoya.com

Connect with Olive on Instagram at @olivemoya

Location: Washington St & E 49th Ave

Danielle Klebes has exhibited at notable galleries and museums across the United States and in Canada. She had been spending much of 2019 and 2020 participating in domestic and international artist residencies. She is currently in residence at Monson Arts in Maine. Danielle received her MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley University College of Art and Design in Cambridge, MA, in 2017.

Artist Statement:
The main subjects for my artwork are people who are in a state of flux. The figures in my paintings are captured in moments of uncertainty and isolation. There is a sense of the in-between without a clear narrative regarding what comes next. I employ a cool, colorful, and unnatural palette to highlight disconnection and lack of intimacy. 

Website:  www.danielleklebes.com

Connect with Danielle on Instagram at @danielleklebesart

Location: Federal Blvd & W 3rd Ave

The DINKC Brand was born in Kansas City in 1990. Heavily rooted in Mexican-American cultures, graffiti/street art influence, and "DIA DE LOS MUERTOS" Skulls x Beliefs. DINKC presents the various realms in which he loves to explore and showcase his style. By utilizing illustrative design at its core, his work expands into galleries, murals, custom merchandise/apparel, and commissioned work. Through his craft, DINKC embodies strong brand ideals, unforgiving boldness, and passion. To live is to die. 

Website: www.dinkc.com

Connect with DINKC on Instagram at @dinkc

Location: Colorado Blvd & East 50th Ave

Joshua Palmeri is a Denver-based artist, originally from New Orleans, LA. Having studied architecture and photography, Joshua’s work is a blend of formal critiques of our built environment and an expression of unique cultural identity. Joshua, as one-half of two palm studio, has recently completed a temporary large scale public art installation in City Park Denver’s abandoned lily ponds. If you are in Denver, go visit the Color Field.

Denver, like many places has undergone massive change in the past decade. But Denver has always been subject to that condition, pioneering the west, a boom or bust colony, and a willingness to alter all that stands in its way. ‘Rising Tide’ is a reflection on the infamous aphorism that has proven to be more myth than legend in our lived experience. As consumers continue to flock to Denver, we continually alter the landscape and leave those that can’t stay afloat behind. If history could be rewritten, I think the proverb would more accurately reflect our empathy for other people, places, and culture. In other words, we don’t all own boats. 

Website: www.joshuapalmeri.com

Connect with Joshua on Instagram at @Urbanartagency / @palmyjmary

Location: Vallejo St & W 8th Ave

Marcus Murray is a Jamaican-American born in Omaha, Nebraska whose lived in Denver for nearly a decade. Marcus considers himself self taught in terms of never taking a college drawing class but was born into a family of artists and storytellers. He sees art as a way to tell stories of resistance, history, and mythology of peoples from across the globe. Marcus’ illustrations are inspired by these same pillars with a heavy dash of comics and hip hop. All of his illustrations are concocted with a narrative trying to claw its way out of his head. From the initial scribbling of lines to the slow burn of devising a color palette, the entire process is cathartic

Website: www.omegamarcusus.myportfolio.com

Connect with Marcus on Instagram at @Omega_Marcusus

Location: Washington St & E 49th Ave

Meaghan McCallum grew up in Homer, Alaska, among the fish and fireweed. From an early age she was drawn to the visual arts and the way the world looked through a viewfinder. From a rebellious two-year-old who went streaking through suburbia, to an introverted teenager who wandered lustfully through the woods...she made “art” wherever she went. Whether it be crayons on the walls or dead Pushki stalks woven to create a castle.

Her friends say that she talks using her long noodle arms and drives with obscenely perfect posture. They also say she’s a truly skilled gift giver and empathetic to a fault. She’s uncomfortable in the spotlight but craves attention. She secretly enjoys talking about herself in the third person.

Meaghan started a long-term project in 2012, where she documents her life through digital and film photography. In between seasonal jobs, being an aunt, playing video games, and getting lost, she photographs the awesome and minute moments of her life. Right now, you’ll be able to find her in either the Deep South or The Last Frontier, with a camera, her three pets, and a journal.

Statement Part documentation/part self-expression, my photography can best be described as a visual diary. I take photos as a way to process my hectic emotional energy and create a record for my own posterity. Inherently selfish, each image I create is a reflection of my mood, desire, and experience. I want to represent the intimacy of the individual gaze.

My work is deeply inspired by childhood, and the state of discovery that kids live in. A constant curiosity about the world, and my relationship to it, is what motivates me. Children tell stories through the act of play and I try to emulate that with how I use my camera. I work with minimal gear in order to have the freedom to play with my space and focus on the moment.

Description of work “Crawfish” May 19, 2018. Hot. Humid. Under the noon sun in Natchez, Mississippi. We’re on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi river. It’s nearing the end of crawfish season and Natchez Children’s Services is holding a children’s fair. No one was prepared for May to rear its fiery head like it did. Wrapped in the suffocating arms of noon-time heat, the activities planned suddenly felt impractical. Cue the public fountain. With a bouncy house, kites, and bubbles forgotten, the fair turned into a pool party.

Canon Rebel SL1, 24mm, f/5.6, 100 ISO, 1/1000s

Website: www.meaghanmccallum.com

Connect with Meaghan on Instagram at @ladydanger37

Location: W 12th Ave & N Broadway

Diana "Didi" Contreras (b. Peru, 1981) has established herself as an influential Miami artist. From painting murals in the street art scene, to exhibiting in various galleries, her work has been seen in exhibitions and private collections in several parts of the world. 

Contreras's primary medium is oil yet, enjoys experimenting with anything she can make a mark with or on. From canvas, paper, to walls, her work deals with femininity, set in whimsical portraiture. With a distinct style Contreras’s work merges her love of illustration and street art with the classical techniques of the Masters.  

Contreras received her B.S. in Art Education and a Post-Graduate of Art in Teaching from Florida International University. She also joined in the study abroad program in Florence, Italy. Additionally, Contreras enrolled at the Art Students League of New York in New York City. 

“Butterfly Effect”: An increasingly large effect that a natural force may produce over a period of time...

The letters in this piece reads “Perez”. It is the name my husband goes by. It is a collaboration between our art forms and the story of what finally brought us together. This piece is really a Love Story

Website: www.dianacontrerasart.com

Connect with "Didi" on Instagram at @didirok

Location: E Colfax Ave & Dahlia St

Austin Blue work explores the concepts of contrast and harmony through shapes, color, and use of space. I tend to paint juxtapositions of geometric shapes with subjects (commonly animal or human) and I bounce from representational and abstract frequently. I’m self taught and make sure that little time goes by without learning something new pertaining to my craft. With that said, each piece I create is a milestone for me, as I'm constantly striving to learn more and improve. I want my work to pique interest, make people ask questions, and inspire creativity.

Website: www.austinblueart.net

Connect with Austin on Instagram at @Proper_Blue

Location: Larimer St & 21st St

Jay REMOTE Bellicchi is an American artist, designer, sculptor and creator who developed in 1980s Boston’s hip hop and graffiti culture, where he was given the name REMOTE. He is known both for the dynamism of his geometric and boldly colorful mural work as well as for his inventive, conceptual transformation into sculptural works of the tools he uses to paint murals. The nexus of his formal and conceptual practice is a marriage of graphic design and graffiti culture, of tension between mapped geometric order and rogue, boundary breaking. Inspired by the constant birth, decay and rebirth of the rigorously designed yet constantly improvised urban environment, Jay’s mural work is a kind of sacred street geometry of mark-making which is formally driven by the the dynamic relationship between planned process and spontaneous creation or action, wherein each piece takes an underlying symmetry and then explodes it. In Jay / REMOTE’s studio series he repurposes recycled spray painting tools to form tributes to the idea of the artist’s continual evolution as a combination of organized process and a rebellious, organic relationship to his environment. Each resin skull in the SPRAYSKULL series literally encapsulates the idea of the graffiti artist’s daring by the amorphous amassing of spray tips all used to make marks in various places throughout the urban environs, while his resined, geometric mosaics made from pounded and cut empty spray cans form mandala-like visual narratives to the artist’s experience. Jay has executed multiple large scale murals in South Florida and nationally for corporate, private and public clients such as LYFT, Shake Shack, Related Group, HYDE properties, MasterCard, Miami Marlins, Miami Dolphins, Miami Open, Hard Rock Stadium, Marriott properties, Club Med, Adrienne Arsht Center, Fiat, Heineken, BBX Capital, Q6 Cyber Security, SUNFEST Music Festival, Circ Hotel, MOD Pizza, MIA Brewery, Civil Society Brewing, Collective Arts Brewing, GameTime, Napa Auto Parts, Miami Dade Transit Authority Fl, City of Hallandale Fl, City of West Palm Beach Fl, City of Ocala Fl, Art Armory Center Palm Beach Fl, VanMoof Bicycles, Mana Urban Arts, Bushwick Collective and Yo Miami. He shows his sculptural work in galleries nationally and internationally including SCOPE Art Fair, Art Basel, Moniker Art Fair, NYC, Laundromat Art Space, Miami, Street Art Gallery, DUBAI, Sweat Records, Miami, Reed Space, NYC, Gallery 212, Wynwood, Gallery 543, Philadelphia PA and Dateline Gallery, Denver CO.

Website: www.remoteroc.com

Connect with REMOTE on Instagram at @REMOTEROC