Last chance! The Art District Best of 2010 closes next week

Dan Ellier Chapman

So wait. What art should I like?

​If you read Westword with any regularity, you will know that we've got a boner for compiling "best of" lists. It's a win-win situation. It's our job to keep up on this stuff, so they're easy for us to put together; you have a real job and not enough time to follow everything that interests you, so you just want to know the best stuff. See? Easy.

That's precisely the appeal of the Art District Best of 2010 awards show, which has been up at eventgallery 910Arts since November. And if you haven't seen it yet, now is the time to get on it.

Curated by Dana Cain and juried by our own art critic Michael Paglia (both of whom we also have boners for), the show is a who's-who of the artists making an impact on the local scene (there's also a section for best national/international show) -- people whose art you should see and whose names you should know if you have even a passing interest in Denver arts.

Sarah Haney

​And unlike, say, the Denver Art Museum, this show's free to drop in and browse around. Inside, you'll find works by artists like Sarah Haney, whose moody black-and-whites of Barbie Dolls provide an unsettling commentary on contemporary American life, Dan Ellier Chapman, one of the best contemporary realists working in our fair city, and a whole bunch more, selected by folks who know what they're talking about and voted on by anyone who cared to participate. So drop in.

Tonight's an excellent time to see it, since eventgallery keeps its doors open until 8 p.m. on third Fridays (less popular than the ubiquitous first Friday events, but still pretty artsy), but you've still got until January 28, a week from today, until it closes. Otherwise, gallery hours are Tuesday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Get on it.