Trekking through RiNo on an Art Safari

​We never ran into Dr. Livingstone last Saturday in the urban jungle, but we did see a lot of art during the district-wide RiNo Art Safari open studio artwalk event, a generous come-on to the public by artists and gallerists into River North Art District. During the space of only a couple of hours, we were able to tour an unstructured showcase of just about every echelon of Denver's art world, from the elite of the elite to all that's purely lowbrow. And, hey, we loved every minute of it, even if we only had tome to catch a fraction of what was going on in all of RiNo. It was a good fraction. Come along and see:

First stop, Megafauna. We wanted to check out this new hybrid gallery and retail store in Loy Merck's Meadowlark complex at 27th and Larimer streets in person; it nestles up to the Flobots Community Space, which is located in turn next to the Meadowlark proper. And Megafauna is a happening thing on a happening corner, creating an outlet for young artists and entrepreneurs, many of whom live and work in the area: You'll find screen-printed tees by Derailed Ink and others, Havea Lolo vintage togs, repurposed furniture by Vintage Renewal and more.

MegaFauna: Art among the animals.

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Then, it was off to Walnut Street, where we stopped in to chat with Robin Rule at her new, more streamlined Rule Gallery location adjacent to the Dry Ice Factory studios. There's a fabulous show of paintings by Margaret Neumann up there for another couple of weeks. Next door, Ice Cube Gallery is dominated by Jennifer Jeannelle's monumental, spiky clay and mixed media wall installation. But Theresa Anderson's installation private listening devices counters it well with a spontaneous tableau of found objects, clippings and drawings that form a private and whimsical room.

Jennifer Jeannelle, "Receptive," Ice Cube Gallery.

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Theresa Anderson, "private listening devices," Ice Cube Gallery.

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Theresa Anderson, "private listening devices," Ice Cube Gallery.

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Next, we sneaked into Hinterland, where Sabin Aell and Randy Rushton presided over the last day of One Hundred Days: The Online Collaborative. Droll photographer Sally Stockton stopped over to say hello, on break from Pattern Shop Gallery, a block away, where her amazing solo exhibit of posed self-portraits as various art-history icons continues through August 5.

Chatting at Hinterland.

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Sally Stockhold as Frida Kahlo.

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