Absolute immunity
August 19-november 2, 2024
opening reception | August 29, 2024 – 4:00-7:00 pm
Absolute Immunity reads like the title of a political crime thriller. In legal and political contexts, it can grant potentially limitless protection to those in power from legal accountability. From governments to churches to social hierarchies, structures ranging from local to international scales influence most peoples’ lives through power and authority.
In medicine, immunity refers to protection from disease, but here it takes on a more controversial form. The US Supreme Court recently ruled that the President has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority.” Critical systems, including courts, first responders, and even traffic laws, play essential roles in maintaining order. But how do we set limits to limits, who are the decision makers, and what role do we the people play in these vital systems? Unchecked power can easily lead to abuse of power.
The artists in this exhibition use their work to challenge societal norms and advocate for change. Their creations serve as a lens, urging us to reflect on our actions, the reasons behind them, and how we interact with power structures. With authority often comes injustice. Who deserves to receive freedom from liability for their actions? What are the consequences of a democracy without accountability for the most powerful people? These artists, in their own way, underscore the dangers of a society that allows the powerful to be automatically absolved, just because they control power. As you engage with these works, consider the impact of our collective decisions and the importance of staying informed and active in our civic lives, and the consequences of not paying attention. What will you do with the power you hold?
This exhibition is generously sponsored by CU Denver’s College of Arts & Media, with additional support from RedLine Contemporary.
Gregg deal
Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) is a nationally and internationally recognized multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and "disruptor." His work is informed by his Native identity and includes exhaustive critiques of American colonialism, society, politics, popular culture and history. Through paintings, murals, performance work, filmmaking, spoken word, and more, Deal invites the viewer to confront these issues both in the present and the past tense.
Deal has lectured in multiple institutions, with two TEDx talks, often challenging stereotypes, pushing for accurate representation, and honest looks at history of the United States as it relates to this country’s First Peoples. It is in these "disruptions" of stereotypes and ahistorical representations which Deal uses the term to describe his work. Deal has exhibited his work at notable institutions both locally, nationally, and internationally including the Denver Art Museum, RedLine Gallery, and The Smithsonian Institution. Deal currently lives with his wife and five children along the Front Range of Colorado.
ramiro smith estrada
Ramiro Smith Estrada (b.1984) is a visual artist working in painting. His artistic practice explores the skepticism and uncertainty of the political and social system of the current context.
His work reflects on the capitalist desire of characters who exude a feeling of apathy, depressive hedonia, uncertainty and restlessness in the face of decisions that are conditioned by a post-capitalist system demarcated by social media and the feeling of belonging to stereotypical roles of the dominant culture. In his paintings, the characters often present attributes, postures and ornaments that indirectly allude to the resurgence of the New Age, an anti-work politics and superficial activism in a world with an urgency to renew debates on the politics of work and the class politics incited by the recent pandemic crisis.
His contemporary representational painting technique is characterized by images in which line and form are expressed through carefully composed strokes and planes of flat colour. The sense of color and composition is evident through the characters he portrays as well as the populated backgrounds that give sense of context and invite narrative interpretations. Smith Estrada draws inspiration from politics, popular culture, music, literature and his close circle of friends and family.
Shepard fairey
Shepard Fairey is a contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist, and founder of OBEY Clothing and creative agency Studio Number One. In 1989, while at Rhode Island School of Design studying for his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration, Shepard Fairey created the “Andre the Giant has a Posse” sticker that later evolved into the OBEY GIANT art campaign. In 2008, his portrait of then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama became an internationally recognized emblem of hope. He is known for the “We The People” campaign debuted during the 2017 Women’s Marches worldwide. Fairey has painted more than 135 public murals, become one of the most sought-after and provocative artists globally, changing the way people converse about art and view the urban landscape.
Micol Hebron
Micol Hebron is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes studio work, curating, writing, social media, crowd-sourcing, teaching, public-speaking, and both individual and collaborative projects. Her recent work engages AI text-to-image generators to expose sexism and gender biases in contemporary media and technology. Hebron is an Associate Professor of Art at Chapman University; the founder/director of The Situation Room resource space for the creative community; the Gallery Tally Poster Project about gender equity in contemporary galleries; and the Digital Pasty/Gender Equity initiative for the internet. Hebron currently serves as an advisor for the Art + Technology Lab artist’s grant at Los Angeles Museum of Art. In the past she has been the Chief Curator at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art; the director of the UCLA Summer Art Institute; an editorial board member at X-Tra magazine; an independent curator; a conservator at LACMA, and the co-founder of Gallery B-12 in Hollywood in the 90s. She has served on advisory boards at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Birch Creek Ranch Residency (Utah), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, UCLA., and the Centre Pompadour in France. She is the founder of the LA Art Girls collective, the Co-Founder of Fontbron Academy, and the founder of Feminist Summer Camp, in Ephraim, Utah, and Ercourt, France. Hebron employs strategies of consciousness-raising, collaboration, generosity, play, and participation to support and further feminist dialogues in art and life. She has presented exhibitions, performances, and lectures at numerous international institutions.
gaby Ōshiro
Gaby Ōshiro painter/musician was born in Buenos Aires Argentina to Edvige Bresolin, a photographer and pianist, and Oscar Takashi Ōshiro, a political activist and lawyer, who was desaparecido (kidnapped and murdered) for opposing the military dictatorship in Argentina. When it became clear her father would not return alive, Gaby emigrated to Italy along with her mother and brother, where she studied for 5 years at the Liceo Artistico Statale di Treviso. After fine arts school in Italy, she attended Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Ernesto de la Cárcova in Argentina where she studied with Guggenheim fellow Carlos Gorriarena. In 2016 Gaby collaborated with writer/journalist Andrés Asato on his book about the 17 Desaparecidos of Japanese descent (Nikkei), helping him write the chapter about her father entitled "Con Alma Tanguera.” Following the publication of the book, she was invited to do an art installation called Kintsugi about the 17 desaparecidos Nikkei at the Espacio Cultural of the National Library of Congress in Argentina. Kintsugi, the Presence of your Absence-Part II, was presented at the Galleria dell'Artistico in Treviso Italy, and at the CMA Centro Municipal de Arte in Buenos Aires. After working on portraiture for many years, Gaby’s current work is exploring the use of unconventional materials and gestural techniques like shodō.
Her latest art installations can be seen at the Denver Art Museum.
kenzie sitterud
Kenzie Sitterud is a multimedia artist who works primarily in large-scale installation, freelance design, and public art environments. Sitterud’s installations are designed to be ironic, lightening the weight of social issues they address. Connecting to the human experience from a non-majority perspective, their intention is to create artworks that foster empathy and offer visual insights into social and historical injustices.
Sitterud began their artistic journey as a musician and installation artist in the queer and DIY communities of Denver (2004-2009) and Seattle (2009-2013). In 2013, they returned to Denver to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Sitterud's work has been featured at the Denver Art Museum, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Meow Wolf Denver, Breck Create, PlatteForum, Leon Gallery and various galleries around Denver's art districts.
They were an Artist-in-Residence at RedLine Contemporary Art Center from 2017 to 2019. During their residency, Sitterud was a recipient of the Colorado Creative Industries and NEA Career Advancement Grant in 2017. They also received a 2019 P.S. You Are Here Grant through Denver Arts & Venues to complete a commissioned public project for Design Workshop Foundation and are the recipient of the 2024 Sharron Prize Grant.