Tag Archives: Thomas Wargin

Cherry Creek Arts Festival 2010

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HAPPY 4TH OF JULY USA

The 20th Anniversary Cherry Creek Art Festival takes place July 4th weekend on July 3,4,5, 2010 at Cherry Creek North (First Avenue and University Boulevard) in Denver, Colorado

Bradford J. Salamon's booth at CCAF
Bradford J. Salamon's booth at CCAF
Photograph by WCarbone

Another year has passed and another Cherry Creek Arts Festival is under way, another wave of artists and vendors. New art, old art, good art, better art but not much rain-art, at least not by 3:00 P.M. yesterday.
That is to say that it always rains opening day of the CCAF. We left around 3:00 and at that time it had not rained yet.

All n’ all it was a perfect day for an art festival and though I’ve only seen about half of the artists, I’ll add to the following list after the end of this day.

The paintings in the booth of Bradford J. Salamon of California (above) left a very strong impression. The luxuriously rich oils had a dessert-like icing-on-the-cake finish. Salamon’s impressionistic technique creates areas of photo-realism in paintings of gorgeous faces in salon-like settings.

Bow Tie - Bradford J. Salamon
Bow Tie - Bradford J. Salamon
Photograph from Bradford J. Salamon's website

Vibrant, glossy colors meld into backgrounds of muted browns and golds, at least that’s what’s stuck in my memory.

Waiting in White - Bradford J. Salamon
Waiting in White - Bradford J. Salamon
Photograph from Bradford J. Salamon's website

Salamon is a big guy. You’d guess football player rather than painter of fine oils. Find out more about him from his website: Bradford J. Salamon’s Official Website

Other work that I really enjoyed, not necessarily in any particular order include paintings by Loretta Petraitis who paints rust and stuff in city-scapes of rusted bridges with rivets, bolts and other industrial trapings. Hard, cold realism is nailed and riveted to the canvas. [This is too esotaric, but “all molecules have equal value.”] Loretta Petraitis works can be seen on the web here

Cézanne inspired (I’m sure) oils in oranges and yellows, of oranges and yellows, that’s lemons and oranges to the little people, are executed beautifully by Kelley Somer of Alpine Utah. The colorful, yet stark oils are powerfully vibrant – some suggestive of those chewey, sugar-coated-citrus candy wedges. Glass vessels and silver utensils complement the fruits (in contrast.) Kelly Somer’s work can be seen on her website www.kellysomer.com

Thomas Wargin must have ridden down Hell’s main highway on a motorcycle in order to be able to conjure up the images, in sculpture, of his wild cycle-creatures: part human – part machine, rolling down a road of imagination. Other Bosch-like sculpture includes two (fused) topless women sharing a dress of golden breasts. Thomas Wargin’s website is choc full of sculpture.

These are just a few of the artists that really engaged me. They as well as many other artists can be found on the CCAF website.

I know this is pretentious, it’s just my opinion. You can also have an opinion.

Cherry Creek Arts Festival Official Website
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Monday July 5, 2010
Well I went back to the show; it was pretty much rained out last night. Today was a beautiful sunshiny day. I went back but didn’t really find anything that knocked me out. Maybe one or two of the following.

I’m still trying to figure out the “Best of Show.” Best I can figure is that it’s an entire installation piece that won “Best of Show” – in the “Painting” catagory. It’s a hand crafted shipping-crate-type structure (98″ x 78″ x 113″) which is like a little gallery with framed paintings on the walls. Here’s the link, you go figure it out: www.joachimknill.com/national-treasure/crate.html Maybe it could be a dwelling for a homeless family. They would need Street Supplies.

2010 Award Winners of The Cherry Creek Arts Festival: Best of Show, Joachim Knill (painting?); Second Place, Betsy Youngquist (mixed media); Third Place, Joe Decamillis (mixed media.)

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