Review: Parallel Lines at Havu Gallery Is an Unseasonably Hot Show
- Jan 22
- 2 min read
"Review: Parallel Lines at Havu Gallery Is an Unseasonably Hot Show
TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2016 AT 10:09 A.M.
BY MICHAEL PAGLIA
The Metiers on the walls wrap around works by Culligan, a noted Denver sculptor. I first saw his work in the back room at Pirate in the 1990s. At the time, Culligan was still a young, emerging artist, but it was already obvious that he would rise to the top of the heap — and he has, with a number of major commissions for public art now under his belt...
At Havu, Culligan is represented by a group of his recent sculptures, including a small selection of his tabletop pieces displayed on stands and a pair of gigantic sculptures that are so big they’re more suitable for a garden — unless you happen to have a lobby that needs furnishing. All of these sculptures sport the use of an odd material that could also be described as a technique: Culligan heats up rectangular galvanized steel tubes that are closed at the ends, and then, using compressed air, he partially inflates the rectilinear tubes while the super-heated steel is pliable. The air distorts the profiles of the heat-softened steel tubes, allowing the artist to create the formal effects he wants for his sculptures.
Several of the Culligans here are from his recent “Ligature” series. In “Ligature #1,” two enormous vertical elements made of inflated steel embrace each other; the two hold a pair of carved rhyolite shapes — one placed at the bottom on one side, the other positioned at the top on the opposite side. This gives the composition a yin-yang sense of balance, even though the two halves are not direct inversions of one another, as they would be in the pure expression of that archetypal formal dialectic. “Ligature #3” is very different, comprising two rectangular stone slabs set at a diagonal and held together by an inflated stainless-steel bracket that looks like a gigantic hinge."
