RMN Review: Culligan + Delaney + Wenzel

Staying power: If anyone actually needs a reminder, there is a reason abstract work continues to captivate artists who find that style more real than what traditionally is considered realism.

Creative freedom and the opportunity for an artist to interpret how he or she views the world are at the heart of this form of work, as is clear in the current show at T: A Gallery.

Here, new sculpture by Emmett Culligan and Robert Delaney and new mixed-media work on wood panels by Jeff Wenzel also continue to captivate viewers who wish to move beyond the confines of representational work.

All three are well-established artists based in Denver, and all three continue to evolve in terms of how their work addresses space and material. They also are members of the T stable, which gallery director Ron Judish selected carefully before the space opened late last year in a beautifully restored storefront that once housed a trophy company.

As in the inaugural show, Judish has set aside part of the gallery's northern bay for secondary market material, including work by Nancy Graves and Ricardo Mazal. The other two bays address an exhibition that claims the air, the walls and the floor.

In the southern bay and part of the middle bay, the walls are lined with new works by Wenzel that are all about layering and collage. Long known for his practice of constructing and reconstructing highly textured paintings, Wenzel here has included even more deliberately placed forms and has moved into a lighter palette. In Brahma, for instance, the color black - which once seemed to dominate Wenzel's work - becomes the source of a unifying line, while it shows a powerful presence in the beautiful Pesha.

Also in that bay, three limestone and steel sculptures from Culligan's "Crew" series march down the center of the floor. His ability to present fine craftsmanship as a way to make simplicity seem effortless is at the heart of these powerful cone-shaped objects.

Delaney's strength at capturing lyricism in metal is evident in the mobiles and pedestal pieces on view throughout the gallery.

The yellow triangles of the compact Yellow Heads recall a pair of birds taking flight, while Big Yellow Flatis a massive exploration of the plane and balance. The delicate drops of Gold Roe have the sensibility of jewelry, while the more earthbound With epitomizes the sensuous nature of the curve and the play of void against solid.

Experience counts, especially in the understanding of abstraction, and that helps define this thoughtful exhibition.