Pop-up exhibition at Ashcroft Ghost Town, outside Aspen, CO.
Kaitlyn Tucek
The Lilac Hour
September 17-19th, 2021
Ashcroft Ghost Town
11 miles up Castle Creek Rd. (County Road 15)
Accessed from the roundabout at the west entrance to Aspen
Aspen, CO
9am to 6pm daily
Admission is a donation to Ashcroft Ghost Town at trailhead/ $5 for adults and children under 18 free, this is a donation to the Aspen Historical Society to tour the grounds and not affiliated with the artist. Please be aware the site is without phone service and visitors will have a quarter mile hike on the grounds.
The Lilac Hour, a sprawling multimedia, out of gallery exhibition spanning multiple buildings in the abandoned Ashcroft Ghost Town, 11 miles from Aspen, Colorado. This exhibition is Tucek’s largest to date and presents the viewer with a synthesis of her previous bodies of work by combining signature mark making with both abstract and representational forms.
Beginning with a series of written texts, and an intention to illuminate her grief and hold onto her own memories, Tucek remembers family and home, bringing gentle attention to both the beauty and transcendence of youth and the pain of loss. Using both flora and human forms, her imagery represents the grand effort of existence. While attempting to capture a memory, the viewer is swept up in vibrant hues with pronounced light and endless negative space. Tucek writes: “It isn’t just that the space is negative, “empty”, or innocent. The space is saddled against life. It’s edge to edge with human expression.”
Installed in a number of the abandoned Ashcroft Ghost Town buildings, the works respond to the lack of human presence in the space by bringing attention to the spaces between. Memories are ever-changing representations of a moment we think happened but can never be revisited in a reliable form. Never the real thing, always a facsimile. And with each repetition of the memory, the original moment becomes more of a ghost. The exploration of the power of language over what is visible, is illuminated in Tucek’s text:
The Lilac Hour:
The words hold more pigment than the sight of it
Works are placed unframed, draped and ground touching. Time and light move without bounds. Diaphanous textures are placed against weather aged pine planks and expanses of negative space attempt to activate the open walls and floor boards by allowing for the same negative spaces apparent in her works, calling into question our concepts of emptiness. Sound pieces, combinations of Tucek’s poetry combined with other, will be present in occasional places throughout the site and will further push the concept of the ephemeral.
As in poetry, the viewer is tasked with re-examining the image from new perspectives, challenging time and lens. Caught in their memory, the viewer will revisit these works as the ghosts they’ve collected.
Tucek will read some of her poetry live during the three day event, with times and locations to be determined. The artist will be present and on site each day during open hours.
About Kaitlyn Tucek:
Kaitlyn Tucek lives and works in Denver, CO. From Long Island, NY, Tucek graduated from Pratt Institute in 2006 and was awarded a Master’s from CUNY Queens College in 2013. Tucek is a multi-disciplinary artist. Tucek’s work has been shown in New York and Denver, including exhibits at Leon Gallery, ATC and Alto Gallery. Tucek has been featured in Hyperallergic, Westword, Denver Life Magazine, Modern in Denver, CPR’s Denverite, and was recently named one of Denver’s top 5 artists to watch and collect by 5280 Magazine.