New York Times – Ben Osborne, April 7, 2021.
The irony has always troubled Raafi Rivero. “People love Black athletes,” he said. “But they don’t love Black people.”
In July 2013, it resonated anew for Rivero, a lifelong sports fan, when George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Black teenager Trayvon Martin, the same weekend Rivero saw the film “Fruitvale Station,” about the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant, who was also Black.
The Denver Post – Ray Rinaldi Feb 22, 2021
Some of this year’s best exhibitions are in-person, online or splashed across local billboards
SW Contemporary magazine – by Joshua Ware Feb 8, 2021
Diego Rodriguez-Warner’s recent exhibition Horror Vacui offers a look beyond the immediate disarray and confusion in which we find ourselves.
Hyperallergic – by Ray Rinaldi Dec 28, 2020
Denver, CO — Like many people, Diego Rodriguez-Warner has spent the pandemic quarantining at home, and the paintings and drawings he has created for Horror Vacui at Leon Gallery present material evidence of an artist forced to make due with supplies on-hand. Leftover acrylics, crayons, watercolors and spray paint adorn scraps of plywood and drywall that serve as canvas.
Denverite – by Donna Bryson Nov 2, 2020
“You want every jersey to be the last one. But you kind of know, intrinsically, that something’s going to happen again.”
Marsha Mack and Lindsay Smith Gustave – Reviewed by Derrick Velasquez
Marsha Mack and Lindsay Smith Gustave are masters of expansion and collapse. Their exhibition Animal, Vegetable, Mineral at Leon Gallery taps into the notions of abundance, progeny, and growth that temper human desire. With works that shed light on the microscopic, constituent cells of natural and unnatural objects and with imagery that alludes to our contemporary experience of dwelling, the two artists share the space seamlessly and offer viewpoints that are a refreshing reprieve in the midst of heavy times.
Jasmine Abena Colgan is an assemblage sculptor, a photographer, an alchemist and a warrior who digs deeply into the roots of racism, as well as the difficult personal territory of her own biracial heritage and her diagnosis of vitiligo. In her current show, Human Currency, at Leon Gallery, Colgan focuses on the cowrie shell in an exploration of ingrained bigotry, spiritual feminism and African culture.
Photo courtesy of Jasmine Abena Colgan.
303 Magazine | 06/19/2020
The most recent mural painted by Veiga and Detour is on the side of Leon Gallery on 17th Avenue and depicts a local woman who was murdered in broad daylight just last week while out with her boyfriend and dog.
Denverite | 06/18/2020
Evans had approached Leon’s directors several weeks ago about painting a mural. His original plan had been to fill the wall with a portrait of a teacher he knows. After the shooting, he decided to paint Thallas’s portrait instead.
Photo by Donna Bryson/Denverite
KCVR – Fox 31 | 6/16/2020
Thomas Evans, a popular artist who goes by the name “Detour,” is painting the mural in Isabella Thallas’ honor.
“I wanted to use street art as a way to give a gift to the family and sort of help the healing process and grieving process,” Detour said.
The mural is going up on the side of the Leon Gallery at 17th Street and Park Avenue in Denver’s Uptown district.
