Visual Art: Rhinoceropolis is coloring on the walls

Draw Rings 2, an exhibit of twenty-two, hot-blooded Colorado artists, opened at Rhinoceropolis, a gallery and music venue where, “dudes, a lady, two cats, and one dog” also live. The space is how one might imagine The Factory in it’s hey-day: young artists and musicians in mismatched garb aimlessly mingling over a beer and discussions of “that picture of a pierced nipple.” Moreover, the walls drip with art: half-finished paintings in the bathroom, Polaroids inexplicably stapled to a wall, an arrangement of cardboard boxes that could be a sculpture or could just be a pile of cardboard boxes. Step through the dingy, metal door of Rhinoceropolis and you’ll find you’ve stepped into a mixed-media performance where no one really knows what time the show starts but it’s sure to be a good time.

The pieces in the exhibition itself are no-apologies-stripped-down-creativity at it’s most raw. Artist names aren’t clearly listed by every piece, but the artwork is so wonderfully distracting and volatile that it’s difficult to mind. In addition to “the pierced nipple piece,” which true to description is a life-size painting of a human breast accompanied by the caption, “lets just say there are some things I would do for a girl, and there are some things I would not,” other highlights include a surrealist painting of bodies partially attached to each other, a series of ink blot tests, a disjointed nine-panel painting, and a series of drawings that eek off the paper and onto the wall.

Rhinoceropolis is located at 3553 Brighton Blvd, between 35th and 36th St. Exhibitions are typically monthly and shows are as frequent as once or twice a week. For more info visit www.myspace.com/rhinoceropolis.