Voelz Chandler: Sunny side up

Saito's show of patina on bronze brings out the metal's warmth

Published February 23, 2007 at midnight

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Bronze does not need to be consigned to the world of giant animals and heroic figures, as a new installation of work by Denver newcomer Yoshitomo Saito makes clear.

Saito, who moved here last year from the Bay Area, instead uses the legendary metal to cast found objects as well as serve as the basis for experimentations with patina.

In 108 Blue Cranes, on view through March 12 at Rule Gallery, Saito draws from both the Japanese Buddhist tradition as well as the genre of monochromatic paintings that spark the concept of neo- minimalism. (His artist statement notes that the number refers to the repetitive act of hitting a bronze bell on New Year's Day to ward off bad spirits of the past year to clear the way for the year at hand.)

The show's title also applies to the tour de force of the exhibition, a monumental piece that again uses the very long walls of this gallery as the perfect setting. Just as Erika Blumenfeld's works in Enduring Light found those walls in harmony with her unfolding narratives, so does Saito's 108-part piece rest on the perfect canvas for his take on canvas.

Saito cast square canvases over and over again, and as they march along one long wall and turn the corner onto another at the back of the gallery, what becomes clear is that each of these pieces demands to be studied on its own. The format - those 12-inch by 12-inch squares - eventually becomes nearly invisible, instead focusing attention on each object's individual personality, in terms of irregularities in color and surface texture.

Some appear near-perfect - though the definition of perfection here must be considered - while others have dings, cracks, blobs and fissures.

The soft blue-green surfaces at time slide into brown or gold. It is a piece that builds in drama, aided by its stark, simple installation.

This format extends, too, to a scattering of other works by Saito, including the more pointed Three Seasons, in which the cast canvases bear the colors of various times of year, and Black Five, where the squares evolve in terms of surface treatments.

The other category of work by Saito refers to the beauty inherent in the most unlikely places, captured in bronze and worked by capable hands.

Many of these works - Saito's borrowing of form from found objects - sit on the floor, from the 1998 Skin of Pine #4, a lifelike depiction of a nubby circle of bark, to a trio of pillows realistic enough to promise immense discomfort.

A selection of four boxes - one dates back to 1987, moving forward to 2004 - shows the artist's interest in the most mundane and basic of shapes, an attribute carried to extremes, perhaps, in castings of giant pieces of cardboard and an entire wall full of unfolded boxes and envelopes.

The more than two dozen parts of Imagiro in Bronze equal in terms of experimentation the more rarified aspects of 108 Blue Cranes.

Saito came to the United States in 1983 to study at the California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco, and made that city his home. In his first show here, Rule has offered a look at 20 years of work, from the box made in the late 1980s to a new cast painting, the 2007 Untitled (Starry Night #1).

Consider it a fitting introduction that offers generous food for thought.

108 Blue Cranes

• What: Bronze sculptures by Yoshitomo Saito

• Where and when: Rule Gallery, 227 Broadway; through March 17

• Information: 303-777-9473; rulegallery.com

Mary Voelz Chandler is the art and architecture critic. Chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2677.

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