Like Like: an exhibition of current tank studios artists
Rotunda Gallery, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
October 31, 2022 - February 3, 2023
Organized by Gretchen Marie Schaefer and Louise Martorano.
Featuring work by:
Mindy Bray, Jaime Carrejo, Theresa Clowes, Amber Cobb, Trey Duvall, Ian Fisher, Mia Mulvey, Margaret Neumann, Alicia Ordal, Natascha Seideneck, Gretchen Marie Schaefer, Sarah Wallace Scott, Laura Shill, Nick Silici, Joel Swanson, Derrick Velasquez, Kyra Weinkle, David Zimmer, and Mario Zoots.
Curatorial Statement
In the fall of 2012, nine artists were riding bikes around sketchy warehouses and taking tours of old stock show slaughterhouses, looking for affordable studio space in Denver. By early 2013 they had found a space off of South Broadway. They built out ten studio spaces with no doors, maximizing the square footage and creating an architecture that echoes critical elements of a thriving working space: open dialogue and critique in a friendly and responsible community of professional artists. The space soon expanded to nineteen studios. Ten years later, TANK Studios has provided more than 35 artists at all levels of a career with private, long-term, sustainable, and affordable studio space.
In 2014, TANK Studios artists exhibited their work at Ironton Gallery in an exhibition titled More Than Friends. Ironton is now a brewery in the rapidly gentrifying area of RiNo, a symbol of how Denver continues to test the limits of affordability (and increasingly exceeds them) for many communities, artists very much included.
After the last couple of years, the recognition that community is key to well-being has been made even more visceral. From the start, TANK artists have supported each other in and out of the studio. Babies have been born, people have gotten married, people have broken up, they’ve quit jobs, gone to grad school, won awards, and mourned the loss of a parent, all while striving to be good people that make great art. They are more than a group of artists, more than friends, they like like each other.
By hosting this exhibition at RMCAD, the RMCAD Galleries hope to encourage students and artists to collaborate and build creative communities that foster resiliency and care in a sometimes hostel landscape. Because strong artist communities are vital for us all.