The Dikeou Collection

One year ago today we celebrated the pledge of Devon Dikeou's personal artist archives to the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, as well as the archives of Dikeou Collection and zingmagazine. The pledge was made official with Dikeou's signature executed via autopen 🖋 Yesterday, 9/7/23, the autopen was used once again for Dikeou to sign off on her oral history project with History Colorado. Her voice will add to the rich history of art and culture of Colorado ❤️💛💙 We look forward to this incredible collaboration!

Thank you Susan Froyd for the Denver Westword shout out!

Renowned artist Lizzi Bougatsos in-person at Dikeou Collection this Friday 3/17 and at Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax on March 20. Would love to see ya 💋🖤
♧Fri 3/17 The State of Amerikkka, Artist Reception at Dikeou Collection
♤Mon 3/20 Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair, Artist Performance at Dikeou Pop-Up

📣The Dikeou Collection welcomes New York artist Lizzi Bougatsos for two events, March 17 and March 20, at Dikeou Collection and Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax - both are free and open to the public.

Lizzi Bougatsos is an internationally recognized experimental musician, lyricist and visual artist who lives and works in New York City. Her solo exhibition “Idolize the Burn, An Ode to Performance” is on view at TRAMPS New York through March 22, 2023 and has been reviewed by Artforum, The New York Times, and Frieze Magazine among others 🔥🔥🔥

Tomorrow! Lost in the Game: The Jokic Files - A Reading & Discussion with author Thomas Beller & Michael Singer of The Denver Post. . . We'll be pulling a Crazy Eddie (IYKYK) and giving the first 30 people through the door a complimentary copy of the book ⛹️ Event link in the comments. See you then!

Thank you to all who joined us for Dikeou Lit: Virginia Woolf, especially to our exquisite readers Vanesha McGee, Sara Slingerland Sheiner, Rachel Franklin Wood, and J'Lyn Chapman. Extra gratitude to Toisha Tucker for sharing their personal and poignant short film, and of course to our superstar Dikeou Lit series organizer Mairead Case. The work shared this evening was inspired by Woolf and all her complexities - her brilliance and her flaws, her many contradictions. We dug deep and came out the other side ✨️🙏

We are honored and proud to announce that the Dikeou Collection archives, along with the archives of Devon Dikeou Studio and zingmagazine, will soon be acquired by the Archives of American Art | Smithsonian Institution! This announcement comes at the heels of our recent Archive Live event where we unpacked the archives with Devon Dikeou and Josh T. Franco, Head of Collecting at the Archives of American Art, in front of a live audience. Many incredible documents and treasures were discovered and revealing stories shared. The event was capped off with the signing of Devon’s official pledge to the archives via autopen. Thank you to all who attended and were involved in the making of this event, especially Josh Franco and everyone at the Archives of American Art for bringing us into this historic institution

A little photo recap from Silian Rail on Bone: A History of Business Cards with Brandon Johnson of Almighty & Insane Books. . .

Brandon came out from NY to give us a history lesson on the origins of business cards, their design, and influence in the structures of society, economics, and culture. This was also the perfect opportunity for us to bust out our super groovy vintage to make custom business cards on the spot. . . style. Special thanks to our friends from .press for setting us up with the demo, and congrats to for winning the grand prize of rare business cards and snazzy holster courtesy of 🤙

More announcements coming soon, so stay tuned ya’ll 📺

Curious about the inner workings of the world of art collecting, private museums, and artist archives? If the answer is yes then the opportunity is yours at The Dikeou Collection! We are currently seeking inquisitive and motivated interns looking to gain experience in the arts and engage with a public audience in one of the most unique art spaces in Colorado.

More information can be found at www.dikeoucollection.org/internships. Interested applicants should submit a statement of interest and resume to [email protected], or can contact us with further inquiries about the position.

Some highlights from our recent glass blowing demo event with Kit Karbler 🔥

Kit created a second edition of the glass vases from Devon Dikeou’s participatory artwork, “We’d Like to Get to Know You,” (1992 Ongoing). He shared some incredible knowledge about the methods and chemistry used in creating different colors of glass, the importance of cherry wood tools in the studio, and some historical tidbits about industrial glass and it’s use for everything from pickle jars to epic skyscrapers 🏙

The vases Kit created will be given away as a prize at the close of Dikeou’s “Mid-Career Smear” retrospective exhibition at The Dikeou Collection. “How can I enter,” you may ask? All you have to do is visit the exhibition and drop your business card in one of the vases. The winning card will be drawn at the closing reception.

Thank you to everyone who attended this special event, and big thanks especially to Kit, his assistants Dmitri Rudenko and Evan Seeling, and Courtney Boyd and Nate Steinbrink for being amazing hosts at Flux Studio LLC 🙏

TOMORROW, 5/27 - Lee & Browning Book Release Happening at Dikeou Pop-Up with author readings and SOFT DISPLAY video premiere. Join us in celebrating two rad Denver creatives 🤘Free & open to the public. Event link in comments 💚

It may be snowy today, but Spring is just around the corner! Join us at Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax this Sunday to celebrate the equinox with music selections by artist Mario Zoots from our vintage vinyl archive and portrait photography courtesy of Anthony Camera. Event details in the comments below 🦋

❄TONIGHT Celebrate the winter solstice at Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax (6-8pm) with a special holiday appearance by Santa Claus for Devon Dikeou’s performance of “You Better Watch Out.” Award-winning photographer Anthony Camera will take portraits of you & your solstice crew with ol’ St. Nick, and DARIA Art Magazine founder and editor, Genevieve Waller, will DJ the event with music pulled from the collection’s extensive vinyl archive.

🎅“You Better Watch Out” Check out this festive throwback of Janine Antoni with Santa for a 1991 iteration in NYC. Naughty or nice. . . what do you think?

📸Anthony Camera will take a picture that you will definitely want to save for next year’s Christmas card

🎶A bon vivant in her own mind, Genevieve Waller sings Roy Orbison's "Crying" while applying mascara and writes letters to friends in French. Her solstice playlist is sure to set the tone for the long nights that await.

⛔NOTICE: As per the City & County of Denver’s Public Health Orders, all attendees will be required to wear a face mask for entry into this event

Join us next Tuesday for X Marks the Spot at Dikeou Pop-Up!

Devon Dikeou and zingmagazine's managing editor Brandon Johnson will take a look back at the wild and wonderful world of zingmagazine—its history, contents, and people, how zingmagazine relates to a lineage of artist-run publications, and how it relates to Dikeou's practice as a whole in the context of her retrospective. In addition, the role of publishing in the world of art, its current status, and future, will be explored.

Interested in an exclusive artist-led tour of "Mid-Career Smear" with Devon Dikeou while also supporting the University of Denver's arts program? RSVP at the link below and join us on October 7 for an interactive art experience that will directly benefit the university's art students and their academic success!

https://rsvp.du.edu/event/41fbb9d1-91e4-4c3f-a293-97ccd9b9433c/summary

Tomorrow! We welcome the beginning of fall with an equinox reception and the return of the Dikeou Literary Series organized by Mairead Case at Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax!

Join us for readings by Tess Brown-Lavoie, Phil Cordelli, André O. Hoilette, and Ivan Levitt. PLUS a special presentation of the elusive "Self-Portrait" ice sculpture by Dikeou Collection artist Lizzi Bougatsos! 312 E Colfax Ave, 6-8pm, free & open to the public. Full event details can be found at the event link in the comments.

Dikeou Collection Director Hayley Richardson was recently featured on Tenet Podcast where she talks about her education background ,collecting, the importance of networking and internships, and more!

‎Tenet: Ep. 096 Hayley Richardson – Director, Dikeou Collection on Apple Podcasts ‎Show Tenet, Ep Ep. 096 Hayley Richardson – Director, Dikeou Collection - Sep 16, 2021

¡¡¡¡Reward!!!!

On Friday, July 23, 2021, A Small Gold Edwardian Bracelet exhibited as a Performance Art Relic, Titled Forever, Was Tried on, Taken, Misplaced, Borrowed, Knicked, Stolen, Absconded with, Purloined from Devon Dikeou’s Mid-Career Smear, 1615 California St, #515, Denver, Colorado, 80202. Generous Reward, for Return. Send to Above Address, COD-Cash on Delivery. No Questions Asked. So It May Be with Its Rightful Place in the World, Forever.

Thanks Susan Froyd Denver Westword for shouting out our opening tomorrow at Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax!

Art Attack: Twelve Ways to See Great Art in Denver This Weekend Twelve ways to see great art in Denver this weekend.

""Mid-Career Smear" shows us what it means to be an artist, to hand over an entire life to art and to put yourself out there no matter what people think. To be relentless and guiltless is difficult enough. To be brave like this is heroic."

"What does it mean to be an artist" by Ray Rinaldi featured in yesterday's Denver Post, and now available online at the link below

https://theknow.denverpost.com/2021/05/10/devon-dikeou-mid-career-smear-denver/258307/

What does it mean to be an artist? Devon Dikeou shows us in a thousand ways with “Mid-Career Smear” Devon Dikeou's "Mid-Career Smear" exhibit is ongoing at The Dikeou Collection. It's free but by appointment only.

On April 6, 2021 we lost our dear friend Huey "Sonny" Simmons (born August 4, 1933). He was an American avant-garde and free-jazz alto saxophonist who came up in Oakland, California, found his way to New York City, and played alongside Charles Mingus, Prince Lasha, Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison, and Eric Dolphy, among many others. Besides being a friend, Sonny recorded albums in collaboration with Devon Dikeou, Dikeou Collection, and zingmagazine. You are missed, Sonny.

Sonny Simmons 1933–2021 - JazzTimes Sonny Simmons, an alto saxophonist and English hornist who cut a unique and long-overlooked figure in the jazz avant-garde, died April 6. He was 87.

The Dikeou Collection updated their business hours.

We now exist in a time when people crave nothing but normalcy, and Dikeou’s works exhibited in her retrospective exhibition “Mid-Career Smear” at The Dikeou Collection satisfies that craving for the everyday."

Read more about “Devon Dikeou ‘Mid-Career Smear’ and Reclaiming the Ordinary” on our blog at the link below
https://dikeoucollection.tumblr.com/post/647203827064471553/devon-dikeou-mid-career-smear-and-reclaiming-the

Devon Dikeou “Mid-Career Smear” and Reclaiming the Ordinary Devon Dikeou, “’What’s Love Got To Do With It’: From Sculpture,” 1991 ongoing; (detail) “Reserved for Leo Castelli: Since Cezanne (After Clive Bell),” 2012 ongoing “In-betweeness” is a central theme...

Mega thanks to Susan Froyd at Denver Westword for the re-opening shout out this week! Give us a call at 303-623-3001 or email [email protected] to schedule a visit to see Devon Dikeou "Mid-Career Smear" retrospective. Right on!

Art Attack: Eight New Shows and Events in Denver Photography, graffiti and installations await you in galleries around town.

Today Devon Dikeou's "Donation" installation, on view at Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax, was replenished with a new arrangement to welcome the winter solstice. Inspired by the magnificent floral displays within The Great Hall of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dikeou opted for an informal, deconstructed presentation of the arrangements during this “in-between” time we are in. Flowers are changed seasonally, during the equinoxes and solstices.
“Donation” is part of Devon Dikeou’s “Mid-Career Smear” retrospective exhibition curated by Cortney Lane Stell. The exhibition will be extended through February 2022 upon reopening. Devon Dikeou Studio and The Dikeou Collection would like to thank Newberry Brothers Florist for contributing the flowers, and Dmitri Obergfell, Kyle Collins, and Ben Siekierski for assembling this incredible structure 💐

"Suspended from the ceiling by glittering gold chenille stems and then gracefully spilling onto the floor in rich shades of red, blue, and black, the shape of “Otter” is reminiscent of a teepee with a triangular opening for people to enter. One’s experience of the work shifts from viewing the sublime to stepping inside a velveteen lattice cocoon. . ." Read more about DeBellevue's work on our latest blog post!
https://dikeoucollection.tumblr.com/post/636255204393861120/dikeou-superstars-lucky-debellvue

Dikeou Superstars: Lucky Debellvue 2011 was a year of growth for The Dikeou Collection. The Dikeou Pop-Up Space opened in The Golden Triangle District with new painting and sculptural installations by Nils Folke Anderson, and new work...

Did you know you can see The Dikeou Collection in miniature form? Like a Russian nesting doll, there is a 1/24th scale replica of the Colorado Building inside of the actual Colorado Building at 1615 California St, with a selection of miniature Dikeou Collection artwork inside! Conceptualized by Devon Dikeou for future placement at Tiny Town and Railroad in Morrison, CO, the 4.5 foot tall structure is a stunning representation of the newly renovated historic building and one-of-a-kind collection. Miniature versions of the artwork are a mix of 3D-printed replicas, appropriated objects, and pieces made by hand by Dikeou herself and Dikeou Collection staff Hannah Cole and Dmitri Obergfell. Dmitri also built majority of the structure himself, from the layout of the collection’s galleries to recreating all the friezes, columns, windows, and other highly detailed architectural motifs. Our Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax location served as his workshop for the project and caught the eye of Cecila LaFrance of Scene on Colfax who did a cool write up about the project and his life as an artist in Denver (link below!). So if you miss seeing Momoyo Tortimitsu’s grinning pink bunnies or Misaki Kawai’s charming “Large Plane” you can see them in our lobby a much smaller form 👀🔍
https://sceneoncolfax.com/2019/04/10/i-like-to-come-to-work/

Dikeou Collection artist Jonathan Horowitz curated We Fight to Build a Free World at The Jewish Museum, which "looks at how artists have historically responded to the rise of authoritarianism and xenophobia as well as racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of bigotry." This expansive exhibition emphasizes diversity through it's over 80 artworks and artists who champion political and social equality over a span of 90 years. We Fight to Build a Free World is on view through January 24, 2021.
https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/we-fight-to-build-a-free-world-an-exhibition-by-jonathan-horowitz

The Jewish Museum Individual, Corporate, and Foundation support are crucial to furthering the Jewish Museum’s mission to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret art and Jewish culture.

Today's Autumnal Equinox marks a moment in the year when night and day are of equal length - a seasonal symbol of balance in our modern lives. In a year when life is at a stand-still, we celebrate these days that mark the passage of time and signify change.
Today Devon Dikeou's "Donation" installation, on view at Dikeou Pop-Up: Colfax, was replenished with a new fall arrangement to welcome the changing of the season. Inspired by the magnificent floral displays within The Great Hall of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dikeou opted for an informal, deconstructed presentation of the arrangements during this “in-between” time we are in. Flowers are changed seasonally, during the equinoxes and solstices. Swipe to read Dikeou’s artist statement.
“Donation” is part of Devon Dikeou’s “Mid-Career Smear” retrospective exhibition curated by Cortney Lane Stell. The exhibition will be extended through February 2022 upon reopening. Devon Dikeou Studio and The Dikeou Collection would like to thank Newberry Brothers Florist for contributing the flowers, and Dmitri Obergfell, Kyle Collins, and Ben Siekierski for assembling this incredible structure 💐