Grossly Affectionate explores hybridity and challenges binaries, such as human/nonhuman, hard/soft, and organic/synthetic. The seven exhibiting artists play with and push against the possibilities and limitations of their materials. Each artist alludes to or references bodily form, while abstracting its appearance. As a result, the works evoke interpretations and undertones that reference a body, but are amorphous and oppose definitive categorization. Grossly Affectionate presents the idea that a body can be a host of things: an architectural structure, a virtual space, a landscape, and even a humorous costume.

About the Artists
​​Kate Casanova is an interdisciplinary artist who explores the posthuman through sculpture and video. She creates abstract sculptures that defy categories such as human/nonhuman, organic/synthetic, and self/other. Her works evoke hybrid bodies as they change in relation to physical forces, such as gravity, energy and entropy, as well as societal forces like social media, global industry, and political power. Using fungi, bioplastics, video, and industrial materials, she creates abstract forms that bulge beyond borders and seep through cracks.

Casanova has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as the Barbican Centre, London; Le Poisson Rouge, New York; and the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis. Her work was featured in the exhibition Station to Station, which toured the nation by train in 2013. Casanova received an MFA from the University of Minnesota and a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. She is currently Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Denver.

Cristóbal Cea is a Chilean artist who employs digital media to explore history and memory. Through a multidisciplinary practice, he mixes digital animations and archives in order to re-examine forgotten histories and contemporary contradictions as he attempts to dispel the persistence of the mistakes of the past in our present.

Several of Cea’s works, including Hawker Haunted, Fuente de Juventud, and AntesDelOlvido, critically address a range of issues, such as the continuing presence of fascist ideology in contemporary Chile, the inconsistencies that result from mixing democracy with neoliberal policies, and the decolonization of public space. In these works, he uses 3D scanning as a way to imagine alternative futures.

Cea’s work has been exhibited internationally at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; Microscope Gallery, New York; Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria; National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile; Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden; and Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid, among other venues.

Daisy May Collingridge’s multidisciplinary practice focuses on the exploration of the human form through the interplay between sculpture and performance art. She creates works that she calls “Squishies”, which are either purely sculptural or wearable flesh suits that become animated and full of life when worn by the artist during performances. Collingridge meticulously sews each piece by hand using the simple technique of layering wadding and stretched jersey to create voluptuous, organic forms. The tactile textile bodies have inviting colors that evoke the warmth and softness of flesh—elements that signify a living thing. They are visceral. There is a desire to touch. Cloth offers skin-like qualities that traditional sculpting materials do not have.

Collingridge is a London-based artist who received her BA in fashion design womenswear from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. She has exhibited her work at numerous venues in London, including UNIT Gallery, Sarabande Foundation, and The Bomb Factory. Her work has been featured in Trebuchet: Contemporary Surrealism and Hi Fructose, New Contemporary Art Magazine, among other publications.

Sam Grabowska is a child of immigrants, a recovering academic, and a conjurer of spaces. In their current art practice, Grabowska combines corporeal traces such as human hair and animal sinew, with industrial building materials like concrete and PVC conduit to create sculptures where bodies, real or imagined, can seek refuge from emotional trauma. The work emerges from the intersection of the human body and architectural language.

Grabowska holds a PhD in architecture with a cognate in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan, an MH in interdisciplinary humanities from the University of Colorado Denver, and both a BFA in film and a BA in architecture from the University of Colorado Boulder. They have previously exhibited their work at Denver Art Museum; Rino Art Park, Denver; and Andenken Gallery, Denver; among other venues. Grabowska currently lives in Denver and is an artist-in-residence at RedLine Contemporary Art Center.

Mr. Hanimal is a Denver-based sculptor, muralist, and street artist who creates large-scale immersive environments. His work addresses themes of environmental justice through a careful use of recycled materials. In recent years, Mr. Hanimal has been contacted by extraterrestrial beings known as Hanimals who have bestowed upon him the responsibilities of becoming the Hanimal Prophet and spreading the message of the hand.

Mr. Hanimal has exhibited his work at numerous venues throughout the Denver metro area, including Aurora Cultural Arts District; IRL Art Denver; and 965 Gallery Denver. He has recently created works of public art in Lakewood, CO; Aurora, CO; and Little Rock, AR.

Jennifer Pettus was born in Palm Beach Gardens, FL and grew up in Kansas and Colorado. She earned a BFA from the University of Colorado Boulder and anMH with a focus on Women’s Studies, Sculpture, and Theater Design from the University of Colorado Denver. She has held numerous positions that expanded her art practice, including wig maker, floral designer, jewelry designer, school photographer, costume designer, and scenic painter. For many years, she participated in the development and management of several Denver artist co-ops, including Edge Gallery and Ice Cube Gallery.

Pettus is featured in the 2014 Dutch publication Textile Art Around the World and in Family Matters, Surface Design Association’s Winter 2018 Exhibition in Print. Her work was selected for FiberArt International 2016 in Pittsburgh, PA; World of Threads Festival 2016 in Toronto, ON; Art of the State 2016, 2019, and 2022 in Arvada, CO and Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station in Denver.

Estevan Ruiz is a designer, artist, and musician based in Denver, CO. While known for his work in photography, Ruiz is reinforcing his passion by delving into conceptual aspects of image-making and investigating how we experience and communicate with images. This newfound perspective has led him to explore other forms of expression through different media, appropriation, and photography.

Ruiz curated Public Domain, a group show for the 2019 Denver Month of Photography. He had his first solo exhibition titled Tissues in 2021 at Dateline Gallery. Ruiz attended Metropolitan State University, where he earned a BFA in communication design.

This exhibition is generously supported by Todd Reed of Todd Reed Inc. and Stephanie & R. Alan Rudy. BMoCA’s annual exhibition fund is graciously underwritten by the Scintilla Foundation, Nicky Wolman & David Fulker, Sue Schweppe, City of Boulder, Boulder Arts Commission, Scientific & Cultural Facilities District, Colorado Creative Industries, and National Endowment for the Arts.

Opening Reception for Summer Exhibitions 2022
Thursday June 23 – 6:00-8:00pm

In-Person Artist Talk
Thursday July 14 – 6:00-7:30pm

Virtual Artist Talk
Thursday July 28 – 6:00-7:00pm