Collection: Geist Exhibition

Bitfactory Gallery is delighted to celebrate its 6th anniversary with a solo show featuring new work by curator | owner | artist W. Max Thomason. Geist opens with a public reception on Friday, April 16^, from 6 to 9 pm and runs through May 13, 2021. Thomason has embarked on a new series of cityscapes, often reflected through the lens of a city cleansed by rain—incorporating a style that shifts away from his softer works into a more detailed style. Visitors can also stop in Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 am until 3 pm, and by appointment. Masks are required and social distancing is encouraged.

Opening Bitfactory in April of 2015, Thomason had no experience running a gallery, but his goal from the start was to curate and host exhibits by the best emerging and up-coming local, national, and international visual artists. He later incorporated more established artists to round out his schedule. As Thomason expressed during the Tenent Podcast episode released April 8^th, 2021(tenantpodcast.com), he understands the challenge of getting work shown when as a new artist on the scene, so he aims to respect each and every artist who contacts him and personally responds with the best way to submit work and to be considered for an exhibit.

His business instincts and down-to-earth personality have proven to be effective. Upon reflection, he considers one high point of the last 6 years to be a show with photographer Gary Wallis and his intimate, candid shots backstage at Alexander McQueen’s first five fashion shows, featuring supermodels like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Devon Aoki. The 2019 solo exhibition of Ira Sherman’s provocative sculptures was a big hit with the public and garnered a lot of attention for the gallery. Those that he considers the most successful are the recent A. L. Lummus Mettle Martyr exhibition, Bruno D’Anna’s solo exhibitions and his own solo shows. He is looking forward to featuring abstract artist Tadashi Hayakawa in a solo show during the fall of 2021.

It doesn’t hurt to have an established presence in the heart of Denver’s popular Art District on Santa Fe and ownership of the building the gallery resides in—a not uncommon situation in the area that has allowed the district to sustain itself as a creative destination—which allows him to rent out studio space and create relationships with other local artists. He has taken on a lot of responsibility, and the pandemic certainly caused him financial concern, however he weathered the storm and is slowly gaining back an enthusiastic audience ready to reengage in the social side of the art scene and most importantly, purchase art. The year 2020 also created an urgency to launch into ecommerce allowing art to be purchased online at bitfactory.net