Melissa Furness | in-habit

In K Contemporary’s Project Space, Melissa Furness’s show in-habit explores themes of struggle. Decorative, dense tangles of weeds and overgrowth serve as metaphors for personal habits and behaviors we’d like to eliminate.  Like garden weeds, these behaviors can be invasive, even if we attempt to prune. This cycle is represented by the paintings’ all-over, patterned surfaces which make it difficult to tease out which botanicals (or habits) are friend or foe. Who is to judge what is considered a weed or not? Tiny, fairy-like figures play out across the dense thickets to suggest narratives questioning human impulses and how we define identity, gender, animalistic behavior, sexuality and fantasy.

Jennifer Berry, K Contemporary director notes, “Melissa refers to this series as ‘Romantic Overgrowth.’ Her beautiful thickets are enmeshed with tiny creatures pulled from architectural reliefs from famous Italian palazzos. She creates a poignant blend of unfettered human nature combined with outdoor nature.” 

**Additional Notes:  Throughout the month of August 2022, view Melissa's latest digital artwork entitled blood lines and solitons as part of the August Night Lights Denver program on the side of the Daniels & Fisher Tower.  Night Lights Denver is a permanent way for the Denver Theatre District to support innovative artists with an experimental platform while offering people downtown a free, unique experience. Tues - Sun evenings 8:30 - 11:59pm.

Cultural Excursion: LoDo Digital Art Tour presented by Union Hall in conjunction with Denver Digerati

Saturday September 17th, 2:00-5:00 pm

Join Union Hall and Denver Digerati for 3-ish hours of fun exploring parts of LoDo! Led by Denver Digerati's Board President, Livy Snyder, you will get an inside look at several exhibitions featuring digital artwork, including K Contemporary's current show IN-HABIT and the CU Denver Experience Gallery. Guests will also get to hear more about Supernova's Silent Screen presentation, a major public exhibition of motion-art spread across public LED screens in downtown Denver.