Illiterate Group Show

On Friday, May 7 The Illiterate Group Show opens, an exhibition without bounds, featuring new works by Illiterate's four studio artists: David Coccagna, Andrew Hoffman, Sander Lindeke and Katherine Rutter.

Working alongside one another at Illiterate, each created individually cohesive series to collectively form an exhibition emancipated from premise. four studio artists who have created individually cohesive bodies of work alongside one another to form an exhibition void of uniformity and emancipated from premise. However displayed together these four separate bodies of work enter into surprising conversations, creating a dialog of unexpected connections. Pieces range from figurative to nonrepresentational, utilizing a variety of techniques including book alteration, oil painting, watercolor, noise recording and video performance. In contrast and communication Illiterate's studio artists showcase the underlying synchrony in expression uninhibited by theme.

“If the Illiterate Group show had a theme, it might be incidental dialog,” said Adam Gildar, Illiterate's Director “as a whole the art forms an eclectic exhibition that highlights different approaches and interpretations of ‘progressive art'.”


Opening Reception: 6PM, Friday, May 7

Closing Reception: 6PM, Friday May 28

About the Artists

+Sander Lindeke

Growing up exploring the Mississippi River banks in the middle of the Twin Cities, Sander Lindeke developed a strong fascination for how urban and natural settings and forces work together and against each other. He received his BFA in sculpture from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and has exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, performed at the Denver Art Museum and is also one of the founding members of Illiterate. Having explored various platforms of expression, most recently, he alters existing visual objects, specifically the language and imagery on the pages and covers of books to create incoherrent yet vaguely familiar communication relics of a post human future. Sander works in a way that intends to hint at the discovery and investigation processes, playing between high and low art and practing our human impulse and necessity to be creative.


+Andrew Hoffman

In addition to working as a fine artist, Andrew Hoffman is also an Art Director at the design and marketing agency Motive, and is an art blogger for 303magazine. Born in Denver he grew up in Bailey Colorado, a small rural mountain town. He has a BFA in graphic design from Western State College and studied at the the Classical Art Academy in Boulder Colorado. His work has been shown at; The Denver Art Museum, Andenken, CORE New Art Space, Indyink, Illiterate, The Shoppe, Fu Collective, 8th Avenue Gallery and the Quigley Gallery. His work has also been featured in numerous publications including: Westword, The Denver Egotist, Joyengine, Dirty Mouse, Art Milk and Designer Daily. Speaking about his series in the Illiterate Group Show, Andrew mentioned that his work "explores the juxtaposition and connections between the two modes I had previously segregated, utilizing design theory and style in oil painting."


+Katherine Rutter

Growing up on a small farm outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, Katherine Rutter spent most of her time entertaining herself with animals, insects, and oddly shaped rocks. Narrative drawing was always a hobby for her and it was a way of making sense of life by creating stories and characters. She continued her interest in art at the University of Central Arkansas where she obtained a BFA in photography and in drawing. After an internship in Seattle, Katherine moved to Denver with the hope of new opportunities and experiences in life and in art. Last year she had her first solo exhibition at Rhinoceropolis, and since then has shown in various venues including the Titwrench Fest, IndyInk, the "Where The Wild Things Art" show at Illiterate Gallery, and a joint show at City O' City with Brittany Gould and Blair Pascal. She works mostly with pencil and watercolor, sometimes collage and thread, and found objects. Through these mediums, she creates images that draw from childhood memories that mingle in-between reality and the imaginary.


+David Coccagna

David Coccagna is an audio and performance artist from Philadelphia who now resides in Denver. While growing up, David was influenced by graffiti art, formal presentation of art in the city’s museums, and the violence and sexuality of modern media. After cultivating a unique means to painting and found-art sculpture throughout high school, Coccagna moved to Santa Fe, NM to study politics, visual art, and moving image. After leaving the College of Santa Fe he and a colleague created a noise performance group, Tandem, which made a handful of rare appearances in Santa Fe. Noise has hosted as the crux of Coccagna's artwork in roles from the layout of his collages to his much less subtle noise cassettes. Sexual application and the varying social outlooks of prurience have also played heavily into Coccagna's artwork. His work makes a number of assessments and statements of our social fabric: that we have over-sexualized to a degree that now abuse is of the sexual paradigm, that all means of media are aware of this and have taken advantage of the fact, and that there is at this point little to no difference between abrasive noise and the media we regularly partake in. This is his first visual and audio art show in Denver.