Lavender Lattice (c) 2006 Kyle Goodrich

I came across a quaint little basement studio the last Denver First Friday Gallery Walk. I can’t remember where it was (there was a crap arts and craft-ish shop above it), but I’m glad I’m went into the basement at 747 Santa Fe Drive.

In the depths was one artist/geologist (soon to be artist-only), Kyle Goodrich. His work was stellar. In fact, I bought “Moonlight at Midnight,” for a song (he needs to raise his prices). Since then, I’ve made an appointment to see more of his work, and it’s all amazing, including his two-piece-put-together commissioned piece “Urbanism v.1.”

Goodrich believes in painting on the floor, much like one of my favorite artists, Jackson Pollock. This way, Goodrich can access the canvas from all sides, in much of a bird’s eye view. Funny that when I learned that he was a geologist and that he looked at space imagery and topo maps all day for years, it all made sense as to why he stands above his paintings.

When each one is dry and completed, the loose canvas is stretched and ready to go. But stretching the canvas post-painting also takes on a unique effect, getting you the point at which you saw “holy cow, this stuff is good.”

Where Goodrich excels is not in his brush strokes or color palettes, but in his geometric artistry. In his current phase of painting he’s working with intersecting lines, boxes and hash marks on top of storied layers of basic color.

In a world of mediocre artists, this geologist-turned-painter has carved (er, excavated?) a niche for himself in town.

Un.believable.

I’d tell you to check out his Web site, but it sucks. Instead, if you’re interested, merely visit for the contact info. And you better hurry, this Denver artist’s painting were flying off the walls when I saw him. Not sure which ones are still available.

More work after the jump.

Moonlight at Midnight (The one I bought)

Tachyhon

Urbanism v1.1

Urbanism v. 1