An Artful Legacy

Denver’s Robischon Gallery celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, an impressive milestone rarely achieved in the art world. Wash Park resident Debra Malik Demosthenes has worked for Robischon Gallery for twenty years, stewarding its legacy as Denver’s leading contemporary art gallery. For Malik Demosthenes, however, Robischon is more than a business. “The gallery sees itself as a community resource,” she explains. “It’s an intersection between museums and collectors and viewers of all types. Everyone can come here and have a good experience.”

When Jim Robischon started the gallery in 1976, his goal was to focus on living artists, either from Colorado or regionally based. “I think the dedication to community is what keeps the gallery alive,” Malik Demosthenes says. Today, Robischon’s artist roster includes local stars such as Ana María Hernando, who recently held concurrent solo exhibitions at Denver’s MCA and at Colorado College’s Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs. She’s also found success outside of Colorado: she exhibited at Art Basel’s flagship fair in Miami Beach last year, and her 2024 public art installation in New York City for the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s anniversary received rave reviews. “Her work is about soft power,” Malik Demosthenes says of the artist’s tulle-based sculptures. “It may appear feminine, but don’t let your eye fool you. The power is still there.”

Malik Demosthenes points out that established artists, such as Hernando, can be difficult to interact with once they’ve reached a certain level of success. “If you saw this artist at their exhibition in New York, for example, it would be almost impossible to have a casual conversation with them,” she explains. “A regional gallery space like Robischon creates instant, direct access and intimacy, which is really lovely.” Art galleries in general have a reputation for being exclusive and elitist, but Robischon deliberately eschews that stereotype. “We cultivate a friendly, nonintimidating atmosphere,” Malik Demosthenes says.

Consummate Advocates

Like any economy, the art industry cycles through periods of gains and losses, but the past few years have been particularly challenging as the art market struggles through a historic contraction. Well-respected galleries have been declaring bankruptcy and closing in droves, and the art press has been chock-full of stories about artists suing their dealers for nonpayment. Robischon Gallery, however, made the national news two years ago for a completely different reason.

When gallery co-owner Jennifer Doran found out that her liver was failing, she reached out to her inner circle for a donor. Eventually, she broadened her scope and asked her gallery’s artists if any of them could be a potential donor. Derrick Velasquez, who’s been represented by Robischon for over a decade and is one of Denver’s best-known local artists, offered to help. Velasquez changed his diet, began exercising regularly, and underwent all the requisite medical tests and psychological counseling as instructed. He was ultimately approved as a donor. As reported by The New York Times, “Doctors removed 58 percent of his liver and gave it to Doran, thereby saving her life.”

Velasquez began showing with Robischon not long after moving to Denver in 2008. His signature wall assemblages, composed of colorful vinyl strips draped over sculptural forms, are instantly recognizable. Velasquez is the recipient of the prestigious Joan Mitchell Fellowship, and his art has been shown at museums across North America. Beyond his work as an artist, however, he’s also a consummate advocate and mentor for Denver’s creative community. Over the past decade, he’s opened multiple galleries across town, including one in his own basement, showing young artists at the very beginning of their careers. Some galleries could see that as competition, but not Robischon. In fact, Doran has shown up to openings in support of Velasquez’s endeavors, exemplifying the spirit of camaraderie and patronage that’s essential to a flourishing arts ecology.

A lot has changed since Velasquez first started working with Robischon; however, “what hasn’t changed is how they treat their artists, and the rapport they’ve built over time.” Denver has a tight-knit art scene, and Robischon has been a pillar of its cultural architecture, creating a vital conduit both to and from the larger art world and juxtaposing emerging, younger artists with established names. “They’re looking within and also looking outside,” Velasquez explains. This curatorial approach has greatly enriched Denver’s art discourse, while also bolstering the city’s cultural profile within the wider Art World writ large.

A Shared Vision

Robischon’s artist program also includes Kiki Smith and Ann Hamilton, two artists whose work is in dozens of museum collections and are considered “blue-chip,” a nomenclature for the industry’s highest caliber of artists. In fact, many of the artists shown by Robischon over the years now belong to the art world’s most esteemed echelons, such as photographer Michael Bernam, an alum of Colorado College. Bernam was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his haunting and surreal Western landscapes, and his work is in the permanent collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Such accomplishments, however, do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they arise from the combined efforts of many individuals working towards a shared vision: the gallerist who believed in the work before anyone else, the museum curator who advocated to their board of trustees, even the random gallery-goer who expressed a deep connection to the work when the artist needed to hear it most.

Sustaining a creative practice is exceedingly challenging, especially in the United States. Outside of the United States, however, making art isn’t just difficult—it can be dangerous. Robischon Gallery represents two Iraqi artists, Halim Al Karim and Sami Al Karim, who were politically persecuted in their country of birth. Making art is an inherently political act, but even more so when self-expression is considered a crime against the state, and the state is a totalitarian regime. “Jim Robischon and Jennifer Doran sponsored Halim Al Karim in order for him to receive his green card by guaranteeing him exhibitions,” Malik Demosthenes explains. “Sami Al Karim came to Denver as part of the relocation efforts for the Iraqi diaspora. Both artists have lived through truly harrowing experiences, yet both create arresting artworks and live lives of love.” Their stories prove that art is both a form of resistance and an existential imperative, as well as a manifestation of joy, gratitude, and compassion.

As Malik Demosthenes reflects on Robischon’s past and future, she’s careful to balance responsibility with privilege. Supporting artists, selling their work, and shepherding their careers is more than a job—it’s a calling. Behind the glamorous openings is a devoted, tireless team that keeps the gears of culture turning. “There’s certainly a level of respect required when showing artists who are revealing their deepest selves through their work,” Malik Demosthenes says, before adding, “but it’s also an awful lot of fun.”

Emilie Trice is MyDenver’s local editor and a member of the International Association of Art Critics. Her writing has been published by Artforum, Art Basel, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and Southwest Contemporary.