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Understudy

@understudy_denver

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A 700 sq ft arts incubator located at 14th and Stout street at the @cccbluebear funded by @denvertheatredistrict • Open Thurs - Sun noon-6pm

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We’re bringing it all together.

@denvertheatredistrict is now home to updates from all of our programs, including Understudy.

Follow @denvertheatredistrict for the latest on exhibitions, public art, artist opportunities, events, and everything happening across the district.

This account will remain active as an archive of past exhibitions and artists, but future Understudy updates will primarily be shared through @denvertheatredistrict. by @understudy_denver

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4 months ago

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the opening of Origin Story by Chloe Duplessis. We’re grateful to all who came out to celebrate this powerful exhibition and spend the evening in conversation, reflection, and community.

Through fiber art, collage, and sculptural forms, Origin Story explores the evolving meaning of freedom, drawing connections between overlooked histories, ancestral traditions, and contemporary experiences. Responding to the layered history of the Statue of Liberty—from its origins in abolitionist ideals to its enduring role as a national symbol—the exhibition invites viewers to reconsider how freedom has been imagined, claimed, and withheld.

If you missed the opening, there’s still time to experience the exhibition. Origin Story is on view through July 19. by @understudy_denver

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4 months ago

Origin Story by @i.am.chloe.duplessis opens tonight at Understudy.

Join us from 6–9 PM for the opening reception and experience Chloe's immersive installation exploring freedom, memory, and belonging through fiber art, collage, and sculptural forms.

Music by Acoustic Standard. Complimentary food and beverages will be provided. by @understudy_denver

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4 months ago

Scenes from the installation of our upcoming exhibition, Origin Story by @i.am.chloe.duplessis

Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, June 18, from 6–9 PM.

Special thanks to @jareddavidpaul for his installation support.

Photos by Ian Alexander by @understudy_denver

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4 months ago

✨COMING SOON!✨

Opening June 18, Origin Story is an installation that explores the history, contradictions, and evolving meaning of the Statue of Liberty. Through fiber art, collage, and sculptural forms, artist Chloe Duplessis examines how freedom has been imagined, claimed, denied, and redefined across generations.

Inspired by the statue’s often-overlooked abolitionist origins, Origin Story connects the past to contemporary conversations around citizenship, belonging, and liberation. Blending nineteenth-century references with Afro-Futurist aesthetics, the exhibition creates a space where history, memory, and possibility converge.

Join us for the opening reception of Origin Story Thursday June 18 from 6-9PM. Special performance by Acoustic Standard by @understudy_denver

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4 months ago

Rainbow (Desperate) closes today! Understudy is open ‘til 6pm 🌈✨ by @understudy_denver

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4 months ago

Rainbow (Desperate) by Kaitlyn Tucek is an exuberant exploration of longing—an urgent pull toward love, connection, and shared experience. The work reaches outward, seeking moments of collision and togetherness, and a way to mark time alongside others. The recurring rainbow motif emerges from Kaitlyn Tucek’s practice of automatic drawing, where instinct and immediacy take the lead, allowing the work to unfold through a release of control.

At Understudy, that intuitive process expands into both collaboration and scale. A striking 18-foot inflatable form responds directly to the gallery’s architecture, pressing against its limits and heightening its presence. Surrounding paintings and ceramic works echo this visual language across materials, creating a dynamic interplay between the monumental and the intimate. Drawing from the spectacle of parade floats and oversized ornamentation, the installation embraces nostalgia, excess, and a touch of awkwardness—landing in a space of joyful absurdity that feels at once communal, sincere, and playfully over-the-top.

Come say hello to Ray Ray, shop one-of-a-kind artworks, and grab a collaborative coloring book before the exhibition closes on June 7 🌈

•Photos by @thirdduneproductions by @understudy_denver

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4 months ago

* Solicited Collaboration Coloring Book *
By Kaitlyn Tucek
2026

An Original Artwork by Kaitlyn Tucek and YOU. 100 copies printed.

30 page coloring book with two hand colored pages by Kaitlyn Tucek, and a signed certificate of authenticity.

Rainbow Delirium is an attempt at a shared artistic experience. Each individual artwork - aka coloring book- reaches outward, seeking connection, collision, and a way to mark time alongside the collaborators. The book is an exact printed replica of one of Tucek’s sketchbooks, filled with graphite rainbow drawings. The rainbow motif emerges from Tucek’s practice of automatic drawing, where instinct and immediacy guide the work through a relinquishing of control. Each 30 page coloring book comes with TWO HAND COLORED PAGES by Tucek, and a signed certificate of authenticity. In addition, collaborators are welcome to share their drawings with Tucek using a QR code provided. Those drawings will be added to Tucek’s website to be shared with others (pending approval).

KaitlynTucek.com

Rainbow Delirium
$20

Currently available through the artist and in person @understudy_denver soon to be available @still_museum

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Rainbow (desperate) mounted at @understudy_denver from May 9th-June 8th 2026

Materials:

8.5 x 11”
Softcover, craft paper cover, 30 off white pages, staple bound

MASSIVE thank you for the amazing support from @earnestpaper 👏👏👏👏 by @understudy_denver

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5 months ago

Well dang… thank you, Denver 🌈 Such a fun night. Thanks for braving the wind to witness this spectacle from every angle. Appreciate everyone who came out!

✨ Huge thanks to everyone who brought this project to life: @ktucek, install team @cristobalbristow + @wurstryan + @joshua.ware, dancers @dancin.breegan @deettajain @gillianbeau @jalainajoy.art, music by @armindak, and @collinsanders_video for capturing it all.

Rainbow (Desperate) runs through June 7🫶 by @understudy_denver

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5 months ago

🌈Rainbow (Desperate) by @ktucek opens tomorrow night May 9th. Reception 7-10pm performance at 7:45pm. See you then✌️ by @understudy_denver

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5 months ago

Up next w/ @ktucek 🌈

Join us Saturday May 9 from 7-10 PM for the opening reception of Rainbow (desperate)

✨Performance at 7:45 PM in collaboration and performed by @dancin.breegan @deettajain @gillianbeau @jalainajoy.art

✨Musical score by @armindak by @understudy_denver

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6 months ago

✨Artist Highlight - Zoid Hæm✨

Born 1987, Tulsa, OK, Based in Denver, CO and Harlem, NYC

Zoid Hæm is a Black American artist and storyteller. After receiving a BFA in film studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, Zoid became the first student to earn a dual Master’s degree: an MFA in integrated media arts practices and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Realestate from CU Boulder. He is a published poet, college professor, art critic, curator, filmmaker, ex-NFL player, and performance artist.

Zoid’s art applies the principles of auto-ethnography to connect his personal experiences to the wider cultural narrative of Black Americans—a narrative sustained through folklore, spirituality, and rebellious expression. Through physical and digital mediums Zoid creates new myths that weave the future with the past and dreams with reality in the hopes of creating a new dimension of transcendence. His art seeks to suture the wounds of oppression by establishing a new connection to symbols that can educate us on our distorted history, critique our modern culture, and raise us to our greatest hopes.

〰️Artworks〰️

“Arm & Hammer” Sandstone, iron, plaster, glue, black beeswax, and spray paint (2024)

“Black Power Pick Table”
Wood, steel, glue, synthetic hair, spray paint.

“I am no longer asking for a seat at the table; I made my own.”

Artwork photos by @thirdduneproductions by @understudy_denver

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6 months ago