I had some spare time on the way to the airport in my rental car on Friday, and I accidentally ended up stopping at the Denver Art Museum. I had to : the buildings an outdoor artwork there are quite eye-catching as one approaches it.
The Denver Art Museum opened its first exhibit in 1918. The Frederic C. Hamilton wing was added in 2006. Designed by Daniel Liebeskind, some critics panned its form as ‘too aggressive’. The red sculpture in front by artist Mark di Suvero is ‘Lao-Tzu’, named after the Chinese monk Lao-Tzu who is traditionally credited with the foundation of Taoism.This giant broom and dustpan, titled ‘Big Sweep’ was installed in June 2006. The 30-foot-tall piece was the work of world famous artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.These seems to me to be offices and condos, right across from the Denver Art Museum. I suppose in such a location, a building can certainly not be just a plain square or rectangle!This is the North Building of the museum, and it opened in 1971. The building was designed by Italian modernist architect Gio Ponti. In front of it is an outdoor American Indian styled sculpture. The white building in the background is the one that is lit up in lavender at night and that I posted a picture of, yesterday.Yet another red outdoor artwork : the red painted steel chair is 21 feet tall and ten feet wide, and the painted fiberglass pony is six feet tall at the ears. The sculpture spent 1997 in New York City’s Central Park, where it was widely acclaimed before traveling to Denver in 1998 for permanent installation. It is called ‘The Yearling’.
