The Denver Art Museum, charmingly abbreviated DAM, is in downtown Denver, of course, not far from the Capitol and Civic Center Park. It’s part of the Civic Center Cultural Complex, which is a mainly pedestrian zone that also gives you access to the Denver Public Library and a few other museums.
The whole complex is fairly easy to walk to if you visit the Capitol building, and it’s all downhill from there!
To me it looks like a Medieval fortress, but I’ve had other people say they think it’s ultra-modern in appearance. What do you think? Right now, that building is closed for renovation. I can’t wait to get in there to see it when it’s finished.
The text painted on the building, “As to be in plain sight” is actually a work by Lawrence Weiner. Look him up; he has some interesting perspectives on textual conceptual art.
For now, the museum’s 70,000+ pieces of art are all under the roof of the South Building, or the Frederic C. Hamilton Building (no relation), designed by Daniel Libeskind. Its 146,000 square feet opened in 2006. You can see part of it in the photo above in the foreground. That’s only half of the building, though; you have to walk across the skywalk to the other half where the entrance is. The place is HUGE!
I’m kind of surprised this sculpture is still on display. It’s been deemed racist and insensitive in many ways. Artist Red Grooms was commissioned to produce it back in the 1980s and has been protested ever since. It was originally installed in a different location, and I’m not sure how it ended up here. I looked up other works by Grooms and was impressed by his pop art; this one, hmmm, I could do without it. Reminds me of Saturday-morning cartoons when I was growing up.
That weirdly-slanted building on the right is the South Building. Note the red outdoor sculpture – this is so typical of Denver. Love that they set aside money from each construction project for public art!
If you squint, you can see some turquoise colors right there in between the buildings. These are rocking chairs in which people are lounging. The chairs are also an art installation and create music when rocked. The chairs are collectively called “La Musidora”, which is a portmanteau of the Spanish words ‘la musica’ and ‘la mecedora’ (‘music’ and ‘rocking chair’). Artists: Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena of Mexico City. The music was very calming.
They are by Dan Ostermiller and are incredibly realistic – except for their size, of course! You can certainly tell Mr. Ostermiller’s father was a taxidermist!
Below you can see the recessed LED lights in another stairwell, which was also an artist’s installation. The lights are actually digital number readouts and they changed color and brightness over a period of time. Unfortunately I didn’t make note of who the artist was. Sorry!
When I was there, the big current exhibit was “The Western: an Epic in Art and Film”, which included movie memorabilia and Western video clips from The Great Train Robbery (1903) all the way up to Easy Rider (1969). I guess that was a Western if you think about it!
A closer look at this piece reveals that the “drawing” was actually the words “strolling” and “wandering” written over and over.
The museum had so much more that I saw and didn’t see, including ancient Greek artifacts, Asian works, African art, modern and contemporary collections, you name it. As I said, it will take multiple visits to see it all. Not only that, the current exhibits change often, of course, so there’s always a reason to come back. The entry fee is $24 for adults, which is well worth the price, and there are discounts for kids, students, seniors, etc. Also, every first Saturday of the month, admission is free!
As always, I love travelling through you and your awesome blogs!!!