I made my way to Denver this past weekend. I had no real reason to go other than I’ve never been, so I decided it would be a worthwhile trip. My hotel was about 20 minutes away from downtown but luckily a light-rail station was a short walk from the hotel. I took a rather comfortable ride downtown, I love train rides, they are great for reading and people watching. You never run out of characters riding the trains in larger cities. Upon arriving at my stop I began exploring the city. I took a quick look at the Lucky Denver Mint. I got a glimpse of the capitol building and enjoyed the downtown area quite a bit.

I eventually made my way to the Denver Art Museum. On my way to it I passed a Liberman sculpture outside. There’s a Liberman in just about every major city so I was not surprised. It was fun to see all the kids climbing on it like it was a jungle gym. The Art Museum was designed by Daniel Libeskind and is rather angled and edged. It’s an interesting design and what you would expect of an art museum. Inside the museum the walls are angled much like the outside and you find yourself unsure of left and right in a hurry. The walls have an installation of digital numbers that are rather interesting.

I toured the halls and found some familiar painters and artist on the walls. A Dan Flavin hiding around a strange corner. I’ve always enjoyed his pieces since they are all done with florescent lights. I love hearing what people say about his work.

Soon I found a small installation of Marcel Duchamp a Dadaist. It was an interesting miniature of some of his work. Boite – Series D as it is called was in a strange place near the top of a staircase encased in glass. It was a nice find in that museum. Amongst the kids going “ewe” to some of the nudes in the place I found myself in front of a piece that I found absolutely intriguing. Very minimalistic but in such my style. It’s called Pastel Stack by Robert Moskowitz, a New York painter, which I’m just starting to research. I stared at that piece for upwards of 20 minutes thinking how something so simple could be so beautiful.
After leaving the Denver Art Museum I began walking down 14th street and found it quite pleasant. A StarBucks every five feet like most cities. A lot of restaurants and quant shops here and there, I took pleasure in enjoying a walking city like I usually do. After walking from one end of 14th to the other I found myself in Lower Downtown or “LoDo” as they call it. The hip part of town apparently. I found an interesting book store where I rested a bit and browsed intently through the stacks and stacks of books. I didn’t buy anything as I already had so many books I have that I haven’t read yet.

After that I made my way to the temporary site of the Modern Contemporary Art Museum. They were building a new building and were currently in this off-site hole in the wall. It was a rather plane white building with a gun-metal gray Vespa adorning the wall outside the door. I walked in and this young woman welcomed me, obviously a hip art student, with all the clothes and funky hair. She was very nice and we chatted intently for about 15 minutes about Art and music before I walked into the museum. The museum really only consisted of one large room. I walked through a pathway with hanging ribbons made of vinyl. All different colors. It was difficult to see but there was light coming from a section. It was as if you were intended to feel lost before walking into this space that felt oddly welcoming. There were places to sit and a large sculpture off center with dolls on the floor having a silent conversation and dreaming of the room itself. It was a beautiful piece done by Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt called The Peace Project. I sat in the room and tried to understand what they were after. I felt at ease and I think I came away with a good feeling of the piece. I walked out and the girl asked me what I thought. I told her I thought it was gorgeous. We talked about it a bit in detail discussing the meaning and intent. We came to an agreement after a bit.
At this point I had walked about 10-15 miles, I think and was exhausted. I made my way to the nearest station and made my way back to the hotel where I enjoyed a worthy rest. All in all Denver was a nice city, I enjoyed the artwork and had a good time. I doubt I would live there though.

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