{"id":12227,"date":"2008-06-20T07:42:35","date_gmt":"2008-06-20T14:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/06\/20\/night-mare.html"},"modified":"2008-06-20T07:42:35","modified_gmt":"2008-06-20T14:42:35","slug":"night_mare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/06\/20\/night_mare.html","title":{"rendered":"Night mare"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you were wondering about the comments regarding the Demon Horse of Denver<\/a> … here’s what we’re talking about.<\/p>\n

DIA corrals mane attraction : Updates : The Rocky Mountain News<\/a>
Horse sculpture soars outside DIA – The Denver Post<\/a> <\/p>\n

First, the complements:<\/p>\n

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“As I was leaving last night, I couldn’t stop the tears, it was so beautiful,” said Rudi Cerri, public art administrator for the city of Denver. … “The lights were shining on it and it conveyed such a sense of power,” Cerri said.<\/p>\n

[…] Said Matt Chasanski, also a public art administrator: “It just speaks to power and movement and energy, like so much of the artist’s work. A lot of Luis’ work was about movement through time and space.”<\/p>\n

Chasanski said the development of the West hinged on the horse. “This shows its impact, powerful and dominant.”<\/p>\n

Cerri added, “It’s a bold piece for a bold landscape.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which just goes to show you that, come the revolution, the “public art administrators” will be up against the wall alongside the lawyers and politicians.<\/p>\n

(I speak sarcastically here. I actually tend to like, or at least appreciate, a lot of public art. Can’t make everyone happy, etc., but I realize that many pieces that were once disdained are now accepted as landmarks. Having said that …)<\/p>\n

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Outside of public art administrators (who probably summer in London so they can hang out at the Tate Modern), a quick search on the web found pretty<\/a> much<\/a> everyone<\/a> hates<\/a> the thing and calls it something like the Demon Horse of Denver [International Airport]. The 32-foot tall critter is situated in the middle of an interchange leading up to (or from) the main terminal building, and it’s impossible not to see.<\/p>\n

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  1. It’s vivid blue.<\/li>\n
  2. It’s 32 feet tall.<\/li>\n
  3. Its eyes glow red (visible in daylight, even more disturbing under spotlights at night).<\/li>\n
  4. It’s hideous.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    On the latter, it’s not hideous because of of the color, size, eyes, or motif. It’s hideous because it’s … well … a really awful representation of a horse. Not awful as in metaphorically abstract — horrible as in very poorly proportioned. The head is startlingly small, the forelegs look overlong, the body’s form seems twisted and tormented, veins popping out all over its bony sides …<\/p>\n

    I can only assume the city was willing to still put it up this year because (a) they’d been waiting since 1992, (b) they’d already sunk $650K in it, and (c) the artist, Luis Jimenez, was killed in 2006 when a piece of the Demon Horse fell on him, and it only seemed the polite thing to do in tribute.<\/p>\n

    The contrast between this public sculpture and the Big Blue Bear at the Convention Center is striking.<\/p>\n