DenverInfill Blog

That's great. Another reason to go back down and take a look. I've taken 8 out-of-towners to the DAM already - a very good draw for the city.
 

These look quite nice, much better than those cows from United Airlines ... and I think that campaign is now over right? Generally speaking, however, I'm against too much clutter, and I'm afraid that the DAM square is getting that way.
 

I'd love to walk through a Denver park and see an entire herd of life-sized bronze buffaloes roaming across it.
 

Oh yeah, nice, nice ,nice, no offense to the artist, or cows in general (I come from a long line of beef herding ranchers) but please and sorry I have to be the descending expression. Do we always agree and go along not to make any waves, now that would be authentic... When I first saw these cows I thought, yeah for art etc. but mocking the sleepy cow town image won’t ever work to convince the imagery of the worldly JETSET. I for one, living here all my life, am always offended by the cow town safe complacency thing. Are we a rawhide Dallas wannabe? Not that Dallas is a cow town, maybe a supernova cow town but there’s a handful of western cities that could better qualify as cow towns, what makes Denver want to turn the other cheek? For decades I’ve wanted so badly for Denver just to grow up and focus on finally being known as cosmopolitan city. Seems like more of ‘almost’. I guess it depends on the collective conscious image of the city is determined by rich ranch landowners way out by the cow pies? Again it makes me wonder what Liebskind might think about them. Hey a bit more authentically humorous imagination might be to have the cows on their backs with their legs up in the air…a couple of UFO’s hovering, ya know.
 

But they don't look Scottish. Where are the kilts?
 

^ zing!

Yeah, I never noticed before but we are amassing a ridiculous collection of out-of-scale art. Big broom! Tiny horse on enormous chair! Big blue bear! Enormous aliens prancing! Gargantuan cows! I can't wait to see what happens next. Hopefully they'll construct one of the enormous buildings they've been planning for 5 years....

Also, I'd be kind of creeped out if I lived in the museum residences with the cows staring at me all the time, but overall I think they're pretty great.

Side note: are the museum residences people allowed to have their shades halfway down? Everyone's shades are fully open or fully closed. Hmmm....
 

So many Colorado people are uncomfortable with non-representational art that I think the museum is wise to put a crowd-pleaser like this one on their south lawn. At least it's not one of those utterly insipid bronzes that clutter up Cherry Creek North (or did when I worked there in the mid-90s--I don't know if they're still there).

But as for these saying "Denver is a cow town" too loudly, I have to say: look at our history. Denver is a cosmopolitan city in some respects, but face it, we're not New York, Paris or Hong Kong, and for better or worse we never will be. There's this big ugly zone between the Platte River and I-70 called the "stock yards," and every January there's this deeply conservative funfest known as the National Western Stock Show (if you want to know just how conservative, check out their website--click on the long list of conservative types they've honored as "Citizens of the West" each year including one Richard Cheney, former Congressman from Wyoming, and current resident of Washington DC).

So cattle imagery reflects our history, like it or not.
 

I like the cows and as a life-time Denver resident have no problem with their nod to, or mocking of Denver history - and I also like the other gi-normous art pieces cited by blogger Ryan, but I too am becoming concerned with the trend in cartoonesque public artwork popping up in the city. If it continues, I fear that rather than being seen as avant garde by savvy visitors, our public art will come to be seen as ridiculous and cliche. I for one would like to see more serious, evocative and/or traditional art pieces and memorials ala Millenium Park in Chicago or any square, park or thoroughfare in Paris or London. While Denver is a relatively young city, it is truly unique and has a rich history outside of cow trading. I like the novelty of giant blue bears and massive cows, but when will the powers that be commission monumental and even colossal artistic tributes to the many historic high points in our history which contrast and balance the tiny horse on a giant chair?
 

Agreed – the cows seem appropriate and are actually quite pleasing. Now if someone would just follow-through on the Big Sweep’s theme and toss that hideous brush into the dumpster, the DAM would be perfect.

DenverInfill readers, please feel free to dump a months worth of smelly/wet trashbags on the Big Sweep – THAT would be art.
 

I plan to submit my big-gulp cup for the next art in public places opportunity. It's oversized...they'll love it!
 

the cows are great! I think most of us agree, so don't hate on our history or who we are today, I just think that most of us would like to see something different, something classic or more classy. I would.
 

I actually like the cows a lot - bringing something natural/pastoral into an urban area gives it a nice balance.

The cows make me think of something you'd find in India. Lets find the date of a big Hindu festival, then once a year on that day cover the statues in flowers, fruit, pastries, garments and little Hindu figurines refrencing the avatar celebrated on that day. There are 2 or 3 festevals every month, so it won't be hard to find a convenient one.

On March 3rd and 4th is Holi, where millions of Hindus drink a kind of tea made of cannabis and milk and squirt colorful die on each other, then wash it off in the Indus River, which turns the river purple... how far is this development from Cherry Creek?
 

Now what would happen if denver blew up into this big beautiful cosmo. city that we all want but never left a trace of it's heritage? our blog's would be quite different, yes we do want this large beautiful downtown with the tallest buildings and best department stores, macy's etc. But art is very important, and I believe that denver is most definitly placing itself on the map artistically. The skyscrapers will come, look at miami and how long they went without new buildings now they are constructing about fifty. but nothing that shows its history. we will have our hour to shine. remember the eighties we grew up quick, most cities are way behind us in expanding downtown growth, and remember we just constructed three high rises and one in the works glass house, hyatt, and one lincoln tower. with two more starting this year. And more on the planning tables, so we will see the day of grace when there about five or six skyscrapers going up at a time.
 

I love the Giant Cows, I walk the plaza daily with my dog BG. It is a wonderful place to start the morning.
 

I don't live in Denver, so I haven't seen the public art near the DAM in person. I'm wondering if there is a giant cow turd near this installation? Or is that still in the planning stages?
 

I like these cows. Anyway, they are a sight better than Big Sweep, which quite literally looks trashy from far away.
 

I have an idea we can have oversized Hummers to go with the slurpie.
 

This is a bit off topic... seems to me that DEN has more public art going on than comparable sized cities, but agree with the previous posts that most of it is some where between kitsch and just plain weird. Ever spend much time looking at the art at DIA? Its the twilight zone in there. Do we really need to see that machete wielding gestapo darth vader figure before getting on a plane? How about the farm apparatus junk and strange mounds of dirt lined up on Pena Blvd? And back downtown, is that horse/chair piece worthy of such a prime location? Should move that inside to the children’s section of the library. The broom/dust bin eyesore has no place next to Libeskind’s psychedelic titanium mushroom (I’m a fan of the later). Word’s out that its amateur night for artists in DEN.
 

DENVER is an ARTS city so don't hate, we are changing, seems everybody from out of town wants denver to look like where they came from. LOL!
 

This non native sure doesn't want this cow town to look like Philly! :-0

No, two places to aspire to are Copenhagen and Stockholm for so many reasons. But as to art, the later has the coolest subway art installations.