Nicole in front of the Denver Art Museum on Christmas Eve

On my way to Santa Fe I had a brief stop in Denver which led me to their art museum–a first visit for me. In 2001, the DAM commissioned architect Daniel Libeskind to design an expansion that would accommodate the growing collections and programs. The 146,000-square-foot Frederic C. Hamilton Building opened to the public in October 2006. It has caused controversy since it first opened; the contemporary design is appealing aesthetically, but a nightmare to display art in with its sloping walls and odd shaped spaces. This year, 17 artists from around the world were invited to create works in the space to open a dialogue between the architecture and the art and see how they could influence and impact one another.

Nicola Lopez

Highlights from the show were Nicola Lopez’s work made from cut paper pinned to the gallery walls reminiscent of highways;

Shinique Smith

Shinique Smith’s installation in blue in which she used body parts to paint the walls al la Yves Klein and collected found objects to create a three-dimensional element to her work;

Charles Sandison

Charles Sandison’s chamber video installation in which he created a primitive space filled with digitally projected ever changing lines, letters and numbers. He compared it to a fireplace in which you can lose yourself in looking at the flame–here you lose yourself in the visuals of technology;

Lawrence Weiner

Lawrence Weiner’s word work where language itself becomes the art;

John McEnroe

John McEnroe’s Ernesto Neto-like organic shapes dangling from the ceiling;

Jessica Stockholder

Jessica Stockholder’s investigation of color and its varieties of saturation;

Katharina Grosse

and Katarina Grosse’s spraypainted entryway.