Judy Decker

Greetings ArtConversation Visitors,

I remember reading about sculptor Luis Jiménez's death in 2006 when a section of a fiberglass sculpture fell on him - I didn't remember it being the "Blue Mustang" - now at the Denver Airport.

From New York Times:
And Behold a Big Blue Horse? Many in Denver Just Say Neigh
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: March 1, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/ar...r=1&ref=design

Maybe you could try writing your own haiku?

Here are some from the article:

Anxiously I fly
apocalyptic hell beast
fails to soothe my nerves.

Big blue horse beckons
Fiery, red eyes glowering
Good bye one horse town.

More from USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...-mustang_N.htm

Denver Channel - with links to previous stories:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...58/detail.html

More on Luis Jiménez
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/jimenez_luis.html

Enjoy,

Judy Decker

Wie

The Emperor’s Blue Horse

A friend of mine recently sent me the Wall Street Journal article by Stephanie Simon "A Horse of a different color divides Denver", and while I am not a typical reader of the journal this one really caught my eye. Friends and family always laugh at the blue horse oddity when we pick them up from DIA. The majority of them see it as some sort of unsophisticated attempt at public art by a city that appears to be struggling to come up in the cultural world.

I read the article to better understand the defending arguments for the sculpture. Susan Jimenez, the artist’s widow defends the sculpture by saying “you just look at the piece and you know it was built with love.” The article goes on to say that the criticism of the piece perplexes her and that she’s “disappointed that people don’t seem to grasp her husband’s intent.”

One cannot change human nature just by saying it isn’t so. Glowing red eyes are historically and psychologically associated with predatory danger or anger. Harsh electric blue color laced with black veins hearken a bruising. The reared up stance the tensed and disproportionate musculature, and the darkening around the horse’s eyes, and the spiked mane that appears to be bristling (can horses really bristle their manes?) suggest the horse is discomforted, troubled, frightened or enraged. I get the sense that Luis Jimenez held some kind of contempt or anger, (perhaps subconscious?) when he was creating this piece.

Jimenez intended this to be a "symbol of freedom and strength and the American West." Regardless of the artist's intent, Jimenez chose color schemes and symbolism associated with other ideas, uncharacteristic of "the West". While art does not need to be literal to convey its intent, an artist really needs to rely on some understandable visual symbolic language. The visual cues should have been considered more carefully to provide reference.

I see that Jimenez trying to convey power, but he chose a power in the form of rage and fury; a power that burns short and bright. The strength of the West is in its persistence and endurance; a longstanding institution, built with great force and determination, but not really with rage. If the glowing eyes were meant to reference his father’s neon sign business, then why not make them neon instead of a red light-emitting diode? Or, if technical practicality prevented a neon power supply, make them a different color light-emitting diode. Even in 2006, when the artist was still working on the sculpture, light-emitting diodes were easily obtained in blues, whites, greens, even purples; more similar to neon colors than the red ones. Even the medium seems to have been chosen more for practicality and cost than visual cue. How does fiberglass convey freedom and the American West?

The Wall Street Journal goes on to suggest that the Jimenez piece is better appreciated when considered in the larger context of Jimenez’s work, and that efforts are being made to introduce the public to this through pamphlets and in flight magazine articles, but if a piece can’t stand on its own, then it has failed as a singular work of public art. Perhaps this piece would be better off exhibited somewhere amongst other Jimenez work.

The fact that the piece still stands, and that the city of Denver agreed to shell out $650,000 in Municipal Bond money (thank goodness, not tax dollars,) instead of the $300,000 that was the original agreed-upon price for the commission is testament to Jimenez’s reputation as an artist, but it is also testament to Denver’s naïveté in choosing art. Just because this piece was created by a well-respected artist does not make this piece respectable or even good. Imagine if this same blue horse work had been proposed by a student at one of the local art schools. I doubt the city would even consider a small fee for its purchase. I would much rather see Jimenez’s “Southwest Pieta” or “End of the Trail (with Electric Sunset)” out next to the airport. Or why not replace this blue horse with the statue that used to don the old Mile High Stadium? A work that was perhaps created by a less reputed artist but much more replete of visual cues symbolizing Denver and the West.

A public sculpture must be able to speak for itself without being propped up by artist’s reputation or additional pamphlets. I believe Denver has fallen into the classic Emperor’s New Clothes mentality.

Unregistered

Inspired by God
Created by man
Here in Denver I stand.