National Velvet

Such a random statue! It looks like melting blobs that are red velvet colored like the cake. Located near downtown Denver, it is at the end of bridge that crossed over 25. It's in a cool neighborhood with restaurants, breweries and random stores. Love the random, definitely walk by if you're nearby!

I'm all for public art and the enriching effect it has on the people of the city. In an era where most public construction is at the scale of cars and trucks it's nice to have statues and monuments that can only be appreciated from the point of view of a pedestrian, and with so few legitimately pedestrian friendly locations in the city, the art present therein is all the more influential, this is also what makes Red Velvet inappropriate in it's present location. This is an intriguing sculpture, to be sure. Obliquely repulsive night and day, it's the bloated corpse of a Chihuly sculpture presented as our nation's finery. However the message conveyed is not fitting for the optimism presented in the highland bridge or the pedestrian walkway to which is connected. The bridge represents a hopeful reconnection with the city after 43 years of i25's hostility separating a historic neighborhood from the city at large. The people using the bridge on foot are exalting in a small but meaningful triumph over the forces that have divided the city in the past, the kind of triumph we need many more of to foster health and equality; this is not the epicenter of excess and decay in Denver. If there is an intended recipient for the message of National Velvet it is for the hoard of likewise bloated trucks and cars that use our city as a through-path to go elsewhere. National velvet belongs on i25 as a monument for the drivers who will be able to appreciate it's scale - commensurate to the road itself, and it's foulness as they similarly slither through Denver and fill our air with pollution. What is needed at the present location of National Velvet is an object of optimism, or at least one of remembrance, something to fuel the spirit of togetherness fostered by the pedestrian space and interconnection, rather than lament the incompleteness of it's victory over the forces which divide us.

Best statue in Denver. At night it lights up from inside like a pile of intestines. During the day it's a pleasant pile of sausages named after a race horse.

The glizzy tower was amazing it opened up my heart to more adventurous experiences.