August can be a dry season for art. Galleries and museums know their customers are distracted by summer fun and they tend to keep programming on the breezy side, saving the serious stuff for the important fall premieres.
But there is a bright spot this summer in downtown Denver, where I have spent many afternoons in the company of a single piece of art, Rachel Hayes’ “Horizon Drift,” which is installed on the Plaza of the Americas at 15th and Wewatta streets. The piece is co-presented by the Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum and the Biennial of the Americas, two of the city’s powerhouse cultural entities whose frequent collaborations always result in small wonders.
I rarely point people to temporary, single public-art works. The experience of seeing them can come and go so quickly and even the largest projects fade into the background and become nearly invisible in a short time. But “Horizon Drift” keeps calling me back, mostly because it looks different every time I see it.
For the work, artist Rachel Hayes suspended yards and yards of airy, translucent fabric over the public space, using the plaza’s existing infrastructure — building beams, light poles — as supports. The piece consists of four oversized panels, shaped into triangles that overlap one another, creating a kaleidoscope effect.
There is a fifth element to the piece: natural sunshine, which pours down from above, sending light through the material. On clear days, the panels — rendered in richly-hued color blocks of blues, pinks, reds and browns — glow brilliantly, as if they were powered up with electricity.
For people passing through the plaza, there are two ways to enjoy the opportunity: look up to see the colors interact together, or look down to see the multi-shaped shades and shadows that it cast on the concrete ground below. Both options change minute-by-minute as the day progresses. That invites visitors to stay awhile.
There are plenty of art historical references here, as Black Cube points out in its supporting literature. One points to pop artist Frank Stella’s abstract expressionist paintings that were trendy in the 1960s and ’70s. Another references glass artist Dale Chihuly’s glass ceilings, which are installed inside buildings near and far. (There is a particularly famous one in Las Vegas’ Bellagio casino that draws big crowds).
But it is most powerful as a tribute to American quilt makers, who have tended to be female and are rarely known beyond their own friends and families. “Horizon Drift” presents the patterns and handiwork of those obscure artists on steroids, underscoring both the effort it takes to produce and its organic beauty. It’s a wildly feminist work wrapped in rainbow packaging.
Hayes is an internationally recognized fabric artist who lives and works in Tulsa, Okla. She is known for her colorful interventions in public spaces. The artist has installed her panels in such places as White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, and among ancient ruins in Istanbul, Turkey.
Because the pieces are made of fabric and suspended off the ground, offering both shade and shelter, Haye’s objects fall somewhere between visual art and architecture. For that reason, she has been written about in art publications, but also in design magazines such as Vogue, Architectural Digest and Elle Decor. Each installation has its own personality, and intent.
The piece in Denver also has significant civic value. This area of downtown Denver was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. In the not-so-distant past, these streets and plazas were populated with office workers passing through on their way to and from work, or settling in for an outdoor lunch.
But the home office trend hallowed it out. Some days, the plaza is a ghost town. Other days, and I am compelled to be frank here, it is a place for drug dealers to do their own sort of business, and that can happen in the open. The plaza is not a dangerous or threatening place — at least, I have never felt those things there — but it needs activation.
Does a single piece of art have the power to bring people to the site — and to bring along with them a bit of hope for urban landscape? Maybe. That’s another reason I keep returning.
The Biennial of the Americas is doing side programming that provides people additional reasons to visit, and those involve more collaborations between local groups. On Aug. 14, there is a “natural light” photo-taking workshop by the Colorado Photographic Arts Center; on Sept. 26, a chance to make translucent paper collages with the Art Students League of Denver. There is a concert by the Latin jazz ensemble Mistura Fina on Oct. 24 as well. Everything is free and family-friendly.
And if you want a bigger art experience than this solo work, there are excellent side shows within short walks. I can recommend two exhibits in particular, both of which I plan to write about more in-depth next week: “Critical Landscapes: Selected Works from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection” at the Museum of Contemporary Art; and the Robischon Galley’s solo exhibition of abstract painter Pard Morrison.
But plan on spending a little while at “Horizon Drift.” The work does offer a blast of optimism and color, but it is best observed over some time, a good 30 minutes or more. The piece, and maybe a cool drink, offer a swell way to get through the dry season.
Ray Mark Rinaldi is a Denver-based freelance writer who specializes in fine arts.
IF YOU GO
“Horizon Drift” continues through Oct. 27 at the Plaza of the Americas, 1550 Wewatta St. It’s free. Info at blackcube.art.
