Earth Air Crystal, (sculpture).

Earth Air Crystal, (sculpture).

Behrens, Robert, 1939- , sculptor.

Earth Air Crystal, (sculpture).

Earth Crystal, (sculpture).

Modelled 1972. July 1975.

Digital Reference:

Exposed aggregate concrete, mirrors and grass.

Sculpture: approx. 16 x 40 x 35 ft.

An abstract, geometric, three-sectioned sculpture. Two concrete bilateral triangular forms faced with plane mirrors sit on their shorts sides and angle towards each other. They "emerge" out of angular slabs of exposed concrete aggregate inlaid with triangular patches of grass. There are two beds of grass on the two mirrored sections of the sculpture and a fifth bed by itself, bordered by concrete. A Y-shaped walkway separates the three sections. The sculpture is partially fenced.

Abstract -- Geometric

Allegory -- Element -- Earth

Allegory -- Element -- Air

Outdoor Sculpture -- Colorado -- Denver

Coadministered by City and County of Denver, Commission on Cultural Affairs, Ste. 1600, 1st Western Plaza, 303 W. Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80204

Coadministered by Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th Street, Denver, Colorado 80202

Located at 14th, Champa, and Stout Street, In front of Currigan Hall, Denver, Colorado

The sculpture, which cost $28,000, is one of 17 works commissioned to beautify downtown Denver traffic islands. The idea for the project originated in Nov. 1971 at meetings with The Park People and the I-25 Artists' Alliance. 17 models were submitted in July 1972. Funding was provided by the Downtown Denver Improvement Association, The Park People, the Denver Art Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1977, sod was removed from around the base of the sculpture. In 1980, after suffering damage from neglect, vandalism, and skateboarders, the sculpture was restored. The restoration was funded by The Park People and included the addition of more concrete and a chain fence.

IAS files contain articles from Rocky Mountain News, dated Feb. 25, 1979, pg. 8, and June 19, 1980, pg. 171.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Colorado, Denver survey, 1993.

City and County of Denver, 1987.

City and County of Denver, Mayor's Office of Art, Culture and Film, 1996.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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