New public art exhibition to take off at Denver International Airport
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DENVER — Travelers passing through Denver International Airport are no strangers to the ongoing construction, from renovations to check-in facilities to the expansion of the iconic peaked-roof Jeppesen Terminal.
But at the end of January, a new type of construction will be on display.
Visual artist Thomas “Detour” Evans, a fixture in the Denver art scene for almost two decades whose large-scale murals appear all around the city, will debut an art sculpture for permanent display in Concourse B East on January 22.
Standing ten feet tall and covering around 600 square feet, “It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back,” features colored, upcycled luggage and bags molded into an infinity symbol.
“It’s really all about that endless motion,” Evans said. “I want to emphasize the idea that you're always on this endless journey with the bags that you carry with you, holding the things that you hold dear.”
Evans’s subjects typically include Denver residents and recently, the Denver Nuggets. His work has taken him across the country and he’s painted murals in Boston, Long Beach and other U.S. cities.
Evans wanted the piece to encapsulate the experience of traveling in an airport, where people come and go at all different times. He wanted to highlight the personal side of that ever-moving crowd and showcase the stories and experiences that people gain from traveling.
The airport gave Evans a $450,000 budget for the project, which he began in 2021.
The city’s 1% for Public Art Program in accordance with the Gate Expansion Program funded the sculpture, the ongoing project to increase the number of gates at DIA to keep up with the increased volume of travelers.
Because DIA is one of the busiest airports in the world, Evans wanted his piece to be something that people from all backgrounds and cultures could understand.
“What do we all have in common at the airport when we're traveling? Bags,” Evans said.
Evans collected more than 200 pieces of luggage to build the sculpture, which were all donated by local organizations and people in Colorado. He used 183 in the final piece.
Many Coloradans shared stories with Evans about the significance of the luggage they had donated to the project.
“This luggage was used by my dad everywhere he traveled after he got out of the military/Air Force in the mid-1970s,” Northeast Colorado resident Andre Wilson wrote to Evans when he donated a vintage hard-shelled navy blue suit case.
Evans said learning about these stories is one of the best parts of the whole project.
“It just shows the importance of being able to have an item to showcase your memories, your family history, and what you've gone through in your experiences,” he said.
Evans worked with fabricators and engineers to put together the sculpture.
The art features a steel infinity armature made by Demiurge — a Denver-based art fabrication studio — as the backbone of the sculpture. Evans painted every suitcase, inspired by the sunrise and sunset of Colorado then he and Demiurge welded the luggage to the armature.
“It's been a long time coming, and it's been something worth telling people about,” said Evans. “It's going to be one of those moments where I feel like I stepped up a level and evolved as an artist.”
Rocky Mountain PBS will cover the unveiling of the sculpture later this month.
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