About This Piece

Artist’s statement: The Red Forest is a site-specific environmental sculpture for the Denver Millennium Bridge. The work focuses on the simple but elegant and dynamic rhythms of nature. On viewing the site there were two key aspects that influenced my concept – the vertical nature of the Millennium Bridge and its linear form; and a sense of overwhelming greyness from the surrounding concrete and with this a visual and tactile hardness of surface.I felt that this needed to be softened and linked to the green space of Commons Park.

The Red Forest is a dynamic sculpture that uses color, vertical forms, the natural environment, repetition of form, and the imagination of the viewer to transform a site and echo an organic, primordial past.The work explores the spirituality of trees and nature’s own architectural beauty where shelter and sanctuary are integral parts of the natural forest. The tree above all other plant life is especially revered, possibly because of its distinctive form, and size, but certainly because many trees have life spans far longer than ours.The memory and history of our journey as people from one generation to the next is carried through these trees, they have come to symbolize perhaps above all the idea of rejuvenation, hope and the preservation of life on earth.I have created for the space a vivid red forest set into a cool green ground-cover; a work that is both reverential and reflective, allowing the viewer to come to their own conclusion their through their own introspection. Color is not merely decoration; it evokes a real energy capturing the energy and spirituality of nature.

The Red Forest sprouted up last year near the west steps of the Millennium Bridge in the Platte Valley, adding another exemplary piece of public art to Denver’s collection. Using synthetic rods colored red, Egypt-born Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos mounted clusters that look like clumps of reeds to create “The Red Forest.” When the air is still, the clustered rods soar above our heads, but when the wind kicks up, they sway and move. Since spotlights are an integral feature, the view also changes drastically at night, when the red rods catch the rays in such a way that they seem internally lit. The work, funded by the Riverfront Park Community Foundation, was selected by the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, and in this case, DOCA made an illuminating choice.

See Westword’s Best Of 2011: http://www.westword.com/bestof/2011/award/best-new-public-art-1770252/

Read more: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMA8RC_Red_Forest_Denver_CO