About This Piece

Until 2003, Denver’s various City departments were spread around the City at various locations. This meant doing business with the City was a multi-stop experience. The consolidation of Denver’s agencies into a one-stop location has not only saved the City money, it has created a place where we can base an understanding of how the City works.

With this in mind, the City selected a location for Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building adjacent to Civic Center Park. The addition of the Webb building to the Civic Center landscape brought together all the agencies that work to build the city and to administer the ordinances that define city life.

The Public Art Program for the Webb Building was based on this set of understandings.

Twelve artists were hired to each do an artwork for one of the floor’s elevator landings. Each artist was asked to create a unique work that represented an important element of Denver and its place on this landscape.

From the bottom to the top the artists are:
First Floor: Darrell Anderson, “Workers”
Second Floor: Sue Quinlan, "Antiquities and Revisited”
Third Floor: Bonnie Lhotka, “Whole Life”
Fourth Floor: Steve Altman, “Civic Centerized”
Fifth Floor: Darrell Anderson, “Construction”
Sixth Floor: Bill Starke, “Ascent”
Seventh Floor: Scott Greenig, “South Gateway”
Eighth Floor: Nathaniel Bustion, “Inter Spirit of the Created Colorado Vision”
Ninth Floor: Oyedele Oginga, “The Ensemble”
Tenth Floor: Jim Colbert, “Civic Center Floating Island”
Eleventh Floor: Daniel Salazar, “Grand Poobah & Office Fairy cut through red tape”
Twelfth Floor: Judith Trager, “Canyon Walls”

Artist's Statement:
Laid out beneath the pure azure skies of Colorado, spreading from the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Denver's city grid is rooted in its regional geography, isolated by the beauty of our natural environment, yet part of the earth as a whole – a universal place in time and space. 

Time freezes; a momentary window of vision and enlightenment opens, providing a structure against a background of natural forms. Crisp, pure colors reflect the construction of man, against the beauty of nature. 

Reflecting the essence of beauty under the Colorado skies, we live without being bound, yet are tied to the essence of this place. As custodians of the land, we alter it for our needs, and yet strive to live in harmony with the grandeur around us. 

Buildings live within two separate environments: the city grid and the ecology of nature. Successful architecture uses aspects of both, combined by the people into a form of both function and beauty. 

The relationship between man, nature and society is imbued in every aspect of the work; artificial and virtual realty create a visually transparent window, transcending the traditional two-dimensional media hanging flat upon a wall. 

"Whole Life" echoes the sophistication of the building design and the essence of life in Denver – man's achievements living side by side in harmony with the grandeur of nature.