"Mustang" isn't the only controversial public art in Colorado

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See also:
- After five years, it might be time for "Mustang" to mosey on
- An ode to DIA's beleaguered blue horse
- Ten other notable pieces of Colorado public art
- Denver Broncos and "Mustang" -- a match made in hell

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9. "National Velvet," the glistening red sculpture at the base of the 16th Street Pedestrian Bridge, isn't to everyone's taste. And the artwork, installed in 2008 by accomplished contemporary artist John McEnroe, caught a lot more heat than most of the pieces that are on display around town, in part because of the juvenile — though amusing — interpretation many people have of the piece, inspiring the nickname "Saggy Boob Electric Penis."

10. "Mustang" isn't the only piece of public art at Denver International Airport that has drawn criticism, comment and wonderment. Colorado artist Leo Tanguma's awe-inspiring murals at DIA are full of strange pictures: women in coffins, endangered animals, children worshipping a psychedelic plant, and a Gestapo-like character who appears to be killing a dove with a bayonet. The works have helped to create a conspiracy-theory culture around the airport that is second only to that of the Kennedy assassination and the moon landing. Tanguma himself says that that the mural is simply about the way people have destroyed nature and about how they could come together to rebuild it. The truth is out there...somewhere.