An ode to DIA’s beleaguered blue horse

When “Mustang” was erected on a patch of dirt outside Denver International Airport in February 2008, you could almost hear the residents of Colorado exclaiming in unison, “What is that thing?” Just what was this massive, bright-blue, anatomically in-your-face horse sculpture with demon red eyes doing in sunny, charming Denver?…

Colorado ID cuts coke but not tension on HBO’s Girls

On “Bad Friend,” the episode of the zeitgeist-courting HBO comedy Girls that aired Sunday, the characters decide to buy some coke and indulge in cocaine-related hijinks. At one point, Lena Dunham’s character, Hannah, and Andrew Rannell’s Elijah are seen chopping out lines on a toilet seat and the camera lingers…

Dress your own “Mustang” paper doll

Love it? Loathe it? Chances are good that you’ve got an opinion about the giant blue “Mustang” statue at the Denver International Airport. (Only slightly slimmer are the chances that you have a conspiracy theory about it.) This week’s cover story, “Yay or Neigh,” tackles the issue of whether it’s…

Artist Estee Fox is in search of a pretty vagina

Talk about art on the cutting-edge! On Friday, February 1, the show Estee Fox: fox tales ft. 7 and marbles — an eclectic mix of videos, paintings and live music — will open at Edge Gallery, complete with a screening and discussion of Fox’s performance piece “How to: A Pretty…

Video: Adam Cayton-Holland makes his late-night debut on Conan

After a teaser in which Conan O’Brien plugs his standup guest as Adam Clayton-Holland (a reference to the U2 bass-player that Adam Cayton-Holland is surely used to), Denver’s former What’s So Funny? columnist was introduced to one million nation-wide fans in his late-night TV debut. Utilizing material familiar to local…

Untitled returns, refreshed, to the Denver Art Museum tonight

If it feels like something’s been gone from your life, perhaps it’s Untitled. But now the Denver Art Museum’s Friday night happy hour of fun programming is back from its holiday hiatus with a whole new agenda for a whole new year. See also: – Paper Bird’s Esme Patterson on…

Win tickets to Westword‘s Artopia 2013!

Update: Congratulations to therealstevecoogan! You’ve won two tickets to Artopia. Check your email for details on how to claim them. Original post: Westword’s annual Artopia party is exactly one month away, which means it’s time to start planning your one-night exploration of Denver culture right now. Split across four venues…

Photos: The Arvada Center unveils Art of the State tonight

Art of the State, which opens tonight at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, is an ambitious attempt to present the full scope of Colorado artists working in every medium and genre. Put together by Arvada Center gallery director Collin Parson and jurist Dean Sobel of the Clyfford…

Comic Adam Cayton-Holland booked for Conan January 29

Denver comic and former Westword scribe Adam Cayton-Holland will be making his standup debut on TBS’s Conan next Tuesday, January 29. “This is my first appearance on a late-night TV show,” Cayton-Holland tells us. “I did a small spot on the TV show Happy Endings, but yeah, in terms of…

Word! MCA Denver hosts Postscript Symposium this weekend

The word “symposium” can conjure up the image of some uptight, academic scenario, but that’s exactly the opposite of what this weekend’s Postscript Symposium at MCA Denver has been designed. Created as a companion event to the museum’s current Postscript: Writing After Conceptual Art exhibition, the Friday and Sunday shows…

Last chance to see Swap Meet at the Dikeou Collection

Looking for the unusual in the arts in 2013? Downtown Denver’s private Dikeou Collection and the Dikeou Golden Triangle pop-up space are both places to start. And if you haven’t already checked it out, hurry to the downtown venue’s Swap Meet: Artpace and the Dikeou Collection, a major exhibition mounted…

Photos: Fancygasm sews change at the MCA

Last week, we used the first entry in our “100 Colorado Creatives” series to re-introduce you to the Ladies Fancywork Society, the crafty local collective dedicated to knitting and needlework art. This weekend, we spent a day at the museum — an opening day, in fact — when we stopped…

Coors Western Art Show sets new sales record

Yee-haw! While galleries across the country have had a tough time in recent years, the Coors Western Art Show at the National Western Stock Show Complex got off to a fast gallop last week, selling more than $800,000 worth of art at the Red Carpet Reception three days before the…

Lewis Black on socialism, Louis C.K. and the new NRA app

The most common byproduct of politics is high blood pressure, and no one experiences that kind of pre-stroke madness like standup comedian Lewis Black. With his shaky hands, bulging eyes and unbuttoned suit, Black often appears as an out-of-work schmuck who writes angry letters to the White House and TMZ…