Big Blue Bear's crap inspires art critic to horse around with DIA's Blue Mustang

Does a bear shit in the woods -- and outside a convention center? That question was answered when pranksters placed a pile of blue poo under "I See What You Mean," the Lawrence Argent sculpture that's known as the Big Blue Bear. Inspired, one critic turned her eyes to DIA's...

By Patricia Calhoun

April 26, 2012

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Does a bear shit in the woods -- and outside a convention center? That question was answered when pranksters placed a pile of blue poo under "I See What You Mean," the Lawrence Argent sculpture that's known as the Big Blue Bear. Inspired, one critic turned her eyes to DIA's "Mustang," and his hindquarters....

Here's a look at what the Blue Bear left behind:

After seeing this inspired piece, former Westword art critic Renna Shesso wrote, "Okay, you just re-sparked my fantasy of repositioning John McEnroe's 'National Velvet' behind Luis Jiménez's 'Mustang.'" And then she proceeded to act on that fantasy, merging two of Denver's most controversial public art works -- "Mustang," aka Bluecifer, which has been mocked around the world, and "National Velvet," a globular, glowing neon-red pile that earned the nickname Saggy Boob Electric Penis. Here's the result: Shesso's masterpiece was done on the computer. The Big Blue Poo pranksters made their artistic comment out of papier-mache.

When The Colbert Report came to Denver International Airport to investigate conspiracies last fall, it found ominous meaning in "Mustang" -- and a penis. Read more in "Stephen Colbert reveals Denver Int'l Airport conspiracies -- and phallic symbols! (VIDEO)."

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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