Reader: "The Dancers" Is Embarrassingly Bad, Truly Awful Public Art

Art is back in the news with the recent KKK/cop piece hanging at the Wellington Webb building. But there have been plenty of other controversial pieces of public art — and most of them don't just disappear. We just listed the Ten Most Controversial Pieces of Public Art in Denver...

By Westword Staff

April 3, 2016

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Art is back in the news with the recent KKK/cop piece hanging at the Wellington Webb building. But there have been plenty of other controversial pieces of public art — and most of them don't just disappear. We just listed the Ten Most Controversial Pieces of Public Art in Denver — and despite the inclusion of "Blue Mustang," the most hated/loved piece at Denver International Airport, it was "The Dancers," by Jonathan Borofsky, that inspired the most comments. Says Summer:

Why would "The Dancers" be controversial? It's a couple of people dancing. That's it. What the fuck?

But then there's this from Talbot:

The only one on the list that is truly awful is the "dancing sculptures." Those are embarrassingly bad. There are so many good artists in the area — not to mention traditional bronze casters that could make something amazing. It's really inexcusable that they have that goofy crap in such a highly visible location.

When "The Dancers" was installed more than a dozen years ago, Michael Paglia wrote this: "I'm going to have to look at the monstrosity for years to come — and that seems like more than enough for the city to ask of me or of any other citizen." (See the full piece here.) What do you think is the most awful, embarrassing public art in Denver?

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