that is some DAM fine art!

On Saturday The new annex of the Denver Art Museum, The Frederic C. Hamilton Building, opened. This thing has been in the making since 1999! I remember driving past it every morning on my way to school when I lived in capital hill. I was able to see the steal structure (the guts) take shape. It is arguably the most anticipated and most important grand opening in Denver history.

As part of the grand opening celebration the museum hosted a free open house for 35 straight hours. What this meant for us young kids was we were able to take in the brand spanking new addition to Denver's landmarks at 1am. When do you ever get the chance to peruse a museum at such odd hours? never! Thanks to Julie, we became very excited ticket holders to last nights (or this mornings) event.

Along with Michael Frazier, neighbors (of his) and "new from Montana girl", Julie and I headed to the Hamilton. The exterior is beautiful and strange. But the interior has the stark and echoing feel that most every museum I have been to has. It also had a cozy feel to it (which may have been due to my beer buzz.) I am attracted to modern, simple, sleek design. These traits in architecture make me feel comfortable and relaxed, so perhaps this is why this monstrous sculpture of a building made me believe it was indeed cozy. I was honestly blown away with the utter beauty of the innards of the new museum. I remember walking up the first set of stairs starring up with my mouth hanging open. It is hereby a requirement that every future out-of- town guest of mine will take in this incredible building.

As for the art, you simply have to see it yourself. I am not going to spend the next several hours blogging about the art. I will say this though, I half expected this expansion to be an extension of what the Denver Art Museum normally shows, lots of Native American art(ifacts.) I felt that the Denver Art museum had offered more of a history showcase versus what I would consider "art." I was not disappointed in what the DAM offered last night. A lot of what we saw was edgy, modern, and simply not boring. The collections were completely satisfying. I cannot begin to describe what a wonderful job the DAM has done with the collections they have borrowed or own.

I suppose a part of us was there to be seen as was apparent with the rest of the crowd. Who goes to an art museum opening at 1 in the morning you might ask yourself? The crowd was young, very hip, well dressed and good looking. There was a retarded amount of homo’s. If I were to open a bar the crowd we were surrounded by last night would be my target audience. HANDS DOWN!

I remember saying more then once, "This is the best night in Denver, ever!" Honestly, that statement has a lot of merit. The Hamilton Building is the most important landmark to open in Denver in, well, probably forever. The energy, the crowd, that experience can never be duplicated. I will never ever forget the night I was at the opening of Frederic C. Hamilton Building!


The opening exhibition in the Anschutz Gallery, RADAR.
The picture on the right is dedicated to Julie.
Thank you for sharing one of the most memorable nights in Denver I have ever had!