ARTIST WHO CREATED SYMBOL OF DENVER DIES»
Sculptor’s 40-foot icon peeks inside convention center
Lawrence Argent, the acclaimed sculptor who created the 40-foot-tall “big blue bear” sculpture that has become an artistic icon for the Mile High City, died Wednesday at the age of 60, according to the Douglas County Coroner’s Office.
The cause and manner of death will not be available for a few weeks, pending further investigation, officials said.
Argent died suddenly and unexpectedly in Denver following a surgical procedure, according to 9News, although requests to family and friends for comment were not returned as of early Friday night.
“On behalf of the Public Art Team at Denver Arts & Venues, we are shocked and saddened to learn of the untimely death of our friend, artist Lawrence Argent,” wrote Michael Chavez, Denver’s public art manager, in an email to The Denver Post.
“I See What You Mean,” a.k.a. the big blue bear outside the Colorado Convention Center on 14th Street in downtown Denver, has “become synonymous with our great city and the centerpiece of our public art collection,” Chavez said.
Argent was born Jan. 24, 1957, in Essex, England, and grew up in Australia, later attending the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He received a master’s degree in fine arts from the Rinehart School of Sculpture in Baltimore in 1986, according to a biography on his website.
He joined the staff at the University of Denver in 1993 and, through his work, helped bring global awareness to Denver’s contemporary art scene — which in turn helped land highprofile exhibits and residents such as the Clyfford Still Museum, former colleagues said.
“He opened the door for public art to be accessible and playful,” said Catherine Chauvin, director of DU’s School of Art & Art History, who was hired by Argent in 2006.
“I was immediately struck by his energy and how excited he was about all of the arts. My training is in printmaking, so to have a sculptor be so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about my field was really great.”
Argent, who thought of himself as an artist first and educator second, also held students to a high standard that could sometimes seem “off-putting,” Chauvin said. But in the end, that’s what many students remembered most — and furthermore emulated as budding artists themselves.
An official DU statement also mourned Argent on Friday, noting that “for nearly 25 years he was an award-winning artist and faculty member… a beloved mentor to countless students and a respected colleague. His public art — installed on DU’s campus and on sites around the
world — will have an impact for many years to come.”
Argent, lately a professor emeritus at DU, has numerous works placed around Denver, including “Pillow Talk” (at 1985 Pennsylvania St.), “Whispers” (outside DU’s Ritchie Center) and “Virere,” a tall tuft of bright green grass in the boulevard on South Broadway in Englewood.
But his biggest contribution — literally and figuratively — remains the big blue bear, which has been seen by countless people since it was installed in one of Denver’s busiest tourism and convention thoroughfares 12 years ago.
“I See What You Mean” depicts a geometrically rendered — and originally 3D-printed — blue bear peering into the east-facing windows of the Colorado Convention Center. It was installed in 2005 and has since become a marketing mainstay and popular item of toy merchandise for Denver Arts & Venues, which plays on its tourist- friendly reputation.
The $425,000 sculpture was part of more than $2.4 million for nine pieces of art commissioned for the convention center under the city’s 1-percent-of-art ordinance.
“It’s the kitsch playing on the kitsch. It’s playing on what people think Colorado is,” Argent told The Denver Post in 2005. “In a way, it’s sort of a tonguein-cheek approach. When somebody talks about Western art, this is kind of what they think Western art is, right? But I’ve taken it to the nth degree.”
Over the years, the big blue bear “has transcended the status of sculpture to something much more iconic. What Lawrence accomplished … was nothing short of creating a one-ofa-kind must-see experience on the list of anyone visiting our great city,” Arts & Venues’ Chavez told The Denver Post.
“Losing Lawrence so unexpectedly is a difficult blow to our local arts community, but we feel grateful to have the Big Blue Bear as an enduring legacy to the power of creativity and audacious curiosity.”