These photos and descriptions were created by Downtown Partnership and can be accessed here.
Art on the Streets celebrates the power of art in public places, while turning the streets of Downtown Colorado Springs into a yearlong outdoor sculpture gallery. More than 300 artworks have been exhibited Downtown since AOTS began in 1998, and the district is home to more than 50 permanent works, over 30 of which have been purchased through AOTS.
The 21st annual exhibit includes 12 new works of art: six sculptures and for the first time, six murals. The works were selected from a total of 112 proposals from artists worldwide.
PARALLEL UNIVERSE
Mirror-polished stainless steel. Price to purchase: $25,000.
Located on east side of Tejon between Bijou & Kiowa (south exterior wall of Brown’s Shoe, 119 N. Tejon St.)
Parallel Universe explores the manipulation of interactions between the audience and the surrounding environment. Simple geometric forms allow the focus on the reflective surfaces and what they reveal, or hide, rather than the complexity of the object itself. Viewers are forced to move around the objects, trying to interact with the work rather than treating the objects as simple mirrors. The faces of the cubes are made to contrast the dominant reflectivity of the installation, revealing the effect of leaving a preternatural green two-dimensional plane suspended in space, essentially making the physicality of the object completely disappear. Price to purchase: $25,000.
MAXENTIUS IN HIS DEFEAT OF VARIOUS FRUIT
Stenciled mural. Price to purchase: $2,000.
Located on west side of Nevada between Cucharras & Vermijo (westernmost exterior wall of former CSHP building, 209 S. Nevada Ave.)
Working primarily in stencils, SCOTCH! has been involved in city art projects in San Antonio and Denver. New to the Pikes Peak Region, SCOTCH! is pleased to share his work displaying a combination of Baroque motifs and patterns made from hand-cut stencils. This mural depicts the Roman emperor Maxentius as seen in a 17th century work by Peter Paul Rubens – except instead of being defeated by Constantine, Maxentius is being defeated by whimsical colorful fruit. Price to purchase: $2,000.
HOODOOS
Hand-tinted cast resin, Corten steel. Price to purchase: $25,000.
Located on east side of Tejon between Boulder & Platte (315 N. Tejon St.)
Benefiel finds joy in studying and highlighting human gesture in her work, noting how body language bridges gaps in communication sometimes left open by spoken language, or generational and cultural differences. Light also is important to her, and in the past decade she has been fascinated by translucent resin’s ability to capture and hold light. Says Benefiel: “Recently, I’ve been exploring childhood memories of dramatic geological landscapes. Towering rock formations, sculpted by water and time, looked intriguingly human to my young eye, and now cast in resin appear to me as if they could be carved out of light itself.” Price to purchase: $25,000.
URBAN BIOSPHERE FRAGMENTED
Latex mural. Price to purchase: $10,000.
Located on east side of Tejon between Kiowa & Pikes Peak (south and east exterior walls of 19 N. Tejon St.)
Carlino, a painter and muralist, works with geometry and abstraction to explore contradicting relationships between natural and constructed forms. Says Carlino: “I abstract the pure essence and fundamental building blocks of nature, reconfigure and rebuild them into new constructed landscapes that are playful, bold and improvisational. I am interested in the human relationship to nature and the possibility it has to anchor us to place.” Price to purchase: $10,000.
JOHNNY STEGOSAURUS
Machine parts, blown glass. Price to purchase: $19,000.
Located on north side of Boulder between Tejon & Nevada (next to Wild Goose patio, 401 N. Tejon St.)
Lippart thrives on taking old machinery apart and finding a way to refabricate it in unique ways for his company, Brandt Metalworks. Says Lippart: “I have a wandering mind, so having a pile of used machine parts in front of me, with a few ideas turning into many ideas, is the perfect way to keep me happy. … In my spare time I can be found behind transmission and engine shops picking through used parts that were destined for the scrap yard. Every piece I pick has a history of its own, and I love to give it a new life. My goal is to find the most unusual parts in order to make my art as unique as the animals I’m portraying.” Price to purchase: $19,000.
TENDRIL
65mm round safety reflectors. Price to purchase: $5,000.
Located on north side of Colorado just east of junction with Pikes Peak (retaining wall across from Catalyst Campus, 555 E. Pikes Peak Ave.)
As a self-taught lighting artist, Long established an independent studio working with site-specific installations using light, which have garnered awards of excellence from international juried competitions. Tendril is a series of wall-mounted spiral configurations, inspired by the photogravures of Karl Blossfeldt, assembled with exterior-grade, center mount safety reflectors. In the evenings, headlights from passing vehicles reflect in a shimmering pattern, creating the illusion that the mural is moving. Price to purchase: $5,000.
BANANACAT
Vinyl mural. Price to purchase: $3,500.
Located on west side of Tejon between Pikes Peak & Colorado (south exterior wall of The Perk, 14 S. Tejon St.)
The basic concept for this mural comes from a place of light-hearted absurdity – a larger-than-life fuchsia cat overlaid with a pattern of falling bananas. Says Padilla: “My paintings depict humorous and contradictory scenarios. I use traditional oil painting techniques to explore the confluence of art history, pop aesthetics, and digital manipulation in contemporary visual culture.” Price to purchase: $3,500.
ORIGAMI URBAN OASIS
Vinyl mural. Price to purchase: $3,534.
Located on SW corner of Nevada & Kiowa (Transit Center, 127 E. Kiowa St.)
Pak’s works are based on the ancient Asian art of origami folding and – in certain cases – unfolding, involving real and mythical creatures, plants and flowers. With this work, Pak aims to create a contemplative, relaxed, restful atmosphere infused with nature’s quieting presence just like memories from youth of a peaceful lily pond being quietly fed by an underground spring. The idea takes a delightful twist as passersby begin to notice that this pond is inhabited by origami plants and creatures. Price to purchase: $3,534.
STELE AND OSTIUM
Mirror-polished stainless steel.
Price to purchase: $30,000.
Located on west side of Cascade between Colorado and Vermijo (grassy knoll between PPC and Sun Plaza)
The titles for the two complementary pieces are: Ostium roughly translating to “opening” and Stele “solid monument.” The mirrored surfaces reflect the surrounding environment while capturing the viewers themselves. The sculptures are physical objects that disappear into the environment, conceptually referencing time, space and presence. Working with light and mirror for over a decade, Parsons’ work often plays with time and perception, drawing on the idea of creating a piece that is physically there but perceptually not. The piece changes with the season and viewers. Parsons cites Robert Irwin in noting: “The intention of a phenomenal art is simply the gift of seeing a little more today than you did yesterday.” Price to purchase: $30,000.
ARTEMIS
Stained glass, fiberglass, epoxy. Price to purchase: $25,000.
Located at NW corner of Tejon & Moreno (outside Atomic Cowboy, 528 S. Tejon St.)
The inspiration for Artemis is the owl’s prevalence in today’s pop culture. Say the artists: “Owls seem to have burrowed themselves into many aspects of our lives – fashion, design, art, etc. These mysterious, nocturnal creatures have captivated the human mind. They are beautiful specimens, adorned in natural patterns of intricate feathers. But their striking, keen eyes may be what enthralls us the most and adds to their wise demeanor. They are enigmatic creatures of the night, and symbolically they are the keepers of sacred knowledge. They have sparked our curiosity and through it have found their way into our hearts. Every time we see an owl – a real one up in a tree or a man-made tribute – it is a treat.” Price to purchase: $25,000.
FIRE IN MY SOL
Mural. Price to purchase: $10,000.
Located on west side of Cascade between Kiowa & Pikes Peak (south retaining wall of surface parking lot @ Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave.)
Says Ramirez: “I create artwork that crosses borders and boundaries. … My more personal artwork is a contribution to the community: frequently a cultural icon that transcends rich, intersecting historical and popular culture references that speak to the complex diaspora of the United States. I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of how the visibility of culture can lead to not only the growth of confidence, but also care within our communities.” Price to purchase: $10,000.
VO
Marble powder, resin, microcontroller. Price to purchase: $4,000.
Located inside the lobby at Plaza of the Rockies, 111 S. Tejon Street.
Says Santos: “A large and strange fungus has been deposited here. It watches the Colorado state from it, as if borrowing the landscape for itself. Its name Vo means, in the language of the Kaingang Indians, ‘noise of walking in the woods, heart beating.’ It is here to dialogue with the city as much as to promote public dialogue with it. By taking the landscape as an element of its existence, Vo invites the public to establish possible links, observe similarities and dissonances with the street, making its relationship wider. The meaning of the title enhances this relationship. Colorado Springs offers beautiful trails, invites to the walk; it highlights the rustling of trees and visual textures made by the landscape sets to the scents that can only be found in such environments. Price to purchase: $4,000.
ISCARIOT
Encore from 2018-2019 exhibit - Salvaged steel. Price to purchase: $96,000.
Located on north side of Colorado Avenue between Interstate 25 & Sahwatch (roof of Traffic Management Center, 234 W. Colorado Ave.)
This piece is a realization of various recycled ferrous materials such as galvanized steel light poles, sprinkler piping, mechanical tubing, plate steel and electrical conduit. Her quasi-mermaid lines are both figurative and abstract, recognizable and alien, having suddenly found impetus to take flight from a perch and swoop gracefully from her recent stance. She is frozen in time just before reaching maximum speed on the upswing into thin air.
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