April 21st, 2007
Vail Daily News
On the hunt for contemporary art
Caramie Schnell
"RADAR" - works from thr Kent and Vicki Logan collection at the Denver Art Museum
During the tour, curator Blake Milteer stopped the group in front of German artist Gottfried Helnwein’s “Epiphany” (“Adoration of the Magi”). In the large-scale piece that resembles a documentary black and white photograph, a Madonnaesque mother displays her baby to attentive Nazi officers. The baby’s likeness to Hitler is uncanny. Despite, or perhaps because of the distinctly sinister overtones in the piece, it’s easy to be drawn in by the piece. “Helnwein, characteristically, presents us with an ambiguous, haunting image and leaves us to wonder about its meaning ... ”

If you’re having trouble getting your fill of contemporary art in Eagle County, head east. With Denver only 100 miles away, a contemporary art tour can be accomplished in a single day (and there’s plenty to keep you busy if you want to stay longer). Early April, nearly 30 people joined the Vail Symposium for a Denver art trip. Though the tour gave participants access to curators, directors and private collectors, it’s possible to do a contemporary art tour of your own, sans big wigs. And a good place to start is the Denver Art Museum’s new Hamilton Building, which opened in October.

Looking three stories down, to the entryway of the Hamilton Building, vertigo quickly takes hold. Dramatically sloping walls rim the 120-foot-high El Pomar Grand Atrium. The sharp, abnormal angles are hard for a mind accustomed to 90-degree walls. The opening of the Hamilton Building nearly doubled the Denver Art Museum galleries.

Renowned contemporary art collecters and Vail residents Kent and Vicki Logan donated art, cash and land to the Denver Art Museum worth approximately $60 million. The opening exhibit in the Anschutz Gallery, called “RADAR,” is filled with selections from the Logan’s collection. Twenty-eight terra cotta colored bodies sit in the Lotus position, hands folded on their laps, greet visitors to the “RADAR” exhibit. A hodge-podge collection of heads — from animated characters like Ken and Tinkerbell — hang from barely visible strings attached to the ceiling. At first people pause at the sight of the visually arresting bodies. Once they process the sight, they move forward for a closer look at the heads, chuckling as they recognize childhood friends.

The exhibit, on view through July 15, signals the museums renewed commitment to featuring current art and celebrates the Logan’s personal vision. “‘RADAR’ ... highlights their uncanny ability to detect — as if by radar — what’s happening right now in art all over the world,” the press release reads.

“Zeroing in on the most interesting and significant artistic impulses of the last 12 years, the Logans have created a cohesive, uniquely personal, and original collection based on their beliefs about art: Art must reflect the social or cultural events of the time but also be visually arresting and contain powerful, engaging imagery.”During the tour, curator Blake Milteer stopped the group in front of German artist Gottfried Helnwein’s “Epiphany” (“Adoration of the Magi”). In the large-scale piece that resembles a documentary black and white photograph, a Madonnaesque mother displays her baby to attentive Nazi officers. The baby’s likeness to Hitler is uncanny. Despite, or perhaps because of the distinctly sinister overtones in the piece, it’s easy to be drawn in by the piece.

“Helnwein, characteristically, presents us with an ambiguous, haunting image and leaves us to wonder about its meaning ... ” reads the exhibition catalogue.

The Denver Art Museum
at the 'Radar' exhibition, Denver Art Museum

RADAR

Gottfried Helnwein : Epiphany I (Adoration of the Magi)The Denver Art MuseumRADAR - 07. October 2006 - 15. July 2007Kent and Vicki Logan donated over 200 artworks to the Denver Art Museum's Modern and Cpontemporary Art department.

RADAR - Helnwein at the Denver Art Museum
Gottfried Helnwein's Epiphany (Adoration of the Magi) is a strange takeoff on a traditional New Testament theme in art. The work depicts a Madonnalike mother displaying her baby to attentive Nazi officers, Painted in hyperrealist grisaille with chiaroscuro effects, the work resembles an old documentary photograph made huge. The eerie, sinister overtones are unmistakable. Who is this mother? What do these officers want with her and her child? What kind of official paper might the officer on the left hold in his hand and what might be its result? Helnwein, characteristically, presents us with an ambiguous, haunting image and leaves us to wonder about its meaning...
With its huge size, hyperrealist style, and disturbing content, this unsettling work bestows a psychological anxiety accompanied by a strong magnetic pull. Confronting it, we tend to stare-entranced by both its beauty and its seductive, malevolent overtones.