Colorado Crush

This weekend, the Crush happened in Denver.  This is the largest independent street art festival in Colorado and has been going on since 2009.  My art gallery/studio is in this art district so I couldn't resist scootering around today to see all the new art.  And it was everywhere!  

I have been loving watching RiNo evolve over the past 8 years and one of the trends I've seen is the evolution of the street art from graffiti to fine art, as shown in the image above.  

One of the most interesting aspects of this festival is the transient nature of it all.  Murals are painted on walls of buildings that are slated for demolition (there are a lot of those in RiNo!)  And the alleys, where Crush started and flourishes every year, are painted with a fresh coat of white before each event, giving the artist a clean substrate but erasing the art from the previous year.

​Makes me think about my own art.  I want to create something that would live on, beyond my life, to connect with people I will never meet.  That's why I love seeing my work in public places.  But perhaps, almost all art is transient unless purchased and preserved in museums.  But even there, it can be stored in vaults, never to be seen again.

Seeing this event reinforces my belief that it is the process, rather than the outcome, that's important in making art.