For those of us who have loved midcentury modern ever since we were born in that era, this weekend’s Denver Modernism Show is like honey to a bee.
No more do we have to travel to New York, Los Angeles, Palm Springs or Miami to get our pop art fix or salivate over streamlined furniture, way-cool cocktail shakers and groovy Lucite lamps.
Because Denver is finally joining the modernism big boys, and to that we say: “Groovy, baby! It’s about time!”
Denver has always been a modern city. Kind of. It has always been a place that attracts young, hip, educated people. But its current love affair with modernism – as a design statement – was born 25 years ago, shortly after Popular Culture, the granddaddy of Colorado’s modernist retailers, first opened its doors one block from where the store currently stands at 1150 S. Broadway. (It wasn’t the only modernist store at the time, but it is the only one that’s still around.)
Then, too, pop culture helped drive the public’s appetite for and acceptance of modernism.
“Our business spiked when the TV show ‘Miami Vice’ debuted in the 1980s,” says Robert Delaney, co-owner of Popular Culture. “The art deco sets sparked an interest in pieces from that era. When they became harder to find – and too expensive – customers sought furniture from the 1950s because it was an affordable alternative.”
Delaney’s customer base back then was primarily people involved in the local arts scene. Not so anymore. Today’s modernist customers range from college kids who want to furnish their “cribs” with funky but cheap pieces, to empty-nesters who grew up with streamlined furniture and can afford to buy the high-end remakes.
For the past several years, the media have continued to advance the trend. “So many commercials today have modernist homes or modernist furniture in the background,” says Erick Roorda, co-owner of Mod Livin’. “It sends a subliminal message about what’s cool.”
There are more local influences, too, not the least of which is a thriving arts community supported by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
“Denver is reaching a critical mass in its involvement in the arts,” says Peter Illig, a local artist represented by Plus Gallery in LoDo whose work will be on display at the Denver Modernism Show. “Besides what’s happening with our museums, we have several good co-op galleries which are vital to new works of art.”
He also notes a marked difference in the quality of students coming out of the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.
“These students are taught by a wonderful faculty of working artists, most of whom have been educated in the modernist tradition,” Illig says. The students possess a strong understanding of the relationship between form and function, which is a critical component of modernist thought. Among these budding artists may just be the next Charles or Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen or Harry Bertoia, designing furniture and accessories that shape our daily life.
In fact, the Denver Modernism Show was born of a series of events that, in religious terms, would be labeled a harmonious convergence.
“Denver’s modern art and design scene is exploding right now,” says show organizer Dana Cain, a midcentury modern aficionado and former organizer of Baby Boomerama, a popular toy fair. “We have the new Daniel Libeskind-
designed addition to the Denver Art Museum, we’re getting the Clyfford Still Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art is expanding on a new site.”
Works by the Italian-born architect Gio Ponti were key to the modernism movement. Ponti designed the current Denver Art Museum building, completed in 1971, and inspired Libeskind to create a like-minded annex. Still, too, is pivotal to the post-World War II American aesthetic because of his prolific abstract-expressionist paintings.
Need more proof that Denver is ready to embrace modernism? There’s the Colorado Modernism exhibit at Foothills Art Center, running through Sept. 3, and, of course, the ongoing success of modernist retailers like Mod Livin’, Zeitgeist, One Home and Popular Culture – all of which have loyal fans who are increasingly conversant in modern design.
What’s more, there’s no dearth of authentic midcentury pieces to be uncovered right here in Colorado.
“I never have to go out of state to find this stuff,” Cain says. “There are homes from the ’50s and ’60s, owned for the last 40 to 50 years by older people who are now ready to move to retirement communities. In many cases, all the original furniture is still intact.”
