Michael Ensminger knows he is but one stray sneeze away from disaster. It would take just one careless door slam, one meandering 4-year-old, and his entire metropolis could come tumbling down.
His city is built from Lincoln Logs, tens of thousands of them crisscrossed into an urban landscape rising 14 feet into the air. Together they form “Tower of Babel,” an art installation at PlatteForum gallery in downtown Denver. There is no glue, no internal support, none of the engineering tricks that keep real cities standing.
As a work of art, it is spectacular to behold – at first sight, a grand chuckle and a nostalgic trip back into childhood.
But the longer the viewer stares, the more uneasy it all becomes. Notice how the buildings curve and sway just a little, feel the rumble of a freight train chugging along the railroad tracks just 10 feet outside the gallery’s window. Begin to realize what a fragile environment Ensminger has created.
And, of course, that’s how he wants it to unfold.
“I want to stir something up,” Ensminger says. He hopes visitors will find his towers fun, but not just fun.
“I want to evoke things. For some, those things will be positive, and for some, they will be creepy.”
Humor instilled
Had Ensminger used another form of masonry to create his 1,000-square-foot playland, say Legos with their interlocking pegs or Popsicle sticks cemented with Elmer’s, his structures would be sound. But the Lincoln Logs, connected only by their carved grooves, are central to his effort. That something so innocent and organic – toys made from wood – could be transformed into something so insecure – a precarious Gotham – underscores the dangers of the sprawling modern city as it swallows open space, crowds humans and pushes out wildlife to become an environmental threat of its own.
At least he has a sense of humor about it. There are plenty of in-jokes in this piece. Try to pick out Chicago’s giant Sears Tower, or New York’s Empire State Building or other well- known structures. They’re in there, but with a little Ensminger twist. You have to look closely.
Denverites will recognize references to their own city. What does that tall, skinny skyscraper with two green, curved roofs remind you of? Can you see your Highlands Ranch tract house over in the corner as downtown shifts into the ‘burbs?
It all gives a particular Western resonance to an artwork displayed in a state where the cabin built of logs is a status symbol. Is that little place you have out in the Rockies really so good for the environment? Ensminger will make you think about it at least.
Those in-jokes are the artist’s motif. He actually lives them. At 49, he is a slight man with a quiet voice. His hair is long and gray pulled into a ponytail. Safe to say he hasn’t shaved in years because his white beard flows a half-foot down from his chin. He looks like he should be pushing his worldly possessions around in a shopping cart.
But that is part of the joke as well. Actor, scriptwriter, performance artist, Ensminger has created the character of a homeless man that he uses in stage pieces performed from time to time around Denver. He is willing to look the part full time to make it work before audiences. His friends actually call him “Wolf.”
“Michael shows that an artist can create work out of just about anything,” says Judy Anderson, executive director of the PlatteForum, which mixes artists with local youths during six-week residencies. Teens helped Ensminger construct tract housing for this work.
“He’s using these everyday materials,” Anderson says, “but they’re loaded with significant social, political and cultural statements.”
A global filter
As a professional photographer who makes his living shooting everything from weddings to theater cast shots to more creative work, including intriguing self-portraits, in his Blake Street loft, he has developed a keen eye for the Western landscape and personality. It is filtered through his wider view of the world; he grew up in Germany, moved here 30 years ago and has been feeling out his own sense of belonging ever since.
And Lincoln Logs are a good medium through which to explore it. An early advertisement for the toy posted on the wall of the gallery touts: “Whoever knows the LOG CABIN knows the history and spirit of the American people.” That is especially true here, he believes, and that’s why he was driven to create “Tower of Babel.”
He spent three years collecting Lincoln Logs. It took hundreds of bids on the online auction site eBay and cost him thousands of dollars, a big expense for an artist who funds his own projects, for the most part. “I just kind of squeak by,” he says.
And it’s not the only risk. Starting tonight, the crowds begin a parade through his artwork that continues through June 2. Will it hold up to the human traffic or all come tumbling down? It could fall, but that just underscores Ensminger’s artistic point.
“I’m cool with that,” he says.
WHERE TO SEE IT
“Tower of Babel” opens with a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m. today and runs through June 2. PlatteForum is located at 1610 Little Raven St. in Denver. For more information, call 303-893- 0791 or visit platteforum.org.
