For Lawrence Argent, art is a kind of spontaneous combustion. “Sometimes things happen that you didn’t think would happen, and allowing them to happen is what the creative process is all about,” he said during a break in the nonstop action that has been his life since his Big Blue Bear lumbered into town in 2005.
What’s happening this week is the arrival of 22,000 little Big Blue Bears from a factory in China, and just like the beguiling artwork outside the Denver Convention Center, the path from concept to reality was no walk in the woods.
As with so many gnarly projects, it began with lawyers.
When Argent received the commission from the city, he retained the copyright to the Big Blue Bear, whose actual title is “I See What You Mean.”
That meant he held the rights to any reproductions. Still, when he decided to produce the souvenir version, he needed another contract with the city.
Which took months.
Among the stipulations was that he attempt to manufacture the bears in a U.S. factory.
No problem, he thought.
He sent several manufacturing plants disclosure statements to be signed so that he could forward them the specifications for the bears without fear of anyone stealing the idea. As soon as they were returned, he figured he’d send the computer files and review bids. Nobody responded.
“They were already defeatist in their attitude about what another country could do,” said Argent. U.S. manufacturers knew they couldn’t compete with China.
In the meantime, Argent was trying to get prototypes. He ordered a small one from an American company, but it was delivered with an obvious flaw caused by a fault in the machine.
He had to start over. A Canadian company finally delivered two polyresin prototypes at a cost of $2,350. At last, he was making progress.
He flew to China to visit manufacturers, hired lawyers and translators to negotiate a contract, and after months of tedious, uninspiring work, the artist had his little Big Blue Bears in production.
“It was all a gamble,” he said of the two-year-long process to fabricate the little bears. And he wondered, “You know, is anybody going to buy these things?”
Then, beyond the money, the time and the headaches involved, Argent admitted to concerns about whether it was even right to reproduce his iconic artwork at all.
“I thought long and hard about it,” he said. “I thought, ‘Am I reducing the impact of my art because I’m making these little multiples like this?”‘
In his seminars with graduate students at the University of Denver he faced the question of whether he was selling out. He didn’t have an easy answer. One weekend, in the midst of all this soul-searching and second-guessing he took one of the prototypes to an art festival.
Young children would pick it up, he said, “and they’d say, ‘This is really cool. Where can I get one of these?”‘ It was all he needed.
Like the Big Blue Bear, the little guys are meant to evoke more than mere childlike affection, although that’s undeniably one response.
They’re meant to inspire inquisitiveness, to represent the sharing of knowledge that takes place in a city, to communicate a sense of Colorado as a place and an attitude and, through its abstract form, to share “the latest of the now,” said Argent.
“Since it is an exact replica from the same digital file, the bear has transferred itself to another art form.”
The little bears are souvenirs, sure, but he believes they have artistic integrity all their own. And if he can engage people intimidated by art in the world of creativity through a whimsical, quizzical, little blue bear that reminds them of an awesome encounter with the enormous original outside the convention center in Denver, Colorado, well hey, why not?
It’s not a bad deal for less than 20 bucks.
The ascendance of the bear to the status of Denver icon has “all been a happy accident,” said Argent, who finds the public’s reaction simply amazing.
“For this amount of people to experience something you’ve created is phenomenal,” he said.
“That’s the magic. I never thought it would be like this.”
The bears will be available soon at the Colorado Convention Center, the Denver Art Museum and other locations.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 303-954-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
