A worker installs glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly at the Denver Botanic Gardens on June 3. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)
Re: “Denver’s 10 biggest moments in 2014, culturally speaking,” Dec. 21 Arts & Culture feature.
I thought that fine arts critic Ray Mark Rinaldi couldn’t get any snarkier than he was in his first review of “Chihuly in the Garden,” but I was wrong. In his review of Denver art in 2014, he actually managed to double down on his snark regarding Dale Chihuly’s glass exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
It was clear in Rinaldi’s first review that he didn’t care for Chihuly’s glass creations, calling them “lawn ornaments.” Faced with apparently universal disagreement and record-breaking attendance, Rinaldi felt compelled to include the show in his year-end review of art last Sunday. But now Chihuly’s work had become “glass geegaws taking over the garden.” Which is worse: “lawn ornaments” or “glass geegaws”?
Rinaldi saves his worst snarkiness for all the people who had the bad taste to actually like the Chihuly exhibition. Admitting that he was the only person in Colorado who didn’t like it, he added, “I dunno, maybe I was wrong and you were right … not.”
Is Ray Mark Rinaldi the only person in Colorado to have “true” artistic taste?
I dunno … not.
Steve Cohen, Littleton
This letter was published in the Dec. 28 edition.
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