&quot;Wheels of Hope,&quot; a 25-by-80-foot rooftop sculpture created by tres birds workshop of Boulder, served as a beacon for the Manifest Hope Gallery.
"Wheels of Hope," a 25-by-80-foot rooftop sculpture created by tres birds workshop of Boulder, served as a beacon for the Manifest Hope Gallery. The work was assembled using 108 bike wheels. Also visible is Ron English's "Abraham Obama," a multicolored portrait series combining the faces of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln. (tres birds workshop )

Amid the flurry of politicking, partying and celebrity gawking that took place during the Democratic National Convention, many of the accompanying cultural offerings were easily overlooked.

That's too bad, especially when it came to the visual arts. There was a bevy of exhibits and events, and most of them were hip and sophisticated, giving Denver an unexpected New York vibe.

In the span of a week, an impressive parade of art world notables passed through the city, including Paul Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky; Ann Hamilton, who represented the United States at the 1999 Venice Biennale; and Shepard Fairey, a fast-rising Los Angeles artist and graphic designer.

Besides overseeing their own projects, they were on hand for many of their peers' events and related parties. Add in the involvement of Denver's own artistic community, and it was a lively, exciting time.

The main catalyst for this visual- art whirlwind was "Dialog:City," a nine-day series of site-specific events around the city sponsored by the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs and spearheaded by director and curator Seth Goldenberg.

Both should be commended. Some of the "Dialog:City" offerings were more successful than others, but, overall, it was a refreshingly ambitious, intelligently conceived undertaking, without any of the provincialism sometimes associated with non- coastal cities.

Make no mistake, Denver is getting noticed by the larger art world.


Indeed, certain insiders in places like New York might have a better handle on the dramatic changes sweeping the city's art scene than some members of the general public here.

The artists in town for the convention had many positive things to say about the city and the increasingly hospitable artistic environment here, and that word of mouth is important, as they convey their impressions to artists, curators and others across the country and beyond.

If there was a downside to all the artistic events during the convention, it was that too few local residents knew what was happening, and others probably stayed away because of fears about parking, protesters and traffic congestion.

That said, the convention, and the creative events surrounding it, have to be seen as another significant boon for Denver's art scene. Here's a look at some of the artistic highlights of the past 10 days:

Hippest art exhibition: Manifest Hope Gallery. This temporary space, which was split between the Andenken Gallery and a nearby warehouse on Larimer Street between 29th and 30th streets, brought a bit of Los Angeles to Denver for five days.

The 10,000-square-foot space, organized in conjunction with MoveOn .org, displayed pro-Barack Obama works by 125 local and national participants, from blue-chip graphic designers to tattoo, graffiti and skateboard artists and members of the once-underground California scene championed by Juxtapoz magazine and others.

Among them were David Choe, a multifaceted Los Angeles artist who started in the world of graphic novels and has become something of a fine-art sensation, and Ron English, whose "Abraham Obama" series, a fusion of Obama and Lincoln's faces, was a big hit.

Most entrepreneurial gallery: Boom. Instead of trying to get conventioneers to come to a gallery with their work, Lauri Lynxxe Murphy and 11 other local artists decided to take the gallery to potential viewers. They rented a 26-foot panel truck and converted it into a surprisingly accommodating itinerant space, complete with white walls and track lighting. It was parked at events all during the DNC.

Most iconic artist: Shepard Fairey. His stylized, red, white and blue portrait of Obama became a ubiquitous presence during the convention. Permutations of it were reproduced on T-shirts, posters and buttons, and 5280 magazine featured a version of it on its cover.

Most powerful political statement: Krzysztof Wodiczko's "Veteran Vehicle Project." Drawing on interviews with area homeless veterans, this outdoor installation consisted of texts projected onto the sides of buildings with an accompanying soundtrack. The inventive packaging of the humorous, poignant and almost always wise comments of these veterans proved to be a moving critique of America's health care system.

Most potent symbol: Robert Indiana's "Hope." Indiana created one of the best-known images of the late 20th century, with his pop rendering of the word "Love." His new variation on the piece, using the word "Hope," is hardly original at this point, but it nonetheless speaks effectively to this time. Transformed into a 6-foot-square, stainless-steel sculpture, it was shown at the entrance of the Pepsi Center during the DNC.

Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com