Live & Local: Detour's new installation at the Denver International Airport
DENVER, Colo. — Thomas Evans, a.k.a. Detour, is an all-around creative specializing in large scale public art, interactive visuals, portraiture, immersive spaces, and creative directing. His public artwork can be found not only in Colorado , like his painting honoring Charles Mingus in Aspen, CO or his Five Points Mural in the heart of Denver, but around the world too, in places like Tanzania, China, France, and several other cities across the US.
His latest piece “It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back" is set to unveil in Denver International Airport’s Concourse B-East expansion site January 2025. Over 200 pieces of luggage were donated by over 100 different entities and individuals throughout Colorado, each with a unique back-story meant to celebrate the diverse community present in Colorado. Using these pieces of luggage, each painted and preserved, he crafted an infinity shape to capture the perpetual motion of life. This 30 ft long x 20 ft wide x 10 ft high sculpture will suspend from the concourse ceiling, welcoming and bidding farewell to passengers passing through the DEN.
For this week's edition of Live & Local, The Morning Set's Abi Clark took a trip out to Detour's studio, a workbench of companion pieces for his latest installation as well as other projects in the works. Lining the walls were a limited set of collectable shadow boxes showcasing miniatures of the luggage present in his much larger installation. He was also working on placing the paint cans used to convey the Colorado sunrise and sunset painted upon the pieces of luggage in his sculpture into shadow boxes as keepsakes, further connecting the community in this experience. There, Abi caught up with Detour about his latest sculpture inspired by Colorado stories and travel incorporating donated upcycled luggage. A portion of this interview aired on The Morning Set 01/16/25.
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