Courtesy of Kyle Banister

One-eyed Zamboni cleans up 17th Avenue.

At a preview yesterday for the upcoming Denver Chalk Art Festival, artist Kyle Banister got a reminder of what it means to be a chalk artist. At ten years, the festival may be long-lived -- but the art it celebrates is ephemeral. Banister's piece, which he worked on with Southwest Airlines employees and students from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, took four hours to complete.

Ten minutes after it was done, it was gone. Erased by the city's "cyclops Zamboni."

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While it often gets overshadowed by the music scene, Denver actually has a rich history of underground literature. From the Kerouac-inspired bohemian coffee and bookshops of 1960s Colfax to the Yellow Rake readings at Old Curtis Street Tavern, our city has been spawning independent works of fiction and poetry for decades. And there are few locals today more closely associated with DIY publishing than Charly "The City Mouse" Fasano. Whether hustling his books of poetry or impressively crafted audio-books, or giving one of his now iconic readings (he once opened a sold-out show at the Gothic -- an audience size almost unheard of for a live poet), Fasano has rooted himself in this city, becoming as much a part of the creative fabric as home-brew or cutesy indie-folk bands.

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Laura Easley

Beauty or bust?

On Friday a new piece of public art, Kevin Curry's "Face the Sun," was installed at Tennyson Street and 41st Avenue. The piece was part of the 2007 Better Bond Project that paid for the finally-finished street improvements along Tennyson.

The piece is embossed with the words "Face the sun and the shadows fall behind you." Is the piece a welcome addition to Tennyson? Play the art critic and post your thoughts in the comment section below Laura Easley's shots of the unveiling on Friday night:

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If you haven't been down to Santa Fe in a while for First Friday, you can see what you've been missing through these photos shot by Laura Easley for Westword. This month's art walk included more than a few nods to Star Wars ("May the 4th be with you" and all that) and the Kentucky Derby, as well as a gentleman on a lowrider bicycle -- who we also spotted on Saturday at the Cinco de Mayo party -- and what appeared to be Uncle Sam playing a tuba.

With sights like this, why weren't you on Santa Fe last Friday?

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The South Pearl Street boutique 5 Green Boxes, the recipient of Westword Best of Denver kudos for its wonderful window displays, has long carried the socially conscious brand Toms Shoes, the comfy cloth footwear that comes in a rainbow of colors and designs. And there's an inner beauty to Toms, too: Every pair of shoes you buy subsidizes a donated pair for a child in need in a developing country.

All photos courtesy of 5 Green Boxes.

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Earlier this week, a creative art bomber added a bit of bathroom humor to the iconic Big Blue Bear sculpture that stands outside the Colorado Convention Center. And like most unsanctioned art -- remember the ball and chain? -- it was quickly removed.

But not forgotten. "We still have it, and it's taking up a lot of space; it's about two-and-a- half-feet tall," Brian Kitts, spokesman for the city's Arts & Venues department, says of the the blue papier mache poop. "He is not your average bear and this was not your average pile of poo. Someone knew what they were doing."

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Artists, it's always a good idea to sign your work -- and in this day and age, when you can include a website on the piece, all the better. Case in point: a square-foot piece of art we found on a busy Denver street this past weekend. It was only because the artist had thoughtfully included a link to his Etsy site, which in turn provided his phone number, that we were able to track him down and attempt to solve the mystery of what this bad-ass piece of art was doing leaning against an electrical box outside of a popular restaurant.

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See the full image below.

If you're on a bike ride on the South Platte trail and you see the below wheat paste, what do you do? Naturally, you post that on reddit. Found by reddit user missjenviolin, it can be seen on the "South Platte trail near Mile High and Elitch's. There is a side street that goes under I-25 and this was on the pillar along with a bunch of other scripture."

The wheat paste is the now sort-of iconic image of Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow doing this religious kneeling gesture that TV cameras zoom in on like flies to honey. Next to the image is a sheet of paper plastered on the wall that reads: "Dear Lord. How many hail mary's [sic] can a Virgin throw? TEBOW 1:11"

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Some acts of art vandalism are clearly inspired by outrage. Take, for example, El Dildo Bandito, the nom de guerre of a man who stole 22 ceramic penises from an art display in Boulder. Others are inspired by drunkenness, as may have been the case with Carmen Tisch, charged with scratching and hitting a $30 million painting at the new Clyfford Still Museum before urinating on the floor.

Still other art vandalism seems to be born of whimsy and a love of pranks. Here, we present four acts of art-vandalism-as-art.

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Longmont street artist Gamma Acosta finishing up a commissioned mural.

The last time we talked to Longmont artist Gamma Acosta, he quietly reminded us that there's redemption in street art, and many of the kids who come out of the tagging culture, spray cans in hand, have talent that can raise them above the low-rent materials of the street.
That was seven years ago, when Gamma was helping create a mural for a new teen dance club sponsored by Longmont Youth Services. These days, he works hard at painting one commissioned mural after another, at schools, restaurants, head shops, motorcycle dealerships, movie theaters and any other business willing to offer him a wall to claim as his own. It's honest and steady work, and he's proud of the results. More >>