The Intersection of Art and Politics at the DNC

Though not by design, three of the four DNC parties I attended last night had an art theme–one of which has an ongoing public component. I started the day with an excellent brunch at Table 6, which went a long way toward cleansing my palate and spirit after the previous evening’s unspeakable corn-dog orgy. (The less said the better, but was this really the best way to introduce Denver to 15,000 media folk?) Before Sunday night was done, I checked in at the dueling lawyer-lobbyist parties thrown by Kamlet Shepherd & Reichert at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck at the Denver Art Museum. Both featured the requisite power players (between the two, I spotted Governor Bill Ritter, former Governor Bill Owens, Senator Ken Salazar, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and California Representative Henry Waxman) but neither used art as anything more than a backdrop. In fact, the only dignitary I saw at either party who was actually checking out the venue’s offerings was Waxman at the Denver Art Museum.

Real art lovers were in plentiful supply, however, at Andenken Gallery, where the Shepard Fairey-led Manifest Hope exhibit kicked off with a press preview. By all means check this one out while you can. It’s bursting with passion, energy, and, yes, hope. My snapshots hardly do it justice.