Lao-Tzu, a colorful Alexander Calder-like sculpture is located in the middle of the Acoma Plaza of the Arts, between the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Public Library. Designed by Mark di Suvero, it is probably one of the most viewed sculpture in the complex. The creative arrangement of I-Beams and sheet metal arches was first assembled in the artist’s long Island City studio. After the Denver Art Museum purchased the piece in 1995, the sculpture was disassembled, and each piece painted a bright “carnival orange” to contrast with Denver’s blue sky, then reassembled on location over a three-day period. Di Suvero names all his works after musicians, poets, artists or good friends. Lao-Tzu takes its name for the Chinese philosopher-poet who founded Taoism in the sixth century B.C. Like the Taoist yin-yang, Lao-Tzu suggests a union of opposites, of forms and voids.

I’d never send a child to school without a name

Mark di Suvero