douglas Kornfeld
"Meeting Of Minds" - 2005
Materials: Steel and perforated steel - 16' x 29' x 18'
Location: City Park, Denver, CO.
Commissioning Agency: Denver Office of Cultural Affairs.
Recognition: Americans for the Arts National Award (2005)
"Meeting of Minds" was commissioned by the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs and installed in 2005 adjacent to City Park Golf Course in Denver, Colorado. Constructed from steel and perforated steel, the sculpture stands 16 feet tall, spans 29 feet wide, and extends 18 feet deep. That same year, it received a national award from Americans for the Arts, which recognized it as: “one of the most compelling and innovative public artworks in the United States”.
(Click on the thumbnails below to see an enlarged version on the right.)
The sculpture features two monumental heads in profile. One stands upright and portrays an African American profile gazing toward North Denver, a historically African American neighborhood. Within her head is an oval that, from a distance, resembles a brain. Upon closer examination, the space is filled with a chaotic constellation of stylized human figures—loosely inspired by familiar male and female symbols. However, these figures differ in shape, size, and proportion: tall, short, slender, muscular, some with disproportionate heads, symbolizing a diversity of thought and identity. This complexity reflects and celebrates the richness and variety within the surrounding community.
Together, the two heads symbolize a cultural transformation. They reference the long-overdue shift in thinking that finally allowed African Americans to access and play the golf course situated within their own neighborhood!
