DENVER | Denver artist Thomas “Detour” Evans has planted his artistic footprint all over the metro area, including Aurora.
Recently, his work creating the mural at the Arvada Center’s main gallery for all visitors to see and then displaying the finished product drew rave reviews from the Center’s visitors, said Collin Parson, Director of Galleries and Curator.
“Our visitors loved it,” Parson said via email. “It was an interactive piece that took the art of murals to the next level. Detour is an innovative artist who a few years ago was considered a “muralist” but not as “an artist” who happens to also make murals.”
“I’m proud of him and think he represents the quality and creativity of Colorado arts,” Parson said.
Evans became a household name in Aurora first after creating a mural portrait of Elijah McClain in Denver’s RiNo district. McClain became a national cause for police reform after dying at the hands of Aurora police and rescuers in 2019.
Evans also raised his brand in the center of Aurora by creating a multi-mural project near Aurora City hall at the Parkside apartment and restaurant complex, renamed Stella on the Park.
Evans could not be reached for comment for this story.
Described as a painter, muralist and installation artist, Evans served as a Creative in Residence at the Denver Art Museum in the fall of 2017, exploring work that encourages a mixture of traditional art and interactive paintings. He has gained state and national fame for his mural and print creations that celebrate African American history as well as musical, civil rights and sports icons.
What may be Evans’ most acclaimed piece was recently unveiled before international travelers that streamed though Denver International Airport.
The airport introduced Evans’ sculpture “It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back” in its permanent public art collection in January in the Concourse B expansion area.
“DEN’s participation in the City’s 1% for Public Art program is a point of pride for the airport. Many of the works in our permanent collection loom large in the memories and imaginations of our millions of annual visitors. Thomas Evans’ work, “It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back,” will soon become an iconic fixture of the world’s sixth busiest airport, welcoming or bidding farewell to our passengers,” airport CEO Phil Washington said in a news release. “I am so pleased to welcome Evans’ unique and vibrant sculpture to DEN.”
“It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back” was inspired by the idea that life is always in perpetual motion and it’s our luggage that carries the items we hold dear. It was selected by a panel of community representatives, arts and culture professionals, and civic leaders in 2022, the news release states.
“I was super ecstatic to be selected to be a part of the process of adding art to such a vibrant place where millions of travelers pass through during their journey in life,” Detour said in the news release.
File Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
The artwork, located on Concourse B East near gate B60, is 26 feet long by 12 feet wide by 8 feet high and suspended from the concourse ceiling. To help build the sculpture, Evans put a call out to the public for personal luggage that had a story behind it. That resulted in 183 donated bags that were incorporated into the final design, including pieces from Cleo Parker Robinson, Ed Dwight, a flight attendant of 33 years, three DIA employees, as well as from folks with Denver’s five professional sports teams.
Evans said on his webpage that the exhibit showcases the frenzied nature of modern life. “The goal is to symbolize the 24/7 nature of both the airport and the journey of life, as well as memorialize the stories and experiences you gain when you travel,” Evans said.
Evans said that his fabricators, Demiurge, built a steel armature in six different sections that will serve as the backbone of the sculpture. Each piece of luggage will have its own plate extension that will be welded onto the armature.
For more information about the backstories of the donated bags and their donors, go to the airport’s arts page which opened for views this month. A time-lapse video of the installation can be found there as well.
The news release points out that the City’s 1% for Public Art Ordinance directs that 1% of any capital improvement project over $1 million undertaken by the city be set aside for the inclusion of art. At DIA, funds are set aside and then site-specific large-scale public art opportunities across the campus are identified. For this specific project, funding was designated by the Gate Expansion Program’s construction budget. No taxpayer dollars are used for any artwork at DIA.
Evans also explores ethnic identities through his African art display “They Still Live,” which mixes photography, DNA mapping and African objects, according to the Huffington Post. His prints celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., the music icon Prince and soccer legend Pele.
Evans also honored the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets with a mural planted on the side of the building at 1919 E. Colfax Ave. Evans said he only created the mural to replace another that was in disrepair. However, “this mural evolved to be a beacon for the community because of the awesome year that the Denver Nuggets had,” Evans wrote on his webpage. .
The mural got statewide and national attention and was featured in The New York Times, the Athletic, the NBA’s social media accounts and several other media outlets, Evans said.
Evans drew plenty of local acclaim for his work at the Arvada Center. Evans used sound and interaction to draw patrons into his brightly colored creation at the Arvada Center’s main gallery, said the Arvada Center’s Parson.
Evans was part of a temporary exhibition titled “In Sight On Site: Murals,” Parson said. Working on the site at the Arvada Center as artist schedules allowed, visitors were able to see murals develop over a weekend, a week or even a month, he said. Evans contributed to a temporary exhibit at the Center so it was only displayed for a few months.
“Detour and artists like him use exhibitions like this to test ideas and concepts that otherwise might just be experiments in their studios,” Parson said.
He said that he donated a bag to the DIA exhibit, at Evans’ request. Parson said he was caught off guard by the request but suddenly remembered that his four-year-old daughter, Cora, had left her Kitty Cat purse in the back seat of Parson’s car. “I knew she’d be momentarily upset, but I also believed she’d understand its significance when she was older,” he said.
“So I took the risk,” Parson said. “So far, it’s paid off. She’s forgotten all about the purse, and I can’t wait to take her to see her small but meaningful mark in Denver’s art history.”
 This story was made available via the Colorado News Collaborative.