Menacing mustang sculpture towers over Denver airport

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At first look, the 32-foot mustang sculpture overtaking the Denver skies looks like a beast from the book of Revelation. With its callous blue skin and fiery red eyes, bucking into the heavens, “Mustang” is as iconic as it is ominous, screaming into the night as planes roar by its permanent perch outside Denver International Airport.

The sculpture, created by New Mexico artist Luis Jimenez, was commissioned by the city of Denver in 1992 at the cost of $300,000. After years of delay and contention, the airport finally wrangled the sculpture, which now sits on the access road to the main terminal.

Jimenez died in 2006 when a portion of the sculpture dropped from a hoist and pinned him against a steel support beam. He was 65.

If you get a chance to see this marvel of a mustang in person, whatever you do, don’t look it in the eyes.

-- Graham McCann

DenverArts.org