NEWS & PUBLICATIONS

Scupture + Public Architecture - Artist Lawrence Argent paints and works in photo-based imagery, but he is known primarily for his provocative sculptures and installations around the world.

Fentress Architects Book

Art remains fixture in public spaces

"But some critics object to the price, or just the piece" - by Maria Recio

Chicago Tribune, August 11 2011

Public art projects face budget woes, some controversy

"Alexandria, VA. -- Maybe it was the fairy. Or it may have been the toad. But the combination of a fairy riding a toad..."

The BellingHam Herald - Aug 01, 2011

"I see what you mean"

"Lawrence Argent was born in England and trained in sculpture ath the Royal Melbourne Institute of Techonology, Australia and has an MFA..."

ART-1026

The Rabbit Takes Flight

The big red rabbit is in town, and it's an eyeful. After months of assembly, the 56-foot-olong aluminum sculpture called "Leap" now hangs in its spot at the Center of Sacramento International Airport's new Terminal.

The Sacramento Bee - Sept 10, 2011 - Page 1 (pdf)
The Sacramento Bee - Sept 10, 2011 - Page 2 (pdf)

Rabbit Sculpture Plan Has Some Hopping Mad

The county's approval this week of a prominent, red rabbit sculpture for the new Sacramento airport terminal sparked consternation, some chuckles, and plenty of questions among Bee readers.

The Sacramento Bee - Oct 31, 2008 - Page 1 (pdf)
The Sacramento Bee - Oct 31, 2008 - Page 2 (pdf)

Big Red Rabbit Could Brighten Up Terminal

Public art lovers and critics alike are about to see red at the airport - big time. Designs for a massive leaping red rabbit will be presented this week for approval as the centerpiece art in Sacramento International Airport's new terminal...

The Sacramento Bee - Oct 27, 2008 - Page 1 (pdf)
The Sacramento Bee - Oct 27, 2008 - Page 2 (pdf)

Denver's Unconventional Art, Ready for the Convention

Lawrence Argent's "I See What You Mean," at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The city is showcasing its growing art scene to visitors at the Democratic National Convention.

NY Times - Aug 20, 2008 - Page 1 (pdf)
NY Times - Aug 20, 2008 - Page 1 (pdf)

Lawrence Argent and Scott Rella

Lawrence Argent and Scott Rella's Verdant Meadows, a first-time collaboration between the two artists, brings humor and magic to winter in Vail.

Sculpture Magazine - April 2008 (pdf)

The Washington Times

Appropriately named "I See What You Mean,"the bear stands on its hind legs in the grass along 14th Street, leaning forward and seeming to press its forepaws and snout against the glasswalled Colorado Convention Center like a curious, if fantastically overgrown, child striving for a better view inside...

Washington Times - May, 2008 (pdf)

Frozen Works of Art Light up Vail

Seventeen giant blades of grass dot the landscape along Gore Creek in Vail. Each blade, sculpted from a series of 300-pound blocks of ice, is between 10 and 15 feet high.

The Vail Daily - Jan 12, 2008 Page 1 (pdf)
The Vail Daily - Jan 12, 2008 Page 2 (pdf)

Ghost Trolley

"Ghost Trolley" is smart as well as accessible, a difficult pair of attributes for any artist to juggle but exactly what's called for in a public sculpture - something Argent apparently understands.

Westword - July 12, 2007 (pdf)

DU sculptor brings past to life with 'Ghost Trolley'

Besides bringing a piece of the past to life, Argent says he "wanted to play creatively and affect the visual language." He did so by designing the sculpture to look . for a moment when traveling either east or west . like a full sized trolley car.

DU Today - June 29, 2007(pdf)

Ghost of Aurora's past may star in revival

Motorists on East Colfax Avenue may find themselves doing a double take next year, swearing they'd seen a trolley car in the median.

Denver Post - July 12, 2006(pdf)

A Tale of an Artist and a Big Blue Bear

A mention of the monumental sculpture at 14th Street and Speer Boulevard in Denver is likely to elicit the response: "I love that bear!" The sculpture in question is DU Associate Professo Lawrence Argent's...

University of Denver Magazine - Spring 2006 (pdf)

Portrait of the Artist as a Blue Bear

Despite his critical and professional success in America, part of Argent is still a foreigner, which might explain the genesis of some of the ideas in his latest work. Argent's four-storey high, blue bear sculpture, I See What You Mean, is also an outsider looking in. Argent chose his bear as a symbol of the Rocky Mountain region, but positioned it to look into the glass façade of the recently expanded Denver Convention Center to reference the curiosity that locals may experience, if they should wonder just what visitors are getting up to inside. In another distortion of tradition, this piece appears to look at people, rather than people looking at the art.

Australian Art Review - November 2005 (pdf)

Look out!

Lawrence Argent creates benches that talk, grass that is forever green,and pillows out of stone. An artist who finds the edge in even the most universal of objects, Argent has created large-scale approximations of testicles out of street-sweeping brushes and eerie suitcases out of glass...

Rocky Mountain News - July 11, 2005 (pdf)

The artist beneath it all

For most of his dozen years in Denver, Lawrence Argent lived a relatively low key artist's life...

Denver Post - July 21, 2005 (pdf)

Lawrence Argent strikes the right note with "I See What You Mean."

You can't miss one of downtown's newest public sculptures: It's blue, it's gigantic and it's a bear. "I See What You Mean," created by well-known Denver artist Lawrence Argent, is part of the multi-million-dollar art program associated with the expansion of the Colorado Convention Center...

Westword - July 7, 2005 (pdf)

The Digital Stone Project

Lawrence Argent included mouths scanned from life models and made huge in Whispers
(2001)...

Sculpture - September 2005 (pdf)
Digital Stone Project

Lawrence Argent gives Denver a new mascot

To Argent, as to many, the Convention Center was mysterious. Passing it on Speer he often thought, "What's going on in there?" That curiosity, what Argent describes as "that inquisitive component," planted the seed for multifarious questions...

Exposure Magazine - July 2005 (pdf)

Composite Sculpture bears a Second Look

On June 23, composite sculpture was big news in Denver...in moreways then one...

Composites Technology - August 2005 (pdf)

Dozens of exhibits extend into January

Perhaps most surprising is work by Lawrence Argent, known for sculpture and installations that feature impeccable craftsmanship and a subtext that borders on subversion...

Rocky Mountain News - October 1, 2004 (pdf)

Superlight, Superstrong, and Superlarge

Perhaps that's why the Melbourne-bred artist Lawrence Argent...worked with FRPs to produce a 40-foot-tall blue bear...

Architecture Magazine - September, 2004 (pdf)

Bear sculpture to peer into convention center

As construction of the Colorado Convention Center expansion enters its final stages, plans are underway to install a 40- foot-tall, 10,000-pound, lapis blue bear that will peer into the windows above a main entrance along 14th Street...

Denver Post - June 17, 2004 (pdf)