Bullet Proof Campus Art
Charles O. Perry
Steel, 1973
Gift of Gyo Obata and Cohen Construction
Artist Charles Perry is most recognized for his large-scale public sculpture. (His best-known work stands in front of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.). The artist’s reverence for natural materials was inspired during his architectural studies at Yale in the 1950s when the Chairman of the Art School, Joseph Albers, encouraged him to experiment with the “true nature” of materials.
Bulletproof illustrates how the relationship between the University and student body has evolved. In 1970, University of Denver students organized peaceful protests, fueled by the Vietnam War and the shootings at Kent State. They decided to take their protest to Carnegie Lawn (which would become the site of Penrose Library, now renamed Anderson Academic Commons). When library architect Gyo Obata commissioned this piece, University administrators insisted on something “bullet proof,” as they felt that students posed a risk to public artworks. In response, so Perry gave it its tongue-in-cheek title. The sculpture - an example of 1970s geometric abstraction - remains close to its original location near the entrance of the University’s library.
University of Denver Art Collections, 1973.004