The Colorado

Jim Campbell employs computer technology to create works of art that illuminate ideas about memory, perception, and the passage of time.  For his commission at the courthouse in Denver, he also revolutionizes conventional modes of architectural decoration by synthesizing traditional and contemporary visual language.  Whereas artists of earlier eras had to rely on composition and figure postures to imply movement in classical friezes and pediment sculptures, Campbell's images are truly kinetic.  His electronic medium also draws from vernacular imagery of the contemporary urban landscape, such as advertisement billboards, theater marquees, and sports stadium scoreboards. 

"The Colorado," a three-panel LED companion piece to "Broken Wall," is located in the building's lobby.  In three successive images, Campbell shows the whitewater rapids of the river, which appear to flow from  panel to panel.