On your right, look for a GIANT faceted blue bear reared up on its hind legs, with its paws pressed to the Colorado Convention Center’s glass like it’s trying to get a peek inside.
This is I See What You Mean, better known as Denver’s “Big Blue Bear,” a 40-foot sculpture by artist Lawrence Argent, installed here in 2005. The pose is the whole joke and the whole charm: an American black bear-Rocky Mountain local-standing up like a curious neighbor, peering into the lobby. Argent got the idea from a newspaper photo of a bear looking through someone’s window… which is funny until you remember that’s also a real thing that happens out here.
The bear wasn’t even supposed to be blue. The plan leaned “natural stone colors,” but a blue mockup showed up, and Argent went with the more punchy choice. The city paid about $424,400 at the time-around $690,000 today-and people loved it immediately.
Ready for the Joslin Dry Goods Company Building
