Prepare to be swept off your feet by this 40ft-tall dustpan and brush! Big Sweep brooms large over the Denver Art Museum’s quirky Frederic C. Hamilton Building, and was installed in 2006 in an attempt to tidy up the city.
Colourful and camp, Big Sweep offers a bizarre, even confronting, commentary on the banality of suburban life. With its eerily-realistic bristles and paper, one initially feels tiny in comparison. The crushing weight of domestic responsibility, it seems, has become too much to bear.
Stand beneath this huge utensil for a time, however, and the message transforms into one of hope. No matter how messy life becomes, our dreams shall always be large enough to clean up the calamity.
Failing that, just do what I did and pick up an undocumented immigrant to clear away your clutter. Gracias, Maria!
Crafted by Land of the Bigs regulars Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen – who were on target with Cupid’s Span – Big Sweep was, apparently, inspired by the vast prairies and mountains of Colorado.
Although I’d argue it was inspired by the vast piles of garbage left by the hobos who inhabit the area. To avoid a brush with these miscreants, mop by to see Big Sweep during daylight hours.
The street urchins have little knowledge of, or respect for, this kitschy slice of Americana. Perhaps if they cleaned up their act, studying the history of the nation’s resplendent roadside attractions rather than huffing crushed-up painkillers out of discarded shoes, they’d have houses of their own to keep neat and tidy.
Now, please excuse me. Maria’s just whipped up some chilaquiles with her homemade salsa verde, and when I finish them I’ll have to make sure she scrubs the toilet properly. Honestly, a woman’s work is never done!
