Indeed, The Yearling sculpture before you sparks a sense of wonder. This giant steel chair has a life-sized fiberglass horse standing on the seat. The horse looks out as if on a promontory.
Donald Lipski created The Yearling. He is an artist alternately considered a surrealist, a minimalist, and a conceptual artist. Lipski creates works with familiar objects in unfamiliar juxtapositions. His sculptures turn their objects’ functions on their heads.
The Yearling suggests a fairly clear narrative. A child places a toy horse on a chair to watch over an imaginary western canyon. Lipski exalts this moment to a scale that renders it fantastic and emotional. The horse becomes a sentry. The potential of a child’s imagination is launched into a spectacular scale.
Lipski created The Yearling for children. He feels they are especially concerned with the scales of life. He wanted to give children something so fantastic that they could hardly believe it existed. The chair is so big that they could not imagine ever growing big enough to sit in it.
The red painted steel chair is 21 feet tall and ten feet wide. The painted fiberglass pinto pony is six feet tall at the ears. The scale of this work recalls that time in life when everyday objects seemed monumental.
The Yearling was originally commissioned for an elementary school in upper Manhattan. Lipski wanted to give kids something that would be a cause for wonder. When the school district asked Lipski to omit the horse he refused. He said it just lost all its magic.
The Yearling spent 1997 in New York City’s Central Park. It was widely acclaimed before traveling to Denver in 1998 for permanent installation. If it makes people stop and feel something they haven’t felt before, I’m happy, commented the artist.
The Yearling was generously donated to former Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb and the people of Denver by the NBT Foundation.
The Yearling is reminiscent of literature such as Gulliver’s Travels, or Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The Yearling is a photogenic and family friendly sculpture. Some say they love it and find it thought provoking. Others say it’s an interactive hidden gem.
Take a moment to appreciate the scale of The Yearling. Consider the childhood wonder it inspires. It’s a testament to the power of art to transform the everyday into something magical.