I really like impressionist art and have written a lot about it and Claude Monet. However, I also enjoy work by an artist named Jeff Koons. He did a balloon dog sculpture at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris that was really interesting.
Thus when I found out that there is a balloon sculpture called Balloon Man Running right here in Denver, we had to go see it. Part of the RTD’s ART-N-TRANSIT program, it was created by an artist named Sean O’Meallie here in Colorado Springs, and installed in 2016.
This 12-foot high white Forton sculpture is poised atop a 20-foot pillar and oriented toward the Central Park Station, as if he was running to catch the train. At programmed intervals at night, the sculpture will be bathed in a series of soft colors from LED lights.
At one moment, it will appear to be blue, a few moments later it will transition to green, then red, etc. The luminous paint surface will shimmer under the cast light as well as sunlight. This highly visible presence will function as a landmark for the neighborhood and the station.
I didn’t want to look it up before we went so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We went by to see it and take some pictures before it got dark and waited around a couple of hours to get it after dark as well. I appreciated seeing it during the day, but really enjoyed it much more after dark.
I loved watching it change colors, and took some video which I shared above. It was cool to hear the train horns blowing and imagine someone running to try and catch the train. I get you Sean, I get you 
. Thank you and RTD for spicing up an otherwise typical boring park-n-ride lot.
That’s a fun piece, Sam! I do love finding an interesting piece of street art.