Denver’s excitement over the newest three-day festival Grandoozy almost can’t be contained. But music fans are not the only ones who will be impressed come September because Grandoozy also just announced a lineup of local artists who will decorate and beautify the festival grounds. Grandoozy comes from the company Superfly (the team behind Bonnaroo and Outside Lands) who are known for curating intense and mesmerizing visual displays that set the stage for both the bands performing and for attendees to elevate their experience.
Announced this morning, Grandoozy’s art lineup will include “oversized pieces of artwork to frame the stages to live mural paintings throughout the festival grounds,” according to the press release. “Fans will be immersed in a wildly aesthetic culture inspired by the region,” it continued. Even though the musical lineup for the festival features a healthy mixture of local and traveling (big-name) acts, their art installations rightfully focus on the local scene. Especially since Grandoozy will occur the weekend after the annual street art festival CRUSH takes over RiNo, it only makes sense to celebrate those artists.
Three artists will be in charge of outfitting the stages with something impressive and visually pleasing. The Rock Stage will be the canvas for Extra Vitamins, a creative design agency based in Denver and started by Julia Belamarich and Kyle Warfield two years ago. On the Paper Stage, artist Tom Bond will craft something that blends fine art with installation elements. And on the Scissors Stage, an artist who currently has work in the Octopus Initiative at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sierra Barela, will create something esoteric, colorful and with the tendency to make people contemplative.
The other aspect of art at Grandoozy is live mural painting on all three days. On Friday, September 14, artists DINKC, Hollis + Lana and Zach “Esic” Howard will have the entirety of the day to paint a large mural. On Saturday, artists Anna Charney, Anthony Garcia Sr. and RumTum (John Hastings) will take over. And for the final day, heavy-hitters Thomas “Detour” Evans, Jason Garcia and Jonathan Lamb/Like Minded Productions will close out the festival.
Even though Grandoozy is a music festival, it just wouldn’t be complete without some kind of interactive art or installations. And thankfully, the first year of Grandoozy is proving to be one for the books for both the music scene in Denver and the art scene.