Thomas Evans, popularly known in the art world as “Detour,” is getting his large-scale sculpture for Denver International Airport off the ground.

His installation, awarded a budget of $450,000, includes more than 200 pieces of suspended luggage. The multimedia artist estimates that his DIA project, titled “It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back,” will be installed early in 2025 in Concourse B East.

The multimedia artist took on the name “Detour” to signify his appreciation of alternative paths. Though well known for painting approximately 50 murals around the city, including his depiction of Denver Bronco Hall of Famers in Empower Field at Mile High and the Denver Nuggets honoring the team’s 2023 NBA title on East Colfax, the DIA installation is Evans’ largest public art project to date. His installation will float luggage of every type, along with other items representing Colorado.

“When you’re walking to Concourse B, it looks like an infinity symbol or a mobius loop. It will be almost like a way-finder,” said Evans. “The sculpture talks about the endless journey, and also references the patterns of planes taking off and landing.”

The title, the artist said, suggests the nature of travels and personal baggage.

“Luggage is something everyone has in common regardless of background and age,” said Evans. “If you’re at the airport, you have something to carry your things in. You pack your luggage with what you think is necessary, and there’s limited space so can’t carry everything.”

Evans added: “When you get to the place, you have another item you want to take back, but there’s an economy of space: What do you leave behind? In the space you have, you carry what is valuable. This is very common with everyone.”

Evans put out a call for luggage and asked people donating bags to include a description of the bag. He received more than 200 pieces of luggage, including bags from some local luminaries.

A multidisciplinary artist and chief consultant for RealArtLife, JC Futrell donated the brown leather camera bag owned by his late grandfather, John W. Mosley, a Denver native, a lieutenant colonel and a distinguished member of the historic Army-Air Force Tuskegee Airmen.

“It carries signs of age and travel, with scuffed edges and straps that have softened over time, a testament to its history and use,” said Futrell. “My grandfather took this bag with him around the world, filming in places like Germany and London.”

Parting with the bag seemed appropriate knowing it would be part of a public artwork.

“I wanted to contribute this bag to the sculpture because it holds the legacy of both my grandfather and grandmother, Edna Mosley, who was the first person of color elected to the Aurora City Council,” Futrell said.

“The bag represents not only my grandfather’s accomplishments as a pilot and traveler, also recently honored by CSU (Colorado State University) as they retired his jersey across all sports, but also the journey he and Edna took together, breaking barriers and creating history. Including this piece in the sculpture adds a layer of personal and historical significance, symbolizing resilience, exploration and a commitment to legacy.”

For Evans, the donated bags help create community ownership in his sculpture.

“Being able to have people donate the luggage provided the ability to have people get involved with this public art so it’s not foreign,” he said. “Sometimes, people see public art go up and they feel disconnected, so it’s abstract to them. They feel, ‘I don’t get it’ or ‘I didn’t have input.’ With this, you may know somebody with a piece of luggage in this sculpture.”

Evans’ design calls for the luggage to be painted in his signature vivid colors. He plans to use the same spray-paints he uses for his outdoor murals, but will first lay down base coats of gesso and a fire retardant.

“The colors were inspired by the sunrise and sunset in Colorado,” Evans said. “We have so much sunshine in Colorado!”

He’s been collaborating with Demiurge — a sculpture fabrication studio in Denver — on engineering and fabrication.

“We’re figuring out how it’s going together, how it will hang, the steel armature, how the bags will be welded,” said Evans.

Evans landed in Denver in 2006 when his father, a career Army officer, was stationed here. The artist completed his BA and MBA degrees at University of Colorado Denver.

“Denver is a really good art city,” Evans said. “After a lot of other cities I go to, I’m glad I’m in Denver because of the community here. When I started, I found the community inclusive and helpful, really supportive. It’s not cut-throat like in New York or California, though some people there are supportive, too. People in Denver appreciate the arts. And there’s space to grow because it’s a fairly new city compared to New York or Chicago or Miami. In older cities, territories and communities are entrenched, and you have to know someone.”

Evans works from his studio in The Temple, the original Temple Emmanuel synagogue downtown at 24th and Curtis streets.

“There’s a lot of history there,” said Evans.

For Evans, the DIA commission is an important project for another trajectory of his career that’s about to take off.

“Getting into that space is difficult,” he said. “To get on the short list you have to prove you can do something like that. But to do something like that, you have to have a chance to prove yourself. It’s a catch 22.”

Given his track record, if the DIA installation proves a success, for Evans, the sky’s the limit.

Learn more about Detour’s project from his YouTube video: https://www.iamdetour.com/pages/denver-international-airport.

Photos of fabrication process by Julian Donaldson

Photos of the artist by JC Futrell