The other half of our brief visit to the Denver Art Museum was largely spent in the Japan portion of their Asian section, my son’s exhibit of choice. We knew this without even having to ask. He dreams of going to Japan someday so he can confirm in person what he already tells us every other day, that everything they do or have is better than anything we do or have. The “grass is always greener on the other side” argument is useless against him. They probably have an appropriate metaphor that tops that one, too.

My favorite of the collection: a sculpture so intricate, it must have taken the carver’s entire lifetime and/or driven him mad.

If you prefer containers for utilitarian purposes, you can’t go wrong with this professionally embellished jar, refreshingly not rolled off an assembly line.

For holding fewer quantities, this and-painted jar is smaller but no less ornate.

If you’d prefer not to contain your messes, you can hide them instead behind this fabulous hand-painted silk screen.

If someone else’s messes have brought shame upon your household, avenge your family’s honor with samurai armor and samurai accessories.

As you travel the road ronin-style, this darling little fellow can be your take-along sidekick. Guaranteed not to run away or betray you to other, more scurrilous travelers.

My wife had a difficult time when it was her turn to select an exhibit. She settled for the Spanish Colonial section, possibly at random. Most of her photos in this section (I wouldn’t find new batteries until much later that day) were of paintings, which I’m reluctant to post online. I did appreciate this sculpture, whose subject’s name I thought I wrote down, but completely didn’t. Saint Something, I think maybe?

On our way to the exit, I insisted on one last stop on the ground floor to capture a sight we’d overlooked at the top of our museum hour:

My interpretation is that the alarming contrast between this ancient reptile’s traditional form and his abnormally radioactive scales somehow embodies a metaphor about the Duality of Man. All those other centuries-old, meticulously handcrafted, one-of-a-kind works in the museum are great and all, but glowing red T-rex is art.

To be continued!

[Link enclosed here to handy checklist for previous and future chapters, and for our complete road trip history to date. Thanks for reading!]