Sun Splash

Sun Splash — public art in Denver Union Station / Wynkoop, Denver, Colorado, USA.

Union Station is the beating heart of Denver, with citizens in constant motion, arrivals, and departures. Sun Splash was designed to reflect this highly structured, linear movement through a bold graphic pattern. The hard, horizontal lines of the piece represent the rigid architecture and grid of the city, with the cool blues and whites of the Colorado sky framing the intense red, orange, and yellow heat of the sun in the center. As the wind catches the canopy, those rigid lines dissolve into a soft, fluid dance—emulating the rushing public moving through the space toward their destinations.

The intense, radiant energy of the Denver sun breaking across the rigid horizon of the city, capturing the vibrant warmth and dynamic light that floods the historic transit hub.

The artwork is composed of 16,249 individual ribbons constructed from ultra-lightweight kite fabric and engineered to respond dynamically to natural wind currents. With a maximum wind displacement of 19.3 feet, the individual streamers move even in subtle breezes and visually blend into three-dimensional, moving strokes of color.

Sun Splash is part of Patrick Shearn’s Skynet Series—suspended kinetic aerial sculptures made from thousands of lightweight colorful streamers attached to engineered mesh. The artwork uses natural wind currents to make local wind patterns visible.