Art at Altitude

AT RON AND UNA Brasch’s house in Colorado Springs, Colorado, art is everywhere—including on the floor and dangling from the ceiling, because the walls are full. Their contemporary-art-focused collection is filled with narrative works, with many of the pieces containing text. “Having that personal touch has added so much to our enjoyment and appreciation,” says Una Brasch. “We love art that tells a story, that is not just visually attractive, but interesting and enlightening to the human experience.”

David Lauer

Dining Room: There are no walls in the dining room—only windows. The art here is about material: glass, marble, bronze, and steel. The black granite tabletop stands on a custom-made base by metal artist Judi Ellias-Ochs of Colorado Springs. Atop the table is a red and black sculpture made of Murano glass called Adrenaline, created by the Cuban collective The-Merger. The multi-colored glass chandelier comprises eighty-six pieces and is the work of Ed Pennebaker. Other works in the background are by Larry Bell, Ernesto Fernandez, and Dundas Orr.

Sunroom: The sunroom features spectacular views of Garden of the Gods Park and the nearby mountains. The large purple and green wall sculpture on the back wall is Memory Window #3 by Edouard Duval-Carrié, a Haitian artist based in Miami.

In the left rear of the room is Ana Flores’ Black Madonna/For My Tata. This is Flores’ remembrance of her nanny, who helped raise her in Havana. The female figure is without an upper torso and head. As a small child, Flores came up only to her nanny’s waist, so that forms her memory.

At the front left is Moonstruck, a metal sculpture by Richard Beau Lieu. The kinetic floor sculpture at right is Red Abstract by Troy Pillow. Additional works in the room include David Hockney’s Parade and a blue-light infinity sculpture by Chul-Hyun Ahn.

David Lauer

Upstairs Gallery: “There’s no such thing as having too much art. Each piece has its own personality and identity and means something to our lives,” says Ron Brasch. The walls upstairs showcase a mix of contemporary, pop, and Cuban art.

The gallery wall includes Franz Kafka, a screenprint by Andy Warhol, Dutch Masters by Larry Rivers, Back Out by Robert Rauschenberg, an untitled print by Pablo Picasso, and Dancing on the Water, Making Magic Together by James Surls and Charmaine Locke, husband and wife artists based in Colorado.

Life is Beautiful, a sculpture by MrBrainwash, sits on top of the Xenon pinball machine. On the wall just above it is Book Covers by Yornel Martinez and Verónica by José Toirac—a portrait of Che Guevara printed on a handkerchief. Below that is an oil painting, Incendiary, by Cuban artist René Francisco, depicting his fellow countrymen in a match box waiting to catch fire.