There is something both silly and serious about the work of Justin Favela, the Las Vegas-based visual artist whose creations have become a common sight in museums and galleries across the United States.

The frivolous part is his way of working — piñata-style — employing the instantly-recognizable method of cutting and overlaying tissue paper in bright colors that was, until Favela came onto the scene, largely reserved for covering actual piñatas.

Piñatas are, of course, a staple of traditional Mexican culture that exist somewhere between artisanal craft and party decoration. They commonly have a structure of papier-mâché and they are shaped into donkeys, cacti, kittens or whatever. Children love to smash them with sticks at holiday celebrations releasing the candy hidden inside.

The serious side is how Favela uses this style — which he describes as “kind of ridiculous” in a video accompanying his new work at the Denver Botanic Gardens — to make more artful objects that offer broad observations on the LatinX experience in the U.S., and about the art world in general.

He shapes his papers into large-scale murals depicting sweeping deserts and mountain vistas, and into three-dimensional objects like low-rider cars, to get people thinking about the evolving identities of a generation of people who navigate, and integrate, cultural traditions that straddle borders up and down the hemisphere.

Local audiences were first introduced to his work back in 2016 when he was included in the Denver Art Museum’s landmark exhibition, “Mi Tierra,” which showcased emerging Latino artists. It was a group show but Favela emerged as the fan favorite with his interactive installation “Fridalandia” — a piñata-style re-creation of Frida Kahlo’s garden, set before a landscape resembling the works of the great Mexican landscape painter José María Velasco.

Favela took two icons of high-end Mexican culture and turned them on their heads, asking us to consider the idea of great art through a filter of folk art. The work transformed the piñata into a language of sorts, asking questions about which form of expression has the most value.

It was also a commentary on the status of Latino visual artists in the U.S. Artists with cultural or familial connections to places like Mexico and Guatemala — Favela has both —  are often expected to make work that refers to the traditions of those places.

What could be more stereotypically Mexican than the piñata? And so he exaggerated it and that has become his signature move as an artist.

Understanding that previous work will help viewers appreciate the pieces Favela will show around Denver this summer. In all, there will be three.

“Vistas in Color,” his 360-degree mural at the botanic gardens, opened earlier this month, and was followed by a second installation,“Ghostin’,” that is set up in the project room at David B. Smith Gallery in LoDo.

He will also contribute a work to “Desert Rider: Dreaming in Motion,” the much-anticipated exhibition examining low-rider culture that will open at the Denver Art Museum July 9.

The work at DBG, which fills an entire room in its indoor galleries, is so far, the most accessible. Favela has used his paper to re-create a landscape that combines scenes from the Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. The visuals are based on Favela’s recollections of road trips across the Southwest and present a panoramic view of land and sky rendered in an Impressionism-inspired combination of overlapping greens, oranges, browns, purples and metallic golds.

By mixing and matching terrain that spans both the U.S. and Mexico, Favela invites us to think about borders both physical and emotional and how they blur for humans with deep connections to both sides.

The work at David B. Smith is something of a departure for Favela, who is known for using a rich array of colors in his creations. The piece is nearly monochromatic, rendered in whites, grays and silvers.

It has something of a complicated set up. Here, Favela is manifesting in paper his idea of the interior of his dream car, a low-rider vehicle with a pristine white interior with metallic accents.

The piece relates to the work he will make at DAM, which will be a full-scale re-creation of the exterior of the Gypsy Rose, a low-rider vehicle, made from a 1964 Chevy Impala, that has become a legend in lowrider circles.

“Ghostin’” has several references to the Gypsy Rose, including a rose motif that is integrated into its design. Like most of Favela’s piñata pieces, it is full of fantasy, running floor-to-ceiling and overwhelming viewers with shapes and texture.

But the piece is more dream-like and abstract than his best-known public works. It gives viewers hints of what it might be while letting them fill in the blanks with their own imaginations. The works at DBG and the future piece at DAM will offer a direct, visceral appeal. The work at David B. Smith is more artful, in that way that we expect contemporary art to challenge and excite us.

Still, the three pieces all come together cohesively. Part of that is because of their shared media — it is a distinct art form, both accessible and enjoyable to look at.

Part of that is because they serve as a comprehensive look at an American artist who is talented and in-demand with both audiences and curators. Favela is showing us multiple sides of his art simultaneously.

And part, maybe the most interesting part, is because Favela is giving us an entertaining way of appreciating how American culture is evolving. It recognizes who we are, where we have been, and where we are going.

IF YOU GO

Denver Botanic Gardens’ “Vistas in Color” continues through Oct. 1. Info: botanicgardens.org

“Ghostin’” at David B. Smith continues through July 22. Info: davidbsmithgallery.com