From Deseret News archives:

Modernism: Exhibits at Salt Lake Art Center have wide focus

Published: Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007 12:07 a.m. MST
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
There are three very good reasons for visiting the Salt Lake Art Center before March 10: "Post-Modern Utah," "New Narrative: Warhol, Stella Marden, Fitzpatrick" and "Ascension."

• "Post-Modern Utah" features recent work by eight Utah-based artists: Christian Arial, Matthew Choberka, Jann Haworth, Laurel Hunter, Rudolfo Juarez, Amanda Moore, Linda Peer and Edie Roberson.

Jim Edwards, curator of the exhibit, clarified post-modern art best when he stated in his exhibition essay that postmodernism focuses its attention upon the "relative truths of individual expressions rather than the adherence to, or the quest of, an absolute truth. Artists now live in an age in which no single style is in dominance."

And having no single style is what makes "post-modern Utah" so visually exhilarating. From Roberson's trompe-l'oeil "Corkboard" to Juarez's tar on white canvas abstractions, each of the eight artists is in top form.

Haworth's six mixed media construction/assemblage pieces pay homage to artists she has admired throughout her life. Her "Hannah Hoch" not only pays tribute to the German Dada artist, it also demonstrates Haworth's own talent in incorporating the same objects employed by Hoch.

Story continues below
Arial's small-scaled ink-on-wood abstractions evince wood-burned scribbles, ornate and graphic. Hunter's colored ball-point-ink drawings are pilots' maps of sundry sports courses and courts, each a piece de resistance of simplicity.

Choberka's paintings are visual riddles somewhere between representation and abstraction, Peer's concrete sculptures holler humor while faking classical attitudes, and Moore's grouped installation of colored photographs of old signs and more makes nostalgia momentarily smart.

"Post-modern Utah" dispels any vestige of Utah art provincialism and is a must-see.

• "New Narrative" is perhaps the best reason to visit SLAC. It features print-making by four American masters.

Again curated by Jim Edwards, the exhibit clearly illustrates the potency of print-making, a medium that allows artists to create a series of pieces as an edition.

Marden's work in the exhibit is from his 1971 portfolio of etchings, "Ten Days Series." True to the artist's commitment to abstraction, his monochrome grids as diptychs and triptychs are simple and elegant, and witnessing them develop complexity as the series progresses is pure joy.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

"Day for Night," acrylic on canvas, 59-by-36 inches, on display, by Matthew Choberka

previousnext

Latest comments

Sounds like a good option if you can't or won't switch to AT&T for the...

I worked with and around Bill Sederburg for 5 years while he was at...

Price injured; Miles has cast removed

hand. He needs to work on his moves to the basket and rebounding. Lateral...

Jazz blow big lead, hang on

play Fez or Koufos tonight. He went with a smaller line up and Boozer, Okur...

I've met Bennett before and he is a nice man. He also knows the Constitution...

Thousands protest health bill

That's never been a secret. Everyone will pay for it except those that don't...

What exactly were Nephite interpreters?

I agree with NonMormon. I am active LDS, and I enjoy Ash's articles, and I...

I kept saying don't resign Milsap, especially after Portland offered that...

U. hopes to keep clicking

BYU is the slowest team that has ever been in the top 25. Utah will put up a...

NFL: Midseason grades

i think u have the cowboys ranked too low! at least an A- LOL nice work!

Advertisements
Advertisement