From Deseret News archives:
BYU showcases '60s and '70s art rebels
With "Turning Point: The Demise of Modernism and the Rebirth of Meaning in American Art" at the BYU Museum of Art through Jan. 3, visitors come face to face with artwork by two groups of '60s and early '70s American artists who rebelled against current trends in modernism.
"This exhibition is an important historical exhibition focusing on a narrow but highly significant period in American and world art history," said Campbell Gray, director of the Museum of Art. According to Gray, the period extends from 1960-72, the moment when the tenets of modernist art collapsed under pressure from newer forms of artistic expression.
"At this moment," Gray said, "the United States of America had the greatest influence on the history of world art, and the results of the change formed the foundation of all that we see in contemporary art today."
The 31 pieces in the exhibit include large abstract paintings by modernist adherents
"Turning Point" also includes works by contemporary artists Jenny Holzer, Byron Kim, Marco Maggi, Maggie Michael and Georges Rousse. These works help visitors understand how the reaction against modernism opened the door for a wide variety of voices to be expressed in a diverse array of media.
"These rebels of the late 1960s restored volume, space, context and most important, a recognition of an intellectually and emotionally engaged viewer to the art experience," said Gray. "They repudiated the idea of a single, ruling art authority and opened the door for many voices to be heard and many paths of meaning to be pursued."
To Gray's thinking, the richness and vitality of today's post-modernist art world "owes much to the minimalist and conceptual artists of the late 1960s whose revisionist ideas remade the art world."
While the museum has created an open-space, contemporary environment in which to display the show, "Turning Point" is easily divided into four areas: late abstraction, minimalism, conceptualism and contemporary art.
The artists of the late-abstractionist movement did not want their works to contain references to anything outside the canvas itself. The goal was to arrest the eyes of the viewer, and keep them on the surface of the canvas.
Recent comments
It's funny how "revolutionary" this show is in Provo. Really? Late...
Andrew Cannon | Aug. 19, 2008 at 12:55 a.m.
Matt-
are you kidding? just because you don't like works of art...
art lover | Aug. 4, 2008 at 1:44 p.m.
"Cool has come to Provo"
HAHAHAHAHAHA
that's a good
one.
Provo...
Ernest T. Bass | Aug. 3, 2008 at 8:28 p.m.
- No fractures on Emery's foot 10:07 a.m.
- Reports: Modest but steady growth 10:02 a.m.
- Stocks hold gains after econ reports 9:59 a.m.
- Ontario Mormons' nativity scenes 9:41 a.m.
- Rabbis join NJ gay marriage debate 9:03 a.m.
- Afghan buildup on faster timetable 9:01 a.m.
- Salahi denies crashing W.H. party 8:58 a.m.
- Suspect in police slayings killed 8:55 a.m.
- Arrests made in Roy slayings 8:35 a.m.
- Bowden meeting with school officials 8:01 a.m.
- Hall reprimanded by MWC
- Utes won't respond to Hall
- Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal
- 2 citations issued at Y.-U. game
- Mitchell called intelligent, controlling
- Cougs begin bowl preparations
- Y. student vanished in China
- Max Hall issues apology
- Daughter: Mitchell fed me my pet
- BYU says Hall incident resolved
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
900 - Cougars beat Utes in overtime
481 - Hall reprimanded by MWC
387 - Max Hall issues apology
383 - Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal
322 - Utes won't respond to Hall
264 - BYU is champion of the state
140 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
123 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
120 - BYU says Hall incident resolved
119
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the holiday retail season...
When "Dancing With The Stars" began more than two months ago, 16 couples...
Comedian Brian Regan, who is scheduled to perform at Abravanel Hall on...
As it was for President Bush as well.
Way to go! Being an insulin dependent diabetic is no small task. This boy...
Very well said. Also, our elected officials need to give patriotic duty to...
"Ohhhh BOO HOO....you poor picked on Yewt fans! Maybe you should pack it...
Whether the traffic is slow in Lehi or stopped on the bridge paying a toll...
Harmon picked TCU to go 12-0 in the preseason but then picked them to lose to...
I sympathize with the cavers who do not want to lose access to the cave. But...
I graduated with my undergrad from BYU and my grad from Utah. I really do...
I agree it should be closed for many reasons, not the least of which is...
He expressed his opinion. I thought it was his first amendment right.


