What's your pleasure? Art exhibitions by America's top contemporary artists; nationally known painters; Utah artists - past and present; promising artists who are anxious to make it in the art world? Right now, galleries around town spotlight all of them.
- Fortunately for Utahns, Salt Lake City was selected as one of the stops for a traveling exhibit of works by famed artist Andy Warhol. On display at Nordstrom (Crossroads Plaza), the exhibit spotlights 32 original works of art as well as a 40-piece photographic chronicle of Warhol's life.His silkscreen art focuses on contemporary icons - images that have been or are everyday images not only in America but across the world - Mickey Mouse, Judy Garland, Howdy Doody (remember him?), James Dean and others.
The photographs of Warhol's life, shot by personal friend Christopher Makos, are superb examples of graphic photojournalism. In fact, they're so visually compelling some viewers are spending more time looking at them than at Warhol's silkscreen art.
Warhol was born Aug. 6, 1928, to Czech immigrant parents. At age 32, he made his first pop art paintings of comic strip characters and consumer goods. Two years later (1962), he painted his popular multiple images of Campbell's soup cans as well as his first silkscreens of the dollar bill, Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood. That same year he began work on his Marilyn Monroe series.
For 25 more years, until his death following gall bladder surgery in 1987, Warhol continued to invent the perfect art for a thriving capitalist democracy - paintings that looked like and were made like products. He was the first to put the Campbell's soup can and Coca-Cola bottle into art museums as icons of universally shared experiences.
The exhibit remains on the main level of Nordstrom through Monday, Nov. 22.
- Those of you who enjoy studying the history of Salt Lake City will want to see the drawings, paintings, prints and photographs in "This is the Place: Views of Salt Lake City from its Foundation to the Present." Both aesthetic and educational, they're featured in the inaugural exhibition at the Hippodrome Gallery in FHP Health Care's new hospital at 2481 S. Main.
For this exhibition, Hippodrome art program curator Douglas Hinkey and new gallery director Cary Stevens-Jones selected more than 40 works from the permanent collections from the Museum of Church History and Art, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City Public Library, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake Arts Council and private collections.
Stevens-Jones indicated that this is the first exhibit ever curated representing the history of the Salt Lake City from pioneer times to now. It is divided into three sections: Art from 1851 to 1900 hanging on dark green walls; 1900 to 1940, on light green; and 1950 to the present, on bright green.
Viewers are not be surprised to find works in by C.C.A. Christensen, George Ottinger and other early Utah artists in the first period.
Adding interest to this early section are: the oil on canvas "Utah Territorial Prison" painted in 1885 by itinerant artist Francis M. Treseder. And Currier & Ives' hand-colored lithograph of Salt Lake City, the Great Salt Lake and jagged, snow-covered mountains will remind you of a scene in Switzerland - not Utah.
The next section features works by Carlos Anderson, Waldo Park Midgley, Mahonri Young, H.L.A. Culmer and Joseph A.F. Everett - and others.
And in the last period (1840 to the present) are paintings by Francis Sellers, Ken Baxter, Douglas Snow, Steven Fawson and June Lloyd Stevens.
Viewing hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. The gallery is not open on Sundays and Mondays.
- The spacious Tivoli Gallery houses art treasures that cover a wide range of styles and periods. If it's contemporary art you're seeking, then Dane Traeden is the man to ask for; he'll steer you to works in both the main and downstairs galleries.
But if you're more interested in works by early Utah artists, as well as renowned 19th and 20th century artists from out of state, then walk to the back of the gallery and talk to gallery owner Dan Olsen. He'll show you works by such artists as J. Alden Wier, Albert Bierstadt, Joseph Stella and John Marin.
Although gallery regulars have been assigned bays inside the main gallery, the windows and front portion of the gallery are reserved for featured artists.
Last week, Randi Wagner's visually explosive show came down to make room for paintings by out-of-state painter Paul Forster and one of his students, Melinda Felin. The show opened Friday, Nov. 19, and runs through December.
Also dotting the walls are works by Utah artists George William Allen, Janice Walker Hall, Jim Wilson and Larry Winborg. Here you will find quality work by aspiring and well-established artists.
Winborg surprises the viewer with styles ranging from tight representation to loose impressionism. Some of my favorites are "A Brisk Walk on the Mall," "Palisade Creek" and "Wind in His Hair." The latter work was commissioned by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service for its 1993 nationwide advertising campaign. To date, 100,000 posters of this work have been distributed.
There's no question about it: Alvin Gittins influenced George Allen's style - as seen in his impressive Nu-pastel drawings and oil paintings of people. Equally impressive are his still-life paintings.
Other appealing works include Hall's watercolor "Winter Wool" and Wilson's egg tempera "Autumn Pond."
- Utah Designer Crafts Gallery's "Holiday Craft" exhibition is in full swing. This might upset people who feel that Christmas exhibits should begin after Thanksgiving - not before.
But look at it this way. There's no better time to shop leisurely. You not only avoid the crowds; you also have a wide variety of superb crafts from which to choose.
Over the years, members of the UDC Gallery have made every effort to bring together the best crafts by Utah designers - as well as some from out of state. If you ever question the creativity of Utah craftspeople, stop by this gallery.
Here are some of the crafts designed to capture your attention - and your aesthetic eye: Dressed up in their holiday finery are Susie McGee Lowdermilk's 3-D human figures and Carole Dubeck's animals and reptiles. Also impressive works are "Coral Cactus" and other silk paintings by Roberta Glidden; colorful quilted wall hangings by Jinnie Lee Snow; jewelry boxes and other impeccably crafted wood items by Kaethe Radomski; "Ravaged By Time" and other woven wall hangings by Becky Menlove; jackets (landscape and crazy-quilt) by Martha Klein Haley; and one-of-a-kind jewelry by Frances Garrett, Winston Gamble and others.
To explore these and other fine crafts, stop by UDC Gallery, 38 W. 200 South, on or before Dec. 31. Holiday hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 3-23; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 24; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 27-31.