PROVO — How do painters truly collaborate? And when they do, what do they take away from the experience? Is their personal work in any way influenced by the others?
These questions intrigued Campbell Gray, the director of the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University, and inspired him to put together the free exhibition "Intersections: Recent Paintings by Six Utah Artists," now on display.
"Intersections" includes more than 75 new works by six of the most well-known artists to come out of BYU: Frank Magleby, Gary Smith, Christopher Young, James Christensen, Robert Marshall and Douglas Fryer.
The intersection came when they were brought together a few years ago to paint murals for the Nauvoo Temple.
The murals were a major undertaking, but when finished, they were roundly acclaimed. So the question is, whether such a major collaborative project as this changes the artists. Maybe yes, maybe no. But either way, after seeing what they can accomplish together through collaboration, it's also enjoyable to see what they can accomplish together through the individual work they have done since the Nauvoo Temple.
"Working together on the Nauvoo Temple was special because of the relationship we have with each other," Magleby said. "It was a chance to do our individual work and collaborate. Afterwards, it wasn't too difficult to go back to doing our own work, because that's what we're used to doing. Still, you get so much from working together like that. You can't help but be influenced a little."
It was Magleby who was approached by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about painting the murals for the Nauvoo Temple. Magleby said he knew the task was large, so he put together his team of three generations of BYU artists. Magleby had taught Smith, Christensen and Marshall, and those three had taught Fryer and Young.
They had a studio set up for them at the LDS Motion Picture Studio, where they could work on the murals while the temple was being built. When it came time to decide who would paint where, Smith said everything just fell right into place.
"We divided it early, and it was like we knew which rooms each of us should work on and which walls within these rooms we should take," Smith said. "We each worked in our own way but came back to offer advice and critique how we felt and to work to tie it all together."
Magleby and Smith worked on the World Room, Christensen and Young the Garden Room, and Marshall and Fryer the Creation Room. Christensen said it was like grad school, working day and night, having philosophical discussions about the work all along the way.
"I think the group is about as good as any out there," Magleby said. "Most are making a good living marketing their work. One of the things we decided together as we started was to put our egos on hold. This way, we were able to offer critiques on the work to each other, and that proved to be very beneficial. The collaboration was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The whole Nauvoo Temple had a spirit of a labor of love."
Magleby calls "Intersections" a "nice culmination" of everything they have been doing together. For the exhibition, each artist took his own very unique approach to what he wanted to bring to the table.
Smith, for example, said he explored his youth with some of his paintings. The large fields he paints are reminiscent of the rural environment in which he grew up. There is an even more personal painting called "Family Tree."
"It's a self-portrait of me as a boy next to the home I grew up in in Oregon," Smith said. "In the tree, you can find embedded faces of ancestors and other things. The magpies, the predators of the yard, represent the edge on life, that as we get comfortable, there's always something that keeps an edge on things. I wanted to return to my roots, re-evaluating my life."
Christensen's contribution, "Saints and Angels," evokes the spirit of the Northern Renaissance and such painters as Jan van Eyck, with the subject matter and style — right down to the thick, black frames. Instead of a few larger paintings, the wall is covered by numerous smaller ones, each telling the story of a saint or an angel.
In the winking spirit of P.D.Q. Bach, Christensen has passed the credit for the paintings along to an "anonymous Flemish painter known only as 'The Master of the Enoch Alterpiece.' " Christensen has even chronicled the supposed history behind each painting.
"I decided to do it while playing with alterpiece fragments. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be neat to do small paintings?' This work is site-specific and was made to go (at the museum). Maybe I was reacting to the large-scale work we had just done," Christensen added with a chuckle.
Also on display in "Intersections" are the amazingly detailed still lifes and portraits of Young, Fryer's breathtaking landscapes, Marshall's intimate looks at nature, as well as desert landscapes he has done in southern Utah, and Magleby's famous work that has served as a guide for many BYU artists who have learned at his easel.
This exhibition serves as a second intersection of all of these artists coming together for a project. Marshall hopes this won't be the last time.
"There's a lot of respect there . . . and it was a lot of fun working together," Marshall said. "I would take an invitation to exhibit with these artists any time, any place; just sign me up. They are great artists and great people."
E-MAIL: p_thunell@hotmail.com
"Intersections: Recent Paintings by Six Utah Artists"
What: "Intersections: Recent Paintings by Six Utah Artists"
When: Through Sept. 13
Where: BYU Museum of Art
How much: Free
Phone: 422-8287
Web: www.byu.edu/moa