{"id":17362,"date":"2005-05-03T13:24:43","date_gmt":"2005-05-03T19:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=17362"},"modified":"2020-04-02T11:54:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T17:54:38","slug":"hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden Treasures of a Beat Collage Artist: Adam Worden at the Salt Lake Art Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-17362 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w13a\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w13a-200x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w13a-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w13a.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w10\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w10-231x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w10-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w10.jpg 386w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w6\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"221\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w6-221x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w6-221x300.jpg 221w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w6.jpg 369w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>by Jean Arnold<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes life is stranger than fiction; something happens in our lives that we never could have imagined beforehand. In 2000, when I first met my cousin, Lee Worden, at a mutual cousin\u2019s wedding, I knew little about his father, Adam, nor Adam\u2019s partner Bhavani, or their children Lee and Anandi. I had heard the family had an herbal business in California, and that Adam was a very quiet, withdrawn man, but little else. I was excited to finally meet Lee, and to learn more about this part of the family. Being a professional artist myself, I was shocked and thrilled to find out that my uncle Adam had been a Beat Generation collage artist. Lee showed me a few fuzzy photos of his father\u2019s collages, and gave a web address where he had posted some of the collages. I felt saddened that I would never meet my uncle, who had died the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>On visiting the website, I was enchanted by the works\u2019 gentle poetry, humor, and rich blend of patterns and materials. I saw that my uncle had a thorough grasp of collage, a sophisticated visual vocabulary, and a highly personal voice. Lee told me that Adam had been a self-taught artist; to educate himself he visited gallery and museum exhibits regularly and subscribed to art magazines. I knew I wanted to travel to San Francisco to meet my other cousin, Anandi, to see the work first hand, and to learn more about my uncle the artist.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2002, I made the trip to San Francisco. On a sunny, still day Lee, Anandi and I pulled the boxes out of the storage unit onto the asphalt outside. Collage after collage, I was astonished at the work I saw. His juxtapositions of humor and tragedy, macro and micro, sacred and mundane, Eastern and Western \u2013 in striking compositions, colors, and spatial shifts \u2013 were genius. I saw that Adam did all this using scraps from everyday life such as comic books, wallpaper, candy wrappers, fireworks posters, paperback covers, and magazines.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-17362 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w3\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"222\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w3-222x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w3-222x300.jpg 222w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w3.jpg 371w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w4\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w4-213x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w4-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w4.jpg 355w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w5\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w5-232x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w5-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w5.jpg 388w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The Beat Generation visual artists took inspiration from the new surge of media and culture surrounding them. They valued immediacy and authenticity, uniting art and life by including materials and objects from their own lives into their collages and sculptures (\u201cassemblages\u201d). Collage expressed their urban experience of the simultaneity and melding of cultures. My uncle clearly was a virtuoso of this medium.<\/p>\n<p>What began with my initial meeting of cousin Lee in 2000 resulted in two trips to San Francisco to see the work and photograph the collection. My effort, combined with the efforts of the Salt Lake Art Center and Lee and Anandi Worden, has now culminated in an exhibit which opened April 15 at the Salt Lake Art Center, entitled \u201cAdam Worden: Collages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-17372\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"242\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w11.jpg 242w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w11-145x300.jpg 145w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" \/><\/a>Here is what Jim Edwards, Curator of Exhibitions, Salt Lake Art Center, has to say in the exhibit brochure:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #555555;\">When Adam Worden died in San Francisco in 1999 at the age of 63, his entire life\u2019s work as a collagist could fit in a half a dozen suitcases. Remarkably, in his quarter of a century obsession of creating mostly diminutive scaled collages, he never bothered to date, title, or sign them. It was as if he wanted his entire creative life\u2019s enterprise to be seen as one continuous work, each collage a portrayal of a dream-like moment, ramified into a collective journey of mystical connections and widely diverse associations. Equally remarkable, considering the large number of collage works that he created, is the fact they were never exhibited publicly. This exhibition at the Salt Lake Art Center . . . represents the first ever public exhibition of Worden\u2019s art.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Worden\u2019s threadbare collages are the result of scavenging for inexpensive materials. They are exquisitely composed compositions and derived from a wide variety of material and sources. He was able to combine a funky Beat aesthetics with the utopian visions of the Hippie culture. One of the most distinctive features of his collages are their diminutive size, the smallest of which are affixed to business cards and measuring a mere 3 1\/2 x 2 inches. . . . . His largest collage works are still modestly scaled, averaging 24 x 15 inches and fashioned from day-glo papers salvaged from billboards and fireworks stands. Worden tended to work in sets or series of related subjects or compositions. These included framed collages that feature apocalyptic visions, such as goddesses and bodhissattvas confronting characters from popular culture sources. In his unframed \u201c Diamonds\u201d and \u201c Ovals \u201d, flowery wallpaper samples are mixed with magazine illustrations, snapped into a sense of balance through their beautiful articulations of color, image, and shape. . . .<\/p>\n<p>Worden developed a very personal form of expression in his collage work. His place is idiosyncratically situated somewhere between Eduardo Paolozzi\u2019s late 1940\u2019s scrapbook of collages adapted from American magazine advertisements, and Joseph Cornell\u2019s metaphysical box constructions. Worden\u2019s life work in collage was the purist of pursuits, unadulterated by any demands imposed by an inattentive \u201cprofessional\u201d art world.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-3' class='gallery galleryid-17362 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w7\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"220\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w7-220x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w7-220x300.jpg 220w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w7.jpg 368w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w8\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"193\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w8-193x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w8-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w8.jpg 323w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/hidden-treasures-of-a-beat-collage-artist-adam-worden-at-the-salt-lake-art-center\/w9\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w9-234x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w9-234x300.jpg 234w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w9.jpg 390w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>John (Adam) Worden was born in Lewistown, Montana, in 1936. He was raised in Lewiston, Idaho, the youngest of four children of the town\u2019s mayor. He earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in Mathematics from Whitman College, a private school in Walla Walla, Washington in 1959. After college, Worden moved to New York City to pursue theater, becoming involved in experimental theater and happenings, and immersing himself in the Beat culture. In 1964, he moved to San Francisco, where he began doing collages and assemblages, and met his partner, Bhavani, an herbalist and nutritionist. In 1969, they had Lee. Five years later the family moved north of the city to the Sonoma County, and that same year had a daughter, Anandi. In 1976, Worden began referring to himself as Adam. Bhavani died in 1986, and when his children left home in the early \u201890s, Adam returned to the city to be closer to the art world with its opportunities and exhibitions. He died in 1999, at the age of 63.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-17373\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"399\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w12.jpg 399w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w12-239x300.jpg 239w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\" \/><\/a>I still find all of this hard to believe \u2013 it seems surreal to me. Among relatives beyond his immediate family, only my aunt Judy knew what her brother Adam was up to, and it never occurred to her to connect the two artists in the extended family with each other. While I am deeply saddened that I never met my uncle, I am moved by his commitment to his work in isolation with no recognition from the art world. I am grateful for the privilege of seeing this work and playing a role in bringing it to the Salt Lake community. Many thanks to the Salt Lake Art Center for its commitment in curating and hosting this exhibit, and to Andy Hoffmann for all his work in helping create the book \u201cORBIT.\u201d On a personal note, I am grateful for getting to know my cousins Lee and Anandi, and for their willingness to share their father\u2019s work with me and with the world.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w0a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-17363\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w0a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w0a.jpg 310w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/w0a-300x238.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/a>In conjunction with this show, Elik Press, Salt Lake City, is publishing a book with responses by poets across the country to Worden\u2019s collages. &#8220;ORBIT: Collages by Adam Worden with Poems in Response,&#8221; will include 23 collages in full color. The book is $10 and can be purchased t the Salt Lake Art Center bookstore, or by calling Andy Hoffmann at 533-0197 or by email: ahoffmann@sisna.com.<\/p>\n<p>The exhibit runs from April 15 \u2013 June 9 at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slartcenter.org\/\" target=\"_new\">Salt Lake Art Center<\/a>, in the Street Level Gallery.<\/p>\n<p>Its hours are:<br \/>\nTuesday \u2014 Thursday &amp; Saturday, 10 a.m. &#8211; 5 p.m.<br \/>\nFriday, 10 a.m. &#8211; 9 p.m.<br \/>\nSunday, 1 &#8211; 5 p.m.<br \/>\nClosed Mondays and Holidays<\/p>\n<p><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeanarnold.com\/\" target=\"_new\">Jean (Worden) Arnold<\/a> is a full-time professional artist who resides in Salt Lake City.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>This article originally appeared in the May 2005 edition of 15 Bytes<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Jean Arnold Sometimes life is stranger than fiction; something happens in our lives that we never could have imagined beforehand. In 2000, when I first met my cousin, Lee Worden, at a mutual cousin\u2019s wedding, I knew little about his father, Adam, nor Adam\u2019s partner Bhavani, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":17374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[1258,1257,789],"class_list":["post-17362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-adam-worden","tag-by-jean-arnold","tag-utah-museum-of-contemporary-art"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-28 19:32:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17362"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53274,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17362\/revisions\/53274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}