{"id":37155,"date":"2018-02-13T20:35:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T02:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=37155"},"modified":"2018-09-14T21:06:46","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T03:06:46","slug":"all-the-worlds-a-stage-and-brian-kershisnik-paints-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/all-the-worlds-a-stage-and-brian-kershisnik-paints-it\/","title":{"rendered":"All the World\u2019s a Stage, and Brian Kershisnik Paints It"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\u201cWrestling<\/a>

\u201cWrestling the Angel\u201d 108\u2033 x 132\u2033<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Brian Kershisnik is one of Utah\u2019s best-loved and most-respected artists, and his paintings, whether mural size or off the easel, are in private and public collections from Logan to St. George. He was given the Governor\u2019s Mansion Award in 2010, was selected in 2014 as one of the state\u2019s \u201cmost influential artists\u201d by Artists of Utah, and is the subject of an upcoming book project from Unicorn Publishing Group. While people may not be mobbing him in the streets (yet), Kershisnik has achieved what in the Utah art world passes for fame. As some of his recent works suggest, that\u2019s not always a good thing, but it\u2019s yet another part of the human experience that is the source of his works.<\/h4>\n

The cutout figures and stylized backgrounds of Kershisnik\u2019s paintings make them appear simple, but the artist has an uncanny ability to capture multiple levels of human experience in a simple figure or gesture (his batting average in this respect suggests both talent and hard work). Case in point: his large piece \u201cWrestling the Angel,\u201d which was recently on view at the Springville Museum of Art. The subject of the piece is ostensibly the biblical account of Jacob, who wrestles all night with \u2014 depending on which verses you read \u2014 a man\/angel\/God, until he is given a blessing, a new name (Israel) and a limp (from a dislocated hip). It is the origin story for a people, for a religion. While a work like Gustave Dor\u00e9\u2019s famous etching of the scene shows a stately wrestling match worthy of a Biblical patriarch, Kershisnik\u2019s depiction is much more human, almost comical: as Jacob is being flung about by the angel, he grabs desperately at the latter\u2019s robe to hang on, appearing, at least in the moment, not so much interested in winning a gift from his opponent as in avoiding having his head dashed against a rock. One need not be a Biblical patriarch, or believer, to understand that feeling.<\/h4>\n
\n
\"\u201cProtected<\/a>

\u201cProtected by Performance,\u201d 72\u2033 x 84\u2033<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Kershisnik has remarked that instead of painting from life, as many traditional artists will insist upon, he \u201cpaints from the process of being alive,\u201d so one could be forgiven for seeing in the artist\u2019s work, the artist\u2019s life; for reading, in two recent works titled \u201cPulling Over His Own Monument,\u201d the desire of the artist, who in person is genial and self-effacing, to keep in check the temptations of his own notoriety. Or even seeing in a work like \u201cWrestling the Angel,\u201d not just a representation of spiritual struggle, but artistic as well \u2014 the angel as muse, the blessing as style, and fame marking one\u2019s gait like a broken hip.<\/h4>\n
\n
\"\u201cLe<\/a>

\u201cLe Peche du Magicien\u201d 40\u2033 x 30\u2033<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While many of Kershisnik\u2019s works have explored the intimate aspects of life \u2014 time with a child, a book, a pet, a lover \u2014 many of his recent works examine the idea of the public persona. In three paintings, each entitled \u201cProtected by Performance,\u201d the canvas is split three ways: between audience, onstage performer and figures observing from the wings. In all three, a young child, like the inner child of pop psychology, is wrapped around the performer\u2019s legs, protected but peeping out. Art is part confession and part performance, with family and friends, even the inner self, the sometimes unwilling assistants.<\/h4>\n

\u201cLe P\u00e9ch\u00e9 du Magician,\u201d the title of two related works as well as of the exhibition currently at Park City\u2019s Meyer Gallery, implies such an unsettled reading. The use of a foreign language is another type of performance, a sort of protection through translation \u2014 the French here could be rendered both as \u201cthe sin of the magician\u201d (suggesting a general, abstract notion) or \u201cthe magician\u2019s sin\u201d (conveying a more individual, personal story). In either case, the title brings with it overtones of fault, suggestions of secrets. In one, a tuxedoed figure faces his audience, one hand covering his face either in shame or exhaustion, the other outstretched in supplication. The second, where the magician is comforted (or is it entreated?) by an assistant dressed in sequined leotard, becomes a pretty charged piece in the era of the #metoo movement and White House resignations.<\/h4>\n
\n
\"\u201cEntertaining<\/a>

\u201cEntertaining Angels,\u201d 72\u2033 x 40\u2033<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

To hint at such a reading is not to ascribe such intent to the artist, but to suggest the multiple readings Kershisnik\u2019s works open themselves up to. Another recent work, \u201cEntertaining Angels,\u201d in which a father balances a spoon on his nose, to the delight of both his two young children and two observing angels, probably should be enjoyed simply as a charming evocation of fatherhood at its best; but some, in their more cynical moments, might find equal pleasure in considering the implied insight that to the believer in an all-seeing God (and his angels), all of life becomes a performance.<\/h4>\n

That, though, sounds too judgmental, and that is one thing these works are not: it is hard to find in any of Kershisnik\u2019s works a\u00a0j\u2019accuse<\/em>\u00a0or the suggestion of a villain. At heart his figures are simply human and embraced for it. Some artists mix linseed oil or varnish with their pigments, Kershisnik mixes empathy. Which is why his charming, layered, evocative works continue to attract our attention.<\/h4>\n

Le\u00a0P\u00e9ch\u00e9 du Magicien<\/em>, new works by Brian Kershisnik,\u00a0Meyer Gallery<\/a>, Park City, through February 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Kershisnik is one of Utah\u2019s best-loved and most-respected artists, and his paintings, whether mural size or off the easel, are in private and public collections from Logan to St. George. He was given the Governor\u2019s Mansion Award in 2010, was selected in 2014 as one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[362,308],"class_list":["post-37155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-brian-kershisnik","tag-meyer-gallery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/wrestlingtheangel.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 14:33:09","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\/37155","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37155"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37551,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37155\/revisions\/37551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}