{"id":54829,"date":"2020-09-21T10:05:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T16:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=54829"},"modified":"2020-09-23T11:32:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T17:32:04","slug":"decaria-sisemore-and-taylor-make-for-a-stellar-fall-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/decaria-sisemore-and-taylor-make-for-a-stellar-fall-show\/","title":{"rendered":"DeCaria, Sisemore and Taylor Make for a Stellar Fall Show"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Meri DeCaria, “Two Halves,” acrylic on cradled board, 24 x 24 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

Walking into Phillips Gallery at 4 p.m., an hour before closing time and a day before Stroll and the official opening, I see Meri Ploetz DeCaria, a third of the current show in the Main Gallery, chatting on the phone \u2014 animatedly for the usually reserved gallery director \u2014 popping up only to put yet another crimson \u201csold\u201d dot next to one of her whimsical works.<\/h4>\n

I (She Who Never Goes Anywhere Now) am befuddled by the crowd, not that many, really, given gallery COVID strictures, but more than anticipated -\u2014 several craning their necks upward and marveling at the purple ceiling, something co-owner Bonnie Phillips had painted as a surprise for the staff last Christmas. These orange walls are certainly making it visually pop. And the ART is FANTASTIC! Can\u2019t wait to drink it all in.<\/h4>\n

I had seen one of DeCaria\u2019s pieces online that I really must view live immediately. Called “Branch,” it\u2019s a 12 x 13 x \u00bd inch acrylic on board that\u2019s \u2013 just over\u00a0there<\/em>\u00a0on the narrow north wall between the windows. And even better than I thought it would be. The work of longish oval leaves in an odd but winning palette of various shades of green and turquoise, peacock blue and ochre and a surprising dark gray all extending from well, a\u00a0branch<\/em>, natch, has surprising movement \u2014 look at it long enough and it even seems to breathe. A marvelous creation.<\/h4>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>

Meri DeCaria, “Branch,” acrylic on board, 12 x 13 1\/2 in.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

All DeCaria\u2019s works have personality. Most exude a dash of sass. A couple wants to take one of her larger pieces off the wall to make sure it works in their living room before they purchase it. DeCaria dashes off to fill the space with something until they return it, which they must before the show opens. \u201cTypically,\u201d she says, \u201cwe get about three people here in a day. We had 19 people through the whole opening last time. But I don\u2019t want to have to send people away if they can\u2019t fit the allotted space due to COVID, so it\u2019s all right.\u201d I notice a lovely landscape by DeCaria over by the desk, and express surprise at the format. \u201cOh,\u201d says the artist. \u201cYou have to have a landscape every now and then because a lot of people just don\u2019t really get my other stuff.\u201d<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Cordell Taylor, “Circus,” painted steel on 78″ steel pedestal, 48 x 48 x 11.5 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

And while sculpture sometimes seems like something to be carefully eased around to get to the next wall of paintings in Phillips\u2019 often cramped space when it\u2019s filled with people, that isn\u2019t the case with Cordell Taylor’s current startling, stark and stellar work. Most of it is very large black steel with windmilling arms, but a few fetching smaller, stacked burnished steel block pieces\u00a0(in the 18 x 6 x 5 inch range) are tossed into the mix for those of us who just have bookcases and coffee tables for display space. It is sculpture essential to the making of this show, is fully integrated into the mix and serves to complement the hard edges and earth tones of Claudia Sisemore\u2019s excellent large abstract and color field paintings from the \u201860s and \u201870s that contrast beautifully with DeCaria\u2019s softer hues and more circular perimeters. One large Taylor painted steel sculpture, “Coalition,” 48 x 48 x 11.5 inch, is even magically attached to a wall, perfectly perched among the paintings.<\/h4>\n

After a quick walkthrough, I am talking to Sisemore alone (DeCaria being busy with the red dots and all) about why, the show being her idea, she had had such certainty about her paintings working so well with those of DeCaria. Sisemore\u2019s last show at Phillips also had been a delightfully unexpected and memorable pairing \u2013 with Teresa Jordan\u2019s cats (and maybe a sheep or two) \u2013 but \u00a0. . . and into the gallery strides artist Trent Alvey, masked and momentarily unrecognizable without her glasses, even to her bestie Sisemore, whose 83\u00a0rd<\/sup>\u00a0birthday it is today.<\/h4>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>

Cordell Taylor, “Fall,” painted steel on pedestal, 87 x 32 x 16 in.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Alvey immediately remarks on how much she likes \u201cCordell\u2019s new work\u201d and says how nicely it integrates with the rest of the art. Taylor will later say that he started this series, \u201cthe DeConstruction series” in the early aughts. “They are influenced and reminiscent of the World Trade Center collapse. Even though they are engineered structures they represent bringing the chaos and confusion of this incident into context. For me, making these works was a way of coping with the confusion and trying to bring some solace to the events. I found a strange beauty hidden in the random remnants of this tragedy. With this work I want to bring order and meaning to the situation.\u201d As to how it relates to right now, the artist says: \u201cIt relates more to the chaos and confusion and the lack of direction and leadership our country and we are experiencing at this point in time.\u201d Other large works are titled \u201cCircus,\u201d \u201cFall,\u201d \u201cTurmoil,\u201d and \u201cChaotic Order.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Later, I am with Alvey and standing before Sisemore\u2019s rare, soft pastel piece \u2013 an enormous, mysterious almost-white color field work in icy blues with bright touches of red, 65 \u00bd x 46 \u00bd inches from 1978 (untitled) talking about what we see in it. I\u2019m \u201cseeing\u201d a little window in crimson and wondering what\u2019s behind it, what it would be like to look out of it and, nearby, Sisemore is giggling \u2013 she was playing around with colors, painting a feeling; there was no windowness about this painting \u2013 just color \u2014 and she\u2019s a little bored with all that we are putting onto her work instead of just being with it in the moment. Then again, she doesn\u2019t much care what we are seeing; she is just glad we are looking. We move on through the gallery, marveling at these many large canvases by the well-known artist and filmmaker. Just one is titled: \u201cTrading Post,\u201d a 45 \u00bd x 47 inch acrylic on canvas.<\/h4>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>

Claudia Sisemore, Untitled, 1978, acrylic on canvas, 65 1\/2 x 46 1\/2 in.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Best of show, if there is one to name here, is probably Sisemore\u2019s untitled 1972, 54 x 54 inch acrylic on canvas, a captivating color field work in umbers and siennas with a small, difficult red line that couldn\u2019t, we all agree, have been done easily in oil. Sisemore is reminiscing about the time that she says Lee Deffebach asked her to show her how to do color field work: \u201cShe borrowed a few of mine and then she did the Alph show,\u201d Deffebach\u2019s Park City exhibition in 1977 at the Kimball. The two artists shared a couple of shows and several tricks back in the day. \u201cEven [conservative portrait painter] Alvin Gittins liked my color field work, which shocked me,\u201d recalls Sisemore.<\/h4>\n

I do wish my on-the-mend broken leg could have made it downstairs to the Dibble Gallery where Elise Zoller is showing her detailed works in oil on linen mounted on birch of buildings that enchanted her in charming small towns such as Paxton, Fairview, Veyo, Kamas, Coalville, Cedar City, Panguitch, and Marysvale. She wrote a short note by each painting about the townsperson who told her a story that inspired the work \u2013 a rodeo queen, a dry cleaner. . .<\/h4>\n

It’s a kickass show not to be missed, even if you just look through the big \u201cpicture\u201d window. Be sure to look up, though, and catch a glimpse of that purple ceiling.<\/h4>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>

Claudia Sisemore, Untitled, 1972, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 54 in.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meri DeCaria, Claudia Sisemore & Cordell Taylor<\/em>, Phillips Gallery<\/a>, Salt Lake City, through Oct. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walking into Phillips Gallery at 4 p.m., an hour before closing time and a day before Stroll and the official opening, I see Meri Ploetz DeCaria, a third of the current show in the Main Gallery, chatting on the phone \u2014 animatedly for the usually reserved gallery director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":844,"featured_media":54843,"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":[869,727,166],"class_list":["post-54829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-claudia-sisemore","tag-cordell-taylor","tag-meri-decaria"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/phillips_show.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 08:55:49","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\/54829","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\/844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54829"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54842,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54829\/revisions\/54842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}