{"id":61563,"date":"2022-01-21T09:01:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T15:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=61563"},"modified":"2022-01-26T09:21:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T15:21:21","slug":"side-by-side-partnered-artists-exemplify-one-of-art-access-most-successful-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/side-by-side-partnered-artists-exemplify-one-of-art-access-most-successful-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Side by Side, Partnered Artists Exemplify One of Art Access’ Most Successful Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Namon Bills’ collage work provides a background for the expressive brushwork of Tyler Pierce in “Scruples”<\/p><\/div>\n

“Scruples,” a mixed-media collaboration by mid-career artist Namon Bills and promising neophyte Tyler Pierce, demonstrates the possibility that two very different artists, working side by side, can produce a coherent work of art. Appropriately enough, its design might be described as a Rococo Yin-and-Yang: a rectangle divided by a blue flourish, with a predominantly green figure on one side and a mostly pink one on the other. The ground on which they appear is classic Namon Bills: a collage of printed and data-filled, found materials that represents a rational, even a scientific world awaiting his aesthetic response. The two lively, dancing figures could hardly contrast more with it, and they signal the arrival of Tyler Pierce, who is apparently in agreement with his mentor. An opaque, light brown fill on the upper left creates an illusory third dimension, a field that comes forward, leaving the lower right open into a deeper space that appears to wrap around beneath the upper half. Bills frequently features this sort of disruption or penetration of an otherwise orderly two dimensional design, but evidence seen in other works argues that the conception may owe something to Tyler Pierce as well.<\/h4>\n

Art Access does things rather differently from other local art venues. Instead of focusing on making sales, they focus on making artists \u2014 and on opportunities for artists to build their careers through activities like Embodied Ecologies and 300 Plates (coming to a web browser near you in May). This human focus no doubt explains why they chose to shut the gallery in 2020, presuming, as everyone did, that the closure would be brief. But as we all know, it wasn\u2019t \u2014 in fact it continues today \u2014 and so Art Access approached 2022 two years behind on one of its signature programs, the product of which remains stuck on the shelf. Partners is an annual, year-long activity in which an accomplished, professional artist is matched with a struggling novice, with the goal of helping the amateur overcome personal obstacles. The year should end with a group show in which the various mentors and mentees practice one final step: mounting a proper exhibition. Since Art Access still has no date on which it will reopen, BDAC stepped up this year to show the five pairs of artists that worked together over the most recent two years.<\/h4>\n

There are 13 pieces by Pierce and Bills, three of which are credited to Pierce, two to Bills (one of which is a triptych), and the remaining eight are shared. It\u2019s not common in my experience for the mentor and mentee to work this way, or if it is, they don\u2019t always include shared works in the final show. If anything, Bills has less reason than most to combine forces, since the found and collaged elements he builds on are generally unique and typically impossible to replace. It\u2019s a mark of his dedication to the program\u2019s goals that he repeatedly donated his signature raw materials in this way. Pierce, who was at the opening, showed great enthusiasm for the results, which suggested his taste for colorful, elaborately curvilinear and active forms with strong outlines may have a future now that he has tasted success.<\/h4>\n