{"id":7524,"date":"2011-10-06T17:45:18","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T17:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=7524"},"modified":"2025-11-16T08:54:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:54:27","slug":"pasteups-swinj-productions-urban-art-and-sl-art-centers-first-fridays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/pasteups-swinj-productions-urban-art-and-sl-art-centers-first-fridays\/","title":{"rendered":"PasteUps: Swinj Productions, Urban Art and SL Art Center’s First Fridays"},"content":{"rendered":"

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photos by Will Thompson<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Salt Lake Art Center<\/a>\u00a0is going rogue. Starting this month, they are moving their exhibition receptions to the first Friday of the month. They will still be open late on third Fridays during Salt Lake\u2019s\u00a0Gallery Stroll<\/a>, but from now on they will be opening a new show on the first Friday of each month. The center\u2019s director, Adam Price, is hopeful that the openings, which along with the art will feature a DJ, cash bar and food, will become \u201ca monthly celebration of the vitality of Utah\u2019s art community. I\u2019m also hoping that this will be a chance for our hardworking gallerists to enjoy themselves away from the hubbub of Gallery Stroll.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Art Center\u2019s move to the first Friday is part of their ongoing effort to throw open their doors and use their prime real estate as a community center. Over the past eighteen months attendance at the Art Center has increased six fold. This is due to a number of factors, one of which is that they have hosted events for various outside organizations, and have filled their own social calendar with parties and fundraisers for patrons, staff and members. They have also been expanding their gallery space, most recently with the addition of the Locals Only Gallery, which opened last month (see\u00a0our review<\/a>).<\/p>\n

New Genres Gallery<\/strong>
\nThis month, for the inaugural First Friday Celebration on October 7th, the Art Center will be kicking off several exciting new exhibitions and opportunities. The New Genres Gallery, in what used to house the center\u2019s accounting staff, will launch with an exhibit by Los Angeles artist Brian Bress. “Creative Ideas for Every Season” is a single channel video, which \u201cexplores the difficulties and absurdities confronting the pursuit of a creative process.\u201d In the video a female protagonist travels across a moon-like landscape in a cardboard jalopy engaging in deadpan conversation with a series of imagined fantastical characters. The New Genres Gallery will provide a committed space for the center to feature contemporary artists from around the world who incorporate video, performance, installation, digital media and mixed media in their work. With this and the Locals Only Gallery, the center has nearly doubled the exhibition space available for visitors to explore.<\/p>\n

Lecture Series<\/strong>
\nAlso opening this month (in the Main Gallery),\u00a0Doublespeak<\/em>\u00a0features the work of contemporary female artists who use strategies of code and layered meaning to explore issues of politics, war and gender from a feminine perspective. Included among the many artists in the exhibit are Guggenheim Fellow Jennifer Nelson, 2011 Venice Biennial artist Daniela Comani, and 2011 Rome Prize recipient Mary Reid Kelly. Coinciding with the opening of Doublespeak is the first talk in Salt Lake Art Center\u2019s 2011 Fall Lecture Series. Iranian-American poet Sholeh Wolp\u00e9 will speak and give a reading from\u00a0Rooftops of Tehran\u00a0<\/em>at 7pm on October 7th.<\/p>\n

Provo and Ogden, who hold their own gallery walks on the first Friday, may not be overjoyed at the Art Center\u2019s move; and West Temple is not the only place in Salt Lake for art openings at the beginning of the month \u2013 the Utah Arts Alliance, a block away on Main Street, holds their exhibition receptions on the first Friday; but if Adam Price has his way, food, drink, music and art will put the first Friday and Salt Lake Art Center on many people\u2019s calendar.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Urban Gallery & Swinj Art Productions<\/strong>
\nThe Art center likes parties so much that they even hold them away from home. In September, they joined Neighborhood House\u00a0|0|<\/strong>\u00a0for this year\u2019s installation of the Urban Gallery, a 337 Project event that has continued now that that organization has become part of the Art Center.|1|<\/strong><\/p>\n

In past years, Urban Gallery has been a competition between several artists or teams of artists to see who could create the best work of art on a garage door. This year, the entire suite was given to\u00a0Swinj Art Productions<\/a>\u00a0to design after their proposal for an integrated work was accepted by the Salt Lake Art Center. On September 23rd and 24th Trent Call, Benjamin Wiemeyer,|3|<\/strong>\u00a0Evan Jed Memmott, Gailon Justus, Mike Murdock, Richard Landvatter, Skyler Chuback, and Sri Whipple attacked the eight doors at the west side day-care and support facility. “It was really fun to watch [the team] work collaboratively,” says Neighborhood House board member Catherine Kanter. “You could see how they were being influenced by each other. The end product turned out to be a unified piece that flows from door to door with high energy, bold colors and vivid imagery.”<\/p>\n