{"id":88190,"date":"2024-10-31T11:33:25","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T18:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=88190"},"modified":"2024-11-06T10:32:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T17:32:11","slug":"a-beehive-state-of-mind-art-environment-and-identity-at-slcc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/a-beehive-state-of-mind-art-environment-and-identity-at-slcc\/","title":{"rendered":"A Beehive State of Mind: Art, Environment, and Identity at SLCC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Noah Elkens, “Out of Order”<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

From across the gallery, Noah Eikens’ \u201cOut of Order\u201d presents a puzzle: is this a scale model, a small machine, or maybe a toy? From out of two nested bowls that could have come from a kitchen emerges a tangle of black pipe. It looks kind of like a decorative fountain. On coming closer, it appears as a single pipe, contorted by a maze of arbitrary bends, and finally capped so that no water can spout forth. The smaller, upper bowl boasts a lip, so that once water from the pipe fills the inner bowl, it would spill into the lower, larger one. Only when quite close can the observer see that the lining of both bowls is crazed the way the desert clay cracks as it dries. And then there\u2019s something in the bottom: a tiny replica of an American White Pelican lies dead or dying on what is seen to be a dry lake bed, such as surrounds the ever-shrinking Great Salt Lake. This bird stands in for thousands that migrate vast distances and for centuries have stopped at the Lake to rest and recuperate, but now search in vain for water not too saline to replenish their necessary journey.<\/h4>\n

Throughout the opening festivities, small groups in attendance wander over, examine this quiet, yet damning judgment on the many demands made on the Lake by those who have created their own uses for it. They look, perhaps smile, and prepare to share a laugh at the strange knot of tubing on top, but then look down and become flustered, unsure. They are the evidence that a work of art meant to slow a quick reading and interrupt assumptions is working. This is only one strategy on view here.<\/h4>\n

The President\u2019s Art Show has been a feature of Salt Lake Community College for 30 years. Another puzzle is how one can live nearby for half that time without becoming aware of this event which, if the size of the opening crowd can be trusted, is a popular one. Of course, art venues abound in Utah, some with a commercial focus and others with public funding. Some typically present one or two artists, each with a cross section of their work to show, while others present one representative work. SLCC presents both approaches in at least three locations.<\/h4>\n
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Installation view of The President’s Art Show at Salt Lake Community College, South City Campus.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Some of the artists here are exhibiting work previously shown elsewhere, which offers a chance to see how the context affects the work. A really good example, Ryan Moffett\u2019s \u201cI Wish I Was a Sweater,\u201d was recently shown on a tall pedestal, isolated in the middle of a gallery like a memorial to a national hero: someone above the reach of mere mortals. Here, on a much shorter pedestal and next to a wall, where a viewer can get much closer and connect, the intimacy and love that Moffett equates with the comfort of a favorite sweater, its arms tied around the torso of the object of his affections, has a chance to quietly blossom.<\/h4>\n