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<\/a>“Subway Entrance” by Irwin Greenberg at Phillips Gallery<\/p><\/div>\n
Gallery group shows recall double bills at the movies: if the contrast between artists contributes to a better understanding of each other\u2019s works, or resonances enrich a common sense of purpose, the group show serves artists and audience alike. For the arts writer, though, they present a challenge. Right now, for some reason, group shows abound, and with five or more artists in one place, what the jargon of our times calls \u2018triage\u2019 assumes undue influence.<\/p>\n
At the Phillips Gallery,\u00a0Reminiscing\u00a0<\/em>channels the presence of seven successful Utah artists who have passed from the scene, leaving significant bodies of work as their legacies. Lee Deffebach, Irwin Greenberg, Waldo Midgley, Moishe Smith, Doug Snow, Harry Taylor, and Francis Zimbeaux may no longer be household names, but a couple of rooms lined with their works stand as a ringing challenge to today\u2019s artists, as well as a useful barrier against complacency in community standards. For me, Irwin Greenberg came as a complete revelation, and I anticipate spending many pleasurable-if-futile hours alternately pondering and marveling at how his brush was able to seamlessly render both precise architectural detail and smoky urban atmosphere at the same time.<\/p>\n Amber DeKirk at Art Access<\/p><\/div>\n At Art Access, five women fill two rooms with enough variety to put paid to any idea that women\u2019s art must be less universal than men\u2019s. In the back room, Amber DeBirk\u2019s fused glass boldly makes the case for art that doesn\u2019t just preach environmental responsibility, but practices what it preaches.|1|<\/strong>\u00a0Too many artists act as though their holy mission to talk the talk somehow exempts them from also walking the walk. Eleanor Scholz\u2019s genius for transposing everyday objects into characters is matched by the courage with which she treats her prescription for antidepressants to the same transformation. In\u00a0Cihuatl, Mujer, Woman<\/em>\u00a0in the front room, Ruby Chacon, Veronica Perez, and Maritza Torres romp with energy and humor through what in earlier hands might have been only the grievances of women. Torres makes brilliant use of those familiar, cardboard-framed red and green 3\u2013D glasses and contrasting colors of paint; instead of feeding left- and right-side perspective to the appropriate eye, she feeds light and dark, causing her images to vibrate rapidly as the brain tries to decide which eye to trust. The result is not unlike the cognitive dissonance we live with in a world where all things are polarized by politics.<\/p>\n Maritza Torres at Art Access<\/p><\/div>\n Through March, Rio Gallery\u2019s\u00a0Redux\u00a0<\/em>demonstrates the kind of results obtainable through public funding of arts on a tiny scale, relative to what we spend on other social priorities. Gary Barton, Jane Catlin, James Charles, Sue Cotter, and Madison Smith each received sufficient funding to allow a brief, precious period of work that didn\u2019t have to pay for itself. All report, and display, positive results. For example, Jane Catlin\u2019s large, colorful, and experimental drawings on both sides of mylar sheets replace the spatial illusion produced by doing this on glass with a softly focused view of nature that feels optically lively and more true to how we actually see, rather than to the freezing influence of the camera.<\/p>\n “Ryegrass” by Jane Catlin at Rio Gallery<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n “Diego Mi Amor” by Sue Cotter at Rio Gallery<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>