Artists' divergent views of America — land of the free, home of the reasonably priced — are on display in new exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art.
UMOCA, at 20 S. West Temple in downtown Salt Lake City, is opening its doors wide Friday to showcase new works in all five galleries — three shows opening today, two more that have opened recently.
The big show in UMOCA's main gallery is "Grandma's Cupboard," a collection of the installation works of Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler, whose professional and personal collaboration ran from the 1970s until Ericson's death in 1995.
Ericson and Ziegler's joined works — as well as Ziegler's solo works since his partner's death — often involve amassing objects that speak to "how history is told and history is remembered," said UMOCA's curator, Rebecca Maksym.
The work from which the exhibit gets its name, "Grandma's Cupboard" (1994-1996), is an example of this. It is a large wooden cupboard — a found object from South Dakota, the geographical center of the 50 states — filled with jars. Each of those jars contains air collected at a monument in Washington, D.C.
One huge installation, "Dark on that Whiteness" (1988), features jars filled with paint mounted on a white wall. The jars, each labeled with the commercial name of the paint color inside, form a map of Washington's National Mall — with the colors corresponding to the buildings. The sandstone-red "Morocco" of the Smithsonian and the "Black Midnight" of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial stand out among the many white and off-white jars.
Hanging overhead are four tattered American flags, part of Ziegler's ongoing work "Flag Exchange." Ziegler drives around the countryside, Maksym said, looking for worn-out flags and offering the owners to exchange those flags for new ones. Maksym said the responses Ziegler gets range from indignant to relieved. (On Thursday, she said, Ziegler was driving around Utah looking for flags to add to the work.)
Ziegler will give a walkthrough of "Grandma's Cupboard" Friday at 7:30 p.m. An opening reception runs from 7 to 9 p.m. "Grandma's Cupboard" will be up at UMOCA through Dec. 19.
Other exhibits UMOCA is showcasing in tonight's event:
"Mall no. 2" (through Sept. 12) is the second in a series of pop-up exhibits that explores consumer culture in the digital age. Different designers and artists have created their takes on mall culture — with items that can actually be purchased online.
"We Revolve Ceaseless" (opens today, through Oct. 3) is a multimedia work by Aundrea Frahm, with kaleidoscopic images in an immersive environment. Frahm is part of UMOCA's artist-in-residence program.
"Stock Images of War" (now through Oct. 31) is artist Amalia Ulman's installation, in which wire sculptures of bicycles, wheelchairs and tanks sit in an atmosphere of heavy-metal music (appropriate for the demographic of young soldiers) and the fake odor of apple pie.
"Uphill/Both Ways" (opens today, through Nov. 7) by Lizze Määttälä, features fragments of materials found on streets and in salvage yards and Dumpsters. Määttälä lets the materials mingle, "enabling a relationship to develop between the objects," according to a gallery description.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Brand Value, one of the pieces in the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Mel Ziegler, Hold Your Breath, 2004. Air Compressor, baloons, graphite. A blue compressor filled with air from eight different sites associated with death in Texs sits among a grouping of comical balloon hats. It is one of several art projects which presents a survey of Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler's conceptual and public art projects, one the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Rebecca Maksym, currator Utah Museum of Contemporary Art shows "Grandma's Cupboard,"in the Main Gallery. It is one of several art projects which presents a survey of Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler's conceptual and public art projects, one the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Mel Ziegler, Rock Hard Indvidualism, 2010. Rocks, aluminum in the Main Gallery. Each rock resembles a human face. It is one of several art projects which presents a survey of Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler's conceptual and public art projects, one the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Art projects in Mall No. 2, one the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28. Mall No. 2 explores experiences around emerging concepts in product, fashion, graphic and retail design.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune One of the art projects in Mall No. 2, one the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28. Mall No. 2 explores experiences around emerging concepts in product, fashion, graphic and retail design.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Mel Ziegler, National Park Drawing, 1983-ongoing, Cray pas, paper. Drawing are based on pictures of nationlal parks in the United States. Using both imagery and language of an illustrative narrative, these sketeches mimic the pride and majesty of national parks as they relate to American identity. It is one of several art projects which presents a survey of Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler's conceptual and public art projects, one the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler, Dark on that Whiteness, 1988. Jars, paint, metal. 173 jars are filled with paint, each color matching the exterior walls of a federal bujilding or monument surrounding the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is one of several art projects which presents a survey of Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler's conceptual and public art projects, one the five exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art opening on Friday, Aug. 28.
