"You want people to have fun," said Jeanne Meyers, curator of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts new exhibition, "Subversive Moves." "Fun is in short supply at too many art shows."
Meyers, who lives in the Wood River Valley, is a former Los Angeles gallery owner and believes that art needs to come off the walls because it has the inherent ability to change lives. "It's not always political. Once you start really thinking about it, contemporary questions about your life come up," Meyers said.
"Subversive Moves" features work from Dominique Blaine, Paul Kos and Camille Utterback, who create art to engage a viewer in a physical experience with art.
Acclaimed Montreal artist Dominique Blain's thought-provoking pieces present questions on how people associate themselves within the world. "I trust the subtext of her art," Meyers said. "She is so clued into the subtleties of the world around her. She has consistently been able to think about images and their historical energy."
Blain's maze, "Something/Nothing," is a floating room that welcomes a viewer inside its walls, presenting interesting subtexts on how people associate themselves with the physical world.
From San Francisco, Paul Kos is known for his inventive pieces such as "Tunnel" in which a toy train and track tunnel through a large round of Jarlsburg cheese on a wooden table. "Playful art taken off the walls underlines what is spiritual and historical," Meyers said. "It is a real piece of cheese on a table, which is a smaller piece for him."
Kos's piece, "Memory Survives Silenced Tongues," was inspired by a story from a remote part of the world where there were no bells during Easter week because religion had been outlawed. Kos created a piece where the viewer becomes a silent clapper. The Berkeley Art Museum and the Grey Art Gallery at New York University have recently honored Kos with a major retrospective of his work, "Everything Matters."
Camile Utterback creates interactive pieces, which require viewer participation. She designed a computer program using a wall, a camera and a body to mesh a physical experience with other elements.
"You make color happen on a wall," Meyers said. "It gives new meaning to body painting." Utterback is from San Francisco but shows her work throughout the world.
Meyers has always been interested in art coming off the wall in a variety of ways. The artists she has chosen for "Subversive Moves" are exemplary in promoting her idea of art being interactive and are inviting but also thought provoking.
"I hope that people walk out of the show feeling an impact that goes beyond questions of aesthetics," she said. "I want them to think they had a good time."
'Subversive Moves' at The Center
From Jan. 12 through March 9, the Sun Valley Center for the Arts will present "Subversive Moves," curated by Jeanne Meyers. All artists will be present for the opening.
The Center is located at 191 Fifth Street East in Ketchum and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Docent tours are available on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. in Ketchum. For more information, call 726-9491 or visit sunvalleycenter.org.
?Tunnel? 1995 by Paul Kos. Wood Table, cheese round and toy train with track.
