May @ BDAC: Society Examined Through Pony Beads & Racist Americana; Sci-Fi Sculpture; Surrealist Artist Recluse
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Bountiful Davis Art Center opens May 18 with six new exhibitions featuring nationally-renowned artists and new local works. Of special interest is Texas-Utah transplant Leslie D. Pippen. Pippen relocated to Utah after taking a job as a flight attendant to better understand human nature post-9/11. As a black man, Pippen is acutely aware of societal structures, which he navigates using material such as pony beads and symbols from the Americana he collects. BDAC is also ecstatic to share rarely-seen surreal masterworks by Charles Lassiter, a mysterious artist whose severe agoraphobia forced him to hide in his apartment for his final years of life.​​​​​
Main Gallery:
Oonju Chun, “Made in Heart,” oil on canvas, 70” x 56” 2014; Charles Lassiter, “Concierge,” mixed media on paper, 80 x 55 cm, 1985; John Mack, “POD 1051882” (detail), steel, 6' x 28" diameter, 2018
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Oonju Chun: Ignition www.bdac.org/oonju-chun
Charles Keeling Lassiter: An Outsider Looking Inward www.bdac.org/charles-lassiter
John Mack: The Heritage of Mankind www.bdac.org/john-mack
Abstract and fluttering, the paintings of Oonju Chun feel at once fresh and imbued with the spirit of 1930s masters. This makes this living, Utah artist’s work resonate with the lively, surreal figurative paintings by deceased reclusive artistic genius Charles Lassiter. Lassiter’s art has been exhibited and collected by the MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Yale, and the Carnegie. However, due to his extreme agoraphobia, Lassiter struggled to build art world relationships crucial for exhibiting his art while he was alive. BDAC is thrilled to be able to share his gifts after his death.
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In an all-new body of work, John Mack’s exquisitely crafted, curious sculptures connect ideas of what is known and what we have yet to discover. Drawing inspiration from science-fiction and contemporary mythologies, he creates fantastic organisms and impossible vessels for fictitious voyages, along with objects evoking bizarre future technologies.
Annex Gallery:
Leslie D. Pippen, "Panopticon," mixed media on canvas with metal, 40” x 30” 2017; Detail of Leslie D. Pippen, "Panopticon," mixed media on canvas with metal, 40” x 30” 2017; Leslie D. Pippen,
“Head in Snow," mixed media on wood, 36” x 48” 2018
Leslie D. Pippen: Choose to See a Car Accident, Snake or Owl
www.bdac.org/leslie-pippen
Known for paintings and drawings about vital forces that hold human structures together, Leslie D. Pippen is a collector of Americana. He even tattooed the racist mascot of Utah’s Coon-Chicken Inn on his right arm. Recently he began encrusting surfaces of objects and paintings with transparent pony beads, the kind you see braided into little girls’ hair. Says Pippen, “Plastic is the material of modern mechanical reproduction and the legacy of human distancing from nature. It is quite possibly the residue of a creature that has outgrown its incubator and exhausted the yolk.”
Underground Gallery:
Havoc Hendricks, “Multi-Layered Mountain Range” acrylic, 48" x 24” 2017; Amy Fairchild, “Untitled 0216PCUT0551,” metal, 36” x 24” 2016
Havoc Hendricks: Moons & Mountains www.bdac.org/havoc-hendricks
Amy Fairchild: Color My World www.bdac.org/amy-fairchild
Havoc Hendricks and Amy Fairchild draw inspiration from the landscape and heavens. A self-taught artist, Hendricks spent many years studying the natural line patterns found in water, mountain strata, geodes, rock veins, and cloud patterns. He transcribes these into his minimalist works. Photographer Amy Fairchild blurs and abstracts Utah landscapes into colorful minimalist prints that share as much with the traditions of painting as photography.
Exhibitions on view: May 18 – June 22, 2018
Opening Reception: May 18 6 -8 PM
Bountiful Davis Art Center, 90 N Main St. Bountiful, UT
Gallery Hours: Tues - Fri: 10 AM - 6 PM, Sat: noon - 5 PM
Contact:
Cara Krebs, BDAC Director of Marketing and Exhibitions
1.801.295.3618