Artist Profile: Salt Lake
Joie de Vivre
The Life and Art of Emmanuel Makonga
Emmanuel Makonga, whose paintings of village life in the Congo are now on view at Art Access Gallery, has lived a turbulent life. A Congolese comic book artist and political cartoonist, he knows well the struggle for democracy, has survived terror to challenge repression, has fought to conquer injustice and reached out to the world to plead for preservation of the environment. This type of activism in one of the most violent countries of Africa was not easy and led to an exile that eventually brought Makonga to the United States. His quiet and idyllic watercolors on exhibit at Art Access may seem a far cry from the political satire that took on one of the world's bloodiest dictators, but they are still part of this artist's interest in social concerns. Makonga, in his soft-spoken voice, conveys his faith in his country, saying that "When people think of Africa they think of only war and disease and poverty, but we have something to give and to teach people. When you go to the village you find only peace."
Art Events: Salt Lake City
Process Makes Perfect
Layers of collaboration in Brolly Arts' H2O
Notions of the artist as informer or even activist are hardly new to contemporary practices, beginning with Conceptual art in the mid-1960s and carried forward through work meant to critique institutions, further commitments to feminism, and raise awareness of AIDS, among many other objectives. In more recent practices, these notions have become ever more convoluted as distinctions between expression and information have blurred, thus leaving the viewer in a more uncertain—but potentially more engrossed—state. Such a lengthy run-up is needed to provide a context for H2O, a series of collaborative, multimedia events taking place in Salt Lake City during the first week of May in recognition of Utah's Water Week. For it is the de-centered and nearly unwieldy nature of these events that makes them, collectively, such an appropriate meditation on a complex theme.
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Exhibition Review: Salt Lake City
Self-evident Truths
César Chávez exhibit at Mestizo
by Geoff Wichert
Certain trade-offs seem unavoidable. Taking time off from work yields more free time, but what good is time without money? A new car rarely needs to see a mechanic, but instead of repair bills there's a monthly payment to the bank. The encounter with art is an intimate and personal experience, but except for wealthy collectors it's likely to happen in a large, usually alienating museum gallery, often elbow-to-elbow with a pressing, rushing crowd, and requires that killer of all romance: the fee paid up front. For those into contemporary art—the ebb and flow of experimental efforts by the artists of their own time—the commercial gallery is an accessible alternative, but still not without problems. Most galleries are businesses, and as such have their own priorities that may conflict with the viewer's. The roles of host and guest are rarely clear up front.
Enter the public art space. Designed to cater to the amateur's desire for the intrinsic experience of a work of art, rather than the professional's interest in extrinsic qualities, public galleries come in many forms. There's the non-commercial, publicly funded institution, like Salt Lake's Art Center or Ephraim's CUAC. Some corporate offices and doctor's suites display collections that would have done a Renaissance palace proud. And then there's Mestizo: a community center with ambitions to forge alliances between scattered and often disenfranchised individuals, a coffee shop with principles, and an art gallery built on the belief that all art is created equal.
For a few more weeks, Mestizo's gallery is featuring a multipart exhibition honoring César Chávez. Participants include photographer Georgina Alvarez-Gutièrrez and painters Jose Carrasco, Brittney Flores, David Maestas, and Veronica Perez; but what transforms a small show into an event equal to the task of honoring Chávez is the involvement of several hundred participants of a recent Salt Lake City public school program to recall and celebrate him.
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