Locals Only Gallery features Salt Lake talent

Salt Lake Art Center is pleased to announce Jared Clark as the exhibiting artist for the launch of its newest program offering the “Locals Only Gallery.”  A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, local artist Clark will install a new work from his “Bild” series, which employs scavenged materials to create site-specific sculptures.

The title of his series references both imagery and construction, as it is the German word for a painting as well as a homophone for “build”. Clark’s piece is a monumental installation composed of urban and domestic objects which takes as its springboard the tenets of minimalist primary sculptural forms; including a confrontation with the viewer in real space which demands consideration of its relationship to the scale of the human body.

“While the Bild is clearly a sculptural installation, it poses itself with a flat rectangular side which begs to be read as a painting, while the backside of the Bild betrays its nature as sculpture with variegated lengths of objects protruding in an almost violent way that contrasts the orderly and serene composition of the front,” Clark said of his work.

Salt Lake Art Center Chief Curator Micol Hebron is excited to introduce the Locals Only Gallery with a display from Clark. “His work is conceptual, formal, site-specific, and rigorous in its vision and scope,” Hebron said. “He is using specific detritus from the streets of Salt Lake City to build a piece that engages in universal dialogues of painting and sculpture simultaneously-it’s really quite smart.”

Locals Only Gallery is Salt Lake Art Center’s newest initiative to promote local artists as they engage the contemporary art world. Selected solely from proposals submitted by Utah artists, the L.O.G. will provide those artists with a professional exhibition environment, prominent exposure to Art Center visitors, and through the art center’s increasing national ties, the possibility of greater exposure around the country. 

Submissions for Round 2 of Locals Only Gallery are now being accepted through October 14 for an exhibition from January 6 through April 21, 2012. Applicants for the Locals Only Gallery should have a clear proposal for a compelling and feasible contemporary project that will fit appropriately in the space of the gallery. Artists may propose an exhibition of their own work, or a curated exhibition of artists living in Utah.  The Art Center welcomes proposals for all formats of artwork –from site-specific, multi-media, or performative projects, to photography, painting, drawing, video, sound, and sculpture.  Visit www.slartcenter.org for details.