September 23, 2015

Transcendence:

Abstraction & Symbolism in the American West

September 23, 2015 - December 10, 2016

Over the last century the American West has provided fertile ground for an extraordinary range of creative response and expression by both the indigenous and non-indigenous people who inhabit it. From the pioneers seeking new opportunities to the artists lured by Native American traditions accompanied by expansive landscapes, the West has become a symbol for endless possibility, for lawlessness, and for challenging European artistic tradition. These artists have led the way in challenging the tenets of modern and contemporary art through their exploration of material and subject matter.

Transcendence surveys a range of artists from the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (NEHMA) collection who have employed abstraction and symbolism to convey their experiences and interpretations of the American West. Comprised of works made by both European descendants and artists indigenous to the region, this exhibition focuses on exchanges between cultural traditions and challenges us to reconsider our perceptions about what defines art of the American West.

Broadly defined as the region west of the Mississippi River, geographically the American West ranges from snow-capped mountains and vast desert areas both flat and mountainous, to where the land meets the Pacific Ocean. The variety of art created in the West parallels its diverse landscape as well as the people who inhabit it.

Perspectives on the American West, including its cultural traditions, are always changing and shifting. To concisely define the ‘West’ or its artistic output is aneffort in futility. Some of these artists have been influenced by European art, but they have also sought to define themselves and their art in response to a different world. This is a world that includes Navajos, Pueblos, Hopi, pioneers, Mexicans, farmers, Buddhists, Theosophists, Hollywood, and Disneyworld.

Abstraction and symbolism are not new techniques introduced in the modern era. Artists have incorporated abstraction and symbolism to convey a visual narrative for thousands of years. Transcendence explores how these techniques are applied in response to observing and living in the American West, telling a unique story about the American experience.

Katie Lee Koven, Curator