The wacky world of Whitney Maxson; modernizing the cowboy; backpacking, nature and photography

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

By Kate Balog

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-A written explanation of Whitney Maxson’s new show “Eat This” might confuse people. It would be easy to oversimplify or misinterpret her intent. To start, she is an animal lover and an artist who produces digital collages that pair portraits of Victorians with their half pet, half farm animal companions, which she calls “animal hybrid pet meals.” Imagine Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” and replace the man with a friendly looking farm animal and then you will have a better understanding of Maxson’s “W Series.”

“It’s about the difference between pets and our confined meat machines,” Maxson explained. “Our denial about the true meaning of factory farming has been a long drawn out blitzkrieg on the planet. I’m so emotionally engaged with my dog. [The show] is about our blasé relationship to animals and addresses the question, is there a difference between pets and what we eat from factory farms?”

Equally as fantastic and absurd are her “F Series” pieces that portray political luminaries - such as Mark Foley naked in a tiara and black dress socks. The third part of her show is her self-portraits, each assembled with a different head.

To create her collages, she took thousands of photos of animals and workers at state fairs (from the folks who sell sausages, to be specific). She combines these personal photos with images from the net and then assembles the montage in Photoshop.
Remarkably, Maxson’s history is just as interesting as her creations. She recently moved to Driggs after being recruited as a snowboard instructor. But she has lived in Connecticut, Upstate New York, Washington, D.C., Denver and Miami.

She attended film school at CU Boulder and designed sets in Hollywood for three years for movies, music videos, soft-core porn and a show called the Chimp Channel on which chimpanzees reenacted TV shows like “Bewitched.” The odd jobs aside, she has been a self-taught artist her entire life, ever since she penned her “version of Naked Town on her mother’s file cabinet” in permanent marker.

This description could not possibly do her surreal and spooky images justice. See them for yourself. The reception for the artist is from 6-8 p.m. today at Miso Hungry at 165 S. Main St. in Driggs. Indian Food, Light appetizers and beverages will be served.

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The traditional west and contemporary genres are well established and identified. But what exactly is the New West genre? Artist Carrie Fell helps define the term in her new show at Mountain Trails Gallery, “Artist Focus - New Work.”

Fell takes old west icons like cowboys, Native American people, horses, tepees, and old west cowboy bars, then abstracts the forms and introduces an unexpected palette of pinks, purples, taupes and lime greens. The result is a younger, energetic, almost feminine old west world that only alludes to the cowboy life.

Fell works in acrylic, oil, and mixed media images on paper and canvas, and pen and ink in Caran D’ache neocolor. Her fine art career began in Littleton, Colo., in 1985.
Beyond the usual gallery shows in Colorado, Texas, and Montana, Fell enjoys working with students, incorporating a curriculum she has designed through her “Significance of Self Program of the Arts for Children.” She has recently expanded her program outside of Colorado to schools in Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Fell’s exhibition begins Thursday at Mountain Trails Gallery, 150 N. Center St., and will hang until the end of the month. Call 734-8150.

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Although there is an abundance of professional landscape and wilderness photography in Jackson, most of it remains unattainable to the public. Hans Berg’s limited edition prints, however, which are currently on display at the Hard Drive Café, make a profound statement with an affordable price tag - and framing is unnecessary. For the show, he experimented with stretching the prints on canvas, which achieves a finished and painterly effect.

Berg’s photographs were taken from wilderness scenes encountered while backpacking and are intended to share the beauty of the backcountry. In 2005, Berg and his girlfriend hiked the 2650 mile trail called the Pacific Crest Trail from its start in Campo, Calif., to the end in Manning Park, B.C. Only six to seven miles of this trail were paved.

“It’s an amazing piece of American infrastructure,” Berg said. “It’s well-maintained, well-built and easy to travel, and possibly more scenic than the Continental Divide.” The two spent six months on the trail. The photographs “are integrative with backpacking,” Berg said. “Being immersed 10-20 miles out there for several days, the images became more available to me - more so then getting in my car and driving to get a shot.”

Some of the images are water shots, some are abstract forms of natural phenomenon that show interesting and often overlooked details, and one is of the Grand Teton. Berg hopes his images and other people’s wilderness photographs will serve as historical documents that will teach future generations about the state of our natural world today.
Originally from Michigan, Berg lived in Boulder for six years before hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and then moving to Jackson. He’s been a photographer for 15 years. This show at the Hard Drive at 1110 Maple Way is his second public display.

Courtesy Carrie Fell
“Modern Day Mavericks” by Carrie Fell, Mountain Trails Gallery,60 X 84, acrylic oil.

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The wacky world of Whitney Maxson; modernizing the cowboy; backpacking, nature and photography | Planet JH News Article: Arts Beat

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