154 Nevermore

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

By Judd Grossman

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Being a suburban kid from Minnesota I could never figure out how bullet holes get into roadside signs in Wyoming. When can you shoot a gun in daylight in such a conspicuous and dangerous place right next to a public highway?

This apparently spontaneous Western art form of using firearms to modify found roadside objects always made me feel like I was in a wild and dangerous and foreign place. It’s a rural style of marking territory that evokes a fierce independence and rejection of authority somewhere between John Wayne and Deliverance, not unlike gang graffiti in the big city, and perhaps no less sinister. 

I’ve been contemplating public art lately as I drive by the Puzzleface Ranch and wince when I see the cut-out animals on the fence posts, placed by the “Wonder of Winter Wildlife” project. I can appreciate and admire project leader Bland Hoke, Jr.’s energy and enthusiasm for getting kids involved in public art, but I can’t help but ponder how far Jackson Hole has come since a similar art installation on the same stretch of highway took me by surprise on a sunny spring morning in the early 1980’s.

Thom Ross was the artist; the title: “154 Nevermore”. It was Pole, Peddle, Paddle, April, 1983; I remember the shock as I came around Skyline curve driving north on Hwy. 22, and I saw a black bird perched on every fence post of the ranch (then known as the Snyder Ranch) lining the highway. It took me a few seconds to realize that those ravens were not in fact alive, but were realistic silhouettes cut from plywood and painted black. I was impressed by the power and poetry of this work of guerrilla art that had been secretly installed in the early morning hours.

Tweaking this beautiful stretch of Jackson Hole Highway in such a subtle way was both a practical joke, and an artistic event that made a lasting impression on me.  
Hoke may be discovering that Ross’ ingenious installation is a hard act to follow. In a valley where residents and visitors cherish our big sweeping Teton views, you have to be careful what you decide to interject into that viewscape.

Placing art in the midst of iconic Jackson Hole vistas is bit like going to a concert at Lincoln Center and singing along with the New York Philharmonic – you’d better be Pavarotti. In general, public art is less risky, and has a better chance of success when it’s used to humanize an urban landscape, or in the case of John Simms’ elegant geometrical buffalo sculptures on Hwy. 390 across from Teton Pines - a suburban landscape.

Is it just me, or do these new silhouettes look like targets in a shooting range? I’m not advocating the illegal discharge of firearms, but I thought this was Wyoming.  Why aren’t those cute cuddly bunnies full of bullet holes? Maybe the subtext of this new installation is a wry commentary on the gentrification of Jackson Hole. Just like Ross’ ravens commented on an indigenous inhabitant of the valley and it’s odd habits, perhaps “Wonder of Winter Wildlife” is indirectly referring to the original redneck performance art of turning every rural roadside sign into a sieve courtesy of Smith and Wesson, a folk art now apparently lost in Jackson Hole.

Now that our valley has become the kind of place where cute cartoon animal cut-outs are safe to wander by our roadsides at anytime of the day or night, I must sadly admit that Jackson Hole has finally left Wyoming for good.  We might as well secede right now and join up with New Jersey. Thirty years ago those cute little painted animals currently on display would have been afraid, very afraid, but now, alas, they perch in blissful serenity as I pass by unarmed and in a dark humor. PJH
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154 Nevermore | Planet JH News Article: Right Wing Local

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