Mormon Artists Group

Mormon Artists Group Press is pleased to announce the publication of a limited edition print by Kent Christensen

Salt Water Jetty

A new body of work by Kent Christensen depicts in paintings and drawings a world of sugary riches–candy corn, toffee, a chocolate bunny, French macaroons, a Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut, Scottish shortbread, a scoop of gelato, Twinkies, ribbon candy, Hershey’s kisses. Lurking beneath the shiny surfaces, however, is a witty and wise exploration of art history, social satire, and cultural politics. At our invitation, Christensen has created an etching that further explores those themes. It is a picture, to describe it very simply, of salt water taffy in the shape of a spiral.

There is an autobiographical element to the print. “I remember walking down Main Street between sessions of conference in the ’60s,” Christensen says, recalling the annual trips he made with his family from Southern California to Utah, “and being fascinated by the taffy machines twisting away in several storefront windows. I honestly thought, at age eight or ten, that salt-water taffy was a product of the Great Salt Lake.”

The etching, Salt Water Jetty, is informed by Utah’s greatest contemporary artwork, Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson, the monumental earth-sculpture of basalt that spirals into the Great Salt Lake. 6,550 tons of rock and earth were used to create the 15 foot wide, 1,500 foot coil that is visible only when the levels of the lake are low. Its construction was completed in six days in 1970. The work has additional resonance for Christensen, whose ancestors onced lived near the same site, within view of the lake’s northern shore.

But what has candy got to do with it? On a formal level, all of Christensen’s new works owe a debt to the still life painting tradition of the great European masters. Some of Christensen’s surfaces are as richly glazed as a Caravaggio. The subject matter suggests a certain playfulness and a wry sense of humor. Although the works share with Pop Art an idealization of consumer products, Christensen distances himself from the emotional detachment of Warhol and others of his generation, their Campbell Soup cans, comic books, and containers of Spam.

There may be satire in the paintings, wordplay, hidden symbols, and a healthy teasing of American food culture (which seems fair since Americans eat, on average, 158 pounds of processed sugars annually), but the artist is not dispassionate or dismissive about his subject: “Our love of certain foods is really an association with people, place and time. It’s personal spirituality wrapped up in human intimacy.”

In his interviews with the press, the artist has identified some of his imagery: there is the Mormon mocha that he and his wife Janet have sipped throughout their twentythree-year marriage; the chocolate Easter bunnies that Kent stole from the Easter baskets of his children Anne and Jane; the candy his parents bought for him at the Idle Isle during their summers in Brigham City; the Jacques Torres confections that he brings back with him from New York to his studio in Sundance, etc.

Viewers react to the paintings strongly and with surprise. Candy triggers memories, a la Proust. Still it is curious, when one looks at the images, how speedily they elicit precise emotional associations. Which brings us back to Salt Water Jetty. It is the first print to emerge from Christensen’s series, High (Calorie) Art, the title of the exhibition of the paintings that debuted in 2005 at an exhibition in Salt Lake City. A brief description
of the paintings follows, written by playwright, Tim Slover.

High (Calorie) Art by Tim Slover

High (Calorie) Art is a suite of ravishing paintings by Kent Christensen on the subject of sugar. Twinkies and chocolates, cakes and salt water taffy, naked caramels and curvaceous ribbon candy–some arranged into a seductive nutrition pyramid–all beckon the viewer into glucose delirium. They possess gorgeous color saturation and some a high-gloss sheen, an homage to early European still life paintings. Seen in one light,
the subject matter is trivial, and the viewer could be forgiven for thinking the painter’s intention is to elevate the empty calorie ironically, in the mode of 20th Century Pop Art.

There is even trompe l’oiel effect in some of the paintings–Rodin’s The Kiss wryly appears in distorted fashion across the bottom of a painting of a Hershey’s kiss. But look again. These are the foods of family occasions, of friends gathering and good times. Exquisitely rendered in arresting detail, they ask the viewer to pay attention and due respect. These paintings are about love.

The Print

Salt Water Jetty is an intaglio copperplate etching over an eight-color monotype. Its dimensions are 17.25″ x 17.5″ (image size: 12.75″ x 13″). It is printed on Somerset Velvet paper mouldmade in England. The price of the print is $300.

The Artist

An exhibition of Kent Christensen’s series of paintings High (Calorie) Art has been shown at the University of Utah, Alta Club, and at the Sundance Screening Room Gallery. His earlier work has appeared in Time, BusinessWeek, Sports Illustrated, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chicago Tribune. He lives in New York, New York and Sundance, Utah.

Ordering

Salt Water Jetty is published in an edition of twenty-five prints for sale plus three artist’s proofs and three publisher’s proofs, numbered and signed by the artist. Orders may be placed by phone or online.

For additional information regarding the print, including an interest-free installment plan, contact the director of Mormon Artists Group, Glen Nelson, at 212.586.7826 or via email at mgknelson@aol.com.

Salt Water Jetty is our ninth publication.