Kimball Art Center inspires curiosity and reimagining nature in new exhibitions

Jennifer Angus, Eat Me, Drink Me (detail), 2022. Site-specific mixed-media installation Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Kimball Art Center. Photo: Amelia O’Neill.

PARK CITY, Utah — The Kimball Art Center opened two new exhibitions on Friday. The artist of Eat Me, Drink Me exhibition, Jennifer Angus, was in attendance. The second exhibition, Wonderland, is a collaboration by artists David Altmejd, Uta Bekaia, Yasue Maetake, and Catalina Oyang.

Angus’s Eat Me, Drink Me exhibition is an installation meant to inspire an unabashed sense of wonder in the viewer. The installation is created from the use of insects and other wildlife in various ways that help bring forth a childlike curiosity of the viewer while bringing forth questions about the relationship between humans and the natural world.

“When viewers enter one of my installations, they are greeted with something they think they know: that is, a patterned wallpaper which could be in anyone’s home,” explains Jennifer Angus. “However upon closer examination, one discovers that it is entirely made up of insects.”

Wonderland is a contemporary sculptural and installation-based work that explores transformation, metamorphosis, and regeneration by reimagining human and animal forms. The installation was created from a variety of metaphorically rich materials that blur the line between interior and exterior, surface and structure, as well as representation and abstraction. The other-worldliness feel for the works produces a disconcerting dream-like landscape that invites reflection on traits of the contemporary condition.

“Together, these five artists reference a state of transformation, of becoming, or of non-resolution with a deep intention in the material and process used,” shares Kimball Art Center Curator Nancy Stoaks. Visitors will feel the tension between the familiar and the strange, between seduction and repulsion, and between dream-like states.

The two exhibitions will run from August 26 to November 27. There will be additional programs accompanying the exhibitions in the form of art talks, lectures, book discussions, and others over the coming weeks.