DECEMBER 08 - In the Aristotelian tradition, art functions as an imitator, showing us what is, what ought to be and what might be.  Though typically imitation in art is couched in the notion of representation, it is the imaginative process of imitation that is communicated tacitly, even

instinctively, through the work in Gian Pierotti’s new show at the Sego Art Center.  Evolved from their earliest stages as formal variations on a Minimal theme, Pierotti’s latest porcelain sculptures encase small polygonal shapes in architectural exoskeletons that may be disassembled and reassembled.  The results are a playful advancement of an archaic process.  The unique forms are deliberately accidental, artificially organic and defy any one direct referent.

Yet the work is both immediately familiar and immensely satisfying.  Fitting together the pieces of one of Pierotti’s works is as gratifying as locking together two Legos or snapping Construx into place.  The toys of childhood are the tools of imaginative imitation, teaching us how to act as adults.  Pierotti’s works, fantastic constructed entities that call upon us as viewers to animate them, remind us to embrace childlike wonder in the gallery.  In the aftermath of Postmodernism, the trend in art has been toward what ought to be – both formally and contextually.  The reward of Pierotti’s work at Sego Art Center this month is that it offers up what art might be.  And what art might be is fun.

Megan Whittaker completed undergraduate work in English at Brigham Young University and later recieved her MA in Art History from the same institution. Her master’s thesis was titled Takashi Murakami: Role-Playing the Artist.  She currently lives in Spanish Fork, Utah with her husband Colin Tuis Nesbit.

CHICKEN, A PROVO STORY - a group installation between Brigham Young University students and Faculty of the Department of Visual Arts

The average American eats 81 lbs. of chicken annually.

If each chicken averages 5 lbs. then we each eat approximately 16.2 chickens annually.

All those numbers add up to .04 chickens eaten daily per person.

Provo has a population of approximately 120,000 people.

At .04 chickens per person daily, approximately 5,326 chickens are eaten daily in Provo.

The group completed 5,326 small paintings that were sold for $1 each. The majority of the proceeds went to the Food and Care Coalition of Provo. Approximately 1,000 paintings were sold throughout the duration of the exhibit.