Thanks for joining us for Road Trip: Landscape Perspectives last Thursday. We hope you enjoyed the show – featuring works by Angie Renfro and Aaron Bushnell.

If you missed the opening, you can still see the show, which will be up until Oct. 15th at Poliform (3016 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT). The works are also all online – there are still pieces available!

Special thanks to Poliform for hosting us in their beautiful showroom – it was the perfect space for this show. Also thanks to Elizabeth Gilman with Fleur de Sel for the culinary delights (as well as to Nancy Larson and Joan Kimball Steed for the tasty desserts) and to Mr. Jesse Walker for providing the great sound for the evening.

If you would like us to email you a price list for the show, please contact us at info@mondofineart.com.

Murakami, with some current work

• Painting and sculpture by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami goes on view today at Versailles in France, a retrospective that has some traditionalists protesting against the colorful, comic-style pieces being shown at such an incongruous location (for the record, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst have exhibited there). With most of his current work being made by assistants, Murakami now claims he will return to hands-on painting. Check out the story at The Art Newspaper.
• This weekend, Copenhagen will host its fifth annual Alternative Art Fair, an artist-organized experience “devoted to uniting and strengthening awareness of the self-organized and non-commercial exhibitions.” Much of the work will be produced on-site, through the duration of the fair. Read more about Alt_Cph at e-flux.
• England’s Lord John Sainsbury has made a donation of £25 million ($38.6 million) to the British Museum, the Daily Telegraph reports. The money will help fund an extension to the museum and preserve rare artifacts in the collection. Sainsbury’s is the biggest donation to the arts in England since Paul Getty gave £50 million to the National Gallery and £40 million to the British Film Institute in 1985. Click here for the full story.

Picasso's "Buste d'Homme a la Pipe" (to be sold), and von Lenkiewicz at work in his studio

• An exhibition of 20th and 21st century art, including four Picassos and an 1875 Cezanne, will be mounted at a London property near Reagent’s Park from October 12-20, in conjunction with the Frieze Art Fair. Around a third of the works on display will be offered for sale (amounting to around £20m), including pieces by Yves Klein, Egon Schiele, and Gerhard Richter. London based artist Wolfe von Lenkiewicz will curate the show, as well as present his own work. Click here to read the full article.

Yoshitomo Nara, "Untitled (1, 2, 3, 4 Man)"

• London’s Tate Modern has lost the financial backing of UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank and one of the museum’s largest sponsors in recent years. The Tate plans to build a $330 million extension, and has thus far raised “roughly half” of the funds. The museum’s director, Nicholas Serota, is confident that the new wing will be built in time for London’s Olympics in 2012. “There are undoubtedly people who have the resources to help us at the level required to complete this project.” Head to ArtForum to learn more.

• For the first time in the history of New York’s Asia Society Museum, the entire gallery space will be devoted to the work of a single contemporary artist for Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool, on view until January 2, 2011. The exhibition will explore the diverse oeuvre of the Neo Pop artist – paintings, drawings, sculpture and installation – with special attention paid to “the relationship of Nara’s art to rock and punk music, which has been an ongoing source of inspiration and prevailing reference point in his work.” Check out e-flux to read more.

Salt Lake City – Mondo Fine Art presents Road Trip: Landscape Perspectives, an exhibition of new works by San Francisco/Chicago artist Angie Renfro and Salt Lake City artist Aaron Bushnell. This show opening will take place on September 23 from 6 pm to 9 pm at Poliform Design Studio (3016 South West Temple). The exhibit will be up through mid October.

Please join us for this special opening night. Enjoy food, drink, music, and of course, the art. Both artists will be present for questions and discussion. The first 20 people will receive a signed copy of this month’s issue of Southwest Art Magazine.

About the Artists

The work of Angie Renfro focuses on oft-overlooked subjects. Her thoughtfully composed, richly layered paintings evoke a feeling of familiarity because the subjects are found on the periphery of every highway drive. Renfro’s new body of work for Mondo Fine Art is a collection of images from meandering road trips across several states. This compelling series of industrial landscapes – comprised of the complicated, heavy structures of factories – are tempered with a delicate sense of loneliness. “By transforming a telephone pole or a rusting factory into a lush, striking landscape, my work seeks to challenge conventional and naturalistic notions of beauty.”

Angie Renfro was named “Artist to Watch” by Southwest Art Magazine in October 2006, was showcased in the August 2008 edition of American Art Collector, and is now again featured in Southwest Art Magazine in this month’s issue, as well as in the upcoming October issue of American Art Collector.

Aaron Bushnell’s most recent paintings concentrate on the anxious energy of the city. “Urban areas create an overwhelming emotion of panic and fear within me. There is simply too much energy and movement in too small a space.” The disquieting character of these scenes is rendered with a playful handling of brushwork; at times childlike and explorative, at other times, well structured. His technique reveals certain color-field and abstract expressionist influences, combining a gentle attention to detail with “something like an attack… with oil paint. I find a selfish amusement in toying with that juxtaposition.” Aaron Bushnell was featured in the December 2009 issue of American Art Collector.

Special thanks to our host, Poliform SLC, for letting us use their beautiful space for this show.

We hope to see you there!