Show S Stellar tellar sculptures orbit Salt Lake Art Center Stacie Slade Peart Pearl one doubles in in plaster planet Arts Editor The debate over Plutos Pluto's planetary status came to decision this year with the announcement that the small heliocentric orb should not be included along with the theother theother theother other eight planets But the newly demoted globe can still be seen by astronomy buffs and art enthusiasts as one of the Outer Planets at the Salt Lake Arts Center that resides next to the Salt Palace The downtown arts venue is currently displaying The Five Outer Planets This intriguing exhibit from visual artist Robert Taplin depicts his interpretation of Pluto and the four other spheres located beyond our solar systems system's asteroid belt Instead of constructing a science project Taplin assembled a creative sculpture set of male nudes that represent Sent Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune and Pluto planets which he envisions not as a heavenly bodies but as middle-aged middle mortals not f unlike himself are arc cast as r the other in translucent fiberglass resin stated curator Nina Felshin in ina a companion book for the exhibit These Five Outer Planets reside in a darkened gallery at the arts center The fiberglass sculpture is lit from within creating a soft glow and the main light source for the exhibit Felshin also stated that In mythological terms the five outer planets form fonn a line of succession with Jupiter as the current head of the family Saturn as his father Uranus as his grandfather and Neptune and Pluto as his brothers Taplin's exhibit is arranged using mythology allowing visitors to be first greeted by Jupiter the head of the family The Five Outer Planets also uses astronomy to arrange the pieces in order of their distance from the sun Their order might seem like the only similarity the exhibit has to our solar system But The Five Outer Planets illuminate according to how much light reaches the actual planets and one ex- ex ex- ex t. t t tu- tu tui i J The size of the individual pieces also models the five rotating spheres Jupiter and Saturn are double life- life size Uranus and Neptune resemble approximately the sized average-sized male and Pluto is smaller than life- life size sIze While the actual version of The Five Outer Planets dominates the gallery Taplin's five works of art began at only two feet high Taplin created his model for the exhibit in 2000 using plaster rice paper paper and lights The final version of The Five Outer Planets began in 2001 with Jupiter using reinforced gypsum and fiberglass The remaining four were finished in 2004 As the largest piece of the exhibit Jupiter stands almost 12 feet and is the only piece fixed to a platform Saturn hangs from wires with arms anus behind his back Uranus is the only piece that seems circular with the two sculptures in inthe inthe inthe the fetal position facing Artist Space Cont Continued on Page 3 t t. t A Artist st space Continued from Page 1 one another Neptune like Saturn is suspended from the ceiling but the position gives the piece a youthful quality Pluto is squatting The fiberglass Pluto stands directly over the plaster Pluto with his feet and fingers coming together almost as if hes he's ready to dive into a pool The fiberglass and plaster of Plutos Pluto's fingers and toes lightly touch The Five Outer Planets will be at the Salt Lake Art Center until Dec 30 I |