Under Construction

We are proud to present the captivating historical images of Lewis Baltz’s Park City series alongside the work of contemporary artist Rodrigo Valenzuela, who explores issues of labor, alienation, and displacement.

Throughout the 1970s, Lewis Baltz captured the changing landscape he observed throughout different parts of the American West. Kimball Art Center will present the captivating historical images of Lewis Baltz (1945-2014) from his celebrated Park City (1980) series, comprised of 102 photographs taken from 1978 to 1979 in a then-developing section of the city. This series has long been considered one of the central portfolios in Baltz’s groundbreaking career and highlights in documentary fashion the rapid building that was taking place during this Park City’s reinvention as a ski resort town.

Complementing these captivating historical images will be photographs and installations by contemporary artist Rodrigo Valenzuela (b. 1982, Chile) who, taking inspiration from Baltz‘s work, similarly captures our built landscape while also exploring issues of labor, alienation, and displacement. In his works American Type and Hedonic Reversal, Valenzuela directly responds to Baltz’s stark images of housing and commercial developments. Building three-dimensional assemblages with two-by-fours and other raw materials in his studio and then photographing them, Valenzuela highlights the labor inherent in constructing our cities and the undocumented labor force that is often relegated to the shadows in our society.