The Five Outer Planets At S.L. Art Center

Robert Taplin's "The Five Outer Planets" is an installation in which the Planets are envisioned as massive, internally illuminated figures suspended in a darkened gallery space. The structure of the piece was arrived at by crossbreeding the physical characteristics of the outer planets (size, rotation, distance from the sun etc.) with the mythological characteristics implied by their names. Each figure is doubled, i.e. cast twice, once in translucent fiberglass and once in opaque gypsum. These mirroring pairs are set into spinning, tumbling configurations that both mimic the actual rotations of the planets and tell the tale in an understated way. The only light in the gallery comes from the internal illumination of the fiberglass casts. "Jupiter" is over eleven feet tall, standing on a low base; the other four pairs are suspended. “Pluto”, the smallest, will be very distant and only two and a half feet tall. I highly recommend seeing this exhibit which is on display through Dec. 30 at the Salt Lake Art Center, 20 S. West Temple. Admission is always FREE. For more information, call 801-328-4201.