In a crumbling, long-abandoned building in the desert
of eastern Utah, anonymous artists have created one of the world’s
loneliest art exhibits.
“Thou shalt not bear
false witness. Thou shalt not steal,” is scrawled ominously above a
gutted upholstered chair inside a small building called the White
Buffalo Bar. Cowboy boots, stuck upside down on posts anchored to
the floor, stand in front of small watercolor paintings. Around the
corner, 50 or so black-and-white pictures of the backs of people’s
heads are glued to the wall in a horizontal row. A towering heap of
cinder blocks, springs and glass bottles balances in the middle of
another room, precariously supported by thin anchor wires. A
typewritten note nailed next to the doorway says the exhibit is an
international cooperative project by artists from Utah and Krakow,
Poland.
The exhibit in the White Buffalo Bar
isn’t static. Perhaps the artists return from time to time, or
perhaps others have contributed to the exhibit. The silence of the
desert, the randomness of the location and the anonymity of the
creators increase the power of the art. In a museum or gallery, it
would be another exhibit for people to scrutinize and criticize
while trying to figure out its deeper meaning. Here, it is art for
the sake of art.
The stories of who ate, drank
and lived their lives at the White Buffalo Bar are lost – just as
the White Buffalo Bar itself will soon crumble. The buffalo mural
on its cinder block front is fading, and vandals have destroyed
some of the art inside. But for now, the magic the artists have
created remains.
*Karuna
Eberl
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Lonely Art.
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