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Jackson Hole News and Guide

By Tibby Plasse

Gallery owner Mariam Diehl said the 2024 “Fête” is an “astounding” show of new works by 19 artists. With 92 pieces in the exhibit, this year’s event also will christen the gallery’s new space on King Street. 

After 15 years on Broadway, Diehl said, it is refreshing to install an exhibition in the new location. The gallery at 30 South King has five rooms, she said, which allows her to “space out different artists and genres and give each the breathing room needed, so nothing feels cramped.” 

The group exhibition is a Diehl tradition and a way to kick off the July 4 weekend and summer art season in Jackson Hole, with a big turnout and live music. It celebrates the gallery’s 20th anniversary.

 “This is my favorite show of the year,” Diehl said. “In part, because it was the first show I created as owner of the gallery in 2005, after acting as director for three years. It was created as a party — a celebration of my new ownership and a welcome to our friends, collectors and visitors.” 

She said it’s also a way for the gallery to bring in new work from its artist roster, although it can be a “challenge to curate,” Diehl said.

 “Unlike a one- or two-artist exhibition, melding the artwork of so many artists, working in many mediums and styles, is no easy task,” she said. “We want the gallery to feel cohesive, not like a garage sale, and to achieve that involves examining the work we want to hang, what works may speak to each other without silencing or obscuring each other, and of course how to best highlight each piece to its best potential.” 

Diehl said she’s excited to receive her first piece of art by Jeremy Houghton featuring an indigenous animal. Houghton is known for his birds and use of negative space. She saw a recent painting he did of a longhorn bull and admired it. 

“While we don’t customarily feature traditional animal art, this piece is quite contemporary and fits perfectly with the gallery’s aesthetic,” she said. 

Other highlights include New York artist Takefumi Hori’s newest landscape series, which is a significant departure from his recent work. Diehl said the series is based on his travels to and from Tokyo, where he was born and raised. 

Every time he’s in Tokyo, he misses New York and thinks of all the little things he loves about the city, she said. Similarly, when home in New York, he misses and recalls friends and family in Tokyo. For Hori, “the sky is always connected,” Diehl said. The landscape series is “his attempt to express that feeling of connectedness between the two places.”

 Hori photographs the sky and notes the time he captured the image. Once he has completed turning it into a painting, he writes the time he took the photo on the back of the canvas. The works are “breathtaking and ethereal,” Diehl said. “They translate into a visceral sense of calm.”

The gallery owner said the breadth of the show is vast, but there is a recognizable thread of cohesion through the juxtaposition of Jason Rohlf’s abstracts or Hunt Slonem’s observations. 

Artists Daniel Adel and Donald Martiny, who have an upcoming show together, are both inspired by music. 

“That inspiration comes through in their work,” she said. “There’s that thread that ties them together, even though their works are visually quite different.” 

Diehl exhibits always have a nonprofit beneficiary, and for this year’s Fete’s that will be Jackson Hole Land Trust. 

“Their longstanding efforts to preserve Jackson have always been of paramount importance. But right now, this feels like a concerning point for us, with so much development on the table,” Diehl said. 

Chanman Roots Band will kick off the opening party at 5 p.m. Friday