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Artwork of the Week

Artwork of the Week: Broward County, Florida

black and white photograph of business cards
Michael A. Smith (1942-2018), "Broward County, Florida," 1989, gelatin silver print, 7 5/8 x 9 5/8 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, gift of Michael and Joani Cannon, 2002.

In this photograph, business cards stapled to a flat surface advertise a dizzying array of services, providing one view of the commercial and community offerings of Broward County, Florida, in 1989: welding, plumbing, painting, roofing, flooring, landscaping, snow removal, submersible pumps, sprinkler systems, ophthalmologists, restaurants, local churches, DJs, trucking companies, shoe stores, fruit and vegetable wholesalers, assisted living facilities, meat and cheese distributors, cleaning services, demolition services, equipment rentals, window lettering, and car repair shops.

One business card appears multiple times; many cards partially cover others; several cards have been torn away, leaving behind only a stapled corner as a remnant. In one hand-written note, a truck driver searches for work. Rust from the staples suggest that this board was perhaps located outside and thus more viewable to passersby. In 1989, Michael A. Smith traveled to Broward County, Florida, to carry out an Art in Public Places commission. As an artist who had already worked extensively across the United States photographing the diner counters and backyards of Toledo, Ohio, and the city roofs and Cajun bakeries of New Orleans, Louisiana, Smith produced many photographs of Broward County that remain startling in their intimacy and immediacy.

For a timeline of Smith’s career, see Michael A. Smith, Michael A. Smith: A Visual Journey: Photographs from Twenty-Five Years (Revere, Pennsylvania: Lodima Press, 1992).

Past Artworks of the Week

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Artwork of the Week: The Blind Man at the Pool of Siloam

September 25, 2023
The Gospel of John contains 7 signs or miracles, and the healing of the blind man at the Pool of Siloam is the 6th.
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Artwork of the Week: Lazy Autumn

September 18, 2023
In 1939, Dixon and his wife built a home in Mt. Carmel, Utah. Here they admired the natural landscape of the area until his death in 1946. This quintessentially Utahn scene portrays Native Americans as part of the natural landscape.
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Artwork of the Week: Sunset, Hudson River

September 11, 2023
As we anticipate the transition from the blistering of summer heat to the crispness of fall, let us celebrate a painting in which the sun itself retreats into the autumn leaves.
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