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On your way from the Salt Lake City airport to Park City, Utah, consider taking a detour to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.  A whole host of upcoming exhibitions make this one of the best destinations in the city.  Over the next few months, you’ll see work by Pablo O’Higgens, Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, and Adriana Lara.

The late artist O’Higgens show is titled, Pablo O’Higgens: Works on Paper, and begins February 18th, running through September 19th. These are lithographs which depict the working class in a time of revolution in Mexico.  While celebrated in Mexico, O’Higgens, is barely known in Utah, which happens to be his home state.  It reminds me of the saying that almost no one becomes famous in his home town.  It seems you have to travel to be appreciated.

Rufino Tamayo and Diego Rivera are just two of the artists exhibited in the upcoming Las Artes de Mexico: From the Collection of the Gilcrease Museum.  This program, running in May through September, depicts Mexican art and culture, examining the work of Aztecs and Mayans from ancient times to the twentieth century.  You’ll find everything here from objects from the Mesoamerica (which was the pre-Conquest period of Mexico), as well as modern artists mentioned above.

Continuing the Mexican theme, also in May through September, the museum begins a series of semi-annual exhibits titled, Salt.  The intention is to present work by new international, modern artists.  The program beings with Adriana Lara, who is a resident of Mexico City.  She works with a broad range of media and forms, such as videos and sculptures.

If you like the museum enough, you may want to stay a few days in Salt Lake, check into one of the hotels, and see what else the city offers.  If you prefer skis to museums, though, there’s always Park City.