Ehren Clark studied art history at both the University of Utah and the University of Reading in the UK. For a decade he lived in Salt Lake City and worked as a professional writer until his untimely death in 2017.
an excerpt from the Paris episode of Canvasing the World How does a viewer come to connect with the painting on the museum wall, with its evocation of the past, present and future, as well as the hand that made it? How does the artist discover inspiration, connecting […]
“Rajkumar College” by James Mollison In the late 1980s and 1990s, what has become known as “politically correct” became culturally ubiquitous. United Colors of Benetton, the Italian-based brand that embraced multiculturalism with its advertising campaigns featuring models from around the world, was at the forefront of this cultural […]
“Jackson Lake at Twilight” by George Beard, Courtesy of L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University. The LDS culture places a strong emphasis on family history, encouraging its members to research genealogical data as well as preserve the stories of family members. In this cultural endeavor, a […]
At a private event in his Woodland Hills home this past month, J. Kirk Richards unveiled his newest body of art, including 2-D and 3-D work, further establishing his reputation as an impressive artist able to create works that speak both to a local, religious audience as well […]
From mysterious murals deep inside Paleolithic caves, to movable adornment for Renaissance merchants, art is something malleable, reflective of the space and time in which it exists. Art was one thing when it was made for the magnificent churches of Venice, like San Marco and San Lorenzo, and […]
The six prominent Utah artists now on exhibit in the Springville Museum of Art’s (SMOFA) Here, There, and Everywhere have each developed a personal style that is immediately recognizable as well as adept at evoking a sense of place. The exhibit is an examination of how ”spaces” become ”places,“ the […]
When ancient Greek city-states vied against each other, not in ruthless combat but in the more civilized arena we now call the Olympics, they were transforming the frequently violent but seemingly ever-present desire for conflict into a ritualized and artistic form of competition. Foremost among these was the […]
With Randee Levine it is hard to tell what comes first, philosophy or art. Levine’s art is an extension of herself, a physical manifestation of the psychological process and understanding that has brought meaning and awareness to her personal life, and has become central to her professional life […]
Efflorescent Interference, Sarina Villareal’s current exhibit at the Gallery at Library Square, explores the fine balance between the control one has over one’s life and those things out of one’s control, between what can be gained and what can be lost by life in the world. With paintings […]
In today’s heterogeneous world of art, there are, generally speaking, two fundamental vehicles for connecting with a work: the emotional and the conceptual. The two create structures of meaning and the basis for fundamental interpretation. As the viewer comes to understand a work, an emotional response is as […]
Paper airplanes are a recurring motif in Kendra Fehr’s current show at Art Access Gallery: lying in a farm field a woman reaches her hand out toward a white paper airplane that sails away toward a stormy sky; a woman dances on an expansive ground, holding strings that […]
A tree, with its trunk and ever-expanding branches, is composed of lines, but there is no regularity to them: they are a natural system of creation with a beauty and structure of their own, speaking to their innate essence. Certain artists are like this: they honestly express the […]
Retro Furniture Changes Colors — Chroma Gallery
In the late ’80s, Erdmann ran the Salt Lake Contemporary Gallery in downtown Salt Lake where he showed minimalist and color-field art at a time when “Mark Rothko wasn’t a household word.” Reception to the gallery was not overwhelming and it eventually closed down. Since that time, abstract art has failed to achieve a pervasive presence in Utah. The Salt Lake Art Center has had more and more exhibits highlighting contemporary art and Phillips Gallery has survived showing abstract work, but few other venues for abstract art have proven viable…
