Utah Exhibition Reviews published in 15 Bytes, Utah’s art magazine, including reviews of local Utah artists, regional artists, group exhibitions and traveling exhibits of national and international artists.
Among the more persistent and valid criticisms thrown at creators, critics, curators, and collectors of the art world alike is this: Your art is not for anyone except yourselves. Blustering indignation aside, the message stings because, in some cases, maybe even many, it’s true. Artworks abstracted beyond all […]
Flanked as it is by the Jordan River Parkway’s tangle of box elder, cattails, and saltgrass, the Day-Riverside branch of the Salt Lake City Library is a fitting venue for the vibrant riot of nature in the paintings of Jerry Clifford. A native of Northwest Michigan, Clifford became […]
Tears are made of salt water. Grief is love. Whatever I have come to know as love and grief, I have learned from Great Salt Lake. -Terry Tempest Williams The fate of Great Salt Lake is hardly more than a footnote in the longer story of how immigrant […]
Often, when an artist with a well-established, familiar, even popular mode decides to undertake something new, the news travels fast. So, many who gathered at David Ericson’s gallery in the Avenues for the unveiling of Emily McPhie’s new work were there in anticipation of something they’d not seen […]
In the hierarchy of values, materials such as ink, marble, uranium, and gold are worth less than the alchemical power of art. And art, in turn, is less valuable than life. This may help explain why the collages of Liberty Blake, though made of paper—and often of discarded […]
Given the level of skilled technique we so often encounter today, it’s not all that unusual to learn that what appeared to be a photograph is actually a painting. The only reason this took until now is that for centuries the masters didn’t have photos to mimic, and […]
Salt Lake City artist Trevor Dahl’s artistry is a visual odyssey that intertwines the personal with the universal, translating his inner experiences into a language of dream-inspired figures and landscapes. With a practice rooted in “free doodling,” Dahl forgoes conscious thought to tap into a realm of […]
The practice of carrying one’s own water in a purpose-made bottle—a modern canteen—has become commonplace, but it doesn’t rule out the possibility that the person carrying water also has a carafe set aside for the purpose at home. And they may even have a traditional silver spoon they […]
Sam Wilson was the first Utah artist whose work caught my attention, and he remains foremost for me among the many fine painters, sculptors, printers, assemblers, media mixers, and raconteurs I’ve been privileged to meet in the years since. Sam never put as much effort into spreading his […]
Art Access has gone through many changes since its salad days as a must-visit gallery early in the new millennium. Over the intervening years, many of Utah’s best-known artists took turns helping artists of proven merit, but who were prevented by various circumstances from achieving their potential, to […]
Depending on when you visit Artists of Utah’s 35×35 exhibition and view Sara Serratos’ “Niches for Fruits and Vegetables,” the produce that makes up much of the work may be fresh and bright or rapidly approaching decay. This installation is part of a series of recent works the […]
From Barbie to Beyoncé to Taylor Swift, 2023 has been the Year of the Girl. In every arena, from culture to politics, it has become impossible to escape the power and impact of women. The BYU Museum of Art’s most recent exhibition perfectly matches this zeitgeist. But it […]
With their latest installation, Park City’s Kimball Art Center adds itself to a prestigious international list of exhibition hosts for internationally renowned artist Lee Mingwei. The Taiwanese-American artist’s work focuses on (among other things) intimacy and connection. He explores the ubiquitous nature of these raw human moments and […]
Given the fundamental motivating role of religion in cultural and artistic expression all over the world, it’s not surprising that the first art work to employ the renaissance discovery of accurate visual perspective was such a work — Masaccio’s “Holy Trinity,” which depicts the three-persons-in-one-God enumerated by Christian […]
Film, like family, contains more beneath the surface than meets the eye. In his latest exhibition, Salt Lake City artist Justin Chouinard exposes the imperfect intricacies of human relationships via his manual manipulation of film. Beneath the buzz of their annual winter art market, lies Bountiful Davis Art […]
Jessica Marine makes art that nods to the beauty and absurdity of the world, and amplifies what exists right at the intersection of the two. Many of her paintings playfully personify animals and recognizable characters. Paired with her signature blend of high-contrast illustrative and colorful pop-art styles, her […]
It’s clear why Welter distinguishes these works by calling them “fiber art.” Many quilts, especially those likely to be seen in the gallery today, may be no less art, but are more public in their intentions and expression. Rosanna Lynne Welter’s textiles distinguish themselves by sharing more personal, private, even intimate thoughts and feelings. What they don’t do is look like what’s expected, and in that many be found the most important clue of all.
