Laura Hope Mason, “Refinement,” 2023, acrylic, 48 x 60 in.

“I find myself staring at the mountains by my home trying to understand them, transfixed by them,” says Laura Hope Mason, who lives at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains in Draper, Utah. “Is it possible to capture the familiarity and memories of growing up so close to the mountains with the same enthusiasm as someone visiting Utah for the first time?” she asks. “I want my work to look effortless and meticulous at the same time. I often juxtapose looming threats like the dying Salt Lake and air pollutants by painting them in a very subtle, elegant way. My goal with this series of paintings is not to replicate landscapes realistically, but rather to capture my evolving relationship with my environment.”

Mason has been a very active painter in the Utah art scene for the past decade. In 15 Bytes, you’ll find reviews of some of her first exhibitions from 2015, 2016 and 2017. She often works in series, and for the 2020 iteration of 35×35 she exhibited paintings from a series on the beauty of mobile campers (see a video interview here).

“Refinement” is the largest of several works created over the past two years that features a band of mountains between earth and sky.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST AND VIEW MORE OF HER WORK

A view of Artists of Utah’s 35×35 exhibition with, from left, Abel Vasquez’s “Brain Fog,” Laura Mason’s “Refinement” and Byron Ramos’ “Hope is Found” in the rear gallery.

Artists of Utah’s 35×35, Finch Lane Gallery, Salt Lake City, through Feb. 23

15 Bytes

UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.