There are not a whole lot of Fairbanks in Utah today; at least not in the art world. But for a period in the early 20th century that surname dominated the state’s art community. Both painters and sculptors, the Fairbanks were adept practitioners of that blend of naturalism […]
From time to time, I’ve been asked if I’ve read Walter Benjamin’s celebrated essay, “The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Written in 1935, it remains one of the mileposts of critical art history. Benjamin argues that over the centuries when it was necessary to […]
On your way to Squatters for a drink, or while catching a show at the Rose Wagner, you can’t miss them: the Temporary Museum of Permanent Change’s 14 placards, each 7-feet high, featuring the striking aerial photographs of Western landscapes deeply scarred by heavy industry and severe drought. […]
Big, glossy images of majestic panoramas, colors punched with saturation. With today’s portable technology and the state’s majestic landscapes these shots are easy to take: you’ll find them on just about anyone’s Instagram page. But not on Andrew McAllister’s. As if in reaction to these landscape glamour shots, […]
For centuries, Western artists labored to understand and reproduce the appearance of the natural world. Art created in the 19th-century academies of Europe testifies to their eventual success, so that by 1905, Picasso could move on, reminding writer and collector Gertrude Stein that, according to previous standards, the […]
As you probably are aware, the place currently called Utah represents a large and diverse landscape. With its arbitrarily drawn borders, this almost-a-rectangle state in the middle of the American West encompasses a remarkably diverse geography. From Rich, Cache, and Box Elder counties in the north to Washington, […]
The story told in Collectable Memories rightly begins with “Swim Lessons,” in which the self-taught artist reveals an intuitive feeling for composition by crowding together five children, one of them her own daughter, in the shallow end of the pool — as well as in the lower left […]
It’s fairly obvious to the discerning that our environment is changing in challenging ways. It’s also apparent that so far, the process remains deniable. Each new degree of temperature, each addition to the severity of storms, soon becomes the “new normal,” so that the continuing slide into inhospitality remains concealed. What Jensen seeks to do in her art is to elevate that almost subliminal transition until it becomes ominous, but to do so without losing track of the appeal of the places she represents. …
There is something to be said about experience, about story. Every person has their own and no story is exactly alike. Yet, somehow, all stories have the power to connect us. The human experience, though unique, shows evidence of a life lived. Stories allow people to relate to […]
What is surely one of the most thought-provoking, suggestive, and yet elusive titles attached to a work of art this season may currently be seen on the walls of Phillips Gallery. As a title, “In Between Dreams” draws much of its power from being an original turn of […]
A striking new mural titled “Daylight” now graces the side of an industrial building along Salt Lake City’s Folsom Trail. This expansive artwork, running 275 feet eastward from 1000 West, is the latest visual enhancement to the rapidly evolving trail. The mural, with its intricate patterns of blue […]
“I experience moments in the natural world that fill me with resonance and freedom,” says Salt Lake City artist Lauren Underwood. “These experiences may happen close to home on a neighborhood walk or in the garden or they may happen far from home on a hike or adventure.” […]
When she was four years old, MyLoan Dinh fled Vietnam with her family. Her mother packed a small bag with provisions. Her father burned all his identifying documents. They boarded the “Lam Giang,” the last South Vietnamese Navy ship to leave Saigon. Nearly half a century later, these […]
You could consider it the immigrant dream. Since coming to Utah from Mexico with her parents as a young teenager, Nancy Rivera has gone to university, embarked on a promising career and found a partner to share her life. She has made Utah her home. But the plaintive, […]
As the gates of heaven are opened and dead relatives reunite with their families, Day of the Dead celebrations can turn into festive events. At the many exhibitions celebrating the holiday throughout the state, including at the St. George Art Museum, you’ll find rollicking skeletons, multi-colored flags, dance […]
In commercial advertisements, everything is “new.” The artists who staff Phillips Gallery know only too well that the components of art are rarely all that new, and so they change one letter of that adjective, transposing an e for an o and saying “now.” Or more formally, they […]
10/21 Fanny Guadalupe Blauer receives the Ruby Chacón Social Justice Arts Award At the opening of their new space in the Gateway, Mestizo Institute of Culture & Arts (MICA) presented the Ruby Chacón Social Justice Arts Award to Fanny Guadalupe Blauer. Originally from Mexico City, Blauer holds a […]
Halee Roth is a figure painter from Bountiful, Utah. Her work emphasizes her love of bold color and light with a unique, layered, oil painting technique. Growing up wandering the foothills of the mountain she lived on, Halee has always been drawn to nature and the human experience. She spends her free time gardening, wandering the desert in search of nature’s treasures, and traveling.
To discover more artists, visit our Utah Artists Directory
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