“My paintings stem from an innate desire to express something words cannot,” says Anne Wolfer in her artist statement. The challenge to those who write about visual art may never have been more succinctly stated. Then again, the unmistakable differences between the way she represents the visible world […]
Trent Call is such a protean inventor that anyone faced with the present task might be tempted to start by recalling any number of personal favorites: the facade facing the TRAX station at Ninth South that serves as an invitation to one of the most innovative urban enclaves […]
There is absolutely nothing wrong with painting from photographs. Even artists who never, ever work from them will tell you they have no quarrel with painters who do so. Photography was invented in the 19th century by painters seeking to shorten the arduous path that leads from three-dimensional […]
Several years ago, when so many of our artists and their galleries were devoted to sounding the alarm on behalf of the environment, and particularly the disappearing Great Salt Lake, Pamela Beach had her own perspective, literally, on the matter. From the front porch of the home where […]
Although I said nothing aloud at the time, I was disappointed in the recent Spirituality and Religion exhibition at the Springville Museum of Art. It seemed as though the show’s title had been reversed. While there were countless narrow images of specifically Christian traditions, and even more of […]
When F. Scott Fitzgerald famously remarked that “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function,” he might just have been referring to the everyday cognitive skill of any […]
To be sure, some parts of the job of making art can be challenging. But there is much to admire and covet in the life of an artist. You get to largely invent yourself and have the freedom to choose your work each day. And where most bosses […]
The late folk singer and labor activist Utah Phillips liked to quote his crony Idaho Blackie, who claimed that voting couldn’t change anything, as evidence for which he claimed that if it could, it would be illegal. What neither man could have anticipated was the extensive contrary evidence […]
For centuries, an essential division of labor ruled over humanity’s closest animal companions. There were those humans kept for work alone: farm animals, useful creatures, those we domesticated but didn’t exactly tame. Those we ate. And then there were the dogs, which still had assigned labors, such as […]
This month, David Ericson Fine Art once again presents two artists whose differing styles highlight the breadth of contrast encompassed by today’s art. While a former professor like me wants to see this as a teaching opportunity, Dave Ericson insists that the arrangement is practical. Alternating the still-life […]
Anyone paying attention to news from the world of art, or for that matter, anyone seeking to avoid news of our nation’s reckless and self-destructive adventures on the world’s stage, may have heard about the revelation that Banksy, surely the most popular artist of our time, is primarily […]
When the painter John Sproul lost a beloved friend, he found a way to visually represent both the other man’s presence in life and the intensely personal experience of his loss. He produced at least 30 images in this innovative visual language, expressing both “emotional turbulence and its […]
One way of looking at art has always been as a luxury item. Hence the precious metal castings and finest-stone sculptures, the gold-leaf frames, and such personal adornments as jewelry and splendid accessories. Then, in the 20th century, other options emerged. In part, that was a result of […]
4 Common Corners is a fiber arts collective whose members come together to celebrate the beauty of the Southwest. Over time, their exhibitions have celebrated such signature local elements as Rocks, Cottonwoods, and Things Abandoned. Their current showing, now in the Edna Runswick Taylor Foyer, at the East […]
“Path Into Pines” demonstrates at least two of the ways Utah painter Anne Becker plays with her medium. On the one hand, her material choice, “oil and cold wax,” might be described as neither fish nor fowl: it isn’t straight oil, nor is it encaustic: it has characteristics […]
Once upon a time, art was all about content. Hard as it may be to believe, for the longest time technique didn’t really enter into it. The dubious may want to check out an early exception: public sculpture in ancient Rome, where eventually two forms existed side-by-side. One, […]
Doug Smith is a Utah native whose credentials include degrees from both the U of U and BYU. While his design work and painting are familiar to people in at least 22 states, he shows consistently at Salt Lake City’s 15th Street Gallery, which is well known for […]
Usually, when a creative event is described as “not to be missed,” the claim is rooted in its contemporary relevance. Numerous indispensable art exhibitions have conveyed alarm about the environment and what threatens it, and to be sure no political or social circumstance feels more pressing, nor so […]
Every year, the Glass Art Guild of Utah mounts a comprehensive exhibition of local glass arts at Red Butte Garden that is exhaustive in more than one sense of the word. All media, from the smallest ornaments and tiny, colorful objects to large functional and decorative creations, are […]
