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.
A charcoal-grey smog sweeps across an American highway, the acrid tang of exhaust fumes so strong they snake into the cabin through the front windshield. A motorcycle, indefinitely rendered useless under a layer of cold plastic, leather, and steel. A single, perpetually parked car. The moment between calling […]
Our Delicate Ecosystem, on view at Phillips Gallery through September 11, continues the enduring environmental mission of gallery owner Bonnie Phillips. It is a cohesive collection of photography, mixed media, painting, sculpture and more that—in and of itself—creates its own “delicate ecosystem” of art, mirroring the exhibition’s theme […]
In a recent article, Art in America cited a somewhat vague statistic: 95 percent of museum collections are hidden from view. The magazine hedged on the accuracy of the figure, but it could be off by ten, twenty or even thirty percent and still drive home the point: […]
Photography officially turned 200 years old this year (or next year, we don’t know for sure. Perhaps Joseph Niépce neglected to organize his EXIF files properly). Initially just a clever employment of physics and chemistry, photography became a powerful player in politics, culture, and commercialism, and one of […]
Myth and memory can be both very personal and very universal. In The Stories We Hold: Journey through Myth and Memory, at the UVU Museum of Art, six artists display more than five dozen works that boil down to one thing: myth and memory unite us. Even the […]
The gas station may have become America’s true third space—that place outside home and work where strangers and neighbors still routinely cross paths. Banking has gone online. The post office is going bankrupt. Even grocery shopping increasingly happens through apps and home delivery. But until electric vehicles charged […]
“About an hour in, you start to really relax,” Dallin Orr says in this video profile by Austin Smock. “You start to feel really connected to things. That deep sense of purpose and peace, that’s what I’m chasing every time I go out.” For years Orr has […]
It seems like every year rumors circulate that the Face of Utah Sculpture may have run its course and might be cancelled. Glass artist Dan Cummings, who founded the event 22 years ago and shepherded it through the COVID-19 shutdown six years ago, admits that he and folklorist […]
Roland Thompson breathes color into minimalism with exceptionally crafted painted aluminum works. The paintings are non-pictorial — no image, no story attached. Their straightforward outer shapes hold a spot on the wall that begs close examination. Their bold colors and patterns are at once reminiscent of something […]
It’s probably a good thing that so many sales galleries are going into smaller spaces and, especially, spaces with scaled-back rooms, hallways, and other narrow spaces. One reason is that this gives viewers a chance to see how well they work in similar spaces they may have at […]
Horses have inspired artists for millennia. From the mesmerizing silhouettes in the Panel of the Horses at the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave in southern France, to the dynamic Mycenaean frescoes of ancient Greece, to Deborah Butterfield’s widely recognized sculptural interpretations, the horse has remained a persistent muse across cultures […]
Meet the Fletchers, on view at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art through July 25, introduces visitors to three of the most important figures in 20th-century Utah art: Calvin Fletcher, Irene Fletcher, and their son Dale. Together, the exhibition argues, they embraced modern ideas and methods that […]
The late, great Philip Guston once said, “I’m a night painter, so when I come into the studio the next morning the delirium is over. I know I won’t remember the details, but I know I will remember the feeling of the whole thing.” Isn’t that the great […]
Lindey Carter’s large canvases anchor the upstairs space at Phillips Gallery this month. Scattered among Carter’s large pieces are smaller oils on panel by David Cassil. The two bodies of work share a register of muted atmosphere and restrained color close enough that, without prior knowledge of the […]
The downstairs gallery at Bountiful Davis Art Center hosts the staff group show — a fitting metaphor for what lies beneath the institution above. Paintings, pottery, sculptures, mixed media. Self-taught and art-school trained. The variety is a showcase of the different approaches that make this fine center of […]
Another year, another Springville Salon, another chance to reflect on the art scene in Utah. As the recently closed Salon 100 show at Springville demonstrated, the Salon has a storied past. Perhaps most importantly, its more than 100-year history illustrates Utah’s ongoing commitment to the arts, even during […]
In third grade, Tony Jacobsen built a diorama of the Grand Canyon. His school put it on display in the library, and Jacobsen found reasons to return to it—restroom pass, lunch break, any available detour—looking again, mentally revising. Others were fascinated as well. When he had talked to […]
Every two years, the Utah Cultural Celebration Center hosts the Wasatch Camera Club’s Utah Travels exhibition. The title is a bit misleading, since while many of the high quality photographs have been taken, as implied, in some of Utah’s most photogenic places, “Utah travels” could just as well […]
What the patriarchy has fabricated for women often stretches and pulls her in every direction. Be a mom, but have a career, but have hobbies, but be a good lover so you can be a good mother. Yet womanhood also uniquely holds the power to nurture life from […]
