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.
Together, two paintings hanging side by side in the Alice Gallery illustrate the paradoxical nature of language in general and titles in particular. Each features a large, single figure juxtaposed among smaller ones, and each is identified by a particular word. In “Society,” scale separates the lone figure […]
A towering, light purple mountain range punctuated with intermittent white waterfalls cascades powerfully down the top half of the canvas. The pastel purple, pink and blue of mountain and sky draw the viewer into a mystical, dreamy world. But, as the viewer’s eyes descend down the canvas they […]
There any number of ways of looking at the painted world of Russell Case, but perhaps the most important one is that he paints real places. This fact was brought home to me while visiting his current exhibition at David Ericson’s splendid new gallery in the Avenues. First, […]
When I remember my favorite movie scenes, it’s often because of something particularly revealing that an actor does. But in the hands of a really good director, there is always another actor in the scene whose work I may not remember — may not even consciously notice — but whose work precedes those I do notice and may be far more telling. Perhaps the camera holds a shot for a several seconds, until I become aware that through its lens I am fixated, staring at something. Then it wheels about and fixes on something else, and I understand what the character sees and how they are thinking. The camera in those minutes reveals itself as the most important actor.
Working in a digital print medium, Jiyoun Lee-Lodge draws figure outlines — sophisticated cartoons, so to speak — of figures set for the most part in only slightly more detailed settings. Often she borrows the overall composition from an almost too-familiar image, like Edward Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks,’ a Manhattan […]
“Great Salt Lake Sunset” does several things we look for art to do. It immortalizes a dramatic moment in time and space: the setting of a brilliant sun over Antelope Island on a haze-free day, offering an inspiring, spectacular, and always rare event that offers a durable alternative […]
A linen print tacked to the gallery wall beckons our gaze with its earth-colored, vertically-configured shapes. At proximity, the planes of color converge with bold, textured patterns and strategically placed outlines that reveal the underlying canvas. Immersed in the scene is a standing figure — a maid — […]
It quickly becomes apparent from her Instagram posts that Terri Froelich takes countless photos of her nautical environment, mostly shot close enough to isolate textures like wood grain, rusty industrial decay, sun-dappling on water and any bright colors that sport unexpectedly on the dull fabric of the everyday. […]
Nicknamed the Beehive state, Utah proudly integrates imagery of beehives into many aspects of its being: the state flag, road markers, architecture, and more. The beehive has roots in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the arrival in the land Brigham Young named “Deseret,” or […]
Back in school we learned that a line has one dimension: length. A plane measures two ways: length and width. Space, of course, has three dimensions. Art schools tell us that if it has three dimensions it’s a sculpture, while if it only possesses two, it’s a painting. […]
Since a majority of the state’s residents adhere to teachings from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, religion in Utah can often feel homogeneous. Because of this, we often make assumptions concerning the religious and spiritual beliefs of individuals around us. It is this climate that […]
“Lincoln Park Arboretum,” one of eight multi-part and five single-panel paintings at Phillips Gallery, sets up a paradigm and writes subtext for all 13 paintings. The celebrated arboretum was presumably the focus of a visit to Seattle by both Joseph and Melinda Ostraff, she in her role as […]
The act of pairing in a diptych offers the artist a diverse set of methods for storytelling: there is room for direct comparison, but also for extension. In the case of the latter, the structure allows for further exploration of a theme unbound by a singular canvas. Simply […]
The homey domestic character of Finch Lane Gallery, with its fireplace and wall of windows, contributes to the feeling that the people Aïsha Lehmann’s presents are our hosts: they’ve invited artist and audience to join them in a uniquely civilized gathering. Surrounded by their colorful, intricate wallpapers, coordinated […]
From paintings to performance art, photography, and ceramics, Shaw Gallery’s 2021 Biennial Faculty Exhibition has a little bit of everything. With well over 50 works, from 30 artists, this show keeps the viewer on their toes. The themes and ideas explored are just as diverse as the materials […]
“In the heav’ns are parents single? No! The thought makes reason stare! Truth is reason; truth eternal. Tells me I’ve a mother there.” For many years, these words, written by Eliza R. Snow in the 19th-century, were one of the few references to a female deity in the […]
Crosses, again and again, appear in most of these paintings by just-returned-from-Chicago Art Institute Navajo artist Patrick Dean Hubbell. They’re referencing stars, say Modern West gallery assistants. Stars, they point out, appear again and again in Hubbell’s titles. But every small cross, and every large cross, in these […]
There is something fundamental that Darryl Erdmann has in common with his mixed-media artwork, “Divinations,” one of the dozen of his paintings currently on view at the 15th Street Gallery. Divinations are visions drawn from life, such as entrails read by priests of old. And just about everything […]
One woman points an accusatory finger. Another testifies, arm raised. A third pleads, hands clasped, fingers entwined. The fourth stands stoic and defiant, pained eyes gazing away. Words, written in red above each drawing of these women, combine to read, “ALL MOTHERS WERE SUMMONED WHEN HE CALLED OUT FOR HIS MAMA.” Ruby Chacón’s emotive and impactful “All Mothers” focuses on the strength of BIPOC mothers who have endured the loss of their children. The series of collages features the mothers of Trayvon Martin, who was shot by George Zimmerman in 2012, Mariee Juarez, a migrant who died in ICE detention in 2019, and Henny Scott, a teenager who went missing from the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in 2018. The fourth is Chacon’s own mother.
