There’s an oft-told tale in art history: non-objective art came into existence as the Russian painter Vasily Kandinsky viewed a painting of his from across the room, bathed in the waning rays of the afternoon light, and was struck with inspiration. It was as if he was looking […]
Draw an X from corner to corner across Utah (something the Democratic Party did years ago) and right where the two diagonals meet, in the geographic center of the State, Sanpete County nestles in the valley that shares its name. Like Shangri-la, this long, narrow rift, stretching from […]
Remembering the Great Things of God, the LDS Church’s 8th International Art Competition currently at the LDS Conference Center, is a bold and vibrant display of more than 200 artists’ individual manifestations of the religious experience. In this exhibit, artists of many nationalities address their own spiritual perspectives and incorporate […]
Ed Bateman — teacher, printmaker, and contributor to 15 Bytes — once said, “Every object exists in two worlds. One is the tangible that we know through our senses, and another exists only in our minds.” He might have added that we dress the things in our minds in […]
Living in New York City in the early 20th century, married to one of its greatest and most influential photographers, and a full partner in an up and coming avant-garde — what would compel such a person to divorce herself from this centered existence to relocate in the then-primitive […]
Look around you, wherever you are; inevitably your environment is littered with a plethora of visually annoying logos. As I sit in my chair at home I count 10 branded items. These logos are either recognizable names, or a character as familiar as a letter in the alphabet. […]
The surface of Great Salt Lake shimmers and glows as only an inland saline body of water can. It mesmerizes you into believing there are great depths and secrets below its facade, waiting for you to slowly eek out their mysteries. What if the facade is the answer, […]
by Elena Shtromberg Ximena Cuevas’s video “Someone Behind the Door,” now being exhibited in the Salt Lake Art Center’s Projects Gallery, joins an increasing body of artistic work that examines new ways in which the surveillance aesthetic has infiltrated our daily lives, our public behaviors, our relationships and our visual […]
Matthew Choberka, a well-liked and influential painting professor at Weber State, can briefly be seen in overlapping exhibits in two of the most progressive galleries in Utah. His work could be called postmodernist, or painterly– environmentalist, but it seems to me that he partakes of a mainstream movement […]
On Friday, March 6, at the Sego Art Center 35 performers will be playing the role of one visual artist: Chris Purdie. Wearing the artist’s “uniform” — black clothes, black glasses, black knit cap — they will be acting out the part of the visual artist during the three-hour performance. This […]
In March of 2007, local artist Sue Martin went to Georgia to care for her mother, who was dying of cancer, and her father, who is afflicted with Parkinson’s and dementia. During the six months she spent caring for her parents she kept a blog about her experiment […]
When we say an artist puts her life into her art, we usually mean that important events become significant subject matter. But for Sandy Brunvand, the process is both subtler and more pervasive. Hearing her unravel the origins of her paintings and prints, whether in exceptionally accessible written statements […]
by Curt Hawkins Fresh from a morning of making turns in the fresh snow of the Wasatch Mountains, Hadley Rampton sits among her oil paintings and watercolor and ink drawings on display at Salt Lake’s Phillips Gallery. “I usually try to paint every morning, five days a week. But today, fresh powder. […]
The artist’s eye is revered as if it were a sacred object, a visionary orb that sees all, externally and internally. Rembrandt saw the soul of the sitter as well as the form. For many artists — good artists — this tool bridging the object and the subject […]
What decides our fates? Greek Sophists thought it was character: who I am would determine what I am. Astrologers argue that when we are determines who we are. Once upon a time, where we lived made many choices for us, but is that still true? With the coming […]
“Sweet Departure” by James C. Christensen The exhibition is titled simply “Woodbury Invitational.” A more provocative title, however, might aptly read “Metaphysical Visions: Five Artists’ Journeys into the Sublime.” The exhibit is a display of five internationally famed artists of the highest caliber — their disparate styles woven […]
Where other artists study the qualities of clay and paint, Dan Steinhilber spends his time in the local home supply store, exploring the properties and artistic possibilities of polyurethanes and PVC piping. As can be seen at the exhibit of his works currently at the Brigham Young University Museum […]
Most exhibitions in Provo open on the first Friday of the month during the Downtown Provo Gallery Stroll, which is either days before or days after the release of the new issue of 15 Bytes on the first Wednesday of the month. This makes it difficult for us […]
Holga — the name may sound intimidating, but it is the most recent fad in the photographic art world. Shaking off humble beginnings in China as a cheap alternative to more expensive cameras, the Holga has reemerged as the choice form of expression for a certain type of […]