Utah Visual Arts articles published in 15 Bytes, arranged by category.
All over the world, the story of art begins with Nature: for example, through images of living creatures painted on exposed rock faces. Later, when we moved indoors, art brought the natural world along, to complete a dwelling’s interior space. Artists can preserve the ephemeral, as Connie Borup […]
It’s almost like Frank Huff, Jr. dares you to dismiss his work. Or part of it. Take, for instance, his painting of a nondescript parking lot. Why bother? It’s not some social commentary, à la Joni Mitchell, paving paradise and all that. There’s no real judgment here. It’s […]
“I think that if a song isn’t about something, it ought to be an instrumental.” With that advice, spoken often in concert, the great American jazz poet and performer Gil Scott-Heron, author of “Winter in America,” “Johannesburg,” and “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” never failed to bring […]
At some time in the early years of my life, my artist father and my mother left their studio in Paris, France, where they had lived for many years on the Left Bank among all the artists of those days and where I was born on Bastille Day, the independence day of France. My mother and I went to England where her two maiden sisters lived and operated a little delicatessen store. My father came on to the U.S. to visit his sister, who he hadn’t seen since a small boy. It was a year or more before my mother and I came to the U.S. also, after he had opened a little studio in the small town of Carthage, MO, where his sister lived. That is how I came to know the Ozarks as a small boy.
Early in the new millennium, a couple of inauspicious things occurred locally. Shawn Rossiter, a linguist turned painter, decided to start something he felt Utah needed: an arts magazine. 15 Bytes struggled for a few years, then hit its stride in 2005. Same applies to glass master Dan […]
Jason Jones has created a captivating mural for Midvale’s Los Muros on Main festival. Located on the back of Nowhere Tattoo (7624 S Main Street, Midvale), the mural features a dynamic scene where a green tentacled creature holds an orange popsicle in one of its tentacles, while a […]
If you plan on scheduling a tour of the Salt Lake County art collection, be prepared. Kate Ithurralde’s enthusiasm for the largest publicly available collection of Utah art is infectious. She can dive deep into an individual work or range comfortably across the expanse of the collection, knitting […]
In a painting titled “I Will Hold You Above the Treetops,” a parent standing on the crest of a ridge embraces and lifts a child. A viewer might casually assume this is a father, but on closer approach, the pair could just as well be a mother and […]
It’s unlikely anyone has tried to count the number of art students who begin their practice by drawing or painting people, though it’s possible a majority do. Then again, one of 15 Bytes better writers, Hannah Sandorf Davis, was able to track how art schools typically respond when […]
A mural created for the 2024 Los Muros on Main festival by Daisuke Okamoto offers a visual narrative that intertwines local symbolism with universal themes of identity and renewal. Painted on the south side of the building at 7584 S Main Street, “Into the Elk” features a majestic […]
Many siblings see their artwork hanging side by side, but that’s usually on their parents’ fridge. For James and John Rees, it’s at the Utah Valley University Museum of Art. Born Into This is a small show featuring recent works by James and John. Rather than centering around […]
At first glance, it seems the key to poignant feeling in art is simplicity. Surely Randee Levine’s “Empty Vessels,” one of 18 mixed-media impressions now at Phillips, could hardly be more simple or more striking. Two monochrome items of tableware, perhaps a cruet and a small bowl or […]
The water cycle—traditionally how seawater loses its salt as it evaporates from the ocean, falls as rain on the land, and returns to the sea in rivers—is getting a new level of attention under the pressure of climate change. Hydrologists, the experts on this process, are taking the […]
Nevada artist Erik Burke has a portfolio that spans the globe. His talent and dedication have earned him a place in the book “Street Art: The Best Urban Art from Around the World.” Over the past 20 years, Erik Burke, also known as OUPublicworks, has created compelling artworks […]
When we care about our message, no matter what it is, we will also care about its delivery. —from the exhibition statement by Jason Lanegan There are times when a viewer can stand before a work of art and see that it’s real, yet be unable to understand […]
Humanity is the species that travels, and paves our environment to expedite our journeys. When we aren’t able, or don’t want to go in person, we can transport just about anything to anywhere, and all this deliberate motion has resulted in whole industries that respond to the belief […]
Megan Oldhues brings a contemporary realist vibe to the street-dominant mural scene. The Toronto-based artist is known for work that is highly realistic, capturing intricate details of the human form, clothing, and environments. Utilizing a rich and vibrant color palette, she enhances the realism and emotional impact of […]
