Most of “The Sound of Many Books” is taken up by the wall of tomes: going on five shelves of them, no two the same, the gaps between them like missing teeth that testify to regular use. This is an avid reader’s library. Who that reader may be […]
At the edge of a forest, amid lush foliage punctuated with small blue, yellow, and white flowers, a barefoot woman with red hair lies sleeping on the grass. She wears black leggings and a blue blouse adorned with curlicues, and a planter’s trowel lying nearby identifies her as […]
New work by Brian Kershisnik is always eagerly anticipated, and not just in Utah. Increasingly, his collectors fly in from around the country in February, hit the slopes, buy a painting or two, then head back. The art used to wait to follow them until the show was […]
There are those who believe that Brian Kershisnik never changes: that from year to year he paints the same subjects in the same way. While they may be right about some of the details — the dogs, birds, fruit, the flames, the haloes, and the palm-sized bicycles — […]
“By the Sea,” the characteristically collectible catalog Susan Meyer put together for her annual presentation of Brian Kershisnik’s new directions for 2019, includes a challenge from the artist to everyone who’s ever written, or even thought about, his art: The heavy symbolic weight of books in my […]
[dropcap]Brian[/dropcap] Kershisnik could be called the Mormon Norman Rockwell – if Rockwell had painted like Chagall and Mormons were still called Mormons – they aren’t supposed to be, I know, but can’t for the life of me recall what replaces the term so recently declared out of favor […]
Brian Kershisnik is one of Utah’s best-loved and most-respected artists, and his paintings, whether mural size or off the easel, are in private and public collections from Logan to St. George. He was given the Governor’s Mansion Award in 2010, was selected in 2014 as one of the […]
When an artist writes the title of a painting on its front, it’s a safe bet he wants us to pay attention to its meaning, not just its visual impact. In good art, meaning is metaphorical, so a work can support more than one reading. A recent Brian […]
Friday night Utah Arts & Museums opened their 2013 Statewide Annual at the Rio Gallery, featuring mixed media and works on paper. Juried by Simon Zalkind, an independent curator from Denver, Colorado, and Lisa Tamiris Becker, Director of the University of New Mexico Art Museum, the exhibit features […]
Maybe “faux-naïve” art is nothing more than what you’d imagine: simple, modest works by trained artists who choose to draw and paint in a seemingly juvenile manner despite their higher education in the Arts. But maybe there’s something more to this art tradition; maybe there are greater reasons for its emerging momentum in the contemporary art scene other than an ever-present irony or a giggle-factor. Because of its consciously contrived nature, some contend that faux-naïve is borderline-kitsch, insincere and premeditated art, but the works of Andrew Ballstaedt, Fidalis Buehler, and Brian Kershisnik—three of Utah’s finest folk artists making a name for themselves as American contemporary faux-naïvists—show the positive side of contrivance, that faux-naïve can provoke feelings of nostalgia and insight into real emotions, focusing our attention on adolescent memories or spiritual innocence alluded to in their works rather than on the lack of complexity, precision, or realism often sought after by aficionados of conventional, believable art.
A look at Cassandra Barney and Brian Kershisnik’s collaborative drawings now up at Kayo Gallery.
” . . . For many, Brian Kershisnik’s paintbox is like the voice box of a diva . . .”
Read Geoff Wichert’s review of Kershisnik’s Meyer Gallery exhibit in this month’s edition of 15 Bytes.
by Bren Jackson Two exhibits in Utah County this month will allow you to examine and explore modes of depicting the religious and spiritual life. The Springville Museum of Art’s annual juried exhibit on the theme is open through December 27th. North of Springville, the Brigham Young University Museum of Art’s Beholding Salvation, […]
“Why are the people in Brian Kershisnik’s paintings so ugly?” This question from a visitor to the Central Utah Art Center’s just-concluded exhibit of recent paintings by Kathleen Peterson and Brian Kershisnik sent the director, Adam Bateman, and me searching for an answer. It wouldn’t help to point out that beauty is […]
I enjoy exhibits at BYU’s Museum of Art. Regardless of the actual pieces shown, the museum almost always manages to create a wonderfully crafted and visually interesting exhibition. The more I visit the museum, the more I am convinced of the curatorial expertise that has used a unique […]
Inside the Vault: Truths & Myths from the Utah State Fine Art Collection The State Fine Art Collection, begun in 1899 as the Alice Merrill Horne Collection, now consists of over 1,100 works by Utah artists in all media. The pieces are on display in various state and […]
Brian Kershisnik is a nationally renowned oil painter who lives in Kanosh, Utah. His textured work often concentrates on fanciful figures in a landscape. Utah Artists DirectoryArtist listings in our Utah Artists Directories are open to all visual artists who reside part-time or full-time in the state […]
