A statewide exhibition brings an opportunity to show work to an audience that may not be reachable otherwise, but the work should accurately represent the artist’s materials, style, and subject matter, not create expectations that additional explorations of the artist’s body of work will not fulfill. Or should […]
A visitor to Phillips Gallery during what are becoming their annual showings of the art of Melinda and Joseph Ostraff (see last year’s here) might initially have the impression that the artists work in two formats. One, the more common by far this year, is about the size […]
In her profile of Joseph Ostraff for the Artists of Utah publication Utah’s 15: The State’s Most Influential Artists, Laura Durham focuses on the artist’s tendency to seek engagement from others in his work — from the artists and individuals who have influenced him, to the scores of […]
There’s a hint of cruelty in the Rio Gallery’s choice to devote August, a month most people spend wearing as little as modesty permits, to the subject of clothing. Among the nine artists here, there are enough heavy garments, long-sleeved shirts, and gloves to bring a suggestible viewer […]
Brigham Young University professor Joseph Ostraff has made many trips to Tonga. This piece, made in response to an experience he had while visiting the island of Foa, was created in 1999 and accessioned into the State of Utah Fine Art Collection in 2002. Ostraff says painting is […]
In Don’t Read This, eight artists attempt to explore incorporating the verbal content of a message into the way it’s presented without allowing text to hijack the image.
Over the past year, I received several invitations from BYU art professor Joseph Ostraff to tag along with eleven students on a field study project in New Zealand. Five days before the plane took off, I finally decided to go. I was a little hesitant to accept the […]
