When Karen Andrews died on the last day of 2022, her 80-word obituary was a pithy plainspoken account of the award-winning Utah painter’s life. The bulk of it read: She had a magnetic personality & was honest & kind to a fault! She loved God, painting, making jewelry, candles, pottery, the artist Mark Rothko, the … Read more
This year’s selections in The Utah Review for the top ten moments of the Utah Enlightenment in 2025, the eleventh annual edition, stood out for being fearless, fierce and indomitable in human spirit. Wholly liberated, art ensures nothing is erased, censored or compromised. Reiterating the core premise of the Utah Enlightenment: In Utah, there are … Read more
It would be a very easy task to find examples that counter the assertion of the existence of one truth. In the history of civilization, it often has been assumed that how we inscribe, connote or annotate every experience will lead to a single correct definition or interpretation, thereby negating every other possibility. For instance, … Read more
For many years, I have been moved by the blue at the far edge of what can be seen, that color of horizons, of remote mountain ranges, of anything far away. The color of that distance is the color of an emotion, the color of solitude and of desire, the color of there seen from … Read more
PYGmalion Productions Theatre Company’s Utah premiere production of Tiny Beautiful Things, which is based on the bestselling book by Cheryl Strayed that was adapted for the stage by Academy-Award nominated screenwriter and award-winning actor Nia Vardalos, is a charming delight of chamber theater, with a quartet of actors who give the audience a soothing respite … Read more
The layout of the space in the Gittins Gallery at the University of the Utah is perfect for Jorge Rojas’ Coyotek exhibition which mows down the physical and cognitive borders we conventionally imagine. Despite efforts to the contrary to dampen or counter the kinetics of the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, the fact is … Read more
When many arts organizations turned to video during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns as a means of staying visible and demonstrating that fresh forms of creative expression could still thrive, many artists found ways to merge cinematography with their media and disciplines. In contemporary dance, as an example, video primarily had been used for archiving and … Read more
When we are astutely reading a novel, watching dance or theater, listening to a recital or concert, or visiting a gallery exhibition, at some point, we inevitably discern and appreciate the crucial role of place as the bearer of memories. This significant bit of comprehension connects us to understanding the artist’s own sense of the … Read more
Five excellent exhibitions, including an outdoor public art installation, are currently on view at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA). The Utah Review highlights each one below. Something from Everything (through Jan. 3, 2026) With works curated from 19 artists which incorporate mundane, discarded, routine, and overlooked materials and objects, Something From Everything is … Read more
No question, the current U.S. presidential administration is trying its damndest to erase and eradicate a pluralist society that long ago successfully synthesized a monumental diaspora of Latin American, Indigenous and Hispanic cultural legacies which have constructed localized identities that have effectively developed, controlled and disseminated their narratives crossing back and forth across political, cultural, … Read more