Early summer is always special at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA). The Utah Review looks at two of the latest exhibitions, including Out Loud: 2025 and the works by 57 Utah artists that are available in the 2025 Gala Art Auction: The Factory.
OUT LOUD: GROWING PAINS
A wonderful lead-in to the Utah Pride celebrations that will take place in downtown Salt Lake City June 6-8, Out Loud 2025 is one of the current exhibitions at UMOCA, featuring work by 17 young artists representing various Utah high schools. They completed a 12-week workshop series in the ninth edition of the museum’s Out Loud program. The exhibition is open through June 7.
As in previous editions of Out Loud, the young artists have produced liberating and compellingly personal artistic testaments in their work. There is a gritty resilience that pervades the 18 works presented this year.
Photo: Zachary Norman.
During the workshops, the artists learned from professional queer artists and then decided individually how they wanted to respond to this year’s theme which played on the counterpoint of childhood nostalgia and the challenges of coming-of-age as a young queer individual in Utah, The artists are identified only by their first names, given that some are not yet out for fears of being ostracized by their families and friends.
The diversity of form and media in the show reflects precisely the desire for genuine diversity in the queer spectrum, with examples of portraiture, acrylic on canvas, ceramic, wire, collage, printmaking, upcycled and sustainable fabrics and fashion, performance-inspired pieces and a 16-mm looping video as a collaborative piece involving all 17 artists. Each artist also wrote a short artistic statement about their work, with some using poetry as articulating the undercurrents of their art pieces. A representative example is Robin’s A Time before, a mixed media composition of stuffed toys, paper, marker, chalk pastel and ribbon. The opening verses parallel the work’s impetus: “In the twilight of memory, a tale unfurls/For the child within, a spirit unbound/A lover of the strange, the uncanny, the wild,/Yet time, a thief, sought to silence her sound.”
The contemporary value of historical perspective is evident in several works. Grey’s This media is Rloveution, a mixed media work of acrylic and charcoal, fits perfectly with this year’s Utah Pride theme of Radical Love. The piece is a tribute to the Stonewall Riots and punk subculture and the artist, who identifies as a transgender mixed race man, writes, “My work represents how vital resistance is during times when loving who you love is challenged and how, no matter what happens, love is the only thing that matters, and they can’t take it away.” Likewise, Athena’s History Repeats Itself, a gouache artwork, heightens the significance of remembrance: “When we forget, we lose people, family and friends. This painting shows the truth of things that are happening now and a warning of what will continue to happen when we forget our roots, or choose to ignore the loss of others’ roots.”
Transformation, evolution and maturing are prominent themes for this year’s group of Out Loud artists. This includes Louie’s Mourning her, an acrylic painting as a contemplation of “an image of who I can see of me now, and how she saw herself then.” Noxx’s My Son, an acrylic on canvas piece, reflects the artist’s experiences of growing up in Mormonism and their challenges of confronting how they never fit in and questioned the tenets of the faith. The transgender artist writes, “This is a representation of the threats I got, thoughts put in my head, and an overview of ‘what was supposed to be.’” Penny’s Memento Mori recreates a Victorian mourning dress, rendered in the artist’s favorite colors from their childhood, signifying the transition into adulthood.
UMOCA 2025 GALA ART AUCTION: THE FACTORY
A record 57 Utah artists have donated artwork for the 2025 Annual Gala Art Auction Exhibition, in which auction proceeds will directly benefit artists and community members through UMOCA’s exhibitions, education, and Artist-in-Residence programs, supporting an expansive and experimental arts scene in Utah. The auction typically has generated approximately $30,000 annually. This year’s response, however, is especially heartening, given the fresh challenges arts organizations around the country have faced due to the current presidential administration’s hostility toward supporting arts and cultural entrepreneurship in general.
The works are on display through June 14, when the auction will close. The list of artists include many names familiar to the Utah art community along with several first-timers to the auction. They include those whose works have been featured not only at UMOCA but also at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Ogden Contemporary Arts and many of the state’s other museums and major galleries. Those wishing to participate in the auction will notice QR codes assigned to each artwork in the show. The suggested opening bids have ranged from a few hundred dollars for some pieces to a good representation between $1,000 and $2,500. The artworks range in size from miniatures to large paintings and represent a diverse spectrum of traditional and multimedia forms.
Featured artists include Jude Agboada, Trent Alvey, Jean Arnold, Ed Bateman, Henry Becker, Tiana Birrell, Kellie Bornhoft, Collin Bradford, Ian Burnley, Trent Call, Jamie Clyde, Maddison Colvin, Cara Despain, Daniel Everett, Peter Everett, Nolan Flynn, Jonathan Frioux, Daniel George, Josh Graham, Emily Hawkins, Robyn Hodess, Russell Huiskamp, Taylar Jackson, Brooklynn Johnson, Lenka Konopasek, Beth Krensky, Jordan Layton, Stefan Lesueur, Christopher Lynn, Colour Maisch, Cynthia McLoughlin, Milard Mozari, Alison Neville, Joseph & Melinda Ostraff, Traci O’Very Covey, Nick Pedersen, Andrew Rice, Jean Richardson, Holly Rios, Horacio Rodriguez, Nate Ronniger, Madeline Rupard, Mitsu Salmon, Sara Serratos, Laura Sharp Wilson, Nakita Shelley, Antra Sinha, Casey Jex Smith, Portia Snow, Jared Steffensen, James Talbot, Gary Vlasic, Ariel Wilson and Josh Winegar.
For more information, see the UMOCA website.