May art: Holly Rios @ UMOCA, Mural Fest, Lizzie Wenger @ "A" Gallery | Arts & Entertainment | Salt Lake City Weekly

May art: Holly Rios @ UMOCA, Mural Fest, Lizzie Wenger @ "A" Gallery 

Diverse kinds of art on display for spring

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Left: Holly Rios’ I’d like to return this body - Right: Lizzie Wenger’s “Turning to the Sun” - COURTESY PHOTO
  • Courtesy photo
  • Left: Holly Rios’ I’d like to return this bodyRight: Lizzie Wenger’s “Turning to the Sun”

Holly Rios: I'd like to return this body @ Utah Museum of Contemporary Art
For more than 60 years, the Playboy brand has been a fascinating and often troubling part of American culture, even as the 21st century has seen the idea of magazine-based pornography become almost quaint. Yet Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) artist-in-residence Holly Rios still finds much about Playboy that's relevant to modern ideas of body image, if for no other reason than the sheer quantity of material produced over the years. Rios views that material through an interesting lens in her new exhibition I'd like to return this body, considering it as a kind of data set that "programs" us in the way to think about the female form.

click to enlarge ZACHARY NORMAN
  • Zachary Norman

"For this specific body of work, I think I got more fixated on the magazine because it's so much more insidious than contemporary sources of pornography," Rios notes in an interview on the UMOCA website. "Now you can hop online and see whatever you are looking for; there's an intentionality to that. You make a decision to see it. Playboy as a magazine was a kind of gateway to porn. It was always right on the line—they had enough articles and jokes and current events that people could 'buy it for the articles.' But through that 'middle ground' posturing, it created a kind of neutrality that is dangerous in this context. They were able to pose themselves as a really 'sex positive' and progressive entity, while leveraging women's bodies as a powerful capitalist tool."

Holly Rios' I'd like to return this body runs through May 31 at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (20 S. West Temple). The opening reception takes place Wednesday, May 14 as part of the 2025 Annual Gala Art Auction, including DJ music and cash bar, supporting UMOCA's education and artist-in-residence programs, among other work. Visit utahmoca.org to RSVP for the reception and for regular gallery hours as well as additional exhibition information.

2025 Mural Fest
Stigmas are still sometimes attached to mural art, ranking it as somehow "less-than" because it occupies public places. Yet anyone who has been in South Salt Lake's industrial zone understands how vibrant and remarkable this work can be, with an outdoor canvas that grows richer by the year. And thankfully, a celebration of that work comes to the city every year by way of the annual Mural Fest.

For 2025, new work is showcased by artists including Angie Jerez, Fabian Ray, GOMAD, Mantra, Michael Murdock, Osiris Rain, Peggy Flavin, RISK, Sandra Fetingis, TOOFLY, Wingchow and DAAS. Events kick off on Thursday, May 8 with the annual National Mural Awards Ceremony, an all-ages event celebrating artists from around the country, and featuring a moderated panel and Q&A session including some of this year's participating artists; attendees will also be eligible for free tickets to Kilby Court Block Party and the Grid City Music Fest. On Saturday, May 10, from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m., you can make your way through the mural route to see the new work and meet the artists. This community celebration will also include live music, food trucks, interactive art experiences and more.

The Mural Awards Ceremony takes place at the Commonwealth Room (195 W. 2100 South) beginning at 6 p.m. on May 8; the Mural Festival on May 10 can be found in the South Salt Lake Creative Industries Zone (approximately Main St. & Bowers Way). Visit themuralfest.com for additional event information.

Lizzie Wenger: From Where We Stand @ "A" Gallery
Love of nature can emerge from many places; for Salt Lake City-native artist Lizzie Wenger, it was born from loss. After the death of her father when she was just 12 years old, Wenger turned to Utah's outdoors as a place of both grieving and healing, developing a love of biking, canyoneering, climbing and hiking during that process. Now, more than a decade later, we can also see the impact of developing a relationship with that environment in her visual art, as "A" Gallery presents the debut solo painting exhibition for Wenger, From Where We Stand.

The stylized landscapes in this show ("Turning to the Sun" is pictured) depict a range of locations, from mesas and canyons to lakefront vistas, in a style that's sometimes described as "psychedelic cubism." The result isn't merely a photorealistic representation of a particular place, but a fusion between that place and the artist's relationship with it, emerging in unique color palettes and waves of geometric shapes that take on an almost hypnotic quality. These images are both playful and powerful in evoking the desert southwest as a vibrant, living ecosystem, the kind that can infuse its life into those who visit.

Lizzie Wenger's From Where We Stand shows at "A" Gallery (1321 S. 2100 East) now through May 16 during regular operating hours (Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.). Visit agalleryonline.com to see additional images and for further exhibition information.

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About The Author

Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw

Bio:
Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy,... more

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