Relative Truths

Art reflects the world artists inhabit. The artworks in this exhibition invite contemplation of human relationships relative to truth/fiction, past/present, physical/virtual space, as well as the complexities of social structures today. As faculty in the University of Utah’s Department of Art & Art History, these contemporary artists share a connection to the Salt Lake City Area, but their work is not contained by geography. Global connections proliferate due to constant social media connections, and minds constantly merge via algorithmic feeds filled with content fabricated by artificial intelligence (AI). Artists today are flush with information, inspiration, and tools inconceivable to earlier generations.

Presenting a wide range of media, this exhibition addresses themes of isolation, division, contested histories, cultural anxiety, dismantling of human rights, and the persistent creativity of the human mind. Some artists draw upon and embrace the uncertainty of a shared mass-media, post-pandemic, AI-informed reality, while others choose to reject it. Through wit, nostalgia, craft, and material play, these artists challenge convention and defy categorization to reveal new perspectives on the technological, environmental, and social conditions we are all navigating in our world today.