What Is Above the Frame? A New Voice for Utah Art Collectors

There is the artwork inside the frame. And then there is everything around it.

The artist who made it. The place that inspired it. The gallery that decided to show it. The collector who stopped in front of it, walked away, came back five minutes later and realized they were still thinking about it.

That is where Above the Frame begins.

Above the Frame is the editorial voice of Wasatch Gallery, created for people who want to understand art a little better, discover artists worth knowing and participate more confidently in Utah’s growing visual arts community.

Art Without the Intimidation

The art world has an unfortunate talent for making simple questions sound complicated.

How do I know if a painting is good? Why does one artwork cost $800 and another $8,000? Is it acceptable to ask a gallery about price? How do I begin collecting if I cannot afford museum-level work?

These are good questions. Collectors should be able to ask them without feeling as though they missed a semester of secret art-school vocabulary.

We intend to answer them.

A Window Into Utah’s Art Scene

We will also look outward.

Utah has an extraordinary community of painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers, ceramicists and makers working from Logan to St. George, with an especially active corridor along the Wasatch Front.

Above the Frame will cover exhibitions, gallery openings, studio visits, artist stories, museum shows and the events we believe are genuinely worth putting on your calendar.

Sometimes we will tell you why an exhibition succeeds. Occasionally we may tell you where it struggles. Either way, the purpose will be understanding rather than scoring points.

For Collectors, Whether You Own One Piece or One Hundred

You do not become a collector when someone hands you a membership card.

If you have ever purchased a work of art because you could not stop thinking about it, you have already begun.

We want to help you develop your eye, understand what you are buying, discover artists earlier and build a collection that becomes increasingly personal over time.

The goal is not to tell you what you should like.

The goal is to help you understand why you like what you like.

Look Beyond the Frame

Great art rarely ends at its edges.

There is a story above it, behind it and around it.

We intend to tell those stories.

Welcome to Above the Frame.