Karen Andrews — Into the Light of Day
A Posthumous Exhibition of Paintings by Utah Artist Karen Andrews
Material Gallery is pleased to present Into the Light of Day, an exhibition of paintings by Utah artist Karen Andrews (1945– 2022), opening Thursday, January 15, 2026. This posthumous exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view works created by Andrews in her home studio over the course of nearly five decades. Most of the paintings on view have never been publicly exhibited.
A Utah native and largely self-taught artist, Andrews developed her practice through close study of painters such as LaConte Stewart, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Guy Wiggins, as well as artists associated with the early-20th-century Old Lyme Art Colony. Drawn to architectural subjects and the subtle seams between the natural and the built environment, Andrews explored ideas of place, perception, and the power of viewership. Her paintings evoke an atmosphere of quiet estrangement—spaces that feel familiar yet curiously removed.
Active in Utah’s art community during the 1970s and 1980s, Andrews exhibited locally before withdrawing from public exhibition for decades, continuing to paint largely for herself. Though technically trained by Earl Jones, her work departs from traditional Utah landscape painting through its urban subject matter, darker palette, and restrained, melancholic mood. In contrast to contemporaries such as Jeanne Leighton Lundberg Clarke and Edie Roberson—whose work embraced maximalism, humor, and visual energy—Andrews’ paintings are marked by stillness, spaciousness, and emotional restraint. Her uninhabited scenes recall the metaphysical quiet of Giorgio de Chirico and the atmospheric stillness of Edward Hopper, though notably absent of figures. Through absence, Andrews offers solitude not as emptiness, but as a deliberate and expressive presence.
Andrews lived a deeply private life and showed little interest in selling or publicly circulating her work. Her practice raises broader questions about visibility, authorship, and reception: What does it mean to share one’s work with others? Does art gain new meaning or value through public encounter, exhibition, and collection? Andrews rarely titled her paintings and spoke little about her motivations beyond a disciplined commitment to painting as a daily practice. In this way, Into the Light of Day invites viewers to consider how meaning emerges not only from an artist’s intent, but through the act of looking itself.
In the exhibition statement, guest curator and collaborator Alli Harbertson writes:
“Working from photographs she took in situ across Utah and New York City; Andrew’s paintings initially present a sense of photographic immediacy. At first glance, the works appear realistic—sometimes even cinematic—yet this apparent fidelity gives way to a more complex spatial and emotional register. A palpable sense of distance and quiet pervades each composition, situating the viewer within an image that feels both familiar and deliberately staged. Andrew’s depictions are highly constructed and resolutely still. Suspended in time and absent of human presence, they function less as documents than as mediated spaces—images that guide the viewer’s gaze much like a theatrical set or backdrop. The resulting tension suggests landscapes and architectural forms held in isolation, removed from their broader contexts and preserved through acts of selection and framing. As the environments Andrew depicts continue to evolve and disappear, her paintings operate as a visual archive—a retrospective lens onto places that now exist primarily as memory.”
Material co-founder Colour Maisch adds:
“We are honored to present this retrospective of Karen Andrews’ work at Material, at a moment when many of her paintings are beginning to enter collections across the state. This exhibition grew out of ongoing conversations between my friend Alli Harbertson—Karen’s hospice chaplain—and myself, aswe reflected on Karen’s paintings after her passing and felt called, after many years, to finally bring her work into the public eye.
At the heart of these conversations has been a broader question about how art changes through its encounters with viewers, and the beauty of that reciprocal relationship. During her lifetime, Karen’s work experienced very few such encounters, and we are eager to see how this exhibition may transform the aura surrounding her paintings.”
Material is also pleased to announce that the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, Springville Museum of Art, and Salt Lake County Arts & Culture will be acquiring works by Karen Andrews for their permanent collections, ensuring that her unique artistic legacy will be preserved and shared for generations to come.
Events
Material will host an opening reception on Thursday, January 15, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., with a brief talk on Andrews’ work from 6:00–6:30 p.m.
The exhibition will also be open for viewing on:
Friday, January 16, 2026, 6:00–8:00 p.m. — Salt Lake City Gallery Stroll
Thursday, January 29, 6:00–8:00 p.m. — Closing Reception
By appointment
About Material
Built on the collective vision of artists Jorge Rojas and Colour Maisch, Material is a multifaceted art space housing a commercial gallery, artist studios, classes and community events. Material exhibits local, national, and international artists through community-centered events and collaborations.
