Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Steven Bohls, a Bluffdale artist, gained national attention for his innovative, patent-pending resin art style.
- Bohls' unique technique involves layering epoxy resin and CNC carving, creating 3D-like depth in 2D artworks.
- His work has attracted commissions from celebrities and companies, including a significant project for President Donald Trump's library.
BLUFFDALE — Behind a nondescript garage door in a row of identical gray units, local artist Steven Bohls crafts colorful, custom resin art for book covers, video game companies and celebrities.
Bohls is an emerging artist who created a patent-pending art style that consists of a sheet of acrylic framed by hardwood and covered in layers of epoxy resin. He typically begins with a layer of resin colored with mica powder that is cured until solid. Then, he uses a CNC woodworking machine to carve portions of his computer-programmed design into the resin, lays another color on top to fill the space and leaves it to cure again. This process is repeated anywhere from two to 18 times and results in 3D-like depth in a 2D-style artwork.
The creation of his art style and his business, Veiled Resin, began when Bohls started dabbling in stained glass art. As he started looking for better ways to make more precise cuts to the glass —such as cutting the materials with water jets —he thought, what if he filled the negative space with epoxy resin?
This led him to develop a new style of resin art that has never been done before. One of the most unique aspects and biggest hurdles to Bohls' work is that he never knows what a finished piece will look like until it's completed.
"You know, 99% of the resin (work) that you see, they pour the resin, and what you see on the top is what you get," he said. "I'm actually doing the reverse. I'm cutting into the back of the piece, and what is actually on the bottom side ends up being the finished product. Nobody's ever done that before."
The Veiled Resin business truly began to take shape in 2023. Bohls spent months creating art out of his garage at home but was still working on selling the pieces and building his business. Then, in November, he attended a large event where a local author was hosting a book signing, displayed his work and ended up selling over $25,000 in art.
"It was really exciting, and it was that moment where I thought, 'OK, is this something that I'm going to fully lean into and really go all in?'" Bohls said. "And I decided yes, I'm gonna do it. So I got the shop and went full bore on it, and it's been really exciting ever since. We've had a lot quicker acceleration than I expected."
Since then, he has received commissions from various companies and individuals seeking their own one-of-a-kind pieces, including actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry and gaming company BattleTech. Most notably, Bohls was commissioned by a Florida art dealer to create a piece based on the July 2024 assassination attempt of the then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Bohls later found out the piece — which he entitled "The Shot" — was commissioned for Kid Rock, who asked him to present it at an event honoring Kid Rock at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida estate.
While at the star-studded event, Bohls was asked by Trump's policy adviser to create a piece for the president.
"Basically, I did (a piece of) him in a dance pose with this crazy color splash behind it, and I brought it to her, and she was so excited," said Bohls. "So I went into her office, and she had all these kind of drab oil paintings. And she goes, I'm curating the presidential library, and all we're getting is this really boring stuff. But Trump is a really colorful guy; I want to put this in the presidential library. So the piece that I brought her, apparently is going in the presidential library."
This led him to an idea for a project he dubs The 47 Coalition, a 47-piece series created in honor of Trump as the 47th president of the United States. The first of the 47 pieces is "The Shot," belonging to Kid Rock, and the other 46 pieces will be a variation on the same theme. The 47th piece will be engraved with the names of the people who bought the other pieces in the ongoing series and then be gifted to Trump. Bohls plans to bring this idea to Mar-a-Lago with his team later this year.
While Veiled Resin is a relatively new venture, Bohls has been a lifelong creative. He received a bachelor's degree in English from BYU and has authored multiple science fiction books, including a collaboration with Brandon Sanderson where Bohls wrote a continuation of his "Reckoners" series. With skills in software engineering, wood and metal working and a master's degree in business administration, Bohls has developed his own take on the creative process.
"I feel like there's three phases to me, any job, in any pursuit, any career," he said. "Phase 1, the excitement, the unabashed enthusiasm. And you get to Phase 2, and it's just the swamp, drudgery. You get to Phase 3, and you're competent, and you no longer are stumbling over those hurdles. You don't have the same unfettered excitement, but you have this massive fulfillment."
Bohls experienced this when he began his career as an author. He wrote over a dozen novels before he felt he mastered a writing style that he knew would be marketable and appealing to his audience. He found leaning into the learning that comes with drudgery before fully mastering a skill is what separates those who make their art as a hobby and those who make art as a living.
"I think one of the most important things for any aspiring artist of any medium is introspection," said Bohls. "Understanding that coming into this, you need to be treating it like you're trying to be a doctor. Doctors don't do the surgeries that seem fun ... you have to actually pay your dues and put in study and time until you get to the point where you can go and perform surgery."
Now that Bohls feels he has made it through the difficulties of honing his new art form, he is looking forward to sharing it with others. Veiled Resin pieces are now housed at various galleries in Utah, with plans to be featured at a Las Vegas gallery later this year. For more information, visit the Veiled Resin website.
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