This guy's art is way better to me than 90% of what I've seen in SFMOMA. And, like Picasso, his later "ugly" work is more interesting and more expressive than his earliest work.

I mean, it's not like Utermohlen is some entirely unknown artist. Though most of his popularity was posthumous, he was in exhibitions and galleries throughout his career. The probable reason he has not risen to the profile of something like SFMOMA is the aesthetic similarity in some of his work to Francis Bacon's, which is very distinct and well-known, and who enjoyed success before Utermohlen even began his career.