Wes Mills
My Hometown
Wes Mills
My Hometown
Opening Reception: 5 - 7 PM | August 3
Exhibition Dates: August 3 - August 31, 2024
Introduction
203 Fine Art is pleased to present a solo exhibition by the esteemed Taos artist, Wes Mills. Born in Tucson, AZ, in 1960, the deserts of the Southwest subtly emerge every few decades in Mills’ oeuvre, serving as pertinent inspiration. These new works evoke a sense of sentimentality in their familiar figurations of cacti and found objects.
The artworks included consist of “Cacti Boxes” and rusted tin cans with shaped and painted wood found on the artist’s property in Ojo Caliente. These organic forms serve as dynamic mediums for an artist so well-known for his minimal drawings on paper. The artistic “Cacti boxes” are artifacts in themselves, carefully carved and painted. But it is what lies inside that provides the viewer with a unique experience.
Closed and open views of CB014 2024 9.25 x 5 x 1.75”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
CB16 2024
9.5 x 7 x 2.5”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax, nails & seven drawings on paper
CB17 2024
9.5 x 7 x 2.5”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax, nails & seven drawings on paper
Artist Statement
IwasborninTucson,ArizonainJulyof1960.Occasionally,myworkreflectsimageryandfeelings inspiredbytheAmericanSouthwest.
The “Cacti Box” pieces re-visit a theme that I initially worked with while living in Taos, New Mexico in the early 1990’s. These pieces look to reveal a sense of sentimentality I have for the natureoftheSouthwest.Thepiecescanbeviewedunassembledintheirsmallartistmadebox orifonechooses,theindividualpartsmaybeassembledtorepresentparticularcactiandtheir immediate environment. I find that there is a lightheartedness to the cacti pieces that fills the feelingsofnostalgiaIhave.
Thesculpturalpiecesconsistingofarustedtincanandcarvedwood,looselyrepresentingcacti, are all titled “My Hometown.” They are a commentary towards aging, longing, and a witness to the passing of time we all experience. I find inspiration and a sense of beauty in these rich brown,rustedcansoneoccasionallycomesacrosswhilewalkingthroughthedesert.Theirtitle was inspired by the feelings I had when listening to the radio and hearing Bruce Springsteen’s 1984song,“MyHometown.”
Artwork opposite page: CB010 2024
9.625 x 7.25 x 2”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
CB011 2024
9.25 x 7 x 2”
Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
CB002 2024
4.75 x 5 x 2”
Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
CB003 2024
5.25 x 5 x 2”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
CB008 2024
8.75 x 7 x 1.75”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
Desert Reflections
Like the boxes themselves, these works are an invitation to open up an internal world and explore a place as ephemeral as childhood. Each Cacti Box is unique -labrinthys of wax shaped by fingertips hold the desert floor one is to build wooden figures upon. For only two boxes, CB16 & CB17 , there lies a secret door that reveals the most intimate part of the artist. Seven drawings on paper seem to slow time, giving way to the thoughtfulness and complexity in which Mills relates to a home that has become disjointed through movement and time.
Drawing5/6fromCactiBoxCB16 2024 6 x 5”, graphite & colored pencil
CB001 2024
5.25 x 5.25 x 2”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
Drawing4/7fromCactiBoxCB17 2024 5 x 6”, watercolor & graphite
Installation from left to right: M16 2024; M18 2024; H002 2024
CB17 2024
9.5 x 7 x 2.5”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax, nails & seven drawings on paper
Drawing5/7fromCactiBoxCB17 2024
5 x 6”, watercolor & graphite
CB16 2024
9.5 x 7 x 2.5”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax, nails & seven drawings on paper
MyHometownM33 2024
5 x 5 x 5”, metal, plaster, wood, paint, wax & epoxy
When Mills speaks of walking through his land in Ojo Caliente, purchased a few years ago when he returned to Taos after 1991, one realizes how much time has passed since the artist last lived in a landscape resembling his childhood. Rusted tin cans amongst sprouting cacti reflect the cycles of life that can never be escaped, but instead embraced.
Wes Mills isn’t being bashful in this series. He has no intention of hiding behind partially revealed mysteries or hidden truths. Instead, he invites the viewers to dive headfirst into an immersive, tactile experience. By sharing these colorful works with the public, an invitation emerges for their owners to carry on the shaping of the landscape with their own bodies. Mills’ “Hometown” becomes a collective place, built & re-constructed with the memories of many.
2024
CB17
9 5 x 7 x 2 5”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax, nails & seven drawings on paper
CB015 2024
9 5 x 5 x 1 75”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
CB005 2024
5.25 x 5 x 2”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
Closed top view of CB013 2024
9.25 x 5 x 1.75”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
Open top view of CB013 2024
9.25 x 5 x 1.75”, Cacti Box with wood, paint, wax & nails
Artist Biography
Wes Mills (b. 1960) is largely known for his quiet, oftentimes sparse drawings. An article published in Modern Painters Magazine titled “Divinations”, writer Lance Esplund eloquently speaks of Mills’ drawings:
“In the drawings of Wes Mills, one is constantly aware of what has been lost - so much so that the initial feeling of the work is a kind of palpable emptiness or sorrow. A Mills drawing slows one down. Each unique, wispy image is imbued with a weight larger than its very small scale andlightnessfirstsuggest.Theworksvarygreatlyintheirlookandfeel,buteachpiececonveys theone-to-oneintimacyofahand-writtenletter.”
Born in Tucson, AZ, the artist first moved to Taos, New Mexico, in 1991, where he integrated himself quickly as an artist and gallery owner. However, he left shortly after, moving on to New York, California and then to Montana. Having only recently returned to the place where the artist first formed friendships with modern masters such as Agnes Martin, 203 Fine Art is Mills’ first Taos gallery representation since the turn of the century.
His artwork is featured in galleries, publications, and museums across the United States and Europe. His drawings and prints have found homes in collections such as the Harwood Museum of Art, Taos; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Missoula Art Museum, Montana; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Wes Mills in his studio, 2023
PhotographedbyMontannaBinder
