ALVIN GILL TAPIA
December 6-18, 2021 Scottsdale Opening Reception | December 9 | 7:00–9:00pm
ALVIN GILL TAPIA Ancient Ties
Jackson Hole | Scottsdale | AltamiraArt.com
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Domingo en Chimayo Silver leaf and acrylic on canvas | 24 x 24 inches Enquire
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ALVIN GILL TAPIA Sacred spaces envelope visitors in a sense of peaceful belonging—a state Alvin Gill Tapia captures in his paintings of Southwestern religious structures. Calm, quiet, suffused with love and light: these are the qualities of being and believing that Gill Tapia achieves through his architectural abstractions.
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Gill Tapia’s scenes reflect his own origins: Born in Santa Fe, the descendent of New Mexican ranchers, he grew up steeped in the architectural vernacular of his home state—the adobe buildings that seem to rise straight from the soil, built from the mud that molds the landscape and the lives lived in the high desert. “They rise from the earth to offer shelter,” he says of the spiritual structures. “Even when I was young, whenever I would walk inside, I would feel at ease, at peace—it was and remains a beautiful feeling. Collectors of my work say they feel the same.” People, while not present in his paintings, figure as the builders of such sanctuaries. “I wanted to reference the religious history of the various communities who have used these buildings: the tribes and their pueblos as well as the small
Hispanic enclaves throughout the state.” His minimalist compositions distill such histories into abstract forms shaped by color and contrast. Metallics—copper, silver and most often gold leaf—lend luminosity. Vibrant hues—cadmium red, lime green— pop from his expanses of azure sky and his slivers of sepia land. The decade he spent studying art in New York City nurtured his attunement to light: midday, he’d migrate to SoHo and watch as the bricked streets baked in rays as soft and warm as the beams he knew in New Mexico. Now back in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, he immerses himself in the separate peace of his art. “I want people to see these buildings through the lens of the feelings I experience when I’m inside them: a sense of home, comfort and always calm.”
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Ruby San Miguel Red metallic leaf and acrylic on canvas | 20 x 16 inches Enquire
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Swaia Tower Silver leaf and acrylic on canvas | 20 x 16 inches Enquire
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Lazy Days in Taos Silver leaf and acrylic on canvas | 24 x 24 inches Enquire
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Cooper’s Place Copper and silver leaf and acrylic on canvas | 16 x 20 inches Enquire
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Mashone’s View Silver leaf and acrylic on canvas | 20 x 16 inches Enquire
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Tucson Dreams Gold leaf and acrylic on canvas | 20 x 16 inches Enquire
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Chabot Tower - Taos Gold and copper leaf & acrylic on canvas | 36 x 36 inches Enquire
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El Norteno Sabado Copper and acrylic on canvas | 24 x 24 inches Enquire
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La Trampas Gold leaf and acrylic on canvas | 13 x 13 inches Enquire
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His Path Copper leaf and acrylic on canvas | 13 x 13 inches Enquire
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Where’s the Crow Copper leaf and acrylic on canvas | 20 x 16 inches Enquire
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Taos Days Gold Leaf and acrylic on canvas | 16 x 20 inches Enquire
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Golden Hour at Ingmars Gold leaf and acrylic on canvas | 16 x 20 inches Enquire
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7038 E Main Street | Scottsdale AZ AltamiraArt.com | 480-949-1256
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