EartVO K AT I O N culture inspiration
September 2021 An EVOKE Contemporary publication E VO K AT I O N
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A Note from Evoke Welcome to our premiere issue of EVOKATION! Along with the adversity of the past year, we came upon a remarkable crossroads for introspection. This period of pause led us to be grateful for so much—our supportive and devoted collectors and friends; the great fortune to work with immensely talented and inspirational artists; the natural beauty of Santa Fe and New Mexico whose hiking trails nurtured us during these arduous times. In addition, this interruption led us to the launch of Evokation, in which we reveal insider views of the artists featured and events, along with tips and recommendations for navigating our small but culturally robust city. We look forward to sharing a new issue with you three times a year and seeing you in person soon at EVOKE Contemporary! Kathrine Erickson + Elan Varshay Owners and Publishers
Our Next Issue Our January issue will explore artistic endeavors in unusual media, take look at the nude in art, unveil Michael Scott’s new book paralleling a major museum exhibition and showcase exceptional works from our artists and invited guest artists in our annual winter group exhibition, along with sharing the City Different’s winter enticements: hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, spas and romantic Santa Fe nights by a crackling piñon fire.
Con tr ibuto r s Jennifer Hall Boggess is lead faculty and Professor of Art, Drawing and Painting courses in the Fairmont State University Art Department, Fairmont, West Virginia Susan Guevara is a visual storyteller and award-winning book illustrator of 30 years. Susan has been an integral part of the EVOKE team since 2017. Mara Christian Harris is a marketing and communications professional who recently retired from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Mara has been associated with EVOKE since its inception. Richard Lehnert, former music editor of Stereophile magazine, is a poet, music critic, and freelance copyeditor of books and magazines who for 40 years has edited arts copy for many New Mexico publications and institutions. After 30 years in Santa Fe and Chimayó, he now lives in Ashland, Oregon. John Vokoun is an artist and photographer based in Los Angeles and Santa Fe. His expertise in color reproductions comes from his career in art book publishing.
Front cover: Thomas Vigil, Rise Above (detail), mixed media, 60” x 30”
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CO NTENTS
4 Wild and Wonderful
Wild and wonderful West Virginia is carved in tactile beauty on the canvases of Lynn Boggess.
8 Captivating Creatures
Ester Curini paints compelling portraits of endangered species.
12 A Closer Look
Susan Guevara takes a deep look at the paintings of Andrew Shears.
16 Los Tres Modernos Ride Again
Corazón y Orgullo features the work of Nicholas Herrera, Patrick McGrath Muñiz, and Thomas Vigil.
23 Artist Spotlight
Preview the exhilharating expressions of Canadian painter David T. Alexander.
26 The Middle Place
Christopher Benson combines his various painterly languages into a single middle form.
30 How to Santa Fe
Focusing on some of our Santa Fevorites: restaurants, hiking trails, special events.
32 The Railyard Santa Fe
Santa Fe’s destination for contemporary art, entertainment, farmers’ market, and, of course, green chile — all within a 10-acre park. E VO K AT I O N
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EVO KE C O N T E M PO RARY EVENT CALENDAR All events take place at EVOKE Contemporary, 550 S. Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Visit evokecontemporary.com to sign up for special previews + for further information.
September 24
Los Tres Modernos Ride Again Corazón y Orgullo features the work of Nicholas Herrera, Patrick McGrath Muñiz, and Thomas Vigil. Exhibition will be on display through November 20, 2021.
October 29
Autumn Highlights An exhbition of works by artists focusing on the beauty of the fall season Exhibition will be on display through November 20, 2021.
November 26
The Middle Place New works by Christopher Benson Exhibition will be on display through January 22, 2022.
December 31
Revelry
Holiday exhibition and celebration Exhibition will be on display through January 22, 2022.
EVOKATION is printed three times annually by EVOKE Contemporary, 550 S. Guadalupe St., Santa Fe, NM 87501. Copyright © EVOKE Contemporary. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. All photographs by EVOKE Contemporary unless noted otherwise.
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Wild and Wonderful
Lynn Boggess
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pivotal point in Lynn Boggess’s art process occurred one day in 2000, when, to capture in paint a moment in time, he picked up the only tool within reach: a masonry trowel. He found that this gave him an immediacy that a brush could not: Because the trowel could quickly cover large areas of canvas, he was able to more accurately record a specific time and place. Additionally, the thick paint behaved almost as a sculptural medium, giving paintings a heightened physical presence. To experiment with the process, he set himself the goal for that summer of making one hundred small paintings. By the time those hundred paintings had been completed, what had begun as a experiment had become an obsession.
found most fascinating were those in which there was evidence of struggle: broken trees, windswept rubble, great boulders, floodwater. That connection remains in his current work, which is heroic in both subject and process. As the paintings have grown in size, the discipline of being present in nature continues. An assemblage of easels, boxes, and scaffolds is necessary to bring the canvas to the subject. The work is created in all types of terrain in all kinds of weather.
The possibilities of texture in the work are now fully realized. Boggess’s complex mark-making serves to both describe and provide content. He works the painted surface as if digging, trying to form As Boggess mastered the process, metaphysical theories associat- something out of the earth itself. He applies layer on layer of paint, ed with his abstract work resurfaced from his early studies. Painting then removes and adds paint in large sweeps and rough scratches. on-site gave him a certain empathy with the land. The subjects he
Left: Lynn Boggess, 30 April 2021, oil on canvas, 70.5” x 60.25”
Lynn Boggess, 11 March 2021, oil on canvas, 28.25” x 52.25”
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Lynn Boggess, 19 June 2021, oil on canvas, 34” x 30”
The paintings can be appreciated on many levels. To the casual fact that nearly all of the work is created on location. Art historians viewer, there is a fascination with the fact that the work appears appreciate Boggess’s references to Impressionism, 19th-century photographic from fifteen feet away, while from two feet away it realism, and 20th-century abstract expressionism. is a complex arrangement of large trowel strokes. To those who appreciate the natural world there is a purity in the subjects, which —Jennifer Hall Boggess deny all references to human interference. Adventurers enjoy the
Right page: Lynn Boggess, 30 June 2021, oil on canvas, 70.5” x 60”
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Captivating Creatures
Ester Curini
Ester Curini in her Brooklyn, New York studio
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Photo: Giuseppe Bergami
ster Curini’s work is compelling not only for its immediate vis- across most of North America, the gray wolf was hunted ruthlessly, ceral impact; it also reveals a deep-rooted humanitarian con- and exterminated throughout most of its range. sciousness, and is a call to action for the preservation of essential wildlife. However, the gray wolf plays a vital role in the health and proper functioning of ecosystems. Each of Curini’s subjects is an animal depicted larger than life and isolated on a stark, white background. She does this to give her sub- Through the Eyes of a Mexican Gray Wolf was inspired by one of ject animals a compelling voice without distraction. The subjects of the wolves at the Wolf Conservation Center, in South Salem, New her work are specific creatures that have been victims of humanity: York. Curini has spent much time there over the years and has come endangered, pushed out of their natural environment, neglected, to know the resident wolves, carefully observing and photographor abused. She raises awareness for wildlife preservation with her ing them. The Mexican gray wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf lifelong compassion and commitment, as expressed through her commonly referred to as El Lobo, is one of the most endangered art. North American mammals. The wolf depicted in this painting was a candidate for wild release, and hopefully is now running free in AriMore than any other species, the wolf resonates with Curini and is zona and New Mexico, where only 187 of its kind remain, according a repeated subject of her work. The story of the gray wolf is one of to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. the most compelling tales of American wildlife. Once widespread 8
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Ester Curini’s painting I Was Wild, They Named Me OR4 is a tribute to a legendary wolf whose offspring founded many packs now living in Oregon. The legend began one day in 2005–2006, when a young gray wolf headed west from Idaho. He swam across the Snake River to Oregon, which was then outside the gray wolf ’s established range. After establishing a territory there, he became Oregon’s most celebrated and controversial canid. Dubbed OR4 by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, he was the alpha male of the first pack to live in the state in over half a century. For years, biologist Russ Morgan tracked OR4; he collared him five times, counted his pups, weighed and photographed him, and protected him. Environmentalists rejoiced. Cattle ranchers wanted him dead. Though OR4 spent most of his time hunting elk and other wild game, he did occasionally target livestock, a habit that got him and his pack in trouble. OR4 became known for his enduring competence as a hunter, father, and survivor—until he was killed by hunters in a helicopter in 2016, along with his mate and two pups. Although taken too soon, he lived to a remarkable old age for a wolf in the wild— just one month short of his eleventh birthday.
Ester Curini, I Was Wild: They Named Me OR4, acrylic on Belgian linen, 72” x 48”
Ester Curini, Through the Eyes of a Mexican Gray Wolf, acrylic on Belgian linen, 60” x 72” E VO K AT I O N
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The Mighty Raven shares the spotlight with Curini’s beloved wolves, much as its subject does in nature. For thousands of years, ravens have had symbiotic relationships with wolves. Called “wolf birds” in various cultures, ravens have important ties to wolves and other large predators that serve as potential providers of food.
respect for this wise and playful creature. If you look closely, you can see a bright sky and mountain range reflected in the bird’s eye, indicating the potential for flight at any moment.
Telling the stories of abused and at-risk creatures is another of Ester Curini’s passions. The subject of the eponymous painting GuarRavens are highly regarded for their social skills, a complicated dando ad Est is a rescued goat that Ester became acquainted with communication system, and excellent visual recognition. Those in 2010, at the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. The goat was social skills have not gone unnoticed in observations of wolf/raven fortunate to be saved—this exceptional sanctuary is also an eduinteractions. In addition to aiding wolves during a hunt, ravens have cational facility promoting awareness of cruelty to animals and the often been seen interacting more intimately with wolves, especial- protection of those animals. ly pups and yearlings. These intriguing birds have been known to grab sticks and play tug-of-war with wolf puppies, to fly over young Ester Curini’s paintings reinforce that the only way for humans and wolves with sticks and tease the pups into jumping up to grab the animals to thrive is for us to find some way to compassionately sticks, and even to boldly pull the tails of wolves to initiate a re- coexist with them. action. Some scientists have theorized that individual ravens may develop special bonds with individual wolves of a pack. As one of the most intelligent birds in the world, ravens demonstrate empathy for each other and have cognitive skills. The grand size and distant gaze of the bird in this painting express the artist’s
Left: Ester Curini, The Mighty Raven (detail), acrylic on Belgian linen, 72” x 60”
Ester Curini, Guardando ad Est, acrylic on Belgian linen, 36” x 60” E VO K AT I O N
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A Closer Look
Andrew Shears
Andrew Shears in his studio
Photo: Anna Kooris
Wholeness, Harmony, Radiance: The Paintings of Andrew Shears “The first step in the direction of beauty is to understand the frame and scope of the imagination, to comprehend the act itself of aesthetic apprehension.” —James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
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he artwork of Andrew Shears belies his 30 years. Skillfully astute and conceptually profound, the artist’s paintings transcend the Conceptually, Shears begins a work with his own moment of aesnoise and agitation of our technologically frenzied culture. thetic arrest—from the stillness of seeing something that stops the mind “above desire and loathing.”* He then blends three tools: Shears’s work centers on his unconventional experiences with the photographic reference, his memory of the subject, and the submundane. Through beguilingly simple subject matter primitively ject itself. centralized in composition, the work emanates wholeness. Por- The compositions have a rhythmic structure of formal lines, baltraits of ordinary, single objects or solitary, familiar places, viewed anced shape against shape. The palette is subdued, calm, and harstraight on as if in a mutual encounter, remind us of something monic. A single object is bound by the canvas edges and lit with a we’ve perhaps felt before—something now articulated in a differ- single light source to suggest that the object is an entity complete ent and specific way. We recall, in the words of James Joyce, being unto itself. Even when the subject is a place rather than an object, “arrested by the abiding sense is of wholeness, of the place as a single object. beauty.” 12
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Andrew Shears, Taboret, oil on canvas, 50” x 40”
For Shears, realism serves as a structure for abstraction. Deliberate areas of flatness in an otherwise realistic depiction and unfettered mark-making on the flat surface remind us that the painting itself is an object. One looks through the surface to the illusion, then oscillates between the beauty of the object and the beauty of the surface.
wiched between two mirrors, seeing an image endlessly repeated, no beginning, no end.
This stillness first emerges in the studio, as Shears’s relationship to the artwork deepens and shifts. As the subject goes from new to aged with repeated passes of the brush, the artist leaves behind his three conceptual tools and responds only to the work itself. PaintThe ultimate effect of a painting (an object) of a subject (also an ing becomes a perceptual meditation of shapes, color, line, edges, object) is a subtle altering of the viewer’s experience of space. A and contrast, as he builds both the illusion and surface texture of stillness exists between the surface and the illusion. As in medita- the artwork. tion, there is a melding of observer with observed. We are sandE VO K AT I O N
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Andrew Shears, Parking Lot at Midday, oil on canvas, 15” x 19”
Shears’s conceptual and perceptual processes are meant to serve And from Joseph Campbell, in Mythic Worlds, Modern Words: Jothe viewer’s experience. Without this concern, there would be no seph Campbell on the Art of James Joyce, writing about the passage reason to leave his reference and memory, and a beautiful, accurate above: rendering would be sufficient. Instead, the artist’s primary motivaThe aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the obtions are visual impact and stillness. Likely these grew from a young ject. . . . You experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetlife filled with many moments stilled by beauty. ic arrest. . . . When we are in the presence of great beauty our minds go still. Perhaps the artist’s intention can be better explained by what some thoughtful authors have written about beauty and meaning. Andrew Shears’s goal to share his spiritual appreciation for overlooked objects and spaces ultimately leaves one with a stilled mind From James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: and an enchantment of the heart. You see that it is that thing which it is and no other thing. The radiance of which is the “whatness” of a thing. . . . The instant wherein that supreme quality of beauty, the dear ra—Susan Guevara diance of the aesthetic image is apprehended luminously by the mind which has been arrested by its wholeness and fascinated by its harmony in the luminous silent stasis of aesthetic pleasure, a spiritual state, very like to that cardiac condition which the Italian physiologist Luigi Galvani . . . called the enchantment of the heart.
Right:Andrew Shears, Garage Reflection, oil on canvas, 48” x 36”
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Los Tres Modernos
A Santero Tradition Reenvisioned
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he three visionary artists Nicholas Herrera, Patrick McGrath Muñiz, and Thomas Vigil appear to be santeros: traditional painters and carvers of santos, religious icons used for devotion, protection, and instruction. All three artists have similar religious backgrounds and frequently use Roman Catholic iconography. But it’s more accurate to call them santeros modernos—modern saint makers who are expanding the santero tradition with their use of novel and more personal subject matter. And there is more. In looking deeply at their work, viewers may have a kind of spiritual experience different from any found in a specific religious tradition. The work of these present-day saint makers embodies universal themes of life and death. The artists honor daily life—ragged, funny, wonderful, horrible life. No part of daily human life and its companion, death, is taboo. While the results may appear to some as religious and to others as grim and appalling, there may be something more accessible in between.
Catholic saints, in paintings and carvings called retablos and bultos. Santos were believed to provide much-needed protection, health, and prosperity. These objects for veneration were first carried from Spain to Mexico by Franciscan friars, to aid in the conversion of indigenous peoples to Christianity. The missionaries eventually took El Camino Real northward, bringing their icons to adorn newly built missions in New Mexico and southern Colorado. With few materials, and little access to the techniques used in Baroque Spain, a New World version of retablos and bultos grew from the rough terrain and rural life of the Southwest. A specific art form emerged using local aspen, pine, and cottonwood root, and pigments made from minerals and plants—tools that had been used by indigenous artisans for generations.
But as the 19th century became the 20th, and mass-manufacIf we look deeply at the work, consider the creative impulses for tured, inexpensive statues and prints undermined the market for these images and objects, and keep looking no matter how positive hand-painted retablos and bultos, the original art form languished or negative our response . . . what will we see? and began to disappear. The Historical Path of the Santero If these three artists do indeed hold the religious occupation of santero, the instruction they offer is devotion to one’s own life. This is a modern evolution of the Hispanic tradition of the santero, which began over 400 years ago
The 18th-century santero tradition of handmade religious icons was first revived in 20th-century New Mexico by the Depression-era Federal Arts Program of the Works Progress Administration. A second revival occurred in the 1960s, during the Civil Rights Movement, when a burgeoning Chicano Art Movement sought to reclaim Mexican and Mexican-American traditions omitted from mainstream history books and museums.
A santero had the task of creating santos: images of the myriad Above (left to right): Nicholas Herrera, photo by David Michael Kennedy; Patrick McGrath Muñiz, photo courtesy of the artist; Thomas Vigil, photo by EVOKE Contemporary
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Nicholas Herrera, La Cosecha del Otoño, Mi Madre y Padre, acrylic on hand carved wood, 19.75” x 22.5” x 7.5”
For several decades now, there has been a modernist renaissance family’s sixth-generation homestead in the small rural town of El and reinvention of the santero tradition. The artwork of Los Tres Rito, an hour’s drive north from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Modernos—Nicholas Herrera, Patrick McGrath Muñiz, and Thomas Vigil—significantly breaks the genre’s historical boundaries. In his youth, Herrera was going down a rough road of drugs and alcohol when a head-on collision that should have claimed his life NICHOLAS HERRERA instead transformed it. Sobriety, faith, and dogged persistence led him to become a significant contributor to folk and outsider art, Nicholas Herrera reimagines the santero tradition in wood, paint, and the master storyteller he is today. metal, and found objects—often with surprising humor. His work was first collected by the Smithsonian Institution when, only 26, The artist uses his vocation as The El Rito Santero to remember he carved Christ in the back of a police car. Herrera is considered and honor the old ways—and to express empathy with others a founding father of the transition of santero art to Modernism. across the globe. Herrera fondly remembers the family horno (an outdoor adobe oven), and the roasted meat, pies, and ears of Herrera’s upbringing, Christian beliefs, and life experiences run corn cooked in it. In La Cosecha del Otoño, Mi Madre y Padre, the deep in his images. A 15th-generation New Mexican who can artist carves images of his parents to either side of a carved horno, trace his family’s history back to Spain, the artist no less warmly behind them a string of tiny, dried ears of corn. More individually embraces his indigenous bloodline. Herrera lives and works on the carved ears boil in a pot inside the horno. E VO K AT I O N
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His father holds a string of ears between his large hands, and his mother a single ear in one outstretched hand, ready to add it to the steaming pot. In the painted background a field of ripe corn stretches below ravens circling in an ultramarine sky. The Virgin of Guadalupe blesses the work from above. Below her, a cherub grasps the edges of her skirt to ground her to this earthly scene. “This is the way I grew up with my mom and dad,” Herrera says: “the harvest in the fall, la cosecha del otoño. Every year getting ready for winter. Preparing fruit, drying and canning apples and peaches. Nothing was wasted.” His words are wistful. “When winter came, we shared with our neighbors. It was the barter system. I remember borrowing salt!”
Nicholas Herrera working on his sculpture La Corona.
Photo: Beth Wald
Climate change, water shortages, racial injustice, a pandemic that leaves us bereft while shining light on our inequities—all is subject matter for the artist. La Corona depicts the COVID-19 pandemic as a female Grim Reaper eight feet tall, made of welded antique auto and tractor parts. The dual meanings of her name in Spanish—corona, the virus, and corona, a halo of light— suggest a blazing light turned on our social, political, and healthcare inequities in this time of pandemic disease and civil unrest. With an antique scythe in one hand and the scales of justice in the other, this giantess demands a response. For more than three decades, The El Rito Santero Nicholas Herrera has made his own way in life and art. With materials and content, he has remained true to his own view and experience of life, wasting nothing, grateful for each day.
Nicholas Herrera, La Corona, mixed media, 92” x 82” x 30”
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Photo: Beth Wald
THOMAS VIGIL
Thomas Vigil’s unique technique combines discarded street signs, aerosols, and stencils with the Catholic religious iconography that permeates Hispanic culture and is no less ingrained in this artist’s identity. Vigil was born and raised a Norteño—a man from northern New Mexico. He speaks with orgullo, pride of his native town of Española.
Thomas Vigil, Scar Tissue, mixed media, 28” x 24”
Vigil fell in love with graffiti and the medium of spray paint as a young man—his first canvases were the signs, fences, and walls of the street. His love of art making led him to pursue a career in graphic arts by first honing his skills at Northern New Mexico Community College, in Española. He received his degree, but his passion remained the tools of street art.
“As Norteños, everything we do in our lives we do with heart and pride. When we go to work, when we work on our cars, we do it all with heart and pride.” E VO K AT I O N
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In Scar Tissue, Vigil depicts the short sacrificial path of Christ with the emotional power of dripping aerosols over a discarded, graffitied “NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH” sign. The artist says, of his intent for this composition, “I don’t want to ignore the hard times, pretend they don’t exist.” Vigil is determined to embrace all of life. “We all have a path,” he says. The artist acknowledges the challenges faced this past year by himself, his community, and the world at large. In the painting A Toda Madre o un Dismadre, the Virgin clasps her hands in prayer as our intercessor for self-knowledge. “When everything is a toda madre (truly great or completely messed up), you have to stay true to who you are. The good times can quickly become the worst. “We’ve been through so much this last year,” Vigil continues, speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic; “there was so much bad news. I felt I had to show images of hope and prayer—but acceptance, too.”
Thomas Vigil, A Toda Madre o un Dismadre, mixed media, 65.5” x 47”
In Never Ending Struggle for Peace and Quiet, Vigil sanctifies the challenge his mentor has had with on-and-off drug addiction. With the heart of a brother, Vigil asked his friend to tag the signage surface, then stenciled an image of the Virgin Mother cradling her infant son, sorrowful fatigue on each face. These shared life lessons are more personally and fully expressed in Vigil’s recent art than in previous years. His early fears of lost credibility because of his rejection of professional techniques and materials are gone. His origins as a street artist have confronted the self-critical voice that most of us hear at one time or another: Not good enough. “I’m not so sure all those professional [techniques] are that important anymore. Now, I’m letting myself be myself.”
Thomas Vigil, Never Ending Struggle for Peace and Quiet, mixed media, 36” x 24”
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In a crow-quill sketch for this self-portrait, a memento mori (Latin for “remember that you must die”), the artist looks downward in contemplation, his fingers loosely touching his mouth. Shadowing Muñiz, the Grim Reaper, a friendly hand on the artist’s shoulder, gazes at the artist’s mental machinations and demons. Muñiz’s young son, with cherubic wings, stands with his small hand on his father’s forearm. The boy’s direct gaze dares the viewer to challenge the power of hope. The more formally composed final painting, The Guide, shows the artist with his son on his lap, both challenging the viewer. The boy holds a stuffed lamb and security blanket that symbolize innocence, new hope, new life. The symbols and archetypal images surrounding them allude to consumerism, cultural traditions, popular icons, and the artist’s life experiences. A ruled grayscale palette in front of the artist is a metaphor for the nonduality of life and the subtle changes one experiences from birth to death. Muñiz speaks of an awakening: “Death can also serve as a guide to live better lives. . . . [We are impelled to] be more appreciative of what we have and the people we love. Patrick McGrath Muñiz, The Guide, oil and metal leaf on panel, 36” x 30”
PATRICK McGRATH MUÑIZ
“. . . When painting with the heart, one comes to understand the things that really matter in life and in art.
Since 2006, the artwork of Patrick McGrath Muñiz has been intellectually “Countless unnecessary consumer products and superdriven to explore social and environmental injustice and indifference, “link- fluous digital devices with their constant stream of data ing Christian iconography from Spanish colonial times to the propaganda of distract and distance us from knowing who we really are.” modern-day American consumer culture.” The artist’s work became more fiercely personal as hurricanes, their strength and frequency amplified by climate change, destroyed his family home in Puerto Rico and damaged his own home in Houston. His recent losses of family, friends, and mentors, in combination with the forced isolation of the pandemic, brought Muñiz to a deeper understanding of the artist’s place in the world and his own reasons for making art. “I’ve learned that painting with the heart is much more challenging than painting solely with the mind. I’ve come to the realization that to know thyself is a crucial key when I paint.” In the painting The Guide, Muñiz’s grief for what he has lost emerges as a visual reflection of the fragility of life on this planet. Patrick McGrath Muñiz, The Guide, Study ink on paper, 10” x 10” E VO K AT I O N
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Patrick McGrath Muñiz, Shared Fictions, oil and metal leaf on panel, 25” x 29”
Shared Fictions questions our responsibility in the massive spread of information and disinformation, truth and fake news. Two nude women, Eve and Pandora, stand side by side, sharing an insatiable desire for knowledge and discovery. Emerging from Pandora’s cardboard retailer box is a cloud of conspiracy theories and other negative influences of our times, some harmless, others not. Above the two women, Maat, the Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, and harmony, kneels with her left arm, the one closer to the heart, extended toward a tree (productive information), her right arm toward a nuclear mushroom cloud (destructive information). Muñiz wittily explains, “As IT users, web explorers, and consumers, we are left to our own devices to decide what we wish to buy and believe.
cludes. The humanity and soul-searching in his new work ask us to consider our own responses to the forces that affect our lives, both within and beyond our control. Perceiving with Heart
In a rare combination of ritual, metaphor, and remembrance, these three artists encourage us to remember who we are—to perceive, deeply understand, and embrace who we are—and also to hold close the knowledge that all of our history and understanding has an inevitable end. Life is a cycle, and from this cycle a greater mystery comes forth. When we know ourselves, and create acceptance and gratitude in our lives, the vagaries of life become part of life’s “I see painting as an antidote [to the constant data distraction] and wonder. a mirror reflecting on the essence of our humanity,” Muñiz con— Susan Guevara 22
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Artist Spotlight
David T. Alexander
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David T. Alexander, William’s Oeuvre Flows Through, acrylic on canvas, 77” x 78”
“Two elements are needed to form a truth—a fact and an abstraction.”—Remy de Gourmont
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avid T. Alexander gracefully commingles abstraction and realism to form an illustrious truth. His paintings are exhilarating expressions of escalated color of tumultuous landscapes. He sees the natural world as alive and in constant motion. Alexander’s signature landscapes (Dry Series) and waterscapes (Wet Series) represent his significant 50-year history of painting and drawing with a bold palette and vitally gestural application.
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The Wet Series explores water as form by combining luminous colors with flattened, uncanny perspectives. Reflective pools, elusive ripples, and subtle shifts of light and glare are punctuated by tall, vertical reeds that culminate in richly painted surfaces oscillating between pure abstraction and recognizable natural forms. In his Dry Series, Alexander continues his interest in evoking dramatic horizon lines, textured craggy terrain, and cliff faces with a
David T. Alexander, Japanese Rain, Shinjuku, Gyoen, acrylic on canvas, 58” x 52”
loose yet decisive painterly hand. Brazen brushwork and localized color create shifting moments that recall the artist’s experience of living in the varied, rugged landscapes of Canada, Iceland, and the United States.
toon, Saskatchewan, to earn his master’s degree while researching in New York, London, and Paris. In 2006, Alexander was a special guest artist-in-residence at the Morris Graves Foundation, in California. He was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2018.
David T. Alexander studied at the Vancouver Art School and at Langara College before graduating with a BFA from Notre Dame University in Nelson, British Columbia. In 1980 he moved to SaskaE VO K AT I O N
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The Middle Place
Christopher Benson
Christopher Benson in his studio
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’ve never quite accepted the idea, which has dominated American art throughout my 45-year career, that art must be new in order to be meaningful. Though we often mistakenly conflate the two, there’s a subtle difference between originality and innovation. Endlessly rehashing old ideas or styles may be a dead end, but I’m less interested in breaking new ground for its own sake than in reinterpreting this ancient tradition of painting in some way that’s original to me, and that also reflects the depth and nuance of its long historical identity. The English abstractionist Howard Hodgkin once said: 26
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Photo courtesy of the artist
“the past is the only home we have.” I agree, to some extent, but I also think that the past is comprehensible only in relation to the present moment in which we find ourselves. The problem, then, is not how art can be new, but how it can be original within both the long context of history and the present.
Christopher Benson, Three Cheers for the Red White and Blue, oil on linen, 60” x 48”
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Christopher Benson, Yellow Doorway #2, oil on linen, 20” x 16”
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Christopher Benson, Untitled Collage #2, archival ink print on heavy rag paper, 24” x 18”
For many years, I cycled among the three idioms of realism, abstraction, and expressionism, which—along with surrealism—were the major movements of modern art in the century leading up to my own early art-student years in the 1970s. I’ve landed at different times in each of these ways of painting, but have never felt entirely at home in any one. After living for long periods on both coasts of the US, I moved to New Mexico in 2006. Since arriving in this somewhat middle place, I’ve also worked at combining my various painterly languages into a single middle form that combines the physicality of expressive abstraction with some evidence of a plausibly observed world. I like a painted surface that can be a complete reality unto itself—as abstractionists on both coasts achieved between the 1940s and 1960s—but that also accepts the reality that we will inevitably make pictures out of even the most starkly nonobjective paintings. –Christopher Benson
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How to Santa Fe I
t’s no secret that Santa Fe lures visitors with its climate, art scene, food scene, and ready access to nature. Whether you’re visiting or live here, there are plenty of great guidebooks and websites to help you choose your next adventure—we thought we’d share some of our own favorite things to do as summer moves into fall. DINING One of Santa Fe’s great appeals is its restaurants. From world-class fare to food trucks, the culinary scene goes far beyond green chile (although we love our chile!). Most restaurants have curbside take-out as well as dine-in options—reservations are strongly encouraged. In honor of our Tres Modernos show, here are some of our favorite Spanish and Hispanic eateries: La Boca Chef James Campbell Caruso explores modern Spanish cuisine with exquisite tapas, wine and sherry pairings, and an intimate atmosphere. Try the flat-iron steak with smoked sea-salt caramel sauce, the grilled artichokes, or their famous paella. 72 West Marcy Street 505.982.3433 labocasantafe.com
Photo: La Boca
El Chile Toreado A food truck with a street address! El Chile Toreado’s logo of twinned chiles forming bigotes (mustaches) can be seen around Santa Fe, but most often at their location on Early Street, near the Railyard. This popular destination for burritos, tacos, and hot dogs serves breakfast and lunch every day but Sunday. 807 Early Street 505.500.0033 elchiletoreado.com
Photo: Horno Restaurant
Paloma Paloma is a vibrant, Mexican-inspired kitchen and bar on South Guadalupe Street, just across from the soon-to-open Vladem Contemporary. Tacos, tortas, enchiladas, and other Mexican specialties all get elevated updates in a lively, intimate atmosphere. Wine, beer, and innovative mezcal and agave cocktails are served for lunch and dinner. Vegetarian? Try the cauliflower tacos! 401 South Guadalupe Street 505.467.8624 palomasantafe.com
NEW ON THE SCENE Horno Restaurant Dubbed an “Italian-leaning gastropub” by chef David Sellers, Horno opened this summer with an eclectic menu informed by fine dining, wines by the glass, and Sellers’s food-truck background. Expect a fun, casual atmosphere. We liked the fresh-made pasta and, for dessert, the semifreddo. 95 West Marcy Street 505.310.1065 hornorestaurant.com Photo: Paloma 30
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Photo: EVOKE Contemporary
OUTDOORS It’s not just delicious dining all the time in Santa Fe—gotta work off some of that good food by exploring the countryside on walks and road trips! With the advent of fall, leaves turn, the air gets crisp, and the pace slows, but not too much—there’s still so much to do! HIKING Aspen leaves turn bright yellow in late September, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains boast one of the largest colonies of these trees in North America. We enjoy walking Aspen Vista, about 12 miles toward the Santa Fe Ski Basin on Hyde Park Road (also known as Artist Road or Ski Basin Road, but hey, Santa Fe streets exist to confuse you). It’s a seven-mile hike on a wide, easy access road to the top of the mountain, but we’re content with a stroll to where the Big Tesuque trail crosses the creek, about a mile up—it’s uphill but not difficult. The views are breathtaking in any climate, but especially Photo: Janet Worne/Alamy when enveloped in the golden light of overarching aspens. If your trip brings you later, don’t fret—more yellow is on the way in late October, when cottonwoods begin their bright display at lower elevations. Cottonwoods like water, so they grow along rivers and streams and in low-lying areas. From late October through early November, watch for cottonwoods turning bright gold along the Rio Grande as it parallels I-25 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, or on the High or Low roads to Taos. PUEBLOS AND DANCES If you’re interested in Native American culture, the Pueblo communities of northern New Mexico welcome visitors to experience their cultures and traditions. Visit https://indianpueblo. org/feast-days/ for a schedule of feast days, dances, and other activities, and information about visiting their living communities. Photo: Shiiko Alexander / Alamy
Photo: Jim Ekstrand / Alamy
ROAD TRIP To explore the beauty of northern New Mexico, we love a good road trip! In addition to leaf-peeping, a road trip to Taos is always rewarding. There are two routes—the main or Low Road through the Rio Grande Gorge, and the longer High Road, through numerous mountain villages. Once in Taos, explore Bent Street, dine at The Love Apple restaurant or Doc Martin’s at the historic Taos Inn—and don’t miss our own Nicholas Herrera’s artwork in an exhibition at the Harwood Museum of Art.
Nicholas Herrera, Viva Los Low Riders
Harwood Museum of Art Santo Lowride: Norteño Car Culture and the Santos Tradition Through October 10, 2021 This exhibition explores the unique story of the interwoven expressions of New Mexico’s devotional art and lowrider culture. Santeros, santeras, and famed lowrider artists cruise low ’n’ slow, side by side, to make apparent how these two art forms share subject matter and religious functions that bind them across past and present peoples. The Harwood Museum of Art presents the most diverse and extensive art exhibitions in Taos, sharing its comprehensive collection of artworks celebrating more than a century of art in Taos. 238 Ledoux Street 575.758.9826 harwoodmuseum.org
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Railyard Samta Fe A
s one of the top cultural destinations in the world, Santa Fe enjoys eleven museums, a rich multicultural community, and some 200 galleries in three arts districts. The Santa Fe Railyard has become a second center of gravity for citywide activities, and includes the Farmers’ Market, restaurants, a premium movie theater, museums and galleries of the Railyard Arts District,a beautiful urban park, and shopping. Visit santaferailyard.com for a complete list of a wide range of activities and locations, from concerts and movies in the park to craft fairs and community events. RAILYARD ARTS DISTRICT Part of the Railyard Santa Fe, the Railyard Arts District is the city’s contemporary-art destination. With eight contemporary art galleries and two—soon to be three—museums, all within walking distance of each other, the Railyard Arts District is an art lover’s paradise. The final Friday of each month is the District’s Art Walk, with galleries open late with featured exhibitions. Visit santaferailyardartsdistrict.com for a complete list of galleries.
Photo: Mara Christian Harris
Photo: Site Santa Fe
SITE SANTA FE The Railyard Arts District is anchored by SITE Santa Fe, a non-collecting contemporary art museum with a focus on innovative visual art and community engagement through education and outreach programs. Visit Curated, the store at SITE, for artist-designed objects, artists’ limited editions, contemporary art books, and unique gifts. 1606 Paseo de Peralta 505.989.1199 sitesantafe.org
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NEW ON THE SCENE Thoma Foundation Art Vault This free, nonprofit exhibition space is a new addition to the Railyard Arts District. It’s the only digital art collection open to the public in the Southwest, and one of the very few in the United States. Featured shows will include emerging and mid-career artists alongside internationally renowned pioneers of video sculpture, self-taught computer artists, and influential digital time-based media artists. 540 South Guadalupe Street artvault.thomafoundation.org THE RAILYARD PARK Urban-landscape design firm Railyard Park Conservancy, founded in 2010, integrates railroad infrastructure with native plants, a children’s park, a labyrinth, and spaces for community activities. railyardpark.org
Photo: Violet Crown Theater
MOVIES Violet Crown is a premium movie theater with a bar and restaurant, big cushy seats, and top-notch sound and screens. But you don’t have to watch a movie—you can sit at the bar to people-watch as you enjoy a wood-fired pizza and a local beer. 1606 Alcaldesa Street 505.216.5678 santafe.violetcrowncinema.com
Photo: Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation
MUSIC The plaza under the Railyard’s iconic water tower has become a gathering place for music of all kinds, from buskers to free concerts featuring local and national acts. For information about scheduled concerts, visit railyardsantafe.org.
Photo: Mara Christian Harris
SANTA FE FARMERS’ MARKET Every Saturday morning, 8 AM–1 PM year-round. Tuesday mornings, May through November. This bustling market has been consistently rated among the top ten farmers’ markets in the country. At its peak in summer, it hosts up to 130 local farmers and producers who sell only what they themselves produce, all from the surrounding area. It’s truly local, and some of the best people-watching around. As fall days crisp up, put on a fleece vest, grab a cup of early-morning coffee and a lavender donut, and enjoy the colorful variety of produce. 1607 Paseo de Peralta 505.983.4098 santafefarmersmarket.com RESTAURANTS Brew pubs, casual dining, and coffee shops abound within walking distance of each other. Consult railyardsantafe.com/restaurants for a complete list of offerings.
Photo: Scott Belonger for The New Mexican
RAILS AND TRAILS Take the Rail Runner from Santa Fe to Albuquerque for an excursion through extraordinary landscape. Trains depart daily from the Santa Fe Depot, in the Railyard. New Mexico Rail Runner Express Santa Fe Depot: 410 South Guadalupe Street 866.795.7245 riometro.org If you’re up for a workout, walk or bike all or a portion of the 15.5-mile Santa Fe Rail Trail, which parallels the Rail Runner tracks all the way to I-25, then branches off to follow the Santa Fe Southern Railway tracks to the village of Lamy. railyardsantafe.com/rails-trails/
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WELCOME TO ART VAULT Art Vault is a space dedicated to sharing works from the Thoma Foundation Collection – including our pioneering Digital & Media collection of software, video and electronic art. Our themed installations rotate annually.
Miguel Ángel Ríos, Piedras Blancas, 2014, digital video (color, sound) (still). ©Miguel Ángel Ríos, collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation
540 South Guadalupe Street Santa Fe, New Mexico 505 428 0681 thomafoundation.org
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