JOHN FINCHER
IN MEMORIAM
OCTOBER 25 - DECEMBER 1. 2024
PREFACE
This exhibition pays tribute to the life and artistic legacy of John Fincher (1941-2024), whose recent passing in August of this year leaves a void in the Santa Fe art world and beyond. Fincher was not only a masterful painter, maker of monotypes and drawings of diverse and invariably interesting subjects – piñon-dotted landscapes, big skies, prickly cactus, towering poplar trees, gnarly branches, shaving brushes, and sundry other objects the artist called “trappings of the West” – he was also a man of independent vision, enormous humor, wit and not a small amount of theatrical brilliance. Fincher celebrated, indeed heroicized these “trappings of the West” and in his work, they became both familiar and subtly totemic of the Great American Frontier. He rendered his paintings in rich colors with lush surfaces that imbue the works with the feeling of good-natured optimism that is synonymous with the American Frontier itself.
Fincher’s distinctive portrayals of these subjects also operate as a richly diverse semiotic archive of the West’s role as a reservoir of a uniquely American brand of pride, strength, and individualism. The American West is firmly in the culture as a place of new beginnings and much of Fincher’s work subtly enshrines powerful symbols of America’s mythic Frontier providing reassuring reminders of the nation’s unique spirit and character. Fincher’s work reflected his deep connection to the land he cherished. He was a self-proclaimed man of the West and his colorful depictions of ordinary objects revealed the extraordinary grace inherent in the everyday.
His colorful close-ups of commonplace objects in the American West have been called “Cowboy Pop” and, in their power to transfigure the ordinary into broader cultural meanings, they might be said to contribute a Western analog to the urban transmogrifications that Warhol conjured with soup cans and Brillo boxes. But such lofty notions of his works’ significance would be far from the artist’s humble intentions. He said: “I never strive to be didactic. My paintings are all about the place where I live. I want to paint things people will find beautiful and enjoy living with.” His mastery of material, combined with an innate fluency in line, color, and light, led to works that resonate with honesty and integrity. Fincher’s art embodies a sense of purity, beauty, and the potential for new beginnings, intertwined with his vision of the Southwest that inspires hope and admiration for a place he loves.
Born in Hamilton, Texas, in 1941, John Fincher earned his MFA from the University of Oklahoma in 1966. The artist’s works have been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions and have been represented in important group exhibitions at such significant venues as SITE Santa Fe, the Aspen Art Museum, and the National Art Museum of China, Beijing. His work resides in major public institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Wichita Art Museum, and the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History.
Four Seasons at the Lake, 1994 Oil on Canvas 62 x 82 in.
Desert Scene #7, 1971 Oil on canvas
40 x 50 in. (Framed 41.50 x 51.50 in.)
South of Pecos, 1986
Oil on canvas
40 x 60 in. (Framed 41 x 61 in.)
Getty Pine, 2009 Oil on linen
44 x 56 in. (Framed 45.25 x 57.38 in.)
Four Poplars, 1987
Oil on canvas
72 x 48 in. (Framed 73 x 49in.)
The Sawmill Poplars. n.d Oil on canvas
84 x 60 in. (Framed 85.75 x 61.50 x 2 in.)
23.75 x 23.75 in.
Engineer Two, Oil on panel
Engineer Three, Oil on panel
23.75 x 23.75 in.
Homage to William Morris , 2013 Oil on linen
48 x 22 in. (Framed 49.38 x 23.38 in.)
Sentinel #5, 2006 Oil on panel
15 x 5 in. (Framed 16.75 x 6.50 in.)
Oil on canvas
40 x 50 in. (Framed 41.50 x 51.50 in.)
Desert Scene #4, 1971
Still Life: Belts, n.d. Oil on linen
36 x 48 in. (Framed 37.78 x 49.75 in.)
Bloomsbury, 2014
Oil on linen
30 x 70 in. (Framed 31.50 x 71.50 in.)
Flora Atticarum, 2014 Oil on linen
48 x 24 in. (Framed 49.50 x 25.38 in.)
Twenty-Five, n.d Oil on canvas
60 x 48 in.
Four Seasons at the Lake, 1994 Oil on Canvas
x
Vineyard No. 2, 2017
Oil on canvas
30 x 32 in. (Framed 31.75 x 33.75 in.)
Four Seasons, 1990 Oil on canvas
36 x 48 in. (Framed 37 x 49 in.)
Pods: Perfoliata, 2015
Oil on paper
30 x 22 in. (Framed 35.25 x 28 in.)
Pods: Burr Reed, 2015 Oil on paper
30 x 22 in. (Framed 35.25 x 28 in.)
Vanitas Nouveau, 2015
Oil on linen
16 x 8 in. (Framed 17.50 x 9.50 in .)
Big Sky, 2018 Oil on canvas
18 x 34 in. (Framed 19.50 x 35.50 in.)
x 48 in. (Framed 37.13 x 49.25 in.)
Demons of Memory, n.d Oil on canvas
36
Black Sea, 2011 Oil on paper
10.50 x 7 in. (Framed 15.50 x 11.75 in.)
Companion: Shiki, 2015
Oil on linen
70 x 30 in. (Framed 71.50 x 31.50 in.)
Five Eggplants, 1977 Oil on canvas
36 x 58 in. (Framed 36.75 x 58.75 in.)
Prairie, 2016
40 x 18 in. (Framed 41.50 x 19.50 in.)
Oil on canvas
Iris/Tulip, 2016. Oil on linen
18 x 24 in. (Framed 19.50 x 25.50 in.)
Blue Leaf Limb, 2011 Oil on linen
36 x 42 in. (Framed 37.50 x 43.50 in.)
Sketch, 1985 Oil on paper
30 x 22 in. (Framed 36.50 x 28.63 in.)
Rome
Opera Poplars #1, 1983
Pastel on paper
29.50 x 21.50 in. (Framed 37.75 x 30 in.)
Mixed media assemblage 16 x 12 in. (Framed 16.25 x 12.50 in.)
Hammam, 2009
Monotype 22.50 x 15 in. (Framed 33 x 25.50 in.)
Stephen #1, 2012
Stephen #2 , 2012 Monotype
22.25 x 14.75 in. (Framed 33 x 25.50 in.)
H.W.M (Blue), 2013
Watercolor on paper
29.50 x 22 in. (Framed 37.75 x 30 in.)
Australia, 2012 Monotype 30 x 22 in. (Framed 33 x 25.50 in.)
The Cowboy, 2012-2013
Mixed media assemblage 12 x 16 in. (Framed 12.25 x 16.25 in.)
Work, 2012-2013
Mixed media assemblage 11.75 x 11.75 in. (Framed 12 x 12 in.)
The Spanish Riding School, 2012-2013
Mixed media assemblage 12 x 16 in. (Framed 12.25 x 16.25 in.)
Restraint, 2012-2013 Mixed media assemblage 12 x 16 in. (Framed 12.25 x 16.25 in.)
Close Shave #13, 1980
Oil on linen
12.25 x 9.25 in. (Framed 12.75 x 10 x 1.50 in.)
Close Shave #14, 1980 Oil on linen
12.25 x 9.25 in. (Framed 13 x 10 x 1.50 in.)
Smoke Brush #2, 2002
Oil on canvas
10 x 8 in. (Framed 11.25 x 9.25 x 2 in.)
Smoke Brush #5, 2002 Oil on canvas
10 x 8 in. (Framed 11.25 x 9.25 x 2 in.)
Across the River, 2012-2013
Mixed media assemblage 12 x 12 in.
Carbo Study #3, 2006 Gouache on paper
4 x 5.75 in. (Framed 10 x 11.75 x 1.50 in.)
