You’re invited! | SITE Unseen 9 A BENEFIT FOR SITE SANTA FE
Friday, April 8, 2016 Preview 5-6 pm Public Opening 6-7:30 pm
Tickets: $100 for Preview Ticket EXHIBITION CONTINUES APRIL 9-10
One of the most anticipated events in Santa Fe, this art-buying opportunity keeps collectors guessing (and dashing!) for their first picks.
A limited number of preview tickets are now available for SITE Unseen Santa Fe 9. Reserve your ticket here and be among the first to view the artworks for sale! Your preview ticket purchase includes a raffle ticket for a chance to win SITE staff-curated selections from the SITE Unseen archives.
How it works:
Artists are asked to create and donate works on identical 5.5”x 8” boards. All pieces are signed on the verso and exhibited anonymously. Only when the works are purchased are the artists’ names revealed. Preview tickets and artwork purchases directly support SITE Santa Fe’s vibrant exhibition program. With James Kelly as Honorary Event Chair, SITE Unseen Santa Fe has become an enormously successful event among both new and seasoned contemporary art collectors.
Participating Artists include:
Ellen Abramson, Terry Allen, David Kimball Anderson, John Andolsek, Carol Anthony, Polly Apfelbaum, Tom Appelquist, Valerie Arber, Stuart Arends, Jamison Chas Banks, Steve Barry, Tom Berg, Kevin Cannon, Roberto and PJ Cardinale, Susanna Carlisle and Bruce Hamilton, Matthew Chase-Daniel, Madelin Coit, Leonardo Drew, Joe Ramiro Garcia, Christy Georg, Cristina Gonzalez, Geoffrey Gorman, Allan Graham, Gloria Graham, Harmony Hammond, Rebecca Holland, Munson Hunt, Shirley Klinghoffer, Jane Lackey, David Leigh, Ric Lum, Lucy Maki, Dara Mark, Tom Miller, Mary Mito, Linda Montano, Richard Morrow, Nora Naranjo Morse, Jonathan Morse, Carol Mothner, Michael Namingha, Stacey Neff, Nancy Ziegler Nodelman, Marcia Oliver, Gay Patterson, Lisa Piasecki, Pascal Pierme, Purple Mountain Collective, Willy Richardson, Ed Ruscha, Abigail Ryan, Louis Schalk, Gerry Snyder, Brandon Soder, Nancy Sutor, Linda Swanson, Mary Temple, John Tinker, Mark Tribe, Trish Witcher, Jesse Wood and many more!
SITE Unseen 9 is sponsored in part by Il Piatto Italian Farmhouse Kitchen and Wilkinson & Co. Fine Art Framers. Official SITE event link here.
Santa Fe’s 10 Best Contemporary Art Galleries | New Mexico Art Scene
Lauren England
December 11, 2015
Santa Fe’s Art and Museum District has evolved over the years into a vibrant hub for contemporary art. With a cluster of high quality galleries located within the Railyard complex, Santa Fe presents a variety of cutting-edge exhibitions by up-and-coming, as well as significant blue-chip artists. These ten contemporary art galleries put Santa Fe on the map as a key destination for high quality art in New Mexico.
The Center for Contemporary Arts is a hub for contemporary art of all forms including film, visual arts and performance. The vibrant and ever-evolving venue is one of the oldest arts-oriented organisations in the area, founded in 1979. It provides an interdisciplinary exhibition and education programme that explores current issues, encouraging critical discourse on contemporary art topics and community engagement. The Centre focuses on multifaceted collaborative exhibitions presenting the region with a range of provocative, conceptual artworks. Its in-house Spector Ripps Project Space, for example, is dedicated to the presentation of risk-taking first-time exhibitions by New Mexico artists such as Zoe Blackwell, Brandon Soder and Betsy Emil, in addition to exploring spatial experimentation, site-specificity and scale.
Non-profit art museum SITE Santa Fe has been responsible for bringing global attention and important works of contemporary art to Santa Fe since its inception in 1995. SITE has an extensive year-round exhibition schedule showcasing innovative contemporary art, and a strong educational programme encouraging community engagement with avant-grade works. The organisation’s mission is to nurture, discover and inspire through contemporary art, working collaboratively with local and international emerging and established artists to present groundbreaking solo and thematic group exhibitions. The exterior of SITE is also a work of art in itself, featuring installations by different artists, designers and architects such as Greg Lynn. SITE’s new biennale exhibition series, SITElines: New Perspectives on Art of the Americas consists of a six-year programme of linked exhibitions focusing on contemporary art and cultural production in the Americas, beginning with Unsettled Landscapes in 2014, and with future exhibitions in 2016 and 2018.
EVOKE Contemporary holds a diverse range of exhibitions and events showcasing provocative artworks by internationally renowned artists from New Mexico and abroad. Over the years EVOKE has evolved into a prestigious cultural destination, representing Santa Fe’s distinct and varied heritage. Located within the Railyard complex amongst a number of established galleries, EVOKE is a key feature of the Arts and a Museum District and the First Friday Art Walks. Featured artists include figurative painter Kent Williams and landscape painters Francis Di Fronzo and Lisa Grossman. Alongside its regular exhibition schedule, EVOKE holds several collaborative annual events throughout the year such as E.A.T Edible Art Tour in association with ART Feast, which takes place every February.
Turner Carroll Gallery has a global outlook when choosing artists to represent. Since its establishment in 1991, the gallery, owned by experienced gallerists Michael Carroll and Tonya Turner, has presented works by artists from Romania, Ireland, France, Russia, Mexico, Korea, China and Japan. Several of Turner Carroll’s featured artists including Michael Coleman, Josh Garber, Rupert Garcia, Hung Liu and Willy Bo Richardson also exhibit internationally at prestigious museums. The gallery is an active member of the local community, regularly fundraising for arts education in collaboration with arts charities in Santa Fe. In addition to their main gallery program, Turner Carroll Gallery also directs the contemporary Mexican Art project ArteMita through which it organises exhibitions and charity events.
Housed in one of the most unique architectural spaces in theRailyard complex, Zane Bennett Gallery has a strong presence on the national contemporary art scene. The cutting-edge interior is matched by the stimulating exhibition programme of shows by established, mid-career and emerging artists alongside a number of blue-chip names. Featured artists include Mary Shaffer, Roger Atkins, Rachel Stevens and Joshua Rose, among others. Zane Bennett Gallery features works in a variety of traditional mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture and photography as well as new media and video installations. Visually engaging but also accessible, the shows take place within the gallery’s numerous exhibition spaces surrounding its stunning atrium and glass staircase.
Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, founded by gallerist Charlotte Jackson in 1998, has gained international recognition for their focus on Monochrome artworks, light and space and California modernists. The gallery has a well-defined and unique vision, which is presented internationally through a number of visually stimulating, high quality exhibitions throughout the year. Charlotte Jackson represents renowned artists such as Charles Arnoldi, James Turrell and Anne Truitt, among numerous others. Charlotte Jackson’s other ventures include founding the non-profit arts organisation Art Santa Fe Presents, the organisation behind Art Santa Fe art fair in 2003. Over the years, Jackson has elevated the status of this fair from a regional to an important event for the international art community.
James Kelly Contemporary is unique to Santa Fe and the Southwest region of the United States. Focusing on museum-quality exhibitions by national and international emerging and established post-war artists, the gallery is recognised for its high standard of exhibition content and presentation. Established in 1997, James Kelly’s 1998 inaugural exhibition featured the now internationally acclaimed artists Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Susan Rothenberg and Richard Tuttle, all of whom were living in the Santa Fe region at the time. The gallery has since maintained deep ties to the region, representing local artists whilst also bringing in the latest international talents. James Kelly Contemporary has also been instrumental in the ongoing development of the Railyard District, the focal point of the Santa Fe contemporary art community.
Karan Ruhlen is a key venue for contemporary art by well-established New Mexico artists. Often referred to as one of Santa Fe’s most preeminent art venues, the gallery is owned and run by veteran painter and arts advocate Karan Ruhlen. For over 20 years, the gallery has represented some of the best contemporary, nature-inspired paintings and sculptures, but the range of works on show at Karan Ruhlen is highly diverse, portraying varying styles from realistic, to minimalistic and abstract. The gallery’s main focus is on paintings, drawings and sculptures, exhibited at a number of solo and group exhibitions throughout the year. Represented artists of note include Pauline Ziegen and Stephen Pentak.
David Richard Gallery is one of the premier art galleries in Santa Fe. You will find numerous important contemporary and historical artworks on show here, particularly those linked to post-war and contemporary abstract art movements. David Richard Gallery presents works in a variety of mediums, focusing on works of abstract expressionism, Color Field, geometric, op art, pop art, minimalism and conceptualism. Their extensive roster includes emerging and well-established American and international artists, and the schedule is filled with contemporary shows alongside key exhibitions of significant modern artworks, organised through the gallery’s curatorial collaboration programme, exploring key thematic developments in art practice from the 1960s through the 1980s. David Richard is not only a high-quality gallery, but also an interactive environment for artists, collectors, curators and the wider art community.
Part of the collection of galleries found in the Railyard, LewAllen Contemporary is the largest and most modern site of them all. Designed specifically to exhibit fine art, its stunning museum-like space has earned a national and international reputation for showcasing a diverse range of contemporary artworks by internationally acclaimed artists. LewAllen Contemporary features a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, paper and glass works by artists such as Hiroshi Yamano, Emily Mason and Tracy Rocca. As a pioneer of contemporary and modern art in Santa Fe, the gallery also represents distinguished emerging artists ensuring the delivery of cutting-edge exhibitions. Throughout the year LewAllen Contemporary delivers a strong programme of educational events and publications to coincide with its stimulating exhibition schedule.
Meeting of the Minds is an informal series of lunchtime conversations and creative interventions that allow for more intimate exchanges regarding artwork on view in the UNM Art Museum. Led by faculty, students, artists, curators, and community members – this program invites multiple perspectives and fresh insights in the interpretation and experience of visual arts.
Meeting of the Minds Calendar
FALL 2015
October 1 Body Arts Led by Mariah Carrillo Collections Assistant, UNM Art Museum
October 8 Conversation with the Curator Led by Dean Kymberly Pinder, PhD College of Fine Arts
October 22 The Use of Textiles in Contemporary African Art Led by Johanna Wilde PhD Candidate Art & Art History
November 12 Vernacular in Place: Old and New Topographic Photography Led by Miguel Gandert and Christopher Wilson Exhibition Curators
November 19 Should Police Reform Include Truth and Recompilation Processes Led by Alfred Mathewson Henry Weihofen Chair in Law, UNM
Encore of a New Mexico PBS Original Production PAINTING ALBUQUERQUE Monday, August 17 at 8:30 p.m. on Ch.5.1 — A Complete List of Painters Profiled & Mentioned, Along With Venues & Participants Are Included Below —
Raymond Jonson – Casein Tempera No. 6 1941 UNM Art Museum
Albuquerque’s great paintings, its masterpieces, tell a story long waiting to be told. The paintings of Raymond Jonson, Carl von Hassler, Pabilta Velarde, Betty Sabo, Lez Haas, Helen Hardin, Clinton Adams, Howard Schleeter, Frederick Hammersley, Richard Diebenkorn, Esquipula Romero de Romero and others, tell about a spirit and a place in a way no other medium can.
PAINTING ALBUQUERQUE is one of the first full- length programs to bring together the stories of Albuquerque’s painters. This ground breaking documentary celebrates the culturally diverse painters and institutions that have contributed to Albuquerque’s cultural identity and artistic legacy. Some of the painters in PAINTING ALBUQUERQUE are known, others are almost lost to time.
In addition to its great artists, it was also vitally important for Albuquerque to have a venue for its artists — a way for the community to see the great work being done and help determine Albuquerque’s artistic identity. Taos and Santa Fe had established artistic identities, but what is Albuquerque’s?
Funding for PAINTING ALBUQUERQUE was provided in part by The Urban Enhancement Trust Fund of the City of Albuquerque. Michael Kamins is Executive Producer. Anthony DellaFlora is Co-Producer.
Painters profiled – In Alphabetical Order:
Clinton Adams – Return to Collioure, 1997 Collection UNM Art Museum
Clinton Adams: Adams had a love for canvas and stone. He was a painter and lithographer when he came to UNM in the early 1960’s. Instrumental in setting up the Tamarind Lithography Institute, Adams began the UNM Art Museum and brought a new level of academic achievement to UNM’s art department. As an artist, his work had an elegance and simplicity of form.
Richard Diebenkorn, Untitled, 1951 The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation
Richard Diebenkorn: One of the best American painters of the latter half of the 20th Century. Diebenkorn received his Masters from UNM in painting and credits UNM and New Mexico as a significant influence.
Lez Haas: A California painter who arrived at UNM in the post WWII years. Over a decade, he led the UNM Art Department to unprecedented heights. It would become one of the best art schools in the United States.
Frederick Hammersley: One of the nation’s top hard edged painters of the latter half of the 20th century. In Albuquerque, Hammersley found a unique environment where he could stay focused on his painting.
Helen Hardin – Listening Woman, 1982 Collection of Cradoc Bagshaw
Helen Hardin: Daughter of Pablita Velarde, Helen Hardin was ambivalent about painting initially. When Hardin entered UNM in 1961, she saw a future as art history and anthropology classes deepened her interest in Native American symbols. She would soon become part of a generation of ground-breaking Native artists who would transform Native American painting. At the height of her career in 1981, she created two of her most celebrated works, “Changing Woman” and “Medicine Woman.” They were the first of what would become her “Women’s Series” and embody the height of her artistic, intellectual, and spiritual awareness. Then Hardin learned she had breast cancer. She began undergoing treatment, but kept painting. “Listening Woman” completed her “Women’s Series.” She passed away in 1984.
Raymond Jonson: Arrived in N.M. in 1922. He first lived in Santa Fe, then later in Albuquerque. He taught at UNM and set-up the Jonson Gallery, one of Albuquerque’s first showcases for art. A prophet for modern art, over the course of Jonson’s prolific career he championed abstract painting. He had a deep self-conviction that art was the noblest calling for any human being.
Betty Sabo: One of Albuquerque first women arts leader, she was instrumental in supporting and bringing acclaim to Albuquerque’s arts. Summing up her approach to painting, Sabo said, “I try to give you an awareness of the simple everyday world. For then I will believe I will have achieved artistry.”
Howard Schleeter: Howard Schleeter’s contribution is almost lost to time. At one time Schleeter was one of NM’s most prolific and well known painters. Beginning with WPA work, he soon transitioned into one our most highly regarded modernist painters. Having found his archives after years of searching, we bring Schleeter back to the attention of the public.
Pablita Velarde – Old Father The Storyteller, 1959 Estate of Margarete Bagshaw
Pabilta Velarde: One of Albuquerque’s most loved painters, Pablita’s story is one of courage. Growing up in Santa Clara Pueblo she found tremendous resistance to her passion for painting. She persevered and became one of the first nationally recognized Native American woman painters and one of Albuquerque’s most beloved.
Carl von Hassler: Arriving in 1922, he played a pivotal role in having Albuquerque become a place for art making. He went on to influence a body of students (Betty Sabo, Ben Turner, Sam Smith, Novella King, etc.) who would continue the fine arts tradition of representational painting. They painted what they found beautiful in Albuquerque and its surroundings. His murals at the KiMo theater are renowned and one of Albuquerque’s first public artworks.
Painters Mentioned:
Elaine de Kooning-Albuquerque, 1960 Collection Bob and Linda Schmier
Elaine de Kooning: DeKooning was from NYC and the heart of painting in the US. A visiting professor at UNM’s Art Department, she had unbridled enthusiasm for the great painting she found in Albuquerque.
Esquipula Romero de Romero: Hispanic Albuquerque painter who captured Hispanic traditions. Not enough known about him at this point.
Florence Pierce: Initially was involved with the Transcendental Painting Group began by Emil Bisttram and Raymond Jonson. Florence would later become one of Albuquerque’s best known artists.
Willy Bo Richardson’s, “Number 1,” 1999. Albuquerque Museum Permanent Collection
Willy Bo Richardson’s painting titled, “Number 1″, 1999 was added to the Albuquerque Museum Permanent Collection. The Albuquerque Museum Permanent Collection features artists living in or influenced by the South West region and includes masterworks by Georgia O’Keeffe, Raymond Jonson, Fritz Scholder, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.
Wilson Hurley: One of Albuquerque’s most recognized western landscape painters. He is nationally appreciated and has two paintings of the Sandia Mountains, two masterpieces, on permanent exhibit at the Albuquerque International Sunport.
Venues: Much lamented by von Hassler and many others artists over the years; Albuquerque had a major problem to overcome – the lack of a permanent place for the community to see the great work being produced.
Kurt and Edith Kubie (Salon): Escaping Nazi occupied Vienna in 1938, the Kubie’s came to Albuquerque in the early 50’s. They wanted to create the salons they loved in Vienna. So they became arts patrons for Albuquerque’s painters.
The Jonson Gallery, UNM: By the 1950s Raymond Jonson was ensconced on the UNM campus in a combination residence, studio, and gallery intended to be a permanent art laboratory. Retiring from teaching in 1954, his gallery became a lifeline for artists.
The Albuquerque Modern Museum: There was not a consistent venue in Albuquerque to show art. Outside of UNM, some artists took the problem in hand. In 1953, a heroic enterprise, the Albuquerque Modern Museum, debuted. The first of its kind, the museum created an important direct connection between the community and Modern Art exhibiting such stars as Richard Diebenkorn, Agnes Martin, Florence and Horace Pierce, among others. The museum closed in 1956.
The UNM Art Museum: Clinton Adams enlisted photographer and historian, Van Deren Coke, to launch the UNM Art Museum in 1963. The Museum was a quantum leap for Albuquerque. Having the distinction of being the first permanent large scale exhibition space in Albuquerque, the Museum would host scores of impressive exhibitions. They began with Taos and Santa Fe: The Artists Environment, followed by Impressionism in America, and Georgia O’Keeffe.
The Albuquerque Museum: In 1979, the city opened the new Albuquerque Museum, a sleek, modern, temperature-controlled building in Old Town, to replace the quaint Sunport museum. Initially the exhibition space was small, but the impact was significant. Art was now much more a part of the city’s life and played a concrete role in helping Albuquerque residents to see themselves and in the process better determine our artistic identity.
Program Participants: Jim Moore, Ellen Landis, Andrew Connors, Robert Ware, Marjorie Devon, RoseMary Diaz, Joe Traugott, Wesley Pulkka, Doda White, Dave Sabo, Karen Clark, William Peterson, Nick Abdalla, Rini Price, Mary Ann Weems, Billie Walters.
Original music composed and performed by UNM’s Peter Gilbert.
Opening in the Railyard Shade structure by the Farmers Market Friday, August 28th, 5-7pm
Exhibition continues through Sep. 20th find the mobile gallery daily location online at www.axleart.com
Commercial product packaging and logos hold potent meaning and memory for us all. In the 1970s, the truck that now houses our mobile gallery itself delivered one of America’s most iconic mid-century bakery products: Wonder Bread. We have repurposed this bread truck. It now delivers a new kind of wonder.
The artists in Slices of Wonder create works that engage packaging design, advertising, and contemporary culture as a springboard and often a critique of these times we live in.
Luke Dorman has shown a consistent interest in creating humorous works using an underground comix-inspired pen and ink style. His interest in vintage illustration and classical painting also guide his artistic production. Dorman states his “purpose of action is to create work that is innately personal, yet subjectively approachable and identifiable with the viewer.”
Jeff Drew is perhaps best known for his numerous magazine and journal covers. Notably, his imagery has graced many covers of Albuquerque’s Weekly Alibi. He has also won many awards for his animation work. His humor is evident in all his art production.
Jason Garcia transforms materials closely connected to the earth into a visually rich mix of Pueblo history and culture, comic book super heroes, video game characters, religious icons and all things pop culture. His love for storytelling, appreciation for the methods of his craft and ability to blend the ancient with the present both inspire and inform his work as an artist.
Vicente Telles combines vivid comic book inspired interpretations of Bible stories with traditional themes. People often see saints as religious. Telles likes to believe they transcend religion, that there is something bigger out there that connects the past to the present and the future.
We have images available for Press use. You may preview them and download them here: www.axleart.com/#!press/cjft
Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM Matthew Chase-Daniel: (505) 670-5854 Jerry Wellman: (505) 670-7612 media@axleart.com www.axleart.com
Clockwork for Oracles: Willy Bo Richardson Richard Levy Gallery August 7 – September 4, 2015 Artist reception: Saturday August 29, 6 – 8pm
Richard Levy gallery will exhibit the new series “Clockwork for Oracles” at the Seattle Art Fair, as well as the Richard Levy project room in Albuquerque. Also in the gallery: Altered States, an exhibition of selected editions by Gerhard Richter;and artist collective assume vivid astro focus (avaf).
Clockwork for Oracles is a series of paintings by Willy Bo Richardson that reaches for freshness. He states, “The paintings are made quickly and with as little editing and deliberation as possible. This doesn’t mean I’m not making esthetic and empirical decisions. It simply means I’m aspiring to the essence”.
Richard Levy Gallery Tuesday –Saturday, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm 514 Central Avenue SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505.766.9888, info@levygallery.com
Aftershock opens at James Kelly Contemporary on Friday, Aug. 7, creates his works in full awareness of the properties, history, and legacy of iron, his chosen medium. A public reception in honor of the opening of a new show by the sculptor Tom Joyce. Show will run from August 7th through October 3rd.
Aftershock: New work by Tom Joyce Friday, August 7, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm James Kelly Contemporary 1611 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe NM 87501
