Pockets of contemporary art were everywhere in Santa Fe...if you looked for it. As is true in every place I have visited, there is always compelling street art to be found.
There were quite a number of galleries specializing in contemporary works as well.
My visit coincided with "Lucky Number Seven," the international biennial at
Site Santa Fe. Click here to take a tour through Site Santa Fe. Here are just a few images I captured at this interesting, highly interactive event.
I saw this Squeak Carnwath original at Turner Carroll Gallery. Run here to see more of her work. I have not seen one of her pieces in person before, and as great as her work looks when photographed...it is that much better "live."
I was taken by the raw, edgy work of Brad Kahlhamer at James Kelly Contemporary.
I found the pieces by John Randall Nelson at Gebert Contemporary quite compelling. His work is characterized as post-modern American Folk Art and it has quite an unusual, almost "outsiderish" quality to it.
I visited Cruz Gallery on Canyon Road and immediately was drawn to the interesting combination of edgy and whimsy that I saw in Richard Campaglio's paintings. I was praising the work to the person at the gallery and eventually realized that he was actually the artist as well as gallery owner. Originally from Spain, Richard is a welcoming, talented, and humble man. He also makes wonderful hand-crafted jewelry and fills his gallery cases with amazing rusty tools, unique objects, and vintage reliqueries. A must visit stop in Santa Fe!
A favorite gallery experience was had at Peyton Wright. The people I met there, including the owner John Wright Schaefer and Robin Bonner Ward, could not have been more welcoming. Such a contrast to the attitude and atmosphere you find in many galleries in NYC. The building itself is quite fascinating -- even the bathroom was like a work of art (and, I am told, the first in Santa Fe to have indoor plumbing). Some of the exhibits felt as though I was walking into a huge Cabinet of Curiosities. The work they show is both modern and historic. One of their current exhibits, The Art of Devotion, highlights 16th through 19th century Spanish colonial art. Not my usual taste, but truly a stunner.
15 comments:
Sounds and looks amazing - some really intriguing pieces you have posted there.
Nice peeks, Seth. Thank you ---
Hey, finally got a second last night to check out Pulse, the zine. You can probably guess, since we all had already read with relish the answers to 6 of the questions online, I turned straight to the seventh. Found it intriguing that so many artists find it hard to say "Bye bye baby bye-bye." - especially those who said they want to keep their best work. That is the art I most want to sell, as I don't want what I don't like out in the world - I'd rather just stage a total Redo!
A couple of my fave responses (that is, the ones that made me laugh, and that I found most relatable) were from Mary Buek who said, "Good grief, no, it's not hard to part with my art. In fact, I wish I could part with a whole lot more of it, in exchange for some cold hard cash." - Mary, I'm with you, especially right now!! -
and grrl + dog's " Not at all, I love giving it away. . .ya want some?" Yes, yes I do - and she's more than welcome to some of mine!
sarah f.
yer making me jealous.
I LOVE Squeak Carnwath!!! Thanks for posting!
I'm not a huge fan of really naive art but I really like Richard Campaglio's paintings. They have a real cute, almost heart rending factor. Those picture frames are to die for too. I'd love to get my stickly little mitts on them. I just checked out his web site and his jewellery is wonderful. I'm not a fan of jewellery either but his evokes the rich history, architecture, art and culture of Medieval Spain while being beautiful and subtle too. You are lucky to have seen his work in the flesh.
Thanks for the Santa Fe gallery tour.
I particularly like the paintings grouped in the corner.
wow, that's a lot of inspiration there, seth. i especially love john randall nelson and richard campaglio's paintings. really, REALLY love them.
smiling and nodding my head in agreement with sarah f.'s comment above too. : )
glad to see you there enjoying the abundance of wonderful art to be found... Like that political one!
Great night to be viewing it.
counting down...
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Ya hoo! Soo many great links..Think I want to have Brad Kahlhamer's puppies. And Sarah, I will do you a swap fer sure...
i love squeak too and would love to see her work in person. thanks for sharing all these inspirational artists here.
It looks like Brad may be related to Kelly Moore. Same vibe. Who KNOWS what creative dreams the Sange de Christo Mountains spawn?.....this is almost as good as having a Santa Fe mini-tour.
Can we stop at Todos Santos?....please?
that Kahlhamer. What the heck? My mind is official blown.
Oh wow, lots of inspiration on this little tour. Thank you Seth.
I just took the same trip- with lots of green chile & margaritas thrown in. I love the Turner Carroll Gallery- in particular Squeak Carnwath's work- it is wonderful to see the real thing- images look so flat & Hung Liu's- her layering, textures & vivid colors are beautiful!! The folks at Peyton Wright are soooo welcoming- love the narrative spanish colonial paintings!! Another favorite of mine is the Klaudia Mrr- in particular Nancy Scheinman's fairy tale like paintings. Deedee H
oops- I should have read before posting- I meant to add that Squeak"s- & everyone"s work looks flat in photographed images on websites but not in person & it is Klaudia Marr not Mrr :)
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