Santa Fe, NM – Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art presents Spring Thaw, April 2 –
May 1st, with a public reception, Friday April 2, 5-7pm. This exciting inaugural
exhibition of our 2010 season, is hung in our newly acquired exhibition space at
708 Canyon Road and our main space at 702 1/2 Canyon. Formerly C Gallery, the
new 1200 square foot space is located steps from the main gallery on Gypsy
Alley. In 2010 we’ll be presenting concurrent monthly exhibitions from both
locations. Spring Thaw features new work by gallery artists and is on exhibit in
both Chiaroscuro locations.
Spring Thaw featured artists include:
Rebecca Bluestone
Chip Dunahugh
Yatika Starr Fields
Mateo Galvano
Siddiq Khan
Bebe Krimmer
Gunnar Plake
Susan Sales
Tamarind Institute
Kay WalkingStick
Emmi Whitehorse
Local artist Chip Dunahugh’s energetic and vibrantly colored cutouts combine
the aesthetics of graffiti art with formal abstraction to create a dancing visual
language. His two-dimensional works combine elements of painting and collage
and balance color and spatial relationships, frenzy and control. Dunahugh is a
guest artist at Chiaroscuro.
The acrylic paintings of Mateo Galvano capture a sense of open space and
inspire feelings similar to those evoked by landscapes. His quiet abstractions lie
between the representational and the non-objective, seeming to be about the sea
and the sky without making any overt references. Formerly of Santa Fe, Galvano
now resides in Ohio.
New York based artist Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee) juxtaposes imagery into
series of convergences: sometimes combining opposites like day and night,
sometimes combining natural features of landscape with geometric patterns.
WalkingStick’s meaningful combinations make her pieces into self-contained
diptychs.
The photographs of Gunnar Plake echo the look of landscapes in one’s field of
vision while in motion. Rather than focusing on details in the landscape, Plake’s
photographs call your attention to the patterns created by interactions of light
and color. The new series of work presented at Chiaroscuro feature Plake’s
seascapes taken in Boothbay Harbor, Maine this past fall.
Yatika Starr Fields’ (Cherokee, Creek, and Osage) paintings are hallucinogenic
maelstroms that contain figurative imagery in surreal combinations. Alive with
meaning, Starr Fields’ paintings are narrative, recalling memories perhaps from
the artists own past, and presenting them with a sense of immediacy.
Emmi Whitehorse’s (Navajo) light-filled combinations of oil and chalk on paper
are airy and harmonious, expressing the joys of simply rendered figurative
imagery in pure, linear drawings that seem to float in space, like fragments of
memories or images glimpsed in dreams.
Rebecca Bluestone’s dyed tapestries recall native weaving traditions but
incorporate contemporary designs and landscapes. Infused with subtle allusions
to sacred geometry, Bluestone’s woven paintings tie notions of balance,
harmony, and order to the land. Her more linear work is concerned with patterns
in geometric configurations.
Siddiq Khan also uses geometric configurations in his work. His new ceramic
sculptures explore the relationship between the language of symbols and
sculptural form.
A painter for over 40 years, Bebe Krimmer’s work conveys her interest in the
night sky and the order imposed or intuited by the human observer. Taking
inspiration from astronomical observances, she re-configures the night sky into
her own mixed media abstractions. Her new body of work contains more
stunning representations of the night sky rendered purely in paint.
Dallas artist Susan Sales’ lush, seductive oil paintings continue to evolve and
intensify. Her finishing process, which involves repeated sanding and
repainting, brings out nuances of color that combine into a heady mix of
painterly abstraction.
Spring Thaw also offers new lithographs published by Tamarind Institute
created by Tom Joyce, Nicola Lopez, and Tanja Softic. Tamarind will have its
own, “50th Anniversary” show at Chiaroscuro opening on June 4th.
Spring Thaw
April 2 – May 1, 2010
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 am – 5 pm.
High resolution photographs available.
Call 505-992-0711 or email gallery@chiaroscurosantafe.com.