Contact: John Addison, 505-992-0711 July 21, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Santa Fe, NM – To celebrate Santa Fe’s Annual Indian Market, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art is proud to present two special solo exhibitions running concurrently, August 17 – September 8, 2012. Emmi Whitehorse’s Opuntia, and Rose B. Simpson’s A Life Worth Living. Opening receptions are Friday August 17, 5-7pm.
Emmi Whitehorse
Opuntia
Abstract painter Emmi Whitehorse (Navajo) continues to evolve her painterly abstractions of “a moment in the landscape.” Combining washes of subtle color and her distinctive “markings” of graphite, chalk and pastel, Whitehorse draws upon the light and structure of nature yet transforms the visual information into a purely abstract personal vocabulary of shapes and marks. Opuntia refers to a cactus genus ranging from shades of green to purple, with fruits of red, yellow, and green – all hues that inspired the new work to increased levels of color intensity.
The paintings convey a meditative feeling of experiencing a landscape over a period of time. Layers and layers of color and markings combine together and unfold in real time. Whitehorse explains her paintings are meant “to be seen slowly.”
Whitehorse is an accomplished recognized painter and printmaker whose work is included over two dozen museum collections including: Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY; Denver Art Museum, CO; Heard Museum, AZ; Eiteljorg Museum, IN; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Smithsonian’s NMAI, D.C; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. This is Whitehorse’s fifth solo show at Chiaroscuro.
Rose B. Simpson
A Life Worth Living
Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara) is known for her introspective and highly autobiographical figurative ceramic work. Hand-building clay figures that are commonly a reaction to personal events, Simpson “clarifies a feeling” in her artworks and shares with the viewer her personal vision. Simpson, aware that this reactionary approach has become personally overwhelming, exhausting, and potentially stagnating, the work in A Life Worth Living is about accepting experiences and staying present in a moment long enough to learn what it has to teach.
The main material in Simpson’s new work remains clay, but she’s incorporating found objects, drawings, cut-outs and fabric, while giving free reign to method and medium. Her intention is to “challenge the seriousness of art making” by indulging in (and thereby honoring) her passions. “I aim to suspend disbelief. I don’t feel that my work will make any change in the world, or affect anyone positively if it doesn’t somehow challenge the expected.” Simpson has proven, thus far, to be a dynamic young artist who consistently pushes the envelope – true to her own words. A Life Worth Living stands to be no exception.
Emmi Whitehorse
Opuntia
Rose B. Simpson
A Life Worth Living
Opening Receptions, Friday August 17, 5-7pm
Location: Chiaroscuro’s Main Space, 702 ½ & 708 Canyon Road on Gypsy Alley, Santa Fe, NM 87501, 505-992-0711
High resolution photographs available; call Heather Doyle at 505-992-0711 or email gallery@chiaroscurosantafe.com