Contemporary Native American Group Show
August 7 – September 5, 2015
Artist’s Reception: Friday, August 21, 5-7 pm, at new location, 558 Canyon Road
Santa Fe, NM – Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art presents our 9th annual Contemporary Native American Group Show, bringing together eight Native artists from three generations. All nationally recognized as innovators in the field of contemporary Native art, the show will consist of over 50 pieces. Including represented artists: Emmi Whitehorse, Rose B. Simpson, Rick Bartow, Harry Fonseca and we are pleased to welcome Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird. Also, guest artists Lisa Holt and Harlan Reano will have work on view. The exhibition is on view early in the month from August 7 – Sept 5, 2015 with the artist’s reception Friday, August 21, 5-7pm, to coincide with Santa Fe’s Indian Market weekend.
This will be the first Native exhibition from our spacious new location at 558 Canyon Road, with ample parking available directly behind the gallery during regular business hours.
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Rick Bartow (Wiyot) – With a retrospective exhibition on view through August 8, 2015 at University of Oregon’s, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, in Eugene (http://jsma.uoregon.edu/Bartow), this year Chiaroscuro is presenting a special selection of pastel-on-paper pieces created over the last 15 years. Bartow’s works on paper combine a sure hand and sharp wit, with strong gesture and color, as images of animals and human figures emerge and blur together to form this Transformative work.
Harry Fonseca (Maidu) – Directly from the Fonseca Trust inventory, Chiaroscuro will present large scale Stone Poem paintings juxpostioned with smaller works on paper. The Stone Poem paintings, which made up the largest grouping of large scale pieces available from the studio at the time of Fonseca’s death in 2006, are bold and abstract. These expressionistic works depict petroglyph like figures that pulse with life in black, white, and gold.
Lisa Holt & Harlan Reano (Holt -Cochiti Pueblo; Reano-Santa Domingo Pueblo)- Chiaroscuro is pleased to present two new hand built ceramic vessels that both define and progress a contemporary vision of Native American pottery. Holt hand-builds the form and Reano paints the surface design on these traditionally fired earthenware pots.
Yazzie Johnson & Gail Bird (Johnson-Navajo; Bird-Santa Domingo & Laguna Pueblos ) – For well over 30 years, Johnson & Bird have consistently presented unique, dynamic and innovative designs executed with the highest level of craftsmanship and artistry. Chiaroscuro is pleased to welcome this duo, and will present a full case of their finest contemporary Native American jewelry. In conjunction with their booth at Indian Market, Chiaroscuro shows pieces that do not qualify to be displayed at Indian Market, because of materials or processes used to create. These “non-market” pieces are critical viewing for those who want to witness Yazzie and Gail’s accomplished artistry in precious gems, stones, gold and silver.
Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) – Always inventive and provocative, Simpson’s ceramic figures steadily push the boundaries of contemporary Native art. In this exhibition Simpson will present medium sized free standing figures and a major figurative wall piece. This past winter Simpson was featured in the first installment of Site Santa Fe’s 20/20 exhibition, where she presented a pair of 10 foot adorned figures entitled Alter, which will be available for viewing at Chiaroscuro’s auxiliary space.
Emmi Whitehorse (Navajo) – This year Whitehorse will present a new body of work including a large scale panel painting. Known for her atmospheric abstractions on paper mounted to canvas, Whitehorse explores a different kind of line and feel with her works on panel. The hard panel surface brings out more opaque brushwork and markings for a different definition of space than on her well known abstractions on paper.