@matthewsgallery / matthewsgallery.tumblr.com
Among its many virtues Santa Fe has always been a refuge for dreamers, eccentrics and artists. Some of these magnificent souls bring with them an unmistakable effervescence, a radiant and slightly skewed take on the world that reminds us of what a life of complete freedom, with both its rewards and its costs, looks like. If there were a poster child for Santa Fe artistic eccentricity it would…
"Varnish patina on canyon wall." Sculptor Frank Morbillo is inspired by natural patinas in his sculptural work, watching how the wind and water carves canyon walls and capturing similar patterns using patinas on his fabricated steel and bronze pieces. This image is from a trip to Canyon de Chelly. #art #arizona #az #canyonlands #canyondechelly #chelly #landscape #canyongram #southwest #highdesert #lifeofanartist #travel (at Canyon De Chelly)
"Put this one on your bucket list," writes sculptor Frank Morbillo from Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. Frank spends part of every summer venturing through the canyon lands of the West in search of inspiration for his sculptures. #art #southwest #travel #summer #canyonlands #sculpture #sculpt #lifeofanartist #canyondechelly #chelly #artist #artgram #instaart #landscape #canyongram #artworld #artinspiration (at Canyon De Chelly)
Kevin Red Star, Crow Mother, 1976. Kevin Red Star is one of the most well-known contemporary native artists in the world, with artwork in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Heard Museum, the Whitney Museum of Western Art and the Denver Art Museum, among many others. Red Star grew up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Lodge Grass, Montana, and came to New Mexico as part of the first class of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Here he wove modernist and post-modernist innovations into his style, telling traditional stories from a radical, contemporary perspective.
Lovely little landscapes by enigmatic Santa Fe artist Arthur Haddock (1895-1980).
@annieobriengonzales' #MatthewsTakeover: Midday and evening light on the Pedernal in Abiquiu, NM, where I spent the afternoon leading Georgia O'Keeffe landscape tours at Ghost Ranch. The beautiful clouds created a great backdrop for the timeless landscape. #abiquiu #ghostranch #okeeffecountry #landofenchantment #nmtrue #newmexico #newmexicolove #pedernal #newmexicogram #newmexicoigers #landscape #lifeofanartist #anniegram #artist #artgram #instaart #simplysantafe #howtosantafe #travelnewmexico #southwest (at Ghost Ranch)
Dorothy Morang, Summer Storm c. 1942, Watercolor.
Layin' it on thick. Santa Fe artist Alfred Morang was all about impasto.
Read about the artist here.
Alfred Morang, Untitled (Portrait of a Woman), Oil on Board, 1950
A neglected Santa Fe master returns to the limelight this December. Read about it here.
"After Morang’s death, all of a sudden people started to realize that he was a great artist. People regretted that they didn’t pay enough attention to him,” Santa Fe art collector Paul Parker said at the end of our interview last week.
As Parker will tell you, Alfred Morang’s death in a Canyon Road fire in 1958 was the end of an era in Santa Fe. From his arrival in 1937, Morang had helped cultivate a vibrant art scene in the City Different. His house parties of the 1930’s and 40’s earned him a reputation as “one of Santa Fe’s… most colorful Bohemians,” as the Santa Fe New Mexican dubbed him in his obituary. Morang was a masterful painter who drew inspiration from the French Impressionists, and a talented teacher who passed his knowledge to the next generation of Santa Fe artists. He was a great writer, musician and radio broadcaster.
However, towards the end of Morang’s life, he and his wife Dorothy divorced and he became increasingly isolated. He spent most of his time fervently painting in his Canyon Road studio. Santa Fe artist Bill Tate had this recollection of a frigid winter in the 1950’s:
Oh my, it was cold! The snow was pouring down unmercifully and as I walked into Alfred’s tiny studio, I pushed paintings aside to make a path, then found them sliding in behind me as I penetrated the cache of completed canvases. It appeared that paintings were everywhere. There in the middle was Alfred, happily painting away, bundled up like a Siberian monk—galoshes, muffler, sweater, heavy top coat which came to his ankles, and a woman’s hat pulled snuggly down over his ears and neck.
The studio had a sky light, but where the glass was supposed to be, there was none. Alfred had hung an old muslin sheet over the opening to shut out the falling snow. Evidently Alfred had let the fire go out in the small space heater. Or maybe had forgotten to pay his gas bill. I don’t know. But it was awful. I had been there just a few minutes when the muslin partially ripped loose from the ceiling and began flopping in the wind. Snow dumped all over Alfred as well as the canvas.
Alfred never looked up, never stopped painting. His blue-cold hands kept mixing painting and dabbing it on the canvas. Occasionally, he would lean back to assess the effect, but throughout, he was totally oblivious to my presence… or the muslin that danced in the bitter breeze.
I attempted to speak, but only a chatter came out. I retreated to the warmth of my own studio. To the day he died, Alfred never knew I was there.
This somber image of an artist in the winter of his life is not how Parker likes to think of Morang. Soon after he moved to Santa Fe in the 1990’s Parker developed a fascination for the Santa Fe icon that has taken him on many adventures, including a national treasure hunt that inspired our latest exhibition. The artifacts Parker discovered will appear alongside artwork by Morang and his contemporaries in our December 12-26 exhibition MORANG AND FRIENDS, evoking an era full of crackling creativity. Morang stood at its warm heart.
Fremont Ellis.
Fall aspens in the fog. If you're in Santa Fe this week, make sure to take a hike at @skisantafe! #seasons #mist #aspen #grove #santafe #santafenm #rockymountains #skisantafe #howtosantafe #newmexicotrue #newmexicoview #purenewmexico #newmexicolove #santafenewmexico #landofenchantment #okeeffecountry #southwest #505 #canyonroad #canyongram #newmexicogram #nuevomexico (at Ski Santa Fe)
Brilliance! Our Flickr friend Patti stopped by the other day and captured Canyon Road's reflection in our window. Check out her photos here.
• Relax • #adobe #HowToSantaFe #chair #window #stones #relax #santafe #santafenm #newmexico (at Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Our Santa Fe art buddies artotemsco are on Tumblr! Send a follow their way.
Got a visit from our favorite foundry this morning. If you see the Shidoni-mobile pass by today, give 'em a big wave! #howtosantafe #santafe #santafenm #santafenewmexico #newmexico #newmexicogram #newmexicotrue #newmexicolove #artgallery #gallerylife #sculpture #shidonifoundry #southwest #southwestart #citydifferent #artworld #artengage #artmobile #instaart #artgram #instaarthub #art #artist #sculpt #sculptor #canyonroad #canyongram (at Matthews Gallery)
The Houston Chronicle went 'cool hunting' in Santa Fe, and we made their must-see list!
Photo credit: Houston Chronicle
“I have always been inspired by the hard rarified light, the geometric landscape formations and the vibrant colors of the American Southwest. It just kept calling me back, I love painting it, it feeds my soul.”
- L.J. Dunn
More on the artist here.
