New Mexico Landscapes

The natural features and landscapes of New Mexico are some of the most varied and unique places in the United States. Blue skies and vast open spaces sometimes inhabited by mountains, deserts, forests, or rivers have long attracted the gaze of artists. New Mexico Landscapes features works on paper that encapsulate a variety of artistic approaches to depicting the land. Realistic representations, abstract compositions, imaginative interpretations, and an acknowledgment of history shaped by layers of colonization are some of the ways in which artists in this exhibition communicate their relationships with the land.

Photographs by Ernest Knee capture small towns and churches enveloped by the grandeur of northern New Mexico skies and iconic scenery while Eliot Porter frames the mystery, textures, shadows, and vastness of White Sands National Monument. Clinton Adams, Forrest Moses, and Dan Namingha create abstract renderings of the land that operate very differently than photographic representations of the natural world. They reference a deep sense of time that demonstrates how artists can relate to and communicate connections to place without literal images. Jerry West, on the other hand, incorporates both the literal landscape and the dream world.

Alex Harris and Celia D. Rumsey reference different aspects of car culture and the experience of moving through the land. Miguel Gandert’s series documents and reflects on centuries-long connections to the earth through adobe which represents a groundedness related to shelter and home.

Other artists like AnaMaria Samaniego and Howard Cook create prints that feature the importance of plant life in the natural world. Sage, cactus, and the grasses in each of their works transport us to areas in and around Santa Fe. Diane Palley also incorporates plant life in her political poster calling for the preservation of lands in Chilili but instead of featuring wild natural settings, the lithograph references farming and traditional ways of living.

Human relationships with the lands of New Mexico can be traced back at least 23,000 years, if not more, and represent many different societal shifts from sovereign Pueblo nations to Spanish invasion followed by American settlement. The tragic violence and displacement of peoples that occurred on these lands are evident in works by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Felice Lucero. Lucero reflects on US government schools and boarding schools that often served as mechanisms for separating Indigenous children from their homes and families. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith weaves together the interconnectedness between humans, the land, animals, and water. But she is also telling the stories of layers of colonization through her depiction of El Morro.

Artists’ connections to history as well as their lived experiences inform how they see the land, and thus how they make art. New Mexico Landscapes includes works that demonstrate how multi-faceted New Mexico is and how creative modes of making reflect a sense of place that is sometimes beautiful and sometimes a site of violent histories. While the stories of these lands are complex, many artists also convey a sense of querencia - the place where one's strength is drawn from; where one feels at home; where you are your most authentic self.