Contemporary Art / Taos A Harwood Museum Annex Exhibition

Contemporary Art / Taos

203

FINE ART

Early Modern to Contemporary 1335 Gusdorf Rd. Suite i .Taos . New Mexico . 87571 . 575.751.1262 art@203fineart.com . 203FINEART.com

A Harwood Museum Annex Exhibition at

203 Fine Art MONIQUE BELITZ PAUL O’CONNOR SASHA VOM DORP AFTON LOVE DEAN PULVER Exhibition Dates: October 10 - November 30, 2020

INTRODUCTION 203 Fine Art presents an annex exhibition featuring five of the artists juried into the Contemporary Art / Taos exhibition at the Harwood Museum of Art - a survey of twenty four Taos area contemporary artists.

The artists invited to participate in this exhibition - Monique Belitz, Paul O’Connor, Sasha vom Dorp, Afton Love and Dean Pulver - present a wonderfully diverse range of powerful works, from wood sculpture, conceptual photography, and intimate large scale drawings, to storytelling mixed-media collages and conjuring geometric assemblages. The diverse practices of the artists presented in this show illuminate the inspiration that has attracted artists to the Taos area for centuries.

This exhibition, in cooperation with the Harwood Museum of Art, has been designed to benefit the Museum, with twenty percent of sales proceeds being donated to the museum’s collections fund. 203 Fine Art and the artists involved in this exhibition hope to support the Harwood’s ongoing mission to bring art and culture to the Taos community by preserving and collecting artworks inspired by Northern New Mexico. In addition, 203 Fine Art, by organizing this exhibition, is pleased to offer a commercial venue for these artists to present their work to the collecting public, and to support contemporary art in Taos.

MONIQUE BELITZ Monique Belitz, born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1959, is a graduate of the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, BFA, and the University of New Mexico, MFA. Belitz’s current work is exploring the dichotomy of belonging while being a foreigner. These issues are expressed in the visual language of her new surroundings in Lama, north of Taos, NM, both in hybrid paintings and mixed media pieces.

Her work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at the Maryhill Museum, Goldendale, WA, the Las Cruces Museum of Art, Las Cruces, NM, the Pinakothek Hallbergmoos, Hallbergmoos, Germany, and the Delaplaine Art Center, Frederick, MD.

Sheltering and You Can Talk to Me From Over There!, 2020, 6 x 6�, mixed media on cradled wood panel Image 1 & 2

Artist Statement In my past, I moved from the Netherlands to Germany to the US East Coast, the West Coast, New Mexico and Nebraska, finally, returning to New Mexico. Each time I moved, the landscapes and the light particular to each place were important to me. This is the reason that I am now living at 8100 feet elevation in the most fascinating area north of Taos, where the eye can travel endlessly in each direction. Clouds above me often veil the mountains, sometimes below me they obscure the valley; I find intricately drawn patterns all around me.

I pay my respect to the forces that shaped the land, which in turn shaped the local cultures, as well as to the flora and fauna that inhabits it, both in my art and my life. On a personal level, for the first time since childhood I have been able to connect my memories to my current environment, giving me a feeling of my own history finding its home.

Since I moved to Lama I have been working in three techniques. The first is a combination of painting and drawing using acrylic ink, either on paper or on wooden cradled boards. These colorful paintings, mostly diptychs, are mental “snapshots” of the ever changing quality of light, color and mood of vistas that I observe.

Once these “snapshots” are firmly burned into my memory, I return to my studio and begin to translate them by first blocking in the main shapes with a brush, then using pen and ink to overlay the painting with patterns describing surface qualities in fine detail. My second approach involves re-using my old watercolors, prints and drawings by tearing them into pieces to create collaged landscapes, often with a small woman in it who expresses in her body language an emotional state, an insight, or a particular memory.

My third approach involves drawing with just one color, or slight variations of a color of acrylic ink onto a large wooden cradled board with a lively underpainting of Burnt Sienna and Payne’s Gray acrylic paint. I include cultural vignettes that attest to the history and presence of the local cultures, such as a nearly overlooked local cemetery or traditional activities like picking mushrooms and collecting pinon nuts. With great care, I draw each tree, shrub, rock and bird as an individual. These lush pieces invite the viewer to slow down in this fast-paced era and to mindfully wander around and discover what it means to live in the northern Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Unexpected, 2019, diptych; each 12 x 12’’, acrylic ink on cradled wood panel Image 3

‘Standing high above the Rio Grande after a long and bumpy ride down Cebolla Mesa, you can finally see the river when your eye follows the crumbling scree slope on the opposite side.’

Bits of Lama, 2020, 36 x 36�, acrylic ink over acrylic paint on cradled wood panel Image 4

Greeting First Light, 2020, 6 x 6�, mixed media on cradled wood panel Image 5

Under the Old Apple Treel and Paying Attention, 2020, 8 x 8�, mixed media on cradled wood panel Image 6 & 7

Does the Future Lie in the Past?, 2020, 36 x 24’’, acrylic ink over acrylic paint on cradled wood panel Image 8

Searching for the Past, 2020, 8 x 16�, acrylic ink on cradled wood panel Image 9

Harvest Moon, 2020, 18 x 24�, acrylic ink over acrylic paint on cradled wood panel Image 10

Oasis, 2019, diptych; each 12 x 12’’, acrylic ink on cradled wood panel Image 11

‘From the vantage point of my seasonal pond I can overlook the dramatic landscape of the Wild Rivers area in the distance, which is split by the Rio Grande Gorge.’

PAUL O’CONNOR Taos New Mexico based artist, Paul O’Connor, has been immersed in the arts since discovering his voice with photography at Pepperdine University, Malibu CA. Followed by studies at Pasadena Art Center, where Paul began making B&W portraits of people in the Arts. This became an ongoing series of ‘portraits of artists’ that continues to this day.

In 1989, Paul and his wife moved to Taos from Malibu.

In the early 90’s Paul was the studio assistant to Ronald Davis who was making a series of sculptural works. This experience set in motion a body of work that incubated in Paul’s mind for fifteen years, with some experimentation in three dimensional forms of these ideas from time to time.

In 2011, with the publication of his book titled Taos Portraits, he felt a chapter had closed with photography and completely immersed himself in creating these wall hanging constructions that had captured his imagination.

Artist Statement I feel a deep connection to the structure and form of squares and hexagons. I’ve been working exclusively with these two shapes for the past nine years. Their simplicity makes them easily relatable to others.

I’m using that directness of form to communicate something of what I experience in my daily meditation practice and time spent in the studio...both of these actions comprise the critical point of departure from the habitual conditioned mind, allowing for an expression of Spaciousness and Stillness to manifest.

I think of my work as minimal in that I’ve reduced my visual vocabulary down to a handful of elements to express, what for me is otherwise impossible to put into words: to create forms that reflect the world as I feel it.

The two fundamental symbolic visual vocabulary that I use both relate to the mind. Rulers represent the ration mind and the black voids, spacious mind. Those are the central elements. To support one or both of those, I use various kinds of woods and metals, like copper, brass and aluminum which becomes the base, then I paint, patina, grind or polish to a mirror finish, other times having a coat of automotive paint applied to make a liquid light smooth surface.

Together they create something both beautiful and meaningful for me. When things are good in the studio, I’m simply following the materials and intuitive mind… when that’s happening I feel whole and connected to something larger than myself.

Untitled HX-37, 2020, 24 x 27.75 x 1.5�, aluminum, red paint, black velvet, plywood back Image 12

Verso of Untitled HX-37, 2020, 24 x 27.75 x 1.5�, aluminum, red paint, black velvet Image 12 verso

Untitled SQ-62, 2020, 15 x 15 x 1.5�, aluminum with pink purple and black paint on copper with patina Image 13

Untitled WOP-11, 2020, 17 x 21 x 2.75�, aluminum on arches 300lb paper, black velvet Image 14

Untitled WOP-13, 2020, 17 x 21 x 2.75�, brass with patina, steel, aluminum, green paint on arches 300lb paper Image 15

Untitled WOP-09, 2020, 21 x 17 x 2.75�, copper, steel, aluminum, black and pink paint and patina on arches 300lb paper Image 16

Untitled WOP-15, 2020, 17 x 21 x 2.75�, aluminum ruler, aluminum with red paint, steel with patina on arches 300lb paper Image 17

Collaboration with Hank Saxe, El Gamal, 2020, 29 x 29 x 4�, 2020, ceramic, found metal, wood Image 18

SASHA VOM DORP Sasha Raphael vom Dorp has been exhibiting his work since 1992. A practice that began with painting in oils has evolved into creating kinetic sculpture, photography and interactive multimedia installations.

His current work employs a bespoke machine that he’s created allowing him see sound waves as they interact with sunlight and matter.

His work has been featured on PBS and published in the NY Times. Having lived in Sweden, Mexico, Taiwan, the Philippines and Los Angeles, he’s returned home to Taos, NM where he works and lives with his wife and family.

10 Hz Sunlight 2015-12-04 13:35:32.019 36°24’22”N 105°34’31”W, 2015, 21 x 15’’, AP (Sound Bending Light) Series Image 19

Artist Statement I’ve made these photographs to better know my place in the universe. Our ability to travel the cosmos being limited, I’ve built a machine in an attempt to observe elemental transactions. I’ve created a mechanical solution to what is a metaphysical problem, forcing basic elements of perception - sound, light, and matter - into a single frame. These are photographs of sound encountering sunlight as seen through the medium of water.

On one hand, I’ve staged common phenomena and on the other hand I’ve captured tiny cataclysms never to be repeated. I bring you evidence of a minute history, in which no instance is petty and every instant too complex to perceive in its entirety.

A moment is all time, an atom the universe.

These photographs aim to capture the beauty and turmoil that occurs inside the most pedestrian events.

Sunlight bounces on water, sound waves march toward oblivion.

50 Hz Sunlight 2019-04-27 11:47:08.096 36°24’22”N 105°34’31”W, 2019, 21 x 15’’, AP, (Sound Bending Light) Series Image 20

15.15 Hz Sunlight 02.25.2018 12:44:15.076 36°24’22”N 105°34’31”W, 2018, 54 x 40’’, ed. 1 of 3, (Sound Bending Light) Series Image 21

10 Hz Sunlight 2013-12-20 15:25:34.022 34°03’50.9”N 118°15’56.0”W, 2013, 54 x 40’’, ed. 1 of 3, (Sound Bending Light) Series Image 22

10 Hz Sunlight 2014-11-22 13:23:05.079 36°24’22”N 105°34’31”W, 2014, 21 x 15’’, AP, (Sound Bending Light) Series Image 23

160 Hz Sunlight 2014-04-09 17:57:03.094 36°24’22”N 105°34’31”W, 2014, 40 x 58’’, ed. 1 of 3, (Sound Bending Light) Series Image 24

23.10Hz Sunlight 2015-12-04 13:32:50.018 36°24’22”N 105°34’31”W, 2015, 58 x 40’’, ed. 1 of 3, (Sound Bending Light) Series Image 25

AFTON LOVE Afton Love is a visual artist who works across media, including graphite, beeswax, clay, felt, and resin. Her immersive installation sized drawings and exploratory sculpture aim to call attention to our human condition in connection with the natural world.

Love earned her BFA at the California College of the Arts in 2012 and has participated in residencies at several institutions, including the Vermont Studio Center with a Pollock-Krasner grant, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and most recently, the 2018-2019 Roswell Artist in Residence grant.

She is based in Vallecitos, New Mexico and her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.

Photo courtesy of Paul O’Connor

Artist Statement My work starts from an interest in the intimate experience of walking through landscapes. I choose specific territories as an object of study for my research and creation process, believing that direct experience in each geographic location triggers certain reflections necessary for representation and for the understanding of a common whole. In this exhibition I am showing an example of my drawing practice as well as a small series of photographs.

All the work here shows my interest in studying formation and transformation described by geology on sedimentary rocks. These rocks are created and transformed on the earth’s surface. The ideas suggested in scientific theories lead me to think of them as fragile bodies that constantly lose their layers or open themselves to the core due to constant friction and interaction with their environment.

In our lives we cannot access the interior of things, only the thin layer of surface that covers them where a limited portion of reality is manifested. The stone is a metaphor for our entire planet and ourselves. The drawings in this show are made up of many sheets of vellum. The graphite is brushed onto the surface of the vellum - and then dipped in beeswax. The beeswax binds the natural oils in the graphite to the wax, fusing the image to the paper forever while marrying the surface to the whole. Each sheet carries a portion of the entire representation while also demonstrating its own luminous surface.

The photo series shown is an experimental project that is very dear to my heart. My grandmother gave me her 1950’s Rolliflex camera with a bundle of expired film. For my first shoot I chose a roll of film from my birth year and visited two rocks that I have been working with for years. I call them ‘Split’ and ‘Through.’

What resulted is an interaction between weathered film and the environmental effect of time that created space for light to move through solid rock. The quality of the expired film is reminiscent of the patterns on the rocks themselves. What is shown is a meticulously eroded shape in the center of Through. And in Split an event is revealed - you see the outline of a revelatory moment when a boulder opened itself to the world.

After some unknowable process of friction and force, we witness how it took it upon itself to let the light in.

Center Stone, 2020, 28 x 34�, graphite and beeswax on vellum Image 26

Through I, 2020, 17 x 17�, photograph Image 27

Split I, 2020, 17 x 17�, photograph Image 28

Split II, 2020, 17 x 17�, photograph Image 29

Through II, 2020, 17 x 17�, photograph Image 30

Split III, 2020, 17 x 17�, photograph Image 31

Split IV, 2020, 17 x 17�, photograph Image 32

‘Far Range (Peñasco) is a formation found in Chaco Canyon. Hiking towards the mysterious pictograph near Peñasco Blanco, far off along the west mesa of the canyon, is this erosional menefee and sandstone formation. Exposed rocks in Chaco Canyon record a short interval of earth history, about 80 million years ago, when Chaco was part of the shifting coastline of an ancient sea. In this part of the canyon, beds of menefee and sandstone are sandwiched together representing the advance and retreat of this sea. The sandstone cliffs are more resistant to erosion than the softer underlying menefee, thus creating an opportunity for continual transformation and change.’

Far Range (Peñasco), 2020, 48 x 210”, graphite and beeswax on vellum, 2020 Image 33

DEAN PULVER Dean Pulver is a full-time sculptor and furniture maker working in wood. Growing up in a multi-cultural family of artists in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was influenced by his German and Irish father, a commercial illustrator, art director and painter, and his Japanese mother, a clothing designer and fiber artist.

Pulver graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1987 in sculpture. He has been exhibiting and teaching extensively in the United States and his works are shown in galleries and museum exhibitions and collections including the Fuller Craft Museum, Bellevue Art Museum and The Center for Art in Wood.

Pulver has taught at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Penland School of Crafts, and the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. In 2017 he was awarded the Bob Stocksdale International Award for Creativity from the Center for Art in Wood.

Living in Taos, New Mexico for over 20 years with his wife, ceramic artist Abby Salsbury, Pulver and Salsbury are currently developing “Taos Mesa Arts�, a center for exhibitions, classes, retreats and residencies.

Photo courtesy of Kathleen Brennan

Artist Statement I’m interested in making pieces that are resonant and reflective; pieces that suggest images, memories, and emotions, and call for deep thought and contemplation.

Using forms that are basic and elemental encourages the viewer to remain open to experiencing multi-referential relationships. I make simple but rich forms to reference man and nature, engineering and design, creation and invention, time and transition, growth and change.

Recognizing and celebrating this overlap of nature, science and creativity is essential to my work in this moment in time. Through honoring the handmade processes and the traditional techniques of my medium, I strive to create a beauty that seduces the senses through the opposition and balance of forms, textures and content. I endeavor to create pieces that are raw and honest and express the perfection of imperfection - they are meant to be monuments to our existence

Ascension/Descension, 2020, 31.5 x 21 x 21’’, wood Image 34

detail of Ascension/Descension, 2020, 31.5 x 21 x 21’’, wood Image 34 detail

Thought #226, 14 x 3 x 2’’ & Thought #224, 10.75 x 5 x 2.5’’ & Thought #223, 9 x 3 x 1.75’’, walnut and dye, 2019 Image 35, 36, & 37

Thought #222, 2 x 11.5 x 2’’ & Thought #221, 2.5 x 18 x 2’’, walnut, copper, paint and pen, 2019 Image 38 & 39

Triad, 2020, 28 x 26 x 4.5’’, bleached, bronzed, and coppered walnut Image 40

Thought #220, 2020, 2 x 15.5 x 3’’, walnut Image 41

Compositions, 2020, 7 x 9.5 x 9.5’’, basswood and mahogany Image 42

Thought #225, 10 x 2.5 x 2’’ & Thought #227, 18.75 x 4 x 2’’, walnut and dye, 2019 Image 43 & Image 44

Evolution, 2020, 58 x 144 x 5.5’’, douglas fir Image 45

detail of Evolution, 2020, 58 x 144 x 5.5’’, douglas fir Image 45 detail

203

FINE ART

Early Modern to Contemporary

1335 Gusdorf Rd. Suite i .Taos . New Mexico . 87571 . 575.751.1262 art@203fineart.com . 203FINEART.com