Art Santa Fe

Pockets of contemporary art were everywhere in Santa Fe...if you looked for it. As is true in every place I have visited, there is always compelling street art to be found.

There were quite a number of galleries specializing in contemporary works as well.

My visit coincided with "Lucky Number Seven," the international biennial at
Site Santa Fe. Click here to take a tour through Site Santa Fe. Here are just a few images I captured at this interesting, highly interactive event.







I saw this Squeak Carnwath original at Turner Carroll Gallery. Run here to see more of her work. I have not seen one of her pieces in person before, and as great as her work looks when photographed...it is that much better "live."

I was taken by the raw, edgy work of Brad Kahlhamer at James Kelly Contemporary.







I found the pieces by John Randall Nelson at Gebert Contemporary quite compelling. His work is characterized as post-modern American Folk Art and it has quite an unusual, almost "outsiderish" quality to it.






I visited Cruz Gallery on Canyon Road and immediately was drawn to the interesting combination of edgy and whimsy that I saw in Richard Campaglio's paintings. I was praising the work to the person at the gallery and eventually realized that he was actually the artist as well as gallery owner. Originally from Spain, Richard is a welcoming, talented, and humble man. He also makes wonderful hand-crafted jewelry and fills his gallery cases with amazing rusty tools, unique objects, and vintage reliqueries. A must visit stop in Santa Fe!






A favorite gallery experience was had at Peyton Wright. The people I met there, including the owner John Wright Schaefer and Robin Bonner Ward, could not have been more welcoming. Such a contrast to the attitude and atmosphere you find in many galleries in NYC. The building itself is quite fascinating -- even the bathroom was like a work of art (and, I am told, the first in Santa Fe to have indoor plumbing). Some of the exhibits felt as though I was walking into a huge Cabinet of Curiosities. The work they show is both modern and historic. One of their current exhibits, The Art of Devotion, highlights 16th through 19th century Spanish colonial art. Not my usual taste, but truly a stunner.