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Major players on the international contemporary art scene — luminaries including Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Susan Rothenberg, Larry Bell, Richard Tuttle, and Bob Haozous — have lived and worked in New Mexico and set high standards for fine art here.
Likewise, art dealers such as Gerald Peters, Charlotte Jackson, Riva Yares, James Kelley, Linda Durham, LewAllen, and others have led the way by showing the work of contemporary masters in great exhibition spaces. Whether you’re here for business, or pleasure, do yourself a favor and see some of the best art in the world — from abstract to representational, from paintings and sculpture to video and installation, and from local to international.
• SANTA FE
Santa Fe has been a destination for writers and visual artists for more than 100 years. The past 15 years, however, has seen a transformation toward world-class contemporary art. Santa Fe is celebrating its 400th anniversary, but there a lot here is new, such as the Railrunner train linking downtown Albuquerque to the Santa Fe Depot and Railyard, the center of the cutting-edge art scene.
The Railyard District boasts top galleries, including Gebert Contemporary, Zane Bennett Gallery, LewAllen Contemporary, James Kelly Contemporary, Evo Gallery, and William Siegal Gallery. The Railyard is about a half-mile southwest of historic Santa Fe Plaza, with Guadalupe Street, Paseo de Peralta, and Cerrillos Road as its major thoroughfares. The galleries in these large warehouse-type structures have a perfect setting for exhibiting large-scale works.
SITE Santa Fe — a private, nonprofit, noncollecting contemporary art organization — is the cornerstone of the Railyard. Its ongoing and biennial exhibitions put Santa Fe’s contemporary scene on the map. Call (505) 989-1199.
Santa Fe also has several hybrids, such as William Siegal Gallery, which fuses contemporary art with a spectacular pre-Columbian collection, and Gerald Peters Gallery, which combines a Western art program. Gerald Peters and Linda Durham Contemporary Art are located on Paseo de Peralta, between the Railyard and Canyon Road.
Canyon Road, the original Santa Fe artist colony, combines galleries, restaurants, shops, and studios in historic adobes. Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art has moved to its new location at 702½ Canyon on historic Gypsy Alley. In August, Chiaroscuro hosts its annual Contemporary Indian Market Show featuring young Native artists working outside traditional forms.
More galleries radiate off the Plaza in the Downtown area. The newest addition is the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission Community Gallery, which promotes local artists. The gallery, located in the new Santa Fe Community Convention Center on Marcy Street, features a rotating exhibition of small works priced from $15 to $500 and themed exhibitions that run for up to three-month intervals. The convention center itself boasts a permanent collection of art purchased and commissioned by the Santa Fe Arts Commission. There’s an undeniable “now” flair in the downtown galleries, including Riva Yares, Charlotte Jackson, and others. All are within three blocks of the Plaza.
As you wander around Santa Fe, you may see temporary installations of works by prominent New Mexican artists. These belong to the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission’s Loan Program, which works with galleries and artists to place sculpture around town. For a list of artists and locations, call (505) 955-6707.
One block from the Plaza and facing St. Francis Cathedral is the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum. It is the only U.S. museum devoted to exhibiting contemporary American Indian art forms. Call (505) 983-8900. Another new spot for viewing great art is in Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino. The resort has a retail promenade featuring the Santa Fe Indian Market Gallery, with four shows a year of award-winning work by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts’ Indian Market artists.
Center for Contemporary Arts is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary arts organization that identifies, promotes, and presents the work of emerging and established artists while creating a broader audience for their work. Located on Old Santa Fe Trail up the hill from Canyon Road, CCA offers independent and innovative films in the 130- seat Cinemateque and provides an accessible forum for the exploration of new ideas in contemporary art. Call (505) 982-1338.
Santa Fe Arts Institute, located in an architecturally stunning building designed by acclaimed Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, explores the intersections of contemporary art and society. By bringing together prominent individuals and institutions in the arts, sciences, and humanities, SFAI enlivens local, national, and international discourse through residencies, lectures, workshops, publications, exhibitions, and educational programming. Call (505) 424-5050.
Art Santa Fe (July 23-26, 2009) celebrates and enhances Santa Fe’s status as an art destination. International and domestic galleries create a powerful art fair that in 2008 broke attendance records for the event. Call (505) 988-8883.
Friends of Contemporary Art advocates for contemporary art by supporting exhibitions at the New Mexico Museum of Art, located west of the Plaza, and by helping the museum acquire art, sponsoring visiting speakers, and arranging private studio visits. Call (505) 982- 6366, ext. 112.
• LAS CRUCES
Visitors to Las Cruces can see works by masters, regional favorites, and emerging artists. Specializing in contemporary art, Las Cruces Museum of Art began mounting exhibitions in 2000. Shows change several times a year and include national, international, juried, traveling, and invitational exhibitions . The museum has a permanent collection of works by artists who create in the greater Southwest and border regions.
Preston Contemporary Art Center exhibits works by mid-career and emerging artists in interior and exterior spaces. Openings are held on the second Friday of January, April, July, and October. Information: (575) 523-8713.
New Mexico State University Art Gallery has a permanent collection of more than 2,600 objects and the world’s largest collection of Mexican retablos. It’s located at Williams Hall, east of Solano on University Avenue. (575) 646-2545. New Mexico State University Corbett Center Gallery has rotating exhibitions of undergraduate and graduate student art. It’s inside Corbett Center Student Union at the south end of Jordan Road. (575) 646-3200.
For more information, contact the City of Las Cruces Museum System at (575) 541-2296.
• ALBUQUERQUE
In the summer and fall of 2009, a group of New Mexico arts organizations will present LAND/ART, exploring relationships of land, art, and community through exhibitions, site-specific artworks, a speaker series, performances, excursions, and a culminating book. Historically, New Mexico has been a place where the intersection of nature and culture is at issue. In the 1960s and ’70s, the American Southwest was the location of the first generation of land art or earthworks, including such major projects as Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field, Charles Ross’ Star Axis in New Mexico, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (in Salt Lake City), Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels in Utah, and James Turrell’s Roden Crater in Arizona. Land art has since been classified as “environmental art,” a diverse and vital genre worldwide. Coordinated by the nonprofit 516 ARTS, LAND/ART 2009 involves 20 organizations.
Adjacent to 516 ARTS in downtown Albuquerque is Richard Levy Gallery, which boasts an international roster of established, mid-career, and emerging artists. Both venues are must-sees for collectors.
• TAOS
One of the most famous New Mexican contemporary artists was internationally acclaimed Taos resident Agnes Martin (1912-2004). Visitors to the Harwood Museum of Art can view a series of seven paintings, each installed on a single wall of an octagon and viewed from benches in the center of the Agnes Martin Gallery. The Harwood is located on Ledoux Street, where you’ll also fine 203 Fine Art.
Other galleries include Fenix Gallery, Parks Gallery, Michael McCormick Gallery, Old World Fine Art, and Bareiss Gallery and Sculpture Park.
Jennifer B. Marshall has lived in New Mexico for a decade and worked at the Museums of New Mexico.
