Zane Bennett Contemporary Art

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Beginning on November 14, 2009 Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, at 435 South Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico will present Diverse Propositions: The Best of Zane Bennett, an exhibition of our best work covering gallery artists, blue chip artists, and artists who are new to Zane Bennett. There will be a reception on Saturday, November 14, 2009, from 3-5 pm, and the show continues through January 8, 2010. Just in time for the gift giving season, Zane Bennett will be exhibiting a wide selection of work from gallery artists such as: Dunham Aurelius, Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird, Susan Davidoff, Guy Dill, Mark di Suvero, Günther Förg, David Kapp, J Mehaffey, Francois Morellet, Olivier Mosset, Pascal, Holly Roberts, Joshua Rose, and Donald Woodman, among others. We will also be presenting the works of blue chip artists such as: Francis Bacon, Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, and James Havard. In addition, this show will include a selection of artists who are new to the gallery such as: Deborah Barlow, Chris Collins, Ann Dunbar, Richard Erdman, Robert Hoerlein, Shara Hughes, Andreas Nottebohm, Mary Shaffer, and Beej Smith. This exhibition will include a wide range of sizes and prices – perfect for everyone this holiday season.

Steve Joy – Sanyassin

Beginning on October 23, 2009 Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, at 435 South Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico will present Sanyassin, an exhibition of new paintings by artist Steve Joy. There will be a reception on Friday, October 23, 2009, from 5-7 pm, and the show continues through November 21, 2009.

Steve Joy, who is originally from England, has lived and worked all over the world, including many years in the Far-East. His current works contain within them a taste of many of the exotic places he has traveled to including: Madagascar, India, the Yucatan, North Africa, to name just a few. Joy’s most recent paintings attempt to express the code of ethics, aesthetics and spirituality that runs throughout the history of humanity. This includes the warrior code of the Samurai, the devotion and loyalty of people such as Saint Francis of Assisi, the great tradition of Russian Orthodox Icon painting, and homage to the sublime, ethereal portraits of Leonardo DaVinci. Joy’s initial impetus for painting came to him through exposure to the works of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. His influences from the past include Duccio, Giotto, Velasquez and Matisse. Joy says, “to this day, I remain committed to the idea of spiritual abstraction and to the development of painting and its history from the 15th century to today”. Joy has exhibited his works nationally and internationally. This is his first show at Zane Bennett.

Julia Barello – glance

Pascal – Perception

Beginning on October 2, 2009 Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, at 435 South Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico will present two separate shows opening on the same night. We will be showing glance, an exhibition of new work by Las Cruces artist Julia Barello. We will also be exhibiting Perception, the first exhibition of new work at Zane Bennett by Santa Fe’s own, Pascal. There will be a reception on Friday, October 2, 2009, from 5-7 pm, and the shows continue through November 7, 2009.

Julia Barello is a Professor of Art at New Mexico State University, where she teaches Jewelry and Metalsmithing. Concurrent with teaching, Barello has maintained a productive career as a visual artist, working both within the fields of art jewelry and mainstream contemporary art. Her primary research has been based upon an examination of the body culturally and metaphorically, and Barello’s primary material is discarded medical imaging films. The material contains a range of subtle photographic information, including intimate details of the interior of human bodies. Barello cuts and organizes the film into patterns, shaping the film into leaves, birds, etc., which are then pinned to the wall in huge arrangements. She says “Obsession is my working method”. The results of her “obsessive process” are spectacular installations, which employ a visual complexity using intricate shapes, colors, layering and transparency that are breathtaking to view. The shadows that are created once the work is installed are a crucial part of the effect of the whole piece. Barello says her goal is “finding a dialog between excess and order, as well as individuality and anonymity”. Barello has exhibited extensively in the United States and abroad. She was recently awarded Best in Show, Alternative Media at the 2008 Southwest Biennial at the Albuquerque Museum. This is her second show at Zane Bennett.

Pascal, who is originally from France, settled in Santa Fe in 1997, and his career has blossomed in America. Prior to that time, he had gained a European reputation as a promising young sculptor, with a series of solo exhibitions in France and Switzerland. Pascal’s abstract sculptures are, as he says, “a sweet interrogation, rather than an affirmative message”. He is concerned with the probing nature of the artistic process. Pascal’s favorite medium is wood, particularly mahogany. “I think wood has memory”, he says, “because of its individuality, its smell, its temperature, its origin. This medium is strong, smart, full of character, unexpected - very feminine.” Pascal’s works are characterized by his masterful craftsmanship, a graceful balance, and a meticulous attention to detail. “Wood has its own intelligence”, he says. “It knows many things, and it teaches them to me. In this way, I understand what I want to do with it, so that the final image reflects its innate qualities as well as my own thoughts and feelings.” Since moving to Santa Fe, Pascal has been awarded several commissions for large-scale installations, and has exhibited his work nationally and internationally. He is also a bit of a local celebrity. Collectors have responded greatly to the simplicity of his approach, which balances geometric abstraction with organic form. This is Pascal’s debut show at Zane Bennett.

Beginning on September 11, 2009, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, at 435 South Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will present New York Crowds, an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by New York artist David Kapp. There will be a reception on Friday, September 11, 2009, from 5-7 pm, and the show continues through October 17, 2009. The artist will be present.

David Kapp sees New York City from a perspective in isolation – looking down on it from a height, or from beneath, in the shadow of great buildings.

Fundamental in Kapp’s work is “speed and motion in the act of painting,” yet also, as Kapp states, “I’m much more interested in something that’s anonymous and detached, because that’s the way I feel”. He strips bare an irony of the new expressionism – the action, the direct participation in painting, and yet the alienation from its references.

New York – its people, cars, lights, its movement, in sunlight, in nocturne – Kapp records it in the confident blurs and shapes born from a deeply examined awareness. In this show, Kapp focuses on people – walking, standing, gathering – viewed from a distance, the lonely collective. On exhibit are new works in: oil on linen, oil stick on paper, woodcuts, and lithographs.

Zane Bennett Contemporary brings Kapp and the urban landscape to Santa Fe. The show articulates the feelings of community, anonymity, loneliness – our universal experience, represented in works of great beauty – New York Crowds.

Catherine Green – Spatial Illusions

Henry Jackson – Fractured Form

For Immediate Release

Beginning on August 28, 2009 Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, at 435 South Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico will present two separate shows opening on the same night. We will be showing Spatial Illusions, an exhibition of new paintings by New Mexico artist Catherine Green. We will also present Fractured Form, the first exhibition of paintings in Santa Fe by San Francisco artist Henry Jackson. There will be a reception on Friday, August 28, 2009, from 5-7 pm, and the shows continue through September 26, 2009.

Catherine Green, a resident of Tesuque, creates compositions of basic geometric forms organized in free unconstructed space, which carry a dynamic equilibrium through the arrangement of forms and interaction of colors. Her new work consists of horizontal and vertical expressions, where color alone becomes form and subject and evokes a determinate sensation. Green draws inspiration from a lengthy study of traditional Japanese pottery, through which she has gained a refined sense of simplicity and harmony.

Henry Jackson, who graduated from the California College of Art and Crafts, creates his paintings through the process of application and elimination of layers of color. Jackson incorporates oil, dry pigments, wax and graphite in his pieces. His paintings are an investigation of the human condition. He says, “By taking the figure and removing all that is familiar to me, seeking the soul, I’m left with something that has a much deeper grasp of reality – the human spirit”. Jackson’s works move in and out of the figurative and the abstract.

Location: Zane Bennett Contemporary Art

435 South Guadalupe St, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Contact: Emily Gergasko, Office Manager 505.982.8111

Exhibit: New Jewelry by Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird

Description: This special opening during Indian Market week will honor acclaimed contemporary, native jewelry artists and preview their recent works.

Artist(s): Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird

Dates: August 18, 2009 through August 23, 2009 (in conjunction with Indian Market)

Reception: Friday, August 21, 2009 from 3:30 – 5:30 pm

About Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird:

Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird are two of the most well-known, innovative, and creative American Indian artists working today. They have known each other since they were children and have collaborated in designing and fabricating jewelry since 1972. To many, they are best known for their thematic belts they make each year for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Market in Santa Fe, but they also design elegant earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces which are shown in galleries and museums across the country. They are part of a generation of American Indian artists from the Southwest who have acknowledged and honored the traditions of their respective areas while pushing the creative boundaries and addressing contemporary concerns. Their work is characterized by an extensive knowledge of materials and by their technical skill and keen design sense.

When talking about their work, Johnson and Bird emphasize the importance of materials. They may keep a stone for several years before deciding to incorporate it into a design. Often, the metal work, though important, follows the lines of a stone or is created to reflect the texture or pattern of a stone. The beauty of their work rests not only in the diversity if the stones they use but also in the range of techniques. “We see our jewelry as being very traditional in nature. But we carry the traditions further. The stones we use are of a wider variety than those usually associated with Indian jewelry. The symbols and narrative on our pieces are expansions of traditional symbols and stories.”[1]

“The Jewelry they produce is distinct from the work of other American Indian jewelers. Their pieces are frequently dramatic and always wearable. By seeking out stones of unusual color and surface pattern or pearls of various shapes and hues, then juxtaposing them in original compositions, they have created a unique style. After years of visiting prehistoric pictograph and petroglyph sites, Gail and Yazzie realized that these ancient peoples had developed a distinctive set of designs, from which they have drawn much inspiration. Over their career of more than three decades, Gail and Yazzie have developed a body of work that is both distinctly their own and continuously evolving.”[2]

1.Diana F. Pardue, pg 15-16, “Shared Images, The Innovative Jewelry of Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird” Museum of New Mexico Press, 2007

2.Martha Hopkins Struever, pg 8, “Shared Images, The Innovative Jewelry of Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird” Museum of New Mexico Press, 2007