Claude Smith

July 17, 2014, 9:12am

Space is the Place: Interview with Chandler Wigton

Much of Durango-based artist Chandler Wigton’s (NAP #105) work deals with the subconscious and conscious imagination as a site for exploration. Guided by intuition and a desire to better understand science and appreciate its many mysteries, Wigton draws on a multi-disciplinary approach for inspiration. Many abstract concepts associated with outer space and its creation including the big bang, wormholes, and time are key themes in his work that serve as a backdrop for contextualizing other more internalized subjects such as language, the body and geography to better situate oneself within that larger, contemplative existential setting. At times, his work reveals a tendency to become map-like or diagrammatic, and in that sense, they become tools for better illuminating the objects and phenomenon they represent. I recently had the opportunity to talk with him about his work.  – Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor


Chandler Wigton | Warp Speed, 2012, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 48 x 78 inches; image courtesy the artist

Listed under: Interview

June 25, 2014, 8:34am

Hustlin’ with Aaron Noble

Los Angeles-based artist Aaron Noble has spent a considerable amount of time in Albuquerque over the past nine months–so much in fact that he jokes about it being his second home. After finishing up his largest and most ambitious mural to date in February as part of an exhibition and public art commission, he has since returned to collaborate with local artists Roberto Reyes and Faustino Villa–most recently on, “The Cuckoo’s Nest or, What You Hustlin’, Brother?” located in East Downtown Albuquerque. – Claude Smith Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor 


Aaron Noble with Roberto Reyes & Faustino Villa | Night view of “The Cuckoo’s Nest or, What You Hustlin,’ Brother?” 2014, aerosol and acrylic on stucco; Image courtesy of Roberto Reyes. 

April 25, 2014, 12:09pm

Lodi: Natalie Smith at SCA Contemporary

Nearing the end of her stint at the University of New Mexico, Illinois transplant, Natalie Smith (NAP #105) unveiled her most recent body of work, Lodi, at SCA Contemporary in Albuquerque. Heavily influenced by craft and design practices, Lodi references her affinity for everyday objects, images and forms and belief that paintings can be “arenas in which anything is possible.” – Claude Smith Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor


Natalie Smith | Victoria & Albert, 2014, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches; image courtesy of the artist

Listed under: Review

March 27, 2014, 9:31am

Hoodwinked: An Interview with Jonathan Hartshorn

In his recently opened exhibition hoodwinked by brand impersonators, malicious account spoofers and counterfeiters in the Roberts & Tilton Project Room in Culver City, CA, Albuquerque-based artist Jonathan Hartshorn's latest body of work references a variety of subject matter including Susan Rothenberg, Eadweard Muybridge and the boomerang. After a recent studio visit, we had the opportunity to discuss his new work and some of the other many aspects that make up his practice. – Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor


Jonathan Hartshorn | girl 1976, girl 1979, girl 1983, girl 1988, girl 1989, 2013-2014, mixed media assemblage, 32 x 28 inches; Courtesy of the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California

Listed under: Interview

February 19, 2014, 6:30pm

Hayal Pozanti at the Tamarind Institute

The Tamarind Institute was founded in 1960 by June Wayne with the intent of revitalizing and elevating the status of lithography in the U.S.; It moved to Albuquerque in 1970 where it became affiliated with the University of New Mexico. With a strong focus on research, education, collaborative exchange and experimentation, Tamarind has undeniably changed the course of lithography through its 54 years of operation.

Fresh off a couple of high-profile exhibitions at Susan Vielmetter in Los Angeles and DUVE Berlin, New York-based painter Hayal Pozanti made a brief stop in Albuquerque in late-January for a week-long printmaking residency at the Tamarind Institute. Her efforts resulted in several monotypes and two lithographs that will be editioned later this spring. During her visit, we had the opportunity to talk about her experience at Tamarind as her first foray into lithography. – Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor


Hayal Pozanti at Tamarind; photo courtesy of Logan Bellew

Listed under: In the Studio, Interview

December 05, 2013, 12:14pm

Rebecca Ward: Unraveling Tradition

In a delightfully revealing exhibition, shucked & silked at Barbara Davis Gallery, the multifaceted Rebecca Ward presents new work that not only references on her ambitious installation practices with electrical tape, but also indicates interesting new territory her studio practice is headed. Ward’s newest offering highlights her material fluency through her synthesis of painting, installation and sculpture. Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor


Rebecca Ward | Believers and Deceivers, 2013, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches; image courtesy of Barbara Davis Gallery

Listed under: Review

October 01, 2013, 8:00am

A Landscape of Industry: An Interview with Nina Elder

If you’re like me, you probably drive past them all the time and never give a second thought: cell towers, radio antennas, power lines, fracking structures and electrical substations–all part of a larger infrastructure that we rely on to connects us to a variety of systems and grids to sustain life as we know it. Santa Fe-based artist Nina Elder (#96) has been documenting the intersections of the natural and man-made in the American landscape for more than a decade. In her most recent body of work, Power Line, currently on view through October 25th at the Inpost Artspace in Albuquerque, Elder continues her thoughtful examination of our relationship with these architectural oddities through the lens of landscape painting. I recently caught up with Nina to ask her a few questions about her work. – Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor

Nina Elder | Hawthorne Munitions Depot, 2012, acrylic on panel, 48 x 60 inches; image courtesy of the artist

Listed under: Interview

September 24, 2013, 8:00am

Ed Moses: Green/Bronze

At 87 years old, Southern California-based artist Ed Moses hasn’t showed any indication of slowing down. Considered by many to be one of the preeminent artists of West Coast art, his oeuvre is known for it’s unpredictably and tendency to resist categorization. His penchant for exploration and experimentation could be likened better to that of a scientist rather than an artist, and in that sense, artistic expression becomes synonymous with words like “invention” and “discovery” rather than creation. His latest exhibition Green/Bronze at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art in Santa Fe, Moses showcases his “crackle” paintings as the results of countless hours of material experimentation and in many ways, these paintings serve as maps or guides down his self-described paths of  “confusion and ambition.” –Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor

Ed Moses | Y? Copper, 2013, mixed media on canvas 4 panels 72" x 45" each

Listed under: Review

August 12, 2013, 9:30am

Eric Tillinghast: Water/Nymph at Richard Levy Gallery

Northern California-based artist Eric TiIlinghast has been working with water for almost two decades. His diverse oeuvre includes ambitious large-scale installations, sculpture, site-specific works, public art commissions and paintings. In his exhibition Water/Nymph, currently on view at Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque, Tillinghast offers up 41 re-contextualized vintage postcards. In these works, he identifies the water feature and meticulously paints over the surrounding environments, leaving only the essential shape of the water and the occasional figures. In many cases, his obsessive process requires the application of 50 of more layers of paint to seamlessly blend and cover up the background image, leaving the surface impossibly smooth and almost devoid of the artist’s hand. As Tillinghast explores bodies of water in all forms - swimming pools, lakes, waterfalls, dams, watersheds and tidal flows, what emerges is a meditation of form in both a natural and domestic context. The results of this aesthetic experience offer a sublime contemplation of our perceptions of Earth’s most abundant resource. I recently had the opportunity to ask Tillinghast some questions about his process. -Claude Smith, Albuquerque/Santa Fe Contributor

 

 

Eric Tillinghast |Clytie, 2013, acrylic on postcard, 3.5 x 5.5 inches; Image courtesy of Richard Levy Gallery

Listed under: Review

June 12, 2013, 8:30am

Fay Ku - Asa Nisa Masa

Fay Ku’s solo exhibition Asa Nisa Masa at Eight Modern in Santa Fe features delicately executed graphite, ink and watercolor works inspired by her memories, experiences and relationships as a result of her upbringing in white suburbia as the child of Chinese immigrants.

Listed under: Review, Santa Fe

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