Cady Wells : Ruminations
The New Mexico Museum of Art, in partnership with The Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK, presents the dynamic and psychologically penetrating watercolor paintings of Cady Wells (1904-1954). This group of more than 25 works features Wells’ uniquely modernist interpretations of Southwestern landforms and cultural-religious traditions. Born to a traditional, well-to-do New England family, Wells settled in northern New Mexico beginning in 1932. There, his art took on the complex layering of a spirit inspired by music, calligraphy and stained glass, but traumatized by active WWII combat, sexual intolerance, and Atomic bomb experiments at Los Alamos, just 12 miles from where he lived and painted. Such mid-century influences marked his increasingly surrealist style with equal parts rapture and disquietude.
Light Tight : New Work by Meggan Gould and Andy Mattern
This two-person exhibition creates a visual conversation about how the tools and conventions of photography can be reconsidered and manipulated. Artists Meggan Gould and Andy Mattern investigate the basic materials of photography and subvert the idea of photographic representation and the commercialization of the medium. The title of the show refers to the need to keep light sensitive material covered up, or “light tight,” until it is ready to be used.
Imagining New Mexico
Over the past century artists have imagined and reimagined New Mexico through their work. The New Mexico Museum of Art presents an exhibition of work from the collection that investigates how artists in New Mexico have responded to key themes as they relate to the state’s identity. New Mexico, like all places, is as much an idea as it is a geographical location. This exhibition considers how the states identity was formed by various, sometimes fantastical and often contradictory interpretations of the areas land, traditions, and histories. Imagining New Mexico does not presume to be a complete survey of the history of the state, but instead a collection of fantasies about what New Mexico has come to mean for artists over time.
