Derrick Montez focuses on battle between surreal and figurative
Derrick Montez focuses on battle between surreal and figurative
There are layers to Derrick Montez’s work.
With each passing year, layers are added.
The Albuquerque-based artist will show nearly 40 of his pieces in the exhibit “The Good Life: Extended Nature,” which opens at Tortuga Gallery tonight.
Montez was invited to do the show with Andrew Fearnside and Hilda Kirschner, whom he has gotten to know over the past couple months.
Montez will have more than 30 drawings and a few large pieces hanging.
“I’ve been really getting into these sacred hearts,” he says as he shows a few of the new pieces. “It’s like being reborn again throughout the chaos and machine.”
Montez is known for his work that blends the surreal and the figurative.
A lot of his work focuses on the battle between nature and technology.
His studio, outside his Albuquerque home, is small, yet big enough for large pieces. It’s also a place where he finds inspiration and comfort.
“I try to paint nice and neat,” he says. “I find these metal objects while I’m riding my bike. I pick them up. They become a reference for pieces later for me. They help inspire me.”
Montez spent time in Spain while he was growing up. That’s where he became fascinated with Roma people, also known as Gypsies.
“They would have their wagons, and each one had so much design to it,” he says. “They put so much work into their wagons. I don’t know why it came up in my work. This lifestyle is apart from conventional reality. They are living apart from the mainstream, and I really like that aspect. I think that’s why the push and pull between nature and technology comes up. I’m trying to do unconventional pieces.” Montez always carries a backpack. Inside, there is a sketchbook, which gets daily use.
Some of Montez’s most recent images have gone political. And it’s not unfamiliar territory for the artist.
“I’ve done political pieces in the past,” he says. “The state of the world made me change. The immigration issue, it’s just way too much. In many ways, people can identify with it, because we’re all experiencing the same things.”