Albuquerque Journal

Expanding representa­tion

Albuquerqu­e Museum purchases five new works, plus prints and photograph­s

- BY KATHALEEN ROBERTS ASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR

When the pandemic shuttered nearly everything, a statistici­an dropped by the Albuquerqu­e Museum to find a shortage of female artists, especially Hispanic women in its collection.

The City of Albuquerqu­e provided a $100,000 investment to fill that gap through the purchase of five new works, plus prints and photograph­s.

The artwork includes a neon sculpture by Neal Ambrose-Smith; sculpture by Vicente Telles and Jason Garcia; a textile and audio by composer Raven Chacon; sculpture by Marietta Leis; a wood block print by Yoshiko Shimano; and prints and photograph­s by Delilah Montoya.

■ Albuquerqu­e’s Telles is a santero working within the Hispanic carving tradition. Garcia is from Santa Clara Pueblo. The altar “La Malinche y Los Matachines” demonstrat­es an intersecti­on between Hispano and pueblo culture, and supports the museum’s mission to continue to break down the “tri-cultural myth” by showing how different cultures within the state are connected.

■ A Corrales resident, Ambrose-Smith is a professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. “Abstract in Your Home” is a neon installati­on exploring concepts of home, abstract art and cultural experience­s. He calls a teepee as a perfectly engineered structure that is both versatile and sturdy — able to withstand the harshness of the Southwest. It also represents his Indigenous culture and shows that although the concept of home may differ in time and place, it still embodies universal ideas of shelter, tradition and family.

■ Stories provide the fuel for Albuquerqu­e photograph­er Montoya’s prints.

“She’s willing to look at stories most people don’t think are necessary to document,” said Andrew Connors, museum director.

Those stories encompass gang members, women boxers and prisoners.

“La Loca y Sweetie” (1993) captures two local women before a graffiti embellishe­d backdrop. “La Virgen” (1997) shows the Virgin of Guadalupe tattoo across a prisoner’s back, draped in a mantilla and long skirt.

“She noted a lot of prisoners in New Mexico had a picture of the Virgin tattooed on their back,” Connors said.

“She took their photos with great respect,” he added.

■ Shimano’s mammoth 96-by-137¼-inch print “The Wisdom of Water” depicts the Japanese city of Edo, the original capital of Japan.

“She is very interested in cartograph­y and mapmaking, recasting our perception­s of the world,” Connors said. “The way most cultures have been isolated is because of water. She’s mapping local locations onto a more global presence.”

Shimano is a professor and printmaker at the University of New Mexico.

■ World-renowned Albuquerqu­e composer Chacon continues to create work that is political and traverses the worlds of Indigenous and Chicano cultures. He is a 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner and has exhibited widely as a solo artist and as part of the collective called Postcommod­ity. “Storm Pattern” is a large-scale installati­on that explores music and the visual arts, Standing Rock, Indigenous history and activism, and new formats for contempora­ry art.

■ Leis is a contempora­ry artist from Albuquerqu­e living and working in Albuquerqu­e and Santa Fe. “Breathless 1–4” interacts with the natural world, reflecting on both the beauty and power of nature, but also the fragility of the environmen­t. Leis is interested in transformi­ng spaces by using series of objects, color and spatial relationsh­ips to create connection­s between the viewer and the artwork.

“The museum has steadily grown its collection­s, its physical site, and its programmin­g for more than 50 years,” Connors said. “Over the next 10 years, the museum will expand on this work, which will include the continued developmen­t and interpreta­tion of the art and history collection­s and photo archives.”

 ?? COURTESY OF THE ALBUQUERQU­E MUSEUM ?? ‘Abstract in Your Home,” Neal Ambrose-Smith, 2009, glass tubing, neon gas, electrical elements, 71x71 inches.
COURTESY OF THE ALBUQUERQU­E MUSEUM ‘Abstract in Your Home,” Neal Ambrose-Smith, 2009, glass tubing, neon gas, electrical elements, 71x71 inches.
 ?? ?? “La Malinche y Los Matachines,” Jason Garcia/Okuu Pin (Santa Clara Pueblo) and santero Vicente Telles (Albuquerqu­e), 2020, natural pigment on carved wood, 16×25 inches.
“La Malinche y Los Matachines,” Jason Garcia/Okuu Pin (Santa Clara Pueblo) and santero Vicente Telles (Albuquerqu­e), 2020, natural pigment on carved wood, 16×25 inches.
 ?? ?? “Storm Pattern,” Raven Chacon, 2021, ink on polyester and multi-channel sound installati­on, 80×136½ inches.
“Storm Pattern,” Raven Chacon, 2021, ink on polyester and multi-channel sound installati­on, 80×136½ inches.
 ?? ?? “La Loca y Sweetie (from the portfolio: El Sagrado Corazon),” Delilah Montoya, 1993 (negative), 1999 (printed), gelatin silver print, ed. 1/3, 24×20 inches.
“La Loca y Sweetie (from the portfolio: El Sagrado Corazon),” Delilah Montoya, 1993 (negative), 1999 (printed), gelatin silver print, ed. 1/3, 24×20 inches.
 ?? ?? “La Virgen (from the series: Guadalupe Tattoo),” Delilah Montoya, 1997, gelatin silver print, ed. 2/2, 24×20 inches.
“La Virgen (from the series: Guadalupe Tattoo),” Delilah Montoya, 1997, gelatin silver print, ed. 2/2, 24×20 inches.
 ?? ?? “The Wisdom of Water,” Yoshiko Shimano, 2016, woodcut, silkscreen and linoleum cut, 96×137¼ inches.
“The Wisdom of Water,” Yoshiko Shimano, 2016, woodcut, silkscreen and linoleum cut, 96×137¼ inches.

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