Contemporary Visuals
Chris Pappan & Starr Hardridge at Blue Rain Gallery
SANTA FE, NM
The individual works of art by Starr Hardridge and Chris Pappan feature striking visual elements that often pull the viewer in for closer exploration. Hardridge, of the Muscogee Creek Nation, paints in a pointillist style that is often mistaken for beaded canvases because of their Trompe l’oeil effect, while Pappan’s mixed-media works combine different materials and highly detailed imagery on a variety of ledger papers.
February 22 to March 16, Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will present the exhibition Indigenous Visionaries featuring new pieces by both artists.
Hardridge’s works will build upon ideas he has explored in the past, which include Native American and Creek mythology, animals and nature, portraiture and other graphic imagery. Among his newest pieces is Master of Breath, which is part of the Muscogee creation myth. “It’s something I’ve gone back to over and over again,” he says, adding, “It’s about the giver and taker of breath and the creation of the clan.”
Another of the latest paintings is Persistence of Fire, which is a monochromatic blue painting with the only
warm color coming from the horn the figure is holding since it has a fire inside. He explains, “Some people say the work is a self-portrait. I don’t do many of those, but it’s about facing adversity and the inner desire and the will to keep going through harsh times and keep the inner fire burning.”
Pappan will also be expanding upon his oeuvre of ledger works, where he takes the traditions of the artwork and moves it forward to what is happening in life today. Definition 3 is from his most recent series of close-up faces that fill nearly the entire picture plane. “I am distorting the figure. The works are talking about how visions of Native people are distorted, and how we distort the idea of what we’re supposed to be,” he says.
In The Return Part 2, one of the major elements of the work is a burning trailer. “That’s an idea I’ve been trying to develop a bit more,” he says. “The idea of the trailer is a metaphor of poverty and oppression, while at the same time for people of privilege it’s a symbol of freedom and escape. It’s two opposing ideas bound together in one metaphor.”
Indigenous Visions will kick off with an artist reception on opening night, February 22, from 5 to 7 p.m.