Bob Pokorney’s Blake Installation
Artist captures the light show seen from the slopes of Taos Ski Valley
ASK BOB POKORNEY about his art and he will be quick to describe his relationship with the landscape. He’ll explain how the “ski valley blue” speaks to him and the way the wind resonates as it flirts with the treetops. He has plenty to say about the nuances of the late afternoon light.
Yet truth-be-told, Pokorney has a serious relationship with water. When those two hydrogen atoms bond to the lone oxygen atom it results in an energy that gives him life, which is why you’ll find Pokorney on a sailboat on Lake Superior all summer. He admits to having a “little bit of a surfing addiction” and is drawn to California when the calls to surf need to be silenced.
Fortunately, Pokorney doesn’t limit his commitment to the liquid form of water. He is equally committed to the solid stickiness of snow and ice which is why you’ll find him on the slopes of Taos Ski Valley throughout the winter ski season.
Each winter the bright blue skies and stark white snow of Northern New Mexico summon Pokorney, whose father has lived in Taos for 25 years and first introduced him to the area. Preferring to ski solo, Pokorney uses the solitude to capture thoughts and images which he explains are ultimately rendered in oils on marlite panels.
“I’m a better painter because I don’t do it full-time,” explained Pokorney.
Part vagabond, free spirit or human with well-defined migratory patterns, regardless of the label, he is a highly accomplished version. “For me, I get bored doing the same thing all the time” and that quality is what makes him so good at what he does.
He’s a good sailor because he paints, and he’s a good painter because he surfs. Much like the motility of water to which he’s drawn, his preference to movement over stagnation is the quality that keeps Pokorney’s vision fresh and free flowing. “Being in different places has a lot to do with my artwork. My movement finds its way to my paintings.”
Visitors and skiers to Taos Ski Valley will delight in Pokorney’s preference for the slopes of our special mountain. The Blake Hotel is currently installing new artwork throughout the property and Pokorney’s paintings will be wellrepresented.
As freeing as his life choices are and his relationship-oriented perspective is, his paintings convey the same feelings which is his intention.
“I want people to notice the landscape in the same way I do. My paintings are like active memories that I captured.” Indeed, Pokorney doesn’t spend the day on the slopes and then paint a landscape the next day. The free thinker packs his paints and a small marlite board on his back and skis until he is inspired to stop and paint. It’s then he’ll take off the skis and set up shop en plein air at 9,000 feet. “I don’t bring an easel but I’ve created my ski slope version, I call it my skieasel.”
A skier who has noticed someone using skis and a marlite board to make an easel on the side of Huntziker Bowl has likely captured a rare moment when Pokorney is not in motion.
Unlike canvas which can yield to a painter’s brush, Pokorney prefers to paint on durable marlite board because he likes the feel of leaning into the board. As he described his process with the brush one can easily envision him doing the same thing on the sailboat and the surfboard – subtle consistencies that can be found in his style.
His paintings are alive with vibrant colors and a less-is-more approach that pulls you in and encourages feeling and space. His favorite time of day on TSV’s slopes is late afternoon when the blues, lavenders and golds put on their light show. “It’s a great time to paint, but for skiers it’s the hardest time of day to see because the light on the snow is flat. It’s a trade-off.”
True to form, when Pokorney is in Taos, he is a skier and his paintings speak to everyone who has been on the slopes or appreciates the magical, mystical ski valley. The Blake Hotel will showcase nine of his paintings which reflect the slopes and vistas of the mountain, all of which started from his skieasel propped on the mountainside.
It is rare to find paintings from the skier’s purview and Pokorney’s art captures scenes and feelings that are next to impossible to paint unless the artist has been there. When you step inside his artwork you step inside his relationship with the landscape and he welcomes you to do so.
“I want people to feel inspired to be creative by my paintings. I think art would be more interesting if more people did it. We all have a visual language and the more we practice the more fluent we become.”