Vintage Vibes
Up to 30 works
Manitou Galleries
123 W. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 986-0440 www.manitougalleries.com
Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, presents an exhibition featuring the aesthetic of vintage pickup trucks and cars set against scenery evocative of New Mexico. The show, titled Four Wheelin’ Flashback, showcases the works of William Haskell, Colt Idol, Curtis Wade, Michael Baum, Arthur López and Tim Prythero.
An oil painting by Wade, New Mexico Lowrider, depicts a vehicle of vivid teal in front of mountains and billowing clouds, framed by prickly pear cacti in the very foreground. “I have always painted in two different styles: traditional realism and stylized impressionism. This series of truck paintings is the first time I have combined the two,” says Wade. “I am placing a more realistic rendering of a truck into my stylized background. I find the contrast of the two is very dynamic and plan to explore this further in my work.”
López brings to the show several wood and mixed media works of figures cruising in low-riding sports cars. The artist explains that one of his pieces in the show, Rust in Peace, “reveals a lighthearted skeleton sitting in a dilapidated ’50s-style Chevy pickup in this rusty graveyard...it is a fun take on how what was once new becomes old, and how every crinkle in its body and the rust tells a story.
I was inspired by the rusty old abandoned cars you see in fields. I can never help but wonder who owned that car, where it has been, what happened and how it ended up being just someone’s lost dream or just a forgotten member of one’s family.”
Four Wheelin’ Flashback takes place at Manitou Galleries’ Palace Avenue location for the entire month of May. An opening reception will be held on Friday, May 1, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.