Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art
621 Canyon Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 (505) 428-0326 www.dominiqueboisjoli.com
Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, located on the sunny side of historical Canyon Road, is an artist-owned boutique gallery where visitors will often find Dominique Boisjoli painting one of her dynamic florals or colorful landscapes. Relocated from Montreal, Boisjoli has been painting for more than 30 years with an abstraction of color and texture that captures the imagination.
Also seen at the gallery is artist Chris Turri, who has spent a lifetime traversing the Southwest studying the petroglyphs, Native culture and deep historical energy of the desert. As a tradesman, silversmith and collector of old stuff, Turri’s artistry exploded in the transformation of metals and Indigenous imagery to create a prolific body of contemporary metal sculpture, each with its own story to tell.
“He has this unique talent to visualize a shaman or a totem and fabricate it using eclectic reclaimed materials—colorful metal from old vehicles, wires, pipes, display racks, copper—then he brings it to life with his home-made patinas,” says Boisjoli. “Each piece is rich in character, versatile in style and connects us to our roots.”
The discovery of ledger art and her immersion in its history found Dolores Purdy breaking gender barriers. Historic ledger art—which recreates the tradition of painting scenes on any available document or hide—was considered “warrior art” and thus a male storytelling art form. As a contemporary female artist, Purdy brings to this historic art form a Native American woman’s perspective.
For nearly two decades, she has followed the tradition of using the same medium of colored pencils and authentic pre-20th-century cotton or linen paper. Her work veers far from the usual imagery seen in most contemporary ledger art and can be humorous or serious while immersed in Native American heritage and iconography. Peter Maxx and the Pop Art movement, the Art Deco era and Asian textiles have been an influence on her work. Tonguein-cheek humor, bright colors and vivid whimsical imagery is her signature “stand out” from other contemporary ledger artists.
Purdy’s delicately layered colors and faceless figures are hallmarks of her works, with often a figure or a horse looking out of the painting directly at the viewer, offering a silent and up-for-interpretation communication.
www.dolorespurdy.com