After Cary Henrie’s opening on June 6th, I spoke with him about his art and his life as an artist.

LM: How old were you when you realized you wanted to be an artist?
CH: It’s the first thing I knew I wanted to do. When I was a kid we didn’t have tv so I just drew a lot. My mom was an artist, my grand-mom was an artist. So everybody drew.
LM: Your work focuses on landscapes. What is it about landscapes that appeals to you?
CH: Landscapes are endlessly abstract compositions - a tree is always unique. I really like the idea, the Japanese zen philosophy, of how looking at nature brings peace to one’s soul.
LM: Some viewers say your paintings have both an old master’s feel and yet seem very contemporary - there’s these two influences in the work. Is that something you do consciously?
CH: Definitely. There is always a ying and yang, dark and light. There’s a balance. Everything is very carefully laid out, everything is very planned and placed in the composition.
LM: When you say the composition is very planned, does that have something to do with your training when you went to the Pratt Institute?
CH: An artist is a good editor. A good analogy is when I was in Japan last year. You look at the areas around Kyoto. They are all beautiful and then you notice that there are workers in the trees, up on these great big ladders with white suits, carefully pruning everything. So what you think is very natural is actually this beautiful positive accentuation of nature and thats what I’m after. I eliminate the buildings and the paths and the fences and telephone lines and try to get that zen balance. Its an actual scene but its carefully pruned.
LM: Do you keep a sketchbook?
CH: Yes. I will be driving by a scene and the landscape will be dark but the sun is hitting the trees. So I make a note about that particular scene, light against a dark landscape, and I refer back to it.
LM: What are some of the things you enjoy doing aside from making art?
CH: I love to travel. I’ve been all over the world - Israel, Bali, Egypt, Taiwan. I also like to ski and run. I ran a marathon this year. I like to stay active.
LM: Has travel influenced your work?
CH: Definitely. The different textures and patinas, surfaces, and colors. It all comes through. I like the fact that my paintings remind people of places, not just in America, but all over the world.
LM: What are you trying to achieve in your work?
CH: I have a vision that I can see in my mind’s eye and I feel like I’m kinda getting there. Its like the paintings are found artifacts that you’ve uncovered, like pieces of sculpture that’s been buried. That’s what I’m after - that you can’t tell how its made - there’s no trace of the artist’s hand. If you look at my paintings, there’s no distinct brushstrokes anywhere. Its like the surfaces have been eroded. That’s what I like - the idea that the viewer is finding an artifact.
LM: If you hadn’t become an artist is there another career that you may have been interested in?
CH: I don’t know what I would do if I weren’t an artist. Maybe a professional skier. I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t have a clue. I’ve had very few jobs other than art - landscaping, washing dishes, and as a “gofer” in a design firm early on, but everything else I’ve done has been art-related. In college I started taking my art work around and people began buying it.
LM: You are a very prolific artist. How do you find time to keep your life in balance?
CH: Well, my studio is right in my home and since I’ve got four kids, being at home really helps. My mornings are dedicated to getting them off to school and making sure the day is planned correctly, I work with my wife on that, and then I just go right to my studio. When the kids get home I’m there and thats really helpful because I work really long hours. I work from nine to probably midnight - just straight through all day because you can’t lose the focus.
LM: Do you listen to music while you paint?
CH: I listen to streaming ambient on my Mac. The stuff I listen to, the textures are very interesting. Music is extremely important to me.
LM: It seems that your studio would be orderly. Is that true?
CH: My studio is only about 250 square feet, all clean and white. It looks like an office.
Q; Do you work on several paintings at a time?
CH: Yes. I put all my paintings up on the wall so I can look at them in progress. That way the pieces all have a balance. Its also a more efficient way to work.
LM: Do you have any advice for young artists?
CH: There’s two big ones - I would treat art school like medical school. Its not a place to goof off - you’ve got to work your head off. Number two is be willing to accept criticism and don’t be so sensitive.

To view Cary’s work click here.

I recently visited the home and studio of sculptor Rob Hinds here in Santa Fe. At age 82 Rob is vigorous (perhaps in part because he used to be a competitive weightlifter) and extremely prolific. Before we sat down for this interview he showed me hundreds of his finished bronzes and wax maquettes. Here’s what he had to say about his work, his inspirations and his plans for the future:

LM: You began your artistic career as an illustrator. How did you become interested in sculpture?
RH: Well I had to have models for the illustrations and so I made my own. If I needed a cowboy I made him out of clay and drew from that.
LM: Then you gradually stopped doing illustration?
RH: I suddenly stopped - I went to Europe and never came back.
LM: Well, we’re glad to have you here in Santa Fe now. Was there something about Europe that inspired you?
RH: I got a chance to see what I’d never seen before. All the art in places like Rome and Venice.
LM: Did you live in Italy?
RH: No, I used to go there and have my work cast but I lived in Spain, on the Costa del Sol.
LM: Who were some of the influences on your work?
RH: Well, you go through a growth period as you see different forms of art. I remember when I was an illustrator, for instance, I liked Thomas Hart Benton.
LM: Some people have said they’ve noticed modernist influences on your work, specifically Rene Magritte. Like in the series you did of men in bowler hats.
RH: That’s probably where that series came from. Also, I’ve always wanted my own derby but I’ve never had one.
LM: In some of the work there’s a surrealist feeling.
RH: That’s just the way I personally look at things. I think that way, and I have to consciously tone down that influence in my work so its not overpowering.
LM: You create both large and small sculpture. What’s the major difference working on small pieces as opposed to large pieces?
RH: I do the small pieces in order to see what they might look like larger. Also, I have so many ideas that I want to get them sketched out as it were. Working small allows me to do that. The problem is I’ve done so many small pieces they are everywhere – all over my studio.
LM: Was it difficult to begin sculpting?
RH: Sculpture always seemed out of reach at first.
LM: Why do you say that?
RH: Well it is impractical, especially if you want to eat.
LM: Is that because there is generally a smaller audience that appreciates sculpture?
RH: A lot of people just don’t understand sculpture.
LM: Obviously you overcame your initial concerns about becoming a sculptor.
RH: Well I drew and painted for years but I was never satisfied with it. I wanted to get on the “other side” of the work. I saw all of the “flat” art I made in 3 dimensions. It became a compulsion to turn those paintings and drawings into sculpture. I still wake up at night and I’m already at work, I can’t get back to sleep. I’m so into it I can’t separate myself from it.
LM: Are there some themes that you keep showing up in your work?
RH: Survival. Keep your sanity and survive. Just look at the world and what man is doing to himself. I sometimes think when this planet goes kaput all my work is going with it – it will be buried in the ruble. But it’s interesting, like in Europe, in the ruins, the thing that survives is art.
LM: Aside from the fact that art its what you do and you have devoted a major part of your life to it, why do think art is important?
RH: Art is all that survives, its like writing my name, saying I was here. But I’m not doing it for anyone else. I’m doing it because I have to do it. I’m glad if someone else likes it but I couldn’t get away from it if I tried.
LM: When you look at other artists’ work…
RH: I don’t!
LM: You don’t want to be influenced?
RH: Exactly. Also, I spent a lot of years looking at art but now I’m too busy working on my own ideas.
LM: What’s a working day like for you?
RH: I work all the time. I have more ideas than I can ever produce so I am literally always in the studio. When my wife and I go out I’m always looking at my watch and wondering when I can get back. To make art you have to be devoted to your work.

To see Rob Hinds sculpture click here.

Something odd happened during the Democratic presidential candidate debates in New Hampshire - a candidate mentioned a word that is rarely heard in the rough and tumble world of presidential politics - ART.

In a list of things he said he felt needed to be addressed, Governor Bill Richardson said the country needed to increase funding for art education. Regardless of your politics, you have to admit it took a lot of courage to even bring up the “A” word in the midst of discussions of the economy, terrorism, health care, immigration and global warming.

Governor Richardson’s comments, made in the context of a debate about the future of the country, raised an interesting question. Since politics is the social mechanism we use to preserve those things that are most valuable to us as a nation should art even make the list? How important is art when compared to the crucial issues facing us? Does it really make a difference given the state of the world?

I know a lot of the standard defenses of art of course - it enriches our lives, it educates and entertains. All true, but the same could be said of stamp collecting and crossword puzzles. What I began to focus on was a much bigger question - what is the intrinsic human value of art. In short, Does Art Really Matter?

Even though much of my life has been involved in the art world I’d never thoroughly considered the question. What I needed was a clearer understanding of why art is important to me and others.

It certainly seems important to serious artists, who devote their lives to creating art. Some, like Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko and countless others, literally faced their own personal hells to convey an ultimate truth that is beyond all understanding and ultimately beyond the ability of human conveyance. Was it worth it?

Art seems to matter to all the scholars and teachers and curators who have devoted their careers to helping us understand and appreciate art sometimes in the face of a scornful and indifferent public. Why bother?

It seems to matter to the fund-raisers and the donors who give time and money to public institutions that preserve and exhibit art. Aren’t there more important causes?

Art seems to matter to collectors who spend billions of dollars a year for the privilege of owning the product of artists’ talents. Aren’t there better ways to spend one’s money?

From my years as a gallerist I know art can have a strong emotional resonance with viewers. Once, while exhibiting a Matisse etching, I noticed a woman walk over to it. Within a few moments she began sobbing out loud. I rushed to her thinking there was something terribly wrong. But, when I asked if I could help, she said she didn’t understand why but she felt overwhelmed by the beauty of the piece.

Reflecting on the emotional power of art also made me also remember that one of the first things totalitarian governments do is round up artists and poets and decree that art must serve the state. So art must contain the ability to change minds and inspire freedom.

While some people consider art to be about things, it is only nominally about objects. It is about ideas and emotions expressed in paint or music or poetry. It is a conversation with oneself, with fellow humans and expresses our desire to come to terms with our humanness and ultimately touch the infinite. Art can be as beautiful as a photograph of a shadow falling across a wall or as agonizingly painful as the tormented faces screaming in Picasso’s “Guernica”. [By the way, If you feel the connection between art and the infinite is too big a leap then read Joyce’s “Ulysses” or listen to Beethoven or stand before a Van Gogh - if you don't feel connected to something larger than yourself then maybe you should consider a soul implant.]

So, after some thought, this is where I stand:

Art connects us with the deepest human longing for meaning and our desire to touch the infinite.

That seems pretty important.

If finally all our politics are of no consequence and we lose the battle against our own worst nature and unleash the ultimate catastrophe upon ourselves; then arguably there were bigger issues than art. But I can envision the final person on earth tracing the shape of a flower in the dust as her last act of trying to communicate and as a cry against the impenetrable nature of what it meant to be human.

Perhaps then, art matters a great deal after all.

We’ve had a great response to our recent video of artist Lance Green and people have asked that we profile additional artists. So we’ve decided to begin a series of written interviews.

First up is Jeff Cochran, an artist who is also an organic farmer, former tatoo artist, filmmaker and dinner guest of Jane Goodall (among many other things). Here are some selected questions from an interview with Jeff, that was conducted by and reprinted here with permission from Leslie Barton:

Q. Where did you grow up?
A. I grew up in a small town in Indiana and I won a scholarship to go to college for art and I earned a bachelors degree in Fine Art, Commercial Art, and Art History.

Q. What was your first professional art experience?
A. When I was in college I got a job as an illustrator for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and that was alright but it was a little too structured for me. Then, I got a chance to give a guy a tattoo and I figured out rather quickly that it was not my “thing”. I’m just not that “tough”. But the money was great and I did tattoos for a little while but then I started selling painting and I liked that a lot. Painting is the best. I love it. I feel very lucky that I found something that I love to do at such an early age.

Q. How old were you when you sold your first painting?
A. I would guess twenty or twenty one or so.

Q. When did you start making a living off of your art work?
A. Well, I always had jobs that were art-related but my last job “punching a time-clock” was teaching art at a community college and it was really weird because two-thirds of the students were older than me and I was about twenty-six.

Q. Where do you live and what is your studio like?
A. I am very lucky, the art business has been good to me. I am fortunate enough to have a beautiful house and studio in Taos, New Mexico that I spend the summer at and then I have a funky little tin-roof cabin in Costa Rica that is fairly close to the ocean and I spend the winter there.

Q. What is your studio like?
A. My main studio is in Taos and it is a cool little cabin-like structure that I built myself and it is built entirely out of old, recycled wood that I salvaged from old homes that were being torn down. So, it looks like it is a hundred years old but it is quite new. The roof is fogged glass so it has a real soft natural light. I love it. I think they call it “rustic charm”.

Q. People in the art world mostly connect you with your large paintings of chimpanzees. Why Chimpanzees?
A. I started painting them in college and right away I could see that
people liked them and connected with them and I enjoyed painting them and it is a self-portrait of some sort. It’s a fun mental game too because it’s like the chimps are human without being human and I think that makes it easier for the viewer to put him or herself in the painting when it is a chimp than if it were a portrait of just some non-descript human.

Q. Because of the chimps you got to have dinner with Jane Goodall too.
A. Yeah! That was awesome. I was told that the Jane Goodall Institute has a fund raiser every year where they auction off all sorts of stuff so I sent them a big four foot chimp painting - uninvited! The next thing I know I get a phone call from Jane’s personal assistant and she said that Jane loved the painting and wanted to know if I would mind if they did not sell it because Jane Goodall wanted to hang it in her office! I told her that was fine with me and I sent them a second painting to auction and then a month or so later I got invited to have dinner with Jane at her seventieth birthday party. It was great! The best vegetarian food ever!

Q. You are also doing rather well with landscape paintings.
A. Yes, I have always painted landscapes and I paint horses
too. I’ve painted a little bit of everything. I just like to paint. It’s
the most fun thing for me to do.

Q. I understand that you also enjoy farming.
A. Yeah, I’ve graduated from gardener to farmer this past year. I am a nature-lover, tree-hugger, organic… whatever you want to call it. I have an acre of land with my house in Taos and I have always had gardens and last year I got a camper trailer and a yurt, which is kinda like a big tent, and I let young people who wanted to learn vegetable gardening live in them in trade for work on “the farm”. And then we sold vegetables at the farmers market and it was a great time. People told me I was crazy to invite strangers to live in my yard but, it worked out really well and it was a lot of fun. Some of the neighbors thought I was starting a cult with all the young hippies but, I assured them we were just growing lettuce and carrots and tomatoes and all sorts of good stuff. We learned a lot last year and I am looking forward to doing it again next year.

Q. What did you learn?
A. Well, I learned that farming is an art and that what I was really doing is a giant land sculpture. The different colors of plants and soil and mulch contrasted with furrows and beds is like three dimensional painting! I’m a real perfectionist too so all my rows are very straight and clean and I have a great view of Taos Mountain too so all of it combined is a gorgeous picture. I also learned that it is a lot easier to eat a vegetarian diet when you have 800 pounds of tomatoes and 600 pounds of garlic and a hundred pounds of spinach and on and on and on.

Q. My final question is not related to art. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast?
A. Well, I have thirty-some chickens so I would have to say - eggs!

To see examples of Jeff’s most recent work click here.

Art has become very fashionable. If you have any doubt, check out the December issue of Vanity Fair which includes a “Special Report on Art” or last Sunday’s New York Time Style magazine which devotes most of the issue to the intersection of fashion and the art world.

Most of the press coverage these days is about who spent how much on what piece of art, the glittering parties attended by all the right celebrities in all the right art spots but very little about the art itself.

No matter how fashionable, art is ultimately about the the artist and the viewer - a silent communication between two individuals, each on either side of the canvas. These exchanges don’t take place in a loud swirl of party goers but in the quiet contemplation of the artist’s work.

All of this came to mind as I was completing production on a new video interview with painter Lance Green. Lance has devoted his life to his art and I imagine that the art party circuit is the last thing he thinks about as he approaches a new painting.

In the video Lance talks about his life, from his childhood on the mean streets of East L.A. to working in his studio today in a lush forest in Colorado. He also discusses his working process and the things that inspire him to paint. For those who care to look carefully, Lance’s paintings are like a road map of his life. Within the brush strokes you see the elements of his life’s journey depicted in paint. The swirling colors, the solid forms of his figures, the lyrical interplay of life and the life of the spirit depicted on the canvas are a form of autobiography.

When the life experiences and sensibilities of a viewer converge with the artist’s, a silent conversation takes place. This moment transcends any current trend or the culture’s acceptance of art as the “in thing”. This act of communication - one to one - is a major reason the first artists painted on cave walls and that artists will continue to make art whether or not it makes headlines or is popular with the “right” crowd.

To see Lance Green’s interview go to: DNTV

There’s a great article by Virginia Heffernan in today’s New York Times magazine. Ms Heffernan writes an ongoing feature titled “The Medium” and this week she takes a look at some applications of digital technology to art.

Want a high resolution image of Monet’s Water Lilies on your mobile phone? The article talks about the Boston Museum of Fine Arts project to photograph high resolution photographs of its’ entire collection of 350,000 works. You can visit their site at mfamobile.mfa.org and download some masterpieces directly to your phone’s home screen. Monet-To-Go anyone?

Ms. Heffernan also writes about an incredibly detailed photograph of Davinci’s “Last Supper”. The photograph is made up of 16 billion pixels. It shows such amazing details that as you zoom in you can see individual flecks of paint. If you don’t want to stand in line in Milan, you can see this icon of Western art by visiting The Last Supper.
To read all of Ms Heffernan’s article go to The Medium Blogs.

Thanks for all your positive reponses to the blog. Kelley from Austin sent me an e-mail and said “why not allow comments”? So now, on most of the posts, comments will be open. Of course they will be moderated so anything thats offensive or irrelevant will be deleted.

If you want to comment, just click on the “comments” link that appears below each post (if no one has commented yet it will read “No Comments”), fill out the form and then send it along.

Santa Fe got a beautiful light snow last night and it gave me the perfect opportunity to get next to a fire and catch up on some reading. I came across a notebook with some art quotes that I’ve collected and thought you might enjoy them. Here are a few:

“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.” - Rene Magritte

“You’re sitting there with your muse and your muse is telling you something and you’re following it, and you end up the next day looking at it and thinking “what the hell was the muse saying to me?” - Nathan Oliveira

“Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something.” - Georgia O’Keefe

“The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves.” - Willem de Kooning

“A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.” - Paul Cezanne

“I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.” - Henri Matisse

“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” - Michelangelo

“I’ve never believed in God, but I believe in Picasso.” - Diego Rivera

“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” - Pablo Picasso

Speaking of Picasso, here’s one of my favorite commercials from Apple:

Welcome to the Deloney Newkirk Galleries blog. Its a part of our new internet presence designed to offer you a richer experience when you visit us on the web. The blog will be a place you can check regularly to get the latest gallery news, information about the Santa Fe scene plus comments on the art world in general.

Frankly, I find some gallery websites static and even boring. Having just completed a 90 day process to get our redesigned site live, I know why - it is a major commitment and an incredible amount of work to make a website interesting. But we feel we owe it to our clients and our artists to make it a great place to visit so we are focused on three things:

• Change Is Good: I dislike visiting a site and seeing the same information again and again. We won’t do that. We’ll update the site often to reflect the latest information and show the newest work from our artists as quickly as we receive it.

• Technology Is Good: As new technologies become available we intend to use them. We’re excited to be one of the first gallery websites in the nation to offer video with our new DNTV feature. Here you can watch art videos including artist profiles, interviews and special features. Warning - DNTV is addictive, so if you are a total art fanatic be prepared to spend some time. The popcorn is optional, personally, I recommend a nice merlot.

• Its All About You: Visitors to our galleries told us what they would like to see and we listened. So we’ve added new search functions that give you several different ways to look for artwork. We have also added a feature called, “My Collection” that lets you save artwork in a special area of the site reserved just for you. We’re serious about making the site a place you want to visit often so if you have suggestions let us hear from you.

Okay enough about us except to say I hope you like our new site. Since you’ve been kind enough to read this first blog here’s a treat - a video of artist Il Lee who creates lyrical abstractions with just a ballpoint pen. Enjoy.