Opening February 26 at Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a new two-man show featuring the works of ledger artist Chris Pappan and pointillist painter Starr Hardridge. The artists, who are admirers of each other’s work, have shown together more than 10 times. “We both like to reference traditional stories—creation stories—but to portray them in unique ways that also express our contemporaneity. Our treatment of the subjects are both surreal but in different ways that people find appealing,” Pappan says of their works. “Starr’s palette is much more vibrant while mine is much more subdued, so taken at face value the works are worlds apart, but when you realize we both are influenced by the same stories you can see the similarities.”
Starr Hardridge (Muscogee Creek), Ancient Rhythm, acrylic on canvas, 15 x 30"
Pappan, who paints in a ledger art style, but with a contemporary voice that seems to call out to the present day, says his newest pieces come from myth. “There are a few things happening in these works: First there are the mythological or transformation figures that relate directly to indigenous creation stories and the semblance of such stories globally; there are also different (for me) ways of distorting (or repeating) the figure that I am playing with and deciphering what that could mean, particularly in these times; then I try to work out narratives that reflect or comment on contemporary Native American issues and (mis)appropriation of Native American cultures.”
Chris Pappan (Osage/Kaw/Cheyenne River Sioux), Tribal Council (The Struggle Is Real), mixed media on Evanston municipal ledger, 18 x 23"
Chris Pappan (Osage/Kaw/Cheyenne River Sioux), There’s No Place Like Home (GTFO), graphite and ink on vintage map, 18 x 30"
Fire comes up in several pieces, which could easily be a metaphor for 2020, the year in which the works were created. “[Fire] definitely could represent this past year for me as it represents change and a new beginning,” he adds. “Yes, it’s destructive, but sometimes things have to be destroyed before change and new growth can happen.”
For Hardridge, his works are rooted in abstraction and pointillism, which is the dot-like application of the paint that reveals a larger, more complicated image. His paint creates a unique texture that almost begs the audience to touch the work. “I remember when I changed my style and started painting this way.
Starr Hardridge (Muscogee Creek), Back to the Woodlands, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24"
I remember how people would look at the painting and weren’t quite sure what they were seeing. Maybe, they thought, it was a weaving or a textile or beadwork. People would touch the canvases, which you really shouldn’t do,” he says. “But I don’t blame them. They couldn’t resist. The surface feels like Braille, even if you follow the contours around the painting.”
Hardridge says his newest works also have reverberations from 2020 baked into them. “This new work is me riffing off the broken political landscapes from [last] summer. The divisions between Americans, both sociologically and politically, was really striking to me. So I let my mind go to this cubist and abstract realm where I could fuse the figure with the abstract.”
The show will be on view in Santa Fe through March 20.
Blue Rain Gallery
February 26-March 20, 2021
544 S. Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 954-9902, www.blueraingallery.com
Powered by Froala Editor
