Tony Abeyta’s studio is just off the historic Santa Fe Plaza. Born in Gallup, New Mexico, his roots in Santa Fe go back to his father, Navajo painter Narciso Abeyta (Ha So De), who studied at the Santa Fe Indian School, the predecessor of the Institute of Native American Arts (IAIA) from where Tony would graduate in 1986. He went on to earn a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a master of fine arts from New York University. In 2013, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from IAIA in recognition of his impact on the contemporary art world.
The Meandering River, oil on canvas, 30 x 40”
In 2012, Abeyta was honored with the New Mexico Governor’s Excellence in the Arts Award and named a Living Treasure from the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.
His father painted traditional subjects in the flat two-dimensional style of Dorothy Dunn’s studio at the Indian School. His mother was Sylvia Shipley, an Anglo weaver and ceramist, and his sisters Pablita and Elizabeth were sculptors. Pablita was also a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and was instrumental in the founding of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution.
Tony’s paintings embody the continuum of Hózhó, the Diné concept of beauty, balance, harmony and being at one with the world. He says, “I think I have a relationship with everything around me,” he says. “I see it, I experience it and I’m passionate about it.”
Paintings such as The Meandering River, 2023, display his reverence for nature and the landscape through the optimistic and abstract lens of American modernism. Life-giving rain sculpts the landscape and nurtures its flora and fauna.
Dark Rains, charcoal and ink on paper, 18 x 24 "
He works in multiple media and often in monochromatic charcoal as in Dark Rains, 2023. Acutely aware of the effects of climate change his painting often depict rain in the many ways it falls in the Southwest.
His recent paintings will be shown in a solo exhibition at Owings Gallery in Santa Fe, beginning August 18.
Owings Gallery
August 18, 2023
100 E. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 982-6244, www.owingsgallery.com
Powered by Froala Editor
