Showcasing Cutting Edge New Contemporary artwork from all over the world, located in Santa Fe NM
Showcasing Cutting Edge New Contemporary artwork from all over the world, located in Santa Fe NM
Exhibitions
Keep Contemporary presents
Elsewhere: New Works by JP Morrison Lans
JP Morrison Lans
These pieces explore the spirit inside the body, the ghost driving the muscle mass. I pulled from both personal life experiences, dreams and sudden impulses to create these works. In order to capture a sense of “finding out as we go” within the work I had to make it in that state of mind. The figures depicted could be a representation of myself, the viewer or an embodiment of the guardians within us all who manage the doorway between the known and the unfathomable– the space between awake and asleep. The large pieces depict the moment just before, during or after the passage from here to elsewhere. The small pieces are studied of daydreams i.e. the phantoms bold enough to show up in the light of day behind a suddenly closed eye.
Keep Contemporary presents
Michael Caines – Ghost Boy
Michael Caines
Michael Caines has been exhibiting drawing and painting in solo and group exhibitions since the 1990’s. Exhibitions include Cat Art Show Los Angeles, Mulhering Pollard in New York, and Katharine Mulherin Contemporary in Toronto. He has been invited to participate in a number of artist residencies including Santa Fe Art Institute, Millay Colony, and The Bemis Center. Caines has been awarded fellowships from the Avery and Chalmers foundations, and grants from the CityCorps NYC, the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. His book, Revelations & Dog, a graphic version of the Book of Revelations, was published in March, 2010 by Mark Batty Press in New York. A ten year survey of Caines animal and human themed work, Wild/Tame, was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Peterborough in Canada in 2011. Michael Caines was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has made New York city home for the past seventeen years.
Keep Contemporary presents
El Moisés – Arte Filoso
El Moisés
Growing up in the Southwest, the soon-to-be artist named Moises would gain a love for the Chicano cultural and scene at an early age. It helped a lot that his father used to work on cars and paint lowriders too. That in itself would give him the opportunity to look at lowriders up close and hands on. “I was influenced largely by the paint and pinstriping schemes that adorned lowriders. That influenced the ‘folk art’ part of me, as some of the first type of pinstriping I did was applied to many shapes of pottery I had made, and if you notice the striping on the cars that I painted, it resembles the style and looks I used on my pottery.”
Born in Baja, California, the Albuquerque artist grew up in Yuma, Arizona and Phoenix before moving to New Mexico. He is completely self-taught. Today he’s known as a modern-day artist bringing the essence of urban culture and barrio flavor to mainstream fine art, steeped in the visual traditions of Mexican-American pop culture and lowrider cars.
Keep Contemporary presents
Leo Gonzales – Summonings
Leo Gonzales
Leo Gonzales was born and raised in Pojoaque near Santa Fe, NM. The films of Harryhausen and the writings of Tolkien had a profound and lasting impact on him from an early age. A love of monsters, and all things fantastic, horrific and alien have always been a driving force in his life. Leo has been tattooing professionally full-time for 30 years. He runs his own tattoo shop and art gallery – Stay Gold, in Albuquerque, NM and has worked alongside some of the biggest names in the industry. A love and appreciation for Japanese mythology and the bio-mechanical tattoo aesthetic, as well as his love of folklore, and the great works of fantasy and horror literature have all culminated in a post apocalyptic vision within his intricately crafted oil paintings. His work has been exhibited in many group and solo shows in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM including KEEP Contemporary, as well as numerous showings in the Illuxcon Showcase and exhibiting in the Illuxcon Main Show in 2022, 2023, & 2024. He has several paintings published in the juried annual -Infected By Art Volumes 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 as well as the gigantic 2 volume book set- The Bio-mech Encyclopedia (alongside luminaries in the field such as H R Giger, Zdislaw Beksinski, and Guy Aitchison).
Keep Contemporary presents
Tania Pomales – Ghost In The Machine
Tania Pomales
BIO
NJ based Puerto Rican artist Tania Pomales specializes in dark and surreal works created primarily in oils. As a nod to her colorful and bold heritage, Pomales incorporates bright color palettes into her art in juxtaposition with darker motifs, such as skulls and human anatomical references, to explore themes of life and death and the cyclical aspect of the human experience.The importance of mental health and deep self reflection are also fundamental themes in her body of work. Showing professionally in galleries since 2016, Pomales has been part of group exhibitions in Copro, The Dark Art Emporium, KEEP Contemporary, Cactus Gallery, and other prominent venues.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The world can often feel like a very dark, confusing, and overwhelming place. Too often we go through the motions of the everyday hustle and bustle without taking time to self reflect and look through that darkness to see that there is beauty, truth, and profound healing if only we take that leap of faith. My work is about taking that leap every day, learning to see the beauty in the chaos, and helping others see it, too.
Keep Contemporary presents
The New Vanguard – Explorations into The New Contemporary V
Group Invitational
The New Vanguard: Explorations into the New Contemporary V, is an international juried competition open to all artists working in painting, printmaking, drawing, mixed media, digital, collage, fiber, sculpture, and photography. We are looking for art that pushes the boundaries in a variety of genres including but not limited to: High Brow, Low Brow, Pop Surrealism, Hyperrealism, Graffiti Art, and Abstract Art.
Keep Contemporary presents
Milka Lolo and Fran De Anda : BESTIARY
Bestiary
Milka LoLo and Fran De Anda Art Show. In this exhibition, the artists present a series of works that take the concept of Bestiary as their axis; a sort of catalog of imaginary creatures and beliefs inherited from paganism and that many believed to exist in parallel to reality, where seeing and touching these beings was possible thanks to the existence of a world populated by magical and at the same time terrifying creatures. Starting from a Greco-Roman heritage, the period of the Middle Ages can be mentioned as a fertile environment for these compilations of strange beings, who lived in distant lands where, thanks to the discoveries of new territories, they sparked people’s imagination when they learned about the wonders and mysteries of “those new worlds.” Bestiary is the interpretation of two visions of artists Milka LoLo and Fran De Anda; who with their works dialogue with magic, legend and the fantastic, elements that inhabit the imagination of myth.The Exhibition is composed of eighteen pieces; ten pieces by the artist Milka Lolo in mixed media (Acrylic, collage and gold leaf on paper), and 8 Pieces by the Artist Fran De Anda made in oil and gold and silver leaf on canvas and wood
Milka Lolo
BIO
Milka Lolo was born in Mexico City. She has shown since a very early age to have very strong artistic inclinations. Beginning as a self-taught artist, she continued her studies at Academia de San Carlos where she attended workshops on the technique of pictorial materials, ceramic sculpture, engraved, and drawing. Then she decided to continue her own research away from the academic environment which allows her to explore different artistic approaches and develop a very unique pictorial language. The characters of the Mexican folktales that she heard eagerly as a child became the main subjects of her paintings. Creating, at last, a style of its own and a contemporary aesthetic proposal that has earned collectors around the world. She has presented her work in many group exhibitions not only in Mexico but also in the United States.
STATEMENT
My work consists of the re-interpretation of characters, myths, and narrations of the Mexican folk imaginary. These narratives are presented as a living manifestation of an ancestral culture, which has been transformed as it has integrated into a globalized society. In my work, I recreate the process of cultural miscegenation by incorporating elements and universal concepts to the myths and legends of the Mexican tradition. While I create a contemporary version of them, which allows them to remain valid in the collective memory and, at the same time, generate an own aesthetic, with a metaphorical language based on referents such as surrealism, symbolism, magical realism, artistic illustration, fantastic art, and indigenous art. The aesthetic discourse of my work starts from the manifestations and artistic expressions that the human being creates in response to his concern about his origin and place in the world. Through experimentation and application of traditional techniques together with the most recent materials, I emphasized the importance of syncretism, which gives form and character to our contemporary identity.
Fran de Anda
Fran De Anda lives and works in Mexico City. In his work he touches on themes related to the human condition. Based on ancient myths and archetypes, he develops concepts such as transformation, death, alchemy, the sacred and the profane. Having a strong connection with ancient art, it takes up elements of the Renaissance, the Baroque and symbolism. Through the use of traditional pictorial techniques such as grinding his own pigments, and the use of tempera, oil, silver and gold leaf, he develops an interpretation of the mysterious and sacred in man and his relationship with nature within a mystical-symbolic vision.
Keep Contemporary presents
Bryan Cunningham: Postcards from Bardo
Bryan Cunningham
Bryan Cunningham is an artist from Michigan whose paintings are inspired by roadside attractions, New Orleans and Santa Fe’s vibrant cultural legacies, and his own reflections on mortality and rebirth. He combines found objects and sign painting with a particular kind of nostalgia – creating works that evoke a spiritual connection to the past. This approach yields works that energize viewers with the possibilities of understanding physical and metaphysical life through a creative expression of the everyday.
Keep Contemporary presents
Dirk Kortz : Ship of fools
Artist Statement
Dirk Kortz grew up in New Jersey and New York. He studied painting, film and creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ, then moved to California where he graduated from San Francisco State University and did graduate work in film. His paintings, collages, assemblages and wood carvings are included in many collections throughout the U.S. and abroad. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Keep Contemporary presents
Brigid’s Sisters- The Strength and Fierceness of Women, The Art of Elizabeth Leggett
Artist Statement
Elizabeth Leggett is a two-time fan artist Hugo winner, a five-time Chesley nominee, gallery artist, and SF novel cover designer. She has had two solo shows at George R.R. Martin’s theater, the Jean Cocteau Cinema, and has exhibited at the Mazza Museum. Her work can be seen in the annual Spectrum Volumes 22, 24, 26, and 27 as well as Spectrum Fantastic Art Quarterly, Vol. 1. She can also be found in Infected By Art, Volumes 3-10. She regularly exhibits at SF convention art shows around the U.S.
Keep Contemporary presents
Group Show : Indian Market Weekend
All Inclusive Group Show
Keep Contemporary presents
Primavera : a Spanish Market Pop-Up
Artist Statement
I am a fine artist who explores themes of mortality painting the human figure. My oil paintings on canvas and wood panels, are an extension of my Mexican heritage and Central America’s Day of the Dead festivities; they appear skeletal and pale, yet somehow flushed and vibrant. Through bravado brushwork and assertive color palettes, I animate my subjects and keep them firmly rooted in the realm of the living, asking my viewers to hold life and death in the same hand. Through my work, I seek to remind viewers of the inherent ephemerality of life, and of its beauty as well — that while death is always around the corner, life is something to be celebrated.
I was born in Los Angeles, California and graduated from the College of Fine Arts, California State College Fullerton. I began my artistic practice working with water colors and acrylics. My medium changed to oils when I moved to Taos, New Mexico where my mother was born. Since beginning my career as an artist, my work has been acquired by multiple public collections including the International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe; the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque; as well as the notable purchase of a painting for the set of the TV hit series “Breaking Bad.” I was recognized by the New Mexico Senate in 2005 and received a blue ribbon for my work in 2007 from the Contemporary Hispanic Market in Santa Fe. I am represented by the Keep Contemporary gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Currently, I live and work in my home studio in Taos, New Mexico.
-Alex
Keep Contemporary presents
ColorOrgy : Thoughts While Looking for the Nearest Exit
Artist Statement
The perverse and the innocent meet to form a twisted narrative in ColorOrgy’s works. Based in Phoenix, Arizona – the painter and illustrator blends the aesthetics of traditional values with provocative imagery to deconstruct the American dream. Finding inspiration in the pulp-fiction paperbacks and advertising design of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, ColorOrgy’s work mix vibrant hues with equal parts of dark humor and irony to explore the cynical side of childhood, romance and gender roles in a changing society while simultaneously holding them in high esteem.
ColorOrgy is the working name of Phoenix, AZ painter and illustrator Scott Wolf. He’s shown in Los Angeles, Denver, New York, Sydney and London among others and hIs works are part of collections in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Sydney and Dubai.
Keep Contemporary presents
Dennis Larkins :
Opening Reception: Friday July 21st 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music – Culture – Community
KEEP CONTEMPORARY 142 Lincoln ave Santa Fe, New Mexico
Artist Statement
WARNING: Before viewing the following images, be sure to set your Art Appreciation Devices from FUN to STUN!
Now in the gallery, new original work from the always surprising Dennis Larkins! If you’re in town, come come on by to check out these new beauties in all their kinetic 3-D glory and be sure to make plans now to attend the Gala Opening of Dennis’ new solo exhibit at the gallery, opening July 21, “The Duality Zone”:
Keep Contemporary presents
Zienna Brunsted Stewart : Akin
Opening Reception: Friday June 16th 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music – Culture – Community Dj 13 Pieces on the Decks
KEEP CONTEMPORARY 142 Lincoln ave Santa Fe, New Mexico
Artist Statement
Zienna Brunsted Stewart (b. 1995) is a Danish-American representational oil painter living and working in New Mexico. With a focus on depictions of womxn, Zienna paints realistically rendered figures in emotional narratives.
Zienna grew up in a rural mountain town of Southern Colorado, wandering the forests and learning to make whatever she could by hand. At 12 years old she discovered oil paints, which became an immediate obsession. Upon introduction to her first teacher and long time mentor, Zienna began receiving instruction in traditional painting and drawing methods. With the enormous support of her small-town community and a substantial scholarship, Zienna was admitted to Idyllwild Arts Academy, a boarding arts high school in Southern California, graduating in 2013.
Though she has enjoyed a largely self-led education, Zienna has studied privately under several prominent painters in the US and in Europe.
As an emerging artist, Zienna has been written about in American Art Collector magazine, interviewed by the Santa Fe Reporter and was featured in Create Magazine. She was most recently named finalist in the Portrait Society of America’s 2021 “Future Generations” and “Members Only- Outside the Box” competitions. Her work is held in a number of private collections.
” Living beings are known to respond to so much more than formed language. What our bodies are, when stripped of cultural context, is simply nature. Nature, like visual art, communicates without using words. A body, gushing subtle texts, has so much to say. The inaudible communication between people is powerful, and also often quite confounding. What is conveyed cannot be described, only felt.
The themes in my work are quiet, exploring the ambivalence of desire, the intimacy of close friendships, indecision and introspection. In view of body as nature, I intend to create subtle, dynamic impressions of a variety of women and the stories their bodies wish to express. “
Keep Contemporary presents
Raymond Argumedo : Awake in a Dream
Opening Reception: Friday June 16th 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music – Culture – Community Dj 13 Pieces on the Decks
KEEP CONTEMPORARY 142 Lincoln ave Santa Fe, New Mexico
Artist Statement
Raymond Argumedo is an artist who is currently based in Riverside, CA. He grew up on on a street named, Gramercy place, which is where the name of his art company comes from, Raymond started drawing at the age of 7 with his older brother, Jorge. His brother passed away at the age of 21, on Gramercy street, in a fatal shooting. Since then, Raymond has been creating and imagining art that is primarily inspired by anciet cultures, gods, mythology, and astronomical beings. It is then blended with a 1900 s art nouveau, old soul feeling. His art has served him as a platform to express feeling when words cannot.
“Gramercy” is an archaic term which is used to express “gratitude or surprise”. Gratitude is what keeps Raymond grounded and growing with his art and in his everyday life.
Keep Contemporary presents
Micah Wesley: Midnite Rider
Opening Reception: Friday May 19th 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music – Culture – Community
KEEP CONTEMPORARY 142 Lincoln ave Santa Fe
Gallery Statement
Inspired always by the future and how it passes me, sorting through fragments of cultures, emotions and histories. I am quite certain the apocalypse happened.
In the west of the Iron Galaxy, we find marooned cyborgs on planets that have never known darkness. Deer women and android coyotes stalk the barren wastes conjuring spells for the order of the Sisters of Mercy. Obsessed with electronic music, Replicants and Techno Townies hold visions only for the future. Atomic powered Uncles/Aunts are cowboys/cowgirls and warriors putting out the vibes. Fury Road seeks retribution or perhaps a thrill kill cult. Gems from the Equinox reinforce dreams and realities of the simulation.
Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he received his Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Growing up, Micah looked at paintings of Native American figures in space, floating flat against cool colors encased in an outline of color, with depictions of celebration, ritual and tragedy. The imagery was referred to as Bacone, Dorothy Dunn, and The Kiowa Six. Micah’s father, Tillier Wesley Jr., painted in this tradition, a modernist approach he and other contemporaries called “Traditional”.
As a child he watched Mad Max the Road Warrior and fell in love with its context of survival, reassembled cars, leather, arrows and brutality. Micah is inspired by what he calls The Great Western Myth, science fiction/fantasy, synthesizers, cultures, emotions and modern art.
– MICAH WESLEY Muskoke Creek Nation / Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Micah currently resides in Oklahoma.
– Micah Wesley
Keep Contemporary presents
Sarah Vaccariello : Visions Unfolding
Opening Reception: Friday May 19th 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music – Culture – Community
KEEP CONTEMPORARY 142 Lincoln ave Santa Fe
Gallery Statement
In my work, I delve into the symbolic realm of the mystical. Exploring the idea of self through both inner and outer spaces.
– Sarah Vaccariello
Keep Contemporary presents
Into the Wild – Featuring the Artwork of Chris Haas, Kristen Egan, and Jared Antonio – Justo Trujillo
Opening Reception: Friday April 21st 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music – Culture – Community
KEEP CONTEMPORARY 142 Lincoln ave Santa Fe
Gallery Statement
Keep Contemporary presents
The New Vanguard – Explorations into The New Contemporary lV
Opening Reception: Friday January 20th 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music – Culture – Community
KEEP CONTEMPORARY 142 Lincoln ave Santa Fe
Gallery Statement
KEEP Contemporary sets the stage for 2023 with The New Vanguard: Explorations into the New Contemporary IV, an international juried show that brings together some of the top artists from the new contemporary art movement. The gallery’s call emphasized hyper realism, low brow, abstract, outsider and pop art but remained open-ended, resulting in over 500 submissions from over 200 artists. The international juried show is in line with KEEP’s mission to stimulate the local art market in its exposure of unconventional and underrepresented talent.
Keep Contemporary presents
Deret Roberts : In Circles
Friday December 16th 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Drinks – Food – Music- Culture -Community
In Circles
This show, “In Circles” is about the constant struggle between light and shadow. The universe is in a constant struggle or coexistence rather of light/dark, up/down, balance/imbalance, etc. with all unable to exist without the other. The light we project wouldn’t be able to shine without the shadow to contrast. Something and nothing are two sides of the same coin. The positive and the negative; the something and the nothing go together. By acknowledging this you’ll understand that to be here now is to be here for all eternity
Deret Roberts
Creating artwork for myself is as much about the process as it is about the final product. The themes expressed are usually connected with what is going on in my life internally and externally. The artwork acts as a vehicle for me to explore and traverse my own psyche. The past five years have shown a vast change in my personal life and my art. Thus, allowing me to express my internal emotions, thoughts and ideas. I can look back and know why each painting was painted and what thought processes I went through during those times.
Keep Contemporary presents
Mark Heine : Song Of The Siren
Friday November 18th at 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Dj’s – Refreshments- Spirits – Art – Community
Mark Heine
In 1961, Mark Heine was born into a family that was always driven by the creative. His father and mother were both applied artists and designers, operating a massive warehouse studio in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The making of art on a grand scale was around every corner. Mark’s childhood was spent wandering through the studio, absorbing the progress and process of the monumental projects underway. It was art by the ton, measured in yards, not inches, and worked in all matter of media … plaster, resin, concrete, fibreglass, wood, stained glass, tapestry – and, of course, paint. It’s what all the family did and does to this day … art.
In his youth, Heine was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor’s Art Scholarship, eventually graduating with honours from the Applied Arts Program at Capilano University. Brush in hand, he established his own studio and rose, over the course of 35 years, to become one of North America’s most sought-after talents, working through agents and galleries in New York, Los Angles, Santa Fe, Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver. His work can also be found in collections throughout Europe and was recently shown at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Barcelona, Spain. Corporate commissions for the likes of Sony, Disney, Starbucks, and many others, garnered him more than 40 national and international awards, plus the designation “Associate Living Master” by the Art Renewal Centre. His work has also appeared in numerous print and on-line publications, including the magazines Hi-Fructose, Beautiful Bizarre, Magazin’ Art, Applied Arts, American Art Collector, International Artist, Poets and Artists, The Guide Artist Magazine, The Artist’s Magazine, and The Creator’s Project.
Heine has come to realize that he’s a storyteller. Writing has long been a key component of his creative process and the symbiotic relationship of these two distinct disciplines, has led to a unique approach to both. Bringing one of those stories to life – to larger than life – marrying fiction to painting, is the focus of his most recent works … the Sirens series. Each of his paintings is a captured moment in his coming Sirens book, a work of fiction in the genre of imaginative realism.
Mark, his wife and creative collaborator, Lisa Leighton, and their two daughters, Sarah and Charlotte, live in beautiful Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
There are those who say that originality is dead. That all is derivative. I disagree. I think that originality is everywhere, albeit in widely varying degrees. I believe that my art is original. Certainly I have had influences, as has every artist. In particular, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Vermeer and Rembrandt, through Degas, Monet, Rodin, Sargent, Parrish, N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth to Robert Heindel, Bob Peak, Brian Johnson, my father Harry Heine, and my friend Brent Lynch. All have provided me with some tool or inspiration, but in the end, my way is my own.
So this is where I am. The paintings I have done and the stories I have told, are where I have been. The interesting thing, from my point of view, is where I’m going. And that’s the story yet to be told. That’s my mission.
Keep Contemporary presents
Milka Lolo : The Offering
Friday October 21st at 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Dj’s – Refreshments- Spirits – Art – Community
The Offering
The Offering is one of the most deeply rooted traditions of Mexican culture. The construction of altars dedicated to the dead has its origins in pre-Hispanic times, when despite the great diversity of ethnic groups, a worldview was shared in relation to death. It was believed that when someone dies, they would begin an arduous four-year journey, during which they must cross the nine levels of the underworld until they reached the Mictlán. There, the souls of the deceased could reside permanently. But they were allowed to visit the world of the living once a year. This is why the Day of the Dead is such an important, joyful and long-awaited celebration for every Mexican. It is an opportunity to renew a bond, to share and to celebrate once again with our loved ones who have already passed away.
However, the trip from Mictlán is not an easy one. It is the duty of the living to help the deceased find their way home. Each element of the Offering fulfills a specific function, either in assisting souls in their journey, or in representing an aspect of the life that was left behind. The light of a candlelight helps the deceased find their way while reminding them of the warmth of life itself. The Offering is the reunion with a ritual that summons memory. To Offer is to be close to our dead to dialogue with their memory and celebrate their lives.
– Milka
Milka Lolo
Milka Lolo was born in Mexico City. She has shown since a very early age to have very strong artistic inclinations. Beginning as a self-taught artist, she continued her studies at Academia de San Carlos where she attended workshops on the technique of pictorial materials, ceramic sculpture, engraved, and drawing.
Then she decided to continue her own research away from the academic environment which allows her to explore different artistic approaches and develop a very unique pictorial language. The characters of the Mexican folktales that she heard eagerly as a child became the main subjects of her paintings. Creating, at last, a style of its own and a contemporary aesthetic proposal that has earned collectors around the world. She has presented her work in many group exhibitions not only in Mexico but also in the United States.
Keep Contemporary presents
Mike Egan : Built By Death
Friday October 21st at 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Dj’s – Refreshments- Spirits – Art – Community
Built By Death
The paintings that I have created for “Built By Death” are a look at my continued obsession with the idea of life and death. I chose the title of the show as a nod to my professional career. I attended mortuary school in Pittsburgh to study funeral directing and embalming. I ended up working in a number of funeral homes as an embalmer. After about five years I then went on to work as a fine artist who is obsessed with death, halloween, devils and skeletons. I’ve been creating paintings for about 15 years now. These paintings act as a reminder to me that my life and career have truly been built by death.
– Mike
Mike Egan
I was born outside of Pittsburgh, PA in 1977 (a reason why you’ll find those numbers in my artwork). As a kid, I was really shy but eventually found art that helped me find my voice. I would trace cartoons, skateboard graphics and album covers. I can recall drawing Guns N Roses “Appetite For Destruction” many times in sixth grade or sitting in church every Sunday doodling on whatever paper I could find. I took art classes throughout high school and decided to pursue a degree in fine arts after school. I went on to college at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, two hours north of Pittsburgh. I focused on printmaking at the time, which is where I learned about artists like Jose Guadalupe Posada and the German Expressionists like Kathe Kollwitz. I loved woodcut printing as it offered bold black line work and a graphic quality that I’d later use in my paintings.
Keep Contemporary presents
Fran De Anda : Oracle
Friday September 16th, 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Dj’s – Refreshments- Spirits – Art – Community
Oracles
For humanity knowing the future has been a necessity through the centuries. The Oracles have been a way of representing the will of the gods and the uncertain destiny tied to each individual. Through time the human being of today as well as yesterday continues to desperately search for the sings of his destiny to find his place in the world. This exhibition is made up of eight works using the technique of Oil and gold leaf on wood. Six of those pieces in square format with measurements of 12 x 12 inches. Two pieces that complete the exhibition have a round format with a diameter of 12 inches.
– Fran
Fran De Anda
Fran De Anda lives and works in Mexico City. In his work he touches on themes related to the human condition. Based on ancient myths and archetypes, he develops concepts such as transformation, death, alchemy, the sacred and the profane. Having a strong connection with ancient art, it takes up elements of the Renaissance, the Baroque and symbolism. Through the use of traditional pictorial techniques such as grinding his own pigments, and the use of tempera, oil, silver and gold leaf, he develops an interpretation of the mysterious and sacred in man and his relationship with nature within a mystical-symbolic vision.
Keep Contemporary presents Friday August 19th 5-8 pm 142 Lincoln ave. Santa Fe NM Dj’s – Refreshments- Spirits – Art – Community
When I was a baby, my grandparents used to tell me I was from Planet Mocoso because I was always stuffed up with allergies and asthma. I happened to be sick with the flu while drawing these pieces and felt it would be an appropriate homage to my home planet. Each piece showcases a different character with all their favorite things orbiting around them. Get ready 4 the #MOCOWAVE Planet Moco is now in orbit! – Nico
Nico Salazar
Nico Salazar is an illustrator, muralist, and designer living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Nico has been drawing since he was a small child and grew up between Santa Fe, California, & Hawaii due to his father’s service in the US Navy. These three locations heavily shaped Nico’s style showcasing a unique synergy of cute & dangerous imagery that blends influences of manga, street culture, comic books, graffiti art, and 90s nostalgia.
He received his BFA in Painting from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2014 and shortly after joined up with artist collective Meow Wolf to produce his wildly popular mural-room installation Hidden Capsule in Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return , Omega Mart Meow Wolf Las Vegas and Meow Wolf Denver. Nico went on to form his product line Future Fantasy Delight in 2015 with support from Meow Wolf and is currently working on his Spring/Summer collections.
Nico enjoys gazing at the Tokyo Skyline, collecting luxury paint markers, being around palm trees and practicing his psychic powers.
Keep Contemporary Presents
Orlando Allison: Lomaqatsi
August 19th, 5-8 PM Keep Contemporary 142 Lincoln Ave. Santa Fe, NM
Accessible construct of Hopi Puebloan archetypes unique to the Southwest, who, embody eternal concepts of humanity presented on the panel.
Orlando Allison
Orlando Allison is a self-taught visual Hopi artist with his works predominantly in acrylic gouache medium on birchwood panel. He defines his paintings as “Precision Art” through careful application of machine-like but manual methods visually resulting in a technical display of color, graphic design, collage-like design, and archetypes. Growing up on the reservation, his earliest most vivid memories are of brilliant dancing tapestry attire a vast variety of Katsinam adorn. Naturally, Orlando’s work encompasses an intricate portrait of Hopi design and customs emphasizing the timeless quality innate within Hopi praxis. Orlando’s art confronts audiences directly at their core that is earnestly seeking a profound accessible relationship with places we inhabit.
KEEP Contemporary breaks tradition during Santa Fe’s Spanish Market weekend with the opening of “Arté Fino ” – a group exhibition featuring Three regional artists whose work pays homage to Spanish Colonial art, yet views the genre through a modern lens. As Spanish artists, the exhibitors share the same cultural lineage as those who line the streets just outside KEEP’s doors at Market, yet present their heritage in ways that expand our perspective and spark fresh dialogue. Connecting the past with the present, “Arté Fino ” opens on July 29th and will be on display alongside Traditional Spanish Market, which takes place in downtown Santa Fe on July 30th and 31st
Michael Martinez
Artist Michael E. Martinez has been a striving artist for 25+ years. He grew up in Chimayo, NM, where Northern New Mexico culture grows rampant. Michael creates original works of art, through a variety of media. He specializes in paintings and graphic design. His style and flair represent his past and present experiences, all while keeping his Northern New Mexico values and culture embodied in his work.
Alberto Zalma
Grounded in classical fine-art training and inspired by the street art of his father’s birthplace in the Bronx, NYC, Zalma has developed a signature style he describes as new-world urban meets old-world Europe. His work is a pointed, satirical commentary intended to reveal humanity’s universal connections and the unseen unity underlying division. Zalma has been featured in exhibits and galleries nationwide from Miami to Maui, and today he continues his creative commitment to spread the word of peace and tolerance.
Alex Chavez
I am a fine artist who explores themes of mortality painting the human figure. My oil paintings on canvas and wood panels, are an extension of my Mexican heritage and Central America’s Day of the Dead festivities; they appear skeletal and pale, yet somehow flushed and vibrant. Through bravado brushwork and assertive color palettes, I animate my subjects and keep them firmly rooted in the realm of the living, asking my viewers to hold life and death in the same hand. Through my work, I seek to remind viewers of the inherent ephemerality of life, and of its beauty as well — that while death is always around the corner, life is something to be celebrated.
Andrew Montoya
Andrew Montoya (Rio Rancho): Coming from a long line of New Mexico santeros, Andrew Montoya is a veteran exhibitor at Spanish Market; he was juried into the show when he was just 13 and has several awards to show for it. Now represented by KEEP Contemporary, Montoya is pushing the boundaries of his heritage style, “bringing a century-old art form into present day.” For his latest wood carvings, which are painted with natural pigments, Montoya blends the traditional Spanish Colonial themes with new contemporary styles such as low rider and Chicano art. Death carts may be replaced by low riders, while Zozobra stands in for patron saints.
STATEMENT
Keep Contemporary presents a must-see exhibition of remarkably relevant and challenging new work from visionary lowbrow and pop surrealist pioneer Dennis Larkins. Titled, “Forced Perspective”, the exhibit features the artist’s most prescient reflections on today’s increasingly dystopian world through his unique and immersive 3-D retro-pop paintings. This show promises to take New Contemporary into a whole new dimension!
BIO
After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute and establishing a painting career in Santa Fe, NM, Dennis Larkins also gained recognition in 1970’s San Francisco, designing and painting monumental backdrops for legendary rock promoter Bill Graham’s “Day on the Green” concert series. Artists from Led Zeppelin to The Eagles to The Rolling Stones performed in front of Dennis’ monolithic designs, products of an experimental time.
Since then, Dennis has created a large, eclectic body of work, from graphic design and illustration for the Grateful Dead to theme designs for Walt Disney Imagineering, Warner Bros., MCA/Universal and Sega GameWorks, to name but a few.
In addition, through the personal vision of his fine art career, Dennis explores the collective unconscious with retro-pop surrealist imagery, blending traditional painting techniques with sculpted, three-dimensional relief to create disturbingly immersive microcosms constructed in layers of metaphor.
Opening reception Friday May 20, 5-8pm.
Micah Wesley: Iron Galaxy
Inspired always by the future and how it passes me, sorting through fragments of cultures, emotions and histories. I am quite certain the apocalypse happened.
In the west of the Iron Galaxy, we find marooned cyborgs on planets that have never known darkness. Deer women and android coyotes stalk the barren wastes conjuring spells for the order of the Sisters of Mercy. Obsessed with electronic music, Replicants and Techno Townies hold visions only for the future. Atomic powered Uncles/Aunts are cowboys/cowgirls and warriors putting out the vibes. Fury Road seeks retribution or perhaps a thrill kill cult. Gems from the Equinox reinforce dreams and realities of the simulation.
Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he received his Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Growing up, Micah looked at paintings of Native American figures in space, floating flat against cool colors encased in an outline of color, with depictions of celebration, ritual and tragedy. The imagery was referred to as Bacone, Dorothy Dunn, and The Kiowa Six. Micah’s father, Tillier Wesley Jr., painted in this tradition, a modernist approach he and other contemporaries called “Traditional”.
As a child he watched Mad Max the Road Warrior and fell in love with its context of survival, reassembled cars, leather, arrows and brutality. Micah is inspired by what he calls The Great Western Myth, science fiction/fantasy, synthesizers, cultures, emotions and modern art.
– MICAH WESLEY Muskoke Creek Nation / Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Micah currently resides in Oklahoma.
Opening reception Friday Apr 22, 5-8pm.
Adeline Lemarre: World of Sleeper
The name of the exhibition was inspired by the title of a “Carbon Based Lifeforms” album that I often listen to while working. I found that the idea of a sleeping world corresponded well to my universe because the characters in my paintings are set in a dreamworld populated with fantastic visions. We sometimes have the impression that they are the only ones to be awake in a world filled with people who sleep or, on the contrary, to be the only ones who give themselves the right to take refuge in dreams when the world that surrounds them becomes hostile.
Opening reception Friday Apr 22, 5-8pm.
Adam McCarthy: Crowned
“Crowned” Artwork by Adam McCarthy Keep Contemporary, April 22, 2022
In this latest collection of works, I explore the relationship between beauty and death, focusing on tattooed female figures intertwined with memento mori, represented by skulls. I am fascinated by the way that light plays off the ink submerged inside the flesh on tattooed skin, and the dimension it adds to the female form. Mixing this with necrotic imagery intends to study the balance between life and death.
Here I have invoked images reminiscent of ritual witchcraft and a unique relationship between femininity and mystical power, perfectly balanced between light and dark. My intention is to represent the female subjects as powerfully empowered beings, harnessing and wielding unexplained energies, absent of all fear, and displaying willful strength.
