PAST EXHIBITIONS
DOUGLAS MILES - LA VIE EN RES
An online exhibition of photography-based media by Douglas Miles, whose work is rooted in Apache history and deeply engaged with the world of contemporary pop culture.
August 13 – September 7, 2020
We are thrilled to present an online exhibition with the photographic work of San Carlos Apache-Akimel O’odham artist Douglas Miles whose artistic work is rooted in Apache history and deeply engaged with the world of contemporary pop culture. Douglas Miles (b. 1963) is a multi-faceted artist working as a designer, filmmaker, muralist and photographer who blends Native history with political resistance. His work encourages reflection on how art can foster community-building and promote pride and well-being, especially among young Native people. The photographs in this online exhibition include portraits of Miles’ community of family and friends taken in San Carlos, Arizona, as well as the places Miles has traveled with his Apache Skateboards team in Utah, Navajo Nation, Los Angeles, Phoenix, AZ and other locations. The exhibition also includes images from the The Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Phoenix, Arizona in June and July of 2020.
DOUGLAS MILES, Bonnie Skates, 2020, 13 x 19", archival pigment ink print, edition of 15.
In coordination with what would have been the busiest month in Santa Fe known worldwide for the celebration of Native American art markets all throughout our city, we had been planning an exhibition of the exciting work of Miles for nearly a year. We had to change our exhibition plan and schedule several times to accommodate the sporadic nature of the Covid pandemic. We hope you will enjoy Douglas' online exhibition, and when the time is right again, we will be honored to have Miles' work grace the walls of our gallery.
DOUGLAS MILES, Bex Paints in the Night, 2019-2020, 13 x 19", edition of 15.
With themes that cover tradition as well as modernity, a major focus in Douglas Miles’ artistic work is on Apache warriors, dancers and musicians. Through these images, he hopes to instill a sense of pride and empowerment in his subjects. Miles sometimes adds the names of important chiefs and warriors to his work in the style of street art, be it hand-cut stencils, murals or graffiti.
DOUGLAS MILES, Faceless Kimono 2019-2020, 13 x 19”, archival pigment ink print, edition of 15
The warrior is an important image in Apache history and their greatness is at times forgotten, even amongst the Apache. I hope to reignite the strength, endurance, leadership and tenacity of the warriors of the past thru art, education and political awareness in all communities. – Douglas Miles
DOUGLAS MILES, Breeze Graffiti, 2019-2020, 13 x 19”, archival pigment ink print, edition of 15
Miles developed and founded Apache Skateboards in 2002, a program designed to support the athleticism of skateboarding that emulates the strength, endurance and tenacity of warriors. Since its original inception, the program has expanded to include the arts, education, political awareness and empowerment by connecting mainstream skateboard culture with contemporary Native life. Many of the skateboard designs depict Apache warriors and the youth of the San Carlos Apache reservation on skateboard decks.
The skate team is comprised of women and men so you’ll see them [in the photos] as well.. I’m not an action sports photographer, mainly portraits. My skate team is probably the most innovative group I’ve ever worked with. They’ve used skateboarding as a way to build community and created excitement in Native Youth across Indian Country. – Douglas Miles
DOUGLAS MILES, Off the Reservation 2019-2020, 13 x 19”, archival pigment ink print, edition of 15.
Of his photography he says, I’m in love with the people , the faces, the times and the spirit they convey in each face.… I marry social media platforms and graphics with my photos and other borrowed imagery adding and layering the meanings and messages I want. To use social media the way it’s intended you have to see the world around you as a quick communication platform . Maybe I reclaimed some space but really just not sure if that’s what I’m really doing. I don’t feel I’m reclaiming anything at times . I’m really making my own space in my own image in my own time for my own people. It’s needed. Lack or representation plagues Native people. These photos punch up into those systemic barriers that keep us out of a larger cultural conversation. It’s about time.
Miles enjoys collaboration with other artists in almost all forms of his work and has worked with such artists as actor and author Ethan Hawke and artist Greg Ruth on a
New York Times bestseller graphic novel,
Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars. He’s also collaborated with actress and artist LivÁndrea Knoki on a selection of pieces with text and image in this exhibition including the
Yves Saint Le Res and the
Your Song pieces.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE
VIEW THE ENTIRE ONLINE EXHIBITION HERE.
July 24 - August 29, 2020
JONATHAN BLAUSTEIN, Red streamers and blue plastic tablecloth, 2017, from the Party City is the Devil series
Obscura Gallery is excited to present an exhibition of works from the timely publication of Taos artist Jonathan Blaustein’s photographic book,
Extinction Party, published by Yoffy Press. This photographic book explores humanity’s over-consumption and its impact on the planet. Exhibition viewing is available with Covid-safe guidelines including a mask required, 6-feet distance, and a limited capacity at any one-given time.
"Deceptively brilliant in their minimalism, these elemental images bear witness to the waste and inhumanity of an earth catastrophically out of balance. Welcome to our world. Let's party!" -Excerpt from the introduction essay for Extinction Party by Kevin Kwan (Author, Crazy Rich Asians.
Since 2008, at the onset of the Great Recession, photographer and conceptual artist Jonathan Blaustein has been working on art projects that investigate consumption in America, and he brings them together in one narrative in this first book, Extinction Party. In an unprecedented time of the Covid-19 pandemic, Extinction Party was (coincidentally and perhaps appropriately) released in March 2020. The images and their titles, the forward essay by Kevin Kwan, and the metaphorical story in between, the book could not be a more timely commentary on the state of our Earth and humanity.
JONATHAN BLAUSTEIN. One dollar’s worth of tomatillos from Mexico, 2008, From Value of a Dollar series.
As the world grapples with the impact of climate change in the 21st Century, Blaustein's art presents a deconstructed view of the manner in which humans churn up the planet's resources for profit. This book culminates several bodies of work by the artist whether capturing the value of what we eat, economically and to some degree nutritionally, in a collection called The Value of a Dollar; nature harvested on his property outside Taos, NM in a series entitled, Mine; years worth of accumulated junk in his former studio titled Recycling My Junk, or party supplies from the megacorporation Party City appropriately titled Party City is the Devil, the consistent message is that we're eating away at our home planet, at considerable peril to all its existing species.
JONATHAN BLAUSTEIN. Don’t worry everything is going to be ok, 2013, From the Recycling my Junk series.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE
VIEW THE ENTIRE ONLINE EXHIBITION HERE.
Join us for our first Obscura Gallery online auction! #StayAtHome is inspired by our current worldwide mandate and is raising money to help our artists and surrounding community in this challenging time.
The #StayAtHome auction began Wednesday, April 22, 2020 and continues weekly through June 1, 2020. We will add a new round of available work each week including vintage and contemporary work.
More than half of the proceeds from each contemporary sale go directly to the artist. In addition, Obscura Gallery will donate a portion of our proceeds from each auction round to benefit a chosen organization that is helping the relief efforts for Covid-19, so far having donated to The Pueblo Relief Fund and Native American Relief Fund.
Please see detailed bidding instructions here.
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Desertscapes : Altered Views of New Mexico is a solo exhibition with Santa Fe photo-based artist Caitlyn Soldan which explores various approaches to iconic views in New Mexico landscapes. Included in the exhibit are variations of Pedernal Mesa, Shiprock, and the Taos Gorge. Just as Pedernal Mesa was a great inspiration to Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings and served as a major muse for her at Ghost Ranch where she had her studio, Caitlyn too is moved by the unique New Mexico desert land. Soldan creates landscape studies in various photographic processes that yield unique one-of-a-kind prints which each represent the different emotional qualities in nature. By virtue of repetition with the subject matter, the artist seeks to honor the subject which inspires and motivates her.
This exhibition has been extended through the end of June 2020
CAITLYN SOLDAN, Cerro Pedernal #19, 2019, 16x20", mordancage, unique.
CAITLYN SOLDAN, Rio Grande Gorge Study #6, 2019, 8x10", mordancage, unique.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.
VIEW MORE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.
