Night of the Artists
A
Cultural Culmination of Contemporary Cowboy and Western Art
-Gabriel Diego Delgado
There is a robust and rustic rendition of contemporary
Western Art rounding out the rodeo and Fiesta season at the Briscoe Western Art
Museum in San Antonio with the Night of the Artists Art Sale &
Reception on March 23, 2013. For over a decade the Night of the Artists Art Sale & Reception has had the opportunity to celebrate contemporary
Western Art with the who’s who of Western artists. In its twelfth year, this
art sale continues on display for a free month-long Night of Artists Public Exhibition which began as a conceptual art
idea perfect for San Antonio and staged at the “gateway” to South Texas, says the
Briscoe Museum’s Executive Director, Dr. Steven Karr.
photo by Brandi Sutherland Photography
On its website fact page it states, “The Briscoe Western Art
Museum (governed by the National Western Art Foundation), is a 501 (c)(3)
non-profit corporation established to create a nationally recognized museum
open to the public and devoted to the art, history, and culture of the American
West, with a contextual emphasis on San Antonio, South Texas, and the
Southwest.” “The Briscoe Museum
was formalized with a substantial financial contribution from the late Governor
Dolph Briscoe, Jr. (April 23, 1923 – June 27, 2010),” says Karr. This
lead monetary gift established the funds to create a physical museum in
downtown San Antonio
that would house such a conceptual Western Art endeavor; ultimately located in
the former San Antonio Central Library built in 1930.
The Briscoe is a non-profit corporation established to
create a nationally recognized museum open to the public and devoted to the
art, history, and culture of the American West, with a contextual emphasis on
San Antonio, South Texas, and the Southwest.
“The Briscoe Museum was formalized with a contribution from the late
Governor Dolph Briscoe, Jr. (April 23, 1923 – June 27, 2010),” says Dr. Karr. This
lead gift established the funds to create a physical museum in downtown San
Antonio that would house the Western art endeavor; ultimately located in the historically
significant former San Antonio Central Library built in 1930.
“The Briscoe Museum has
evolved along with the Night of the Artists”, says Karr. Previously
staged at various venues and locations throughout the decade-long run, last
year’s Night of the Artists (2012) finally saw its home venue
christening on the picturesque grounds of the Briscoe’s Jack Guenther Pavilion; part of the one and one-quarter acres of land
comprising two buildings and the new expansive McNutt Courtyard and Sculpture Garden
located on the historic San Antonio River Walk.
photo by Brandi Sutherland Photography
“There is something unique to this year’s Night
of the Artists,” says Dr. Karr. A new approach has
reshaped this signature San Antonio exhibition into a fun and festive art sale
with a competitive application process for the artists. “Night of Artists has turned into the largest contemporary Western
Art show in Texas with 65 artists featured in this year’s exhibition,” said Dr.
Karr.
Even through such rigorous processes, two of the spotlighted
artists in the Briscoe exhibition are officially represented by a local San
Antonio Gallery. Cliff Cavin and Mark
Keathley have been a fixture of the San Antonio Art scene for collectively over
30 years; Cliff Cavin at the Boerne J.R. Mooney Gallery and Mark Keathley at
J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art-San Antonio.
Although they have two different styles and aesthetics,
Cavin and Keathley bring a true Texas flair to the Briscoe’s Night
of the Artists. Cliff Cavin is a landscape purist, dedicated to the capturing of light, of
atmosphere, of sub-stratospheric heavens bounded by impressionistic
traditionalism, while Mark Keathley’s evocative sensibilities are hammered home
with lively landscapes and nostalgic pictorial epiphanies of Native American
cultural identity.
In Clouds over Nambe, a large 36” x 48”
landscape in Night of the Artists, Cavin portrays a cerulean skyline; full
of Crepuscular light, enraptured with billows of atmospheric haze;
lingering on the dying days of summer sentimentality. The autumn blossoming of
the Chamisa, with its golden bloom accents this stellar impressionistic
landscape painting of Nambe,
New Mexico; back dropped by the
Sangre de Christo Mountains.
Winding stretches of desert sand obscured by dense
patches of typical New Mexico
vegetation invite the viewer into a bathed foreground of aureate
shrubbery. Exposed groundcover
creates quasi dirt path trails that seem to dissolve into the background. Tiered horizontal parallels of flora generate
diminishing outcroppings; leading the eye straight to point “A” –aka center
point on the horizon-line. Placing this
geographical line of demarcation line directly midpoint of the picture plane,
the configuration plays neither favorites to land nor the sky; balancing the
importance of the artist’s view. The silhouetted mountain range transforms into
a strip of neutral value and tone easing the transition between the earthly
divisions.
Photo: courtesy of the artist
As derived from over three decades of careful study, Cliff
knows that an object in the distance will shift toward blue because it does not
reflect as much light. He revs down his
color palette by taking cues from the masters like Leonardo da Vinci who noticed
that as a landscape recedes from the viewer its colors and tones alter (aerial
perspective or atmospheric perspective). Well played Cliff, well
played indeed! A textbook landing of hue-rrific proportions for such majestic
geographic
al icons.
Nevertheless, Cavin ventures on and reverses the previously used
conventional color theory tuning into another conjecture and depicts clouds
growing darker and warmer instead of cooler; dipping in with subtle scarlet
blends in the otherwise blanched firmament.
Contrasting Cavin, Keathley’s painterly essence is found in
his quasi-hyper realism. Capturing water
ripples, muscle contours, textures and various other details, Keathley proves
that Contemporary Western Art is making significant contributions to the Art
World. Native Sun, a 36” x 48” painting depicting five Native
Americans complete with War paint, mounted on horseback is a titled play on
words; referencing American Patriotic identities with Native American religious
celestial bodies.
Careful attention has been paid to each horse’s coat, unique
marking differentiate the equine selections; mimicked in the smeared
applications of Native American bodily decorations. However, poised at various
attentive gestures, the signatory Western Art animals are looking in different
directions- each reflecting on his own territorial owning of the vast open
plains. But, there is no outwardly distinction of the contemplative notions of
the Indian riders. Silhouetted by the drooping setting sun, each face is
hallowed by a illustrious glow, accenting the facial profile, eluding to a
religious overtone or coveted nostalgic nobility of these long gone inhabitants.
Bold highlights and accents of blue, orange, yellow and red
litter the foreground grasses, while partly sunny and ephemeral heavens
juxtapose the detailed subjects. The quadrigeminal composition of true “American”
equestrians offsets to the right, placing the second from left rider in the
center focal point. Holding the only modern technological weapon, the rifle,
this warrior is surveying the immeasurable pride lands of this tribal
band. Mark Keathley does poetic justice
with Native Sun, with all its sentimental and nostalgic portrayals of
romanticized Native American Art.
Photo: courtesy of the artist
Rounding out the one night of festivities for Night
of the Artists Art Sale & Reception, Karr closes with a notable
summary of events for The Briscoe Museum exhibition. “Even if you’re not an art
purchaser, keep in mind it is whole heartedly a free contemporary Western art exhibition
and will remain on view for a month at the Jack Guenther Pavilion…becoming a
representational precursor to what the public will see in the adjacent
galleries of The Briscoe when it opens its doors in the fall.”
The
Night of the Artists Public Exhibition will run March 24
through April 28, 2013. The
Briscoe
Museum is located at
210 W. Market St.,
San Antonio,
TX 78205,
Tel. 210.299.4499. For more
information, visit their website at:
www.briscoemuseum.org.
© Gabriel Diego Delgado
