Reception: August 22, 5:30-7:30

Santa Fe, NM – Darren Vigil Gray, once described as the “Golden Boy of the third generation of Native American modernists,” is now himself a fully mature painter in the fourth decade of a career that has already included a major retrospective exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum in 2002. With the death three years ago of Fritz Scholder, this observation regarding Vigil Gray’s heirship – quoted by Lucy Lippard in the catalogue for that retrospective – seems even more prescient. Arguably, Vigil Gray has today assumed the mantle of premier Native American painter of the majestic landscapes and Native symbolism of the American Southwest.

Vigil Gray has evolved a personal painterly vocabulary of energetic imprint from vibrant brushwork laden with thick paint. He is working at the height of his career as a painter of major distinction creating lively, dramatic landscapes, intimate dreamscapes, and figure portraits in oil and acrylic that offer revelations about the inner life of Native American spirituality. His facility with vivid color, painterly bravado and subject matter from both the land and his ancient Apache heritage imparts a powerful yet accessible sense of the sacred.

In his most current work the artist relates that he finds himself “crossing the dream” – excitedly embracing a shift in his life and his art. He continues to alternate between painting the landscape and exploring new ways to incorporate figures and mystical elements, but he is keeping his work as loose and painterly as possible, transferring “energy and consciousness” with every stroke of the brush. In this sense, his paintings are still the “repositories of energy” for which he is well known.

This radical new work will be featured in Vigil Gray’s solo exhibition at LewAllen Contemporary in August. An evening reception honoring the artist will be held on August 22 at the start of Santa Fe’s Annual Indian Market Weekend. The exhibition itself, entitled Crossing the Dream, runs from August 1 to August 24 and includes both oil and acrylic paintings and monotypes.

Vigil Gray writes: “There is a definite rebirth happening and a rapid explosion of creative energy. It is happening very fast and I’ve got to pay attention. As far as I can gather, the work is allowing further interest for abstract elements to come into play. … It is a real pleasure to make chaotic marks and fill a picture plane to capacity, then sift through the surface and find the colors and marks that will bring forth a new image … giving life and meaning to a two-dimensional surface.”

Impetus for the new direction evident in this recent work came after several encounters with a large bull snake on the dusty country road leading to his new studio on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Vigil Gray says the snake seemed to be waiting for him each day, making sure he would stop and communicate with it. Although an ill omen in the Jicarilla Apache culture of Vigil Gray’s roots, he took the snake’s presence as a sign marking the beginning of a shift in his life. After these encounters, his work began evolving and shifting rapidly, in the direction of greater abstraction.

Vigil Gray was raised on the Jicarilla Apache reservation in northern New Mexico, one of several sons of a Jicarilla Apache father and Kiowa Apache mother. He left the reservation at age 15 to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts.

His paintings began appearing in prestigious museum exhibitions soon after his graduation from the IAIA in 1977, and he has been creating work avidly sought by collectors for more than 30 years. It is now also held by such notable museums as the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Institution, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa and the Denver Art Museum.

He is described by Wheelwright director Jonathan Batkin as one of the country’s “most innovative and influential Native American artists.” Batkin’s observation – and an essay by Lucy Lippard – appears in the catalogue of Vigil Gray’s 2002 retrospective exhibition at the Wheelwright, titled Counterclockwise and available from the museum store or from LewAllen Contemporary.

CALENDAR NOTE: LewAllen Contemporary has two receptions scheduled in August. A reception honoring John Geldersma and Daniel Morper will be held the evening of Friday, August 1, during the West Palace Arts District First Friday Arts Walk. A reception honoring Darren Vigil Gray and Carolyn Morris Bach will be held the evening of Friday, August 22, at the start of Santa Fe’s Indian Market Weekend.

For digital images and further information, please contact: Diane Kell, (505) 988-8997 or [email protected]. LewAllen Contemporary is open 9:30-5:30 M-Th, 9:30-6:30 Fri-Sat, and 11:00-5:00 Sun.