PROMOTIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Gallery Row: Emerging Talents
In this promotional spotlight dedicated to emerging talents, our editor worked with the galleries featured to showcase artists who are on the rise. The two creatives included here take contemporary perspectives on their chosen subject matter and incorporate techniques, inspirations and visions that are propelling them to new heights in their careers.
Blue Rain Gallery
Santa Fe, NM & Durango, CO
(505) 954-9902 & (970) 232-2033 | blueraingallery.com
Artist GL Richardson, who uses his experiences of living on a ranch in rural New Mexico to portray life’s complexities, has continued to grow in his fine art career by pushing compositions into new directions. His latest works, Richardson says, “feel like the next step for me as an artist. I’ve been experimenting with more liberated, gestural elements that have evolved into some of the strongest aspects of these compositions.” The paintings, as he has done before, often have the figures intentionally facing away from the viewer. This series, including the painting NEW FRONTS AND BREADCRUMBS, explores themes of anonymity, impermanence and isolation.
GL Richardson, New Fronts and Breadcrumbs, oil on panel, 39.75 x 39.75.
Claggett/Rey Gallery
Edwards, CO
(970) 476-9350 | claggettrey.com
Hannah Harper was encouraged to pursue creativity at a young age. At 17, she took a workshop at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum with John Moyers and Terri Kelly Moyers. They soon became mentors to the artist and encouraged her to take a workshop with charcoal artist Ned Jacob and study for a semester at Ryder Studio in Santa Fe. Harper, who has a BFA in studio art from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in painting from the University of Oklahoma, says she is currently creating work “rooted in outdoor field study and plein air painting combined with researching symbiotic relationships between wildlife and analyzing how elements of the natural world resemble elements of human nature.”
Hannah Harper, Summer Hum, oil, 12 x 12.
This story appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.