This month’s artists approach the subject from many angles
Clara Kiss White Hip by Aaron Hazel.
Welcome to 2022! In this first Southwest Art issue of the new year, all of our profiles focus on artists who paint figures and portraits. And what a diverse group of figures they are! In these pages you’ll find western vaqueros, Black rodeo cowboys, Native American women, competitors in the Mexican sport of charrería, women engaged in various domestic activities, and more. This month I’m particularly struck by the wide array of different approaches to figure painting that these artists have taken.
For example, Gladys Roldán-de-Moras and Sean Michael Chavez each find inspiration in their personal heritage. For Roldán-de-Moras, that’s the rich culture and beauty of Mexico, where she was born and grew up. Her grandfather was a charro (horseman) and was elected to the Mexican Hall of Fame for promoting charrería, a fascinating equestrian sport that today provides the artist with compelling subject matter. Chavez, who traces his family history in New Mexico at least as far back as 1850, has been focusing primarily on vaqueros—cowboys in Spanish-speaking regions of the southwestern U.S.—whose history he has studied extensively.
Aaron Hazel also does thorough research on his subjects, who are real individuals from the West, specifically “the overlooked and underrepresented—minorities and women of the old West and the current West,” he says. When he paints Native Americans, for example, he insists upon having “at least three items of information—name, date, and tribal affiliation. I want the viewer to understand that I have done my due diligence with the subject and gleaned as much information as possible.”
On the other hand, Diane Eugster actually prefers not to know her models well. Her paintings are not about specific people but rather the feelings and narratives she wishes to express. Her models sit for the camera initially, in an environment totally designed by Eugster. She even writes out a “script” for the various scenes she wants to set up during a model shoot. “I almost feel like a movie producer,” she says. Ever since a figure-drawing class she took long ago, Eugster has been enthralled by the stagelike atmosphere of the studio and the ability to manipulate narrative elements such as lighting, props, and costumes. “It just pulled me in,” she says. “It was totally addicting.”
No matter which of these approaches to figurative painting resonates most strongly with you, we’re sure you’ll agree that these artists do a masterful job of bringing the people of the West to life on canvas.
This Editor’s Letter appeared in the February/March 2022 issue of Southwest Art magazine.