Show Preview | Canyon Road Contemporary Art: Zen

Santa Fe, NM, July 13-22

Casey Horn, Tree, bronze/stainless steel, 22 x 18 x 9.

This story was featured in the July 2012 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Order the Southwest Art magazine July 2012 print edition here, or purchase the Southwest Art magazine July 2012 digital download here. Or simply click here to subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!

This month, Canyon Road Contemporary Art presents Zen, a show featuring Zen-inspired works in three mediums: paintings by Javier López Barbosa, sculpture by Casey Horn, and glass by Doug Gillis. An opening reception is on July 13 from 5 to 7 p.m., and the show runs through July 22.

The gallery recently remodeled its sculpture garden in the style of Japanese Zen gardens to better frame Horn’s work, which translates the two-dimensional art of calligraphy into three-dimensional sculptures. The Colorado artist began sculpting more than 20 years ago and has always had an interest in the Chinese and Japanese cultures. In fact, the first artwork Horn ever purchased was an Asian-inspired piece. “Throughout your life you’re influenced by things you don’t even realize,” he muses.

Horn has studied the ancient art of Japanese Kanji calligraphy, and he creates his sculptures in the same order as the calligraphy is written. “Each form has so much meaning behind it,” Horn says. It’s this abstract idea of language and symbolic meaning that Horn desires to put into physical form. “What I try to do is create lasting moments of beauty,” he says.

Doug Gillis captures the Zen experience through works created in kiln-formed glass. “I use my experience in graphic design to achieve ordered and balanced compositions,” the artist explains. “The processes and materials themselves inspire an exhibition of art’s elements—line, pattern, texture, balance, color, light, and composition.”

Javier Lopez Barbosa, Mellifluous, mixed media, 30 x 36.

Abstract painter Javier López Barbosa has been creating art for as long as he can remember. As a young boy growing up in Mexico, he says, “I remember always getting in trouble with my father, because my favorite media were crayons and walls—I know this sounds like any kid at an early age, but for me, it always felt different. I had that constant urge of creating.”

The self-taught artist moved to the U.S. in 1984 and began pursuing his passion for art more seriously. Barbosa paints mostly with acrylics in bright, bold colors to communicate intense emotions that come from within. “It doesn’t matter what we do, but most importantly how we do it and how we connect with it,” he says. “When I paint, I become the paint; I become the canvas; I become the presence with the process; I become the love within it.” —Lindsay Mitchell

contact information
505.983.0433
 www.canyoncontemporary.com

Featured in the July 2012 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art magazine July 2012 digital download
Southwest Art magazine July 2012 print edition
Or click here to subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!