JIM WAGNER, 2010
Taos: New Paintings of Home
July 24 - August 17, 2010
After more than a decade of living in Colorado, Jim Wagner has returned to Taos, which had been his home since the early 1960s. An exhibition of art created since his return, “Paintings of Home,” opens July 24 at the Parks Gallery.
“I left because I thought Taos was getting too big and the fishing was better up north,” Wagner explains. “But then I fell in love with a woman here, and now I don’t fish as much as I used to.”
Paintings in the exhibition are filled with the ecstatic color, energy and joy that have characterized his work for years. Subjects include the Taos landscape and landmarks, including San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos, reputed to be the most oft painted church in North America. “I’d avoided it for years,” Wagner says, “because it’s been done so often. But I’ve always loved the church – my first wife and I were married there in about 1963. Then recently I saw a photo of it by Lenny Foster, that was taken from up high. That was the first time I’d seen it in a way that I wanted to paint. It became a challenge. You could see the back of the church, which is the common view, but also the steeples in the front. Anything with steeples attracts me.”
Also included in the show is a new series of etchings that reveal Wagner’s off-beat humor and surreal vision. Knowledge pictures a humanoid figure holding a book, mountain in the background, and an open-mouthed receptacle curving out from the top of the head. The Committee features a person pointing at his or her head from which spring a cast of characters, waving wildly and shooting off pistols.
Speaking of The Committee and his work in general, Wagner says: “Many times you have to go back, rethink, and paint, always fighting The Committee, up and down. As I get older I realize I only have to deal with me. Nobody is better than anyone else. We all have something to give.”
“Paintings of Home” opens Saturday, July 24 with a reception from 4 to 6 pm. The exhibition will be on view through August 10. Parks Gallery is at 127-A Bent Street, Taos, NM 87571. For more information, see parksgallery.com or call 575-751-0343.
