In Altered States in the Acid West, Psychedelia and Surrealism Subvert Mythologies
Filled with beauty, tragedy, and oddities, UMOCA’s Altered States in the Acid West encompasses the storied contractions inherent to the American West.
March 20, 2026
Articles
ReviewNew MexicoVol. 13 The Road
Lucy R. Lippard’s Notes from the Radical Whirlwind Archives a Six-Decade Evolution
Lucy R. Lippard: Notes from the Radical Whirlwind traces the sixty-year career of one of the most humane and lucid arts writers of a generation.
March 20, 2026
Slow Down on the Mother Road: Heritage Inspirations’s New Route 66 Tour Rewrites the Nostalgia Narrative
Celebrating 100 years of Route 66, Heritage Inspirations launches a new Albuquerque Architecture & History Tour.
March 20, 2026
Photography Meets Place: CENTER Santa Fe’s Spring Exhibitions and Workshops Explore New Mexico’s Living Landscape
CENTER Santa Fe presents two photography exhibitions this spring—Elements of Wonder and A New Mexican Burial—alongside a statewide printing workshop series designed to help artists grow their practice.
March 20, 2026
Meet the McNay: Opening Doors for Connection and Discovery
Texas's first modern art museum, the McNay brings together 23,000 works, a landmark Spanish Colonial estate, and deep community roots in the heart of San Antonio.
March 20, 2026
Inside Southwest ContemporarySouthwestThe Road
Ghost Roads: How AI Almost Infiltrated the Editorial Process at Southwest Contemporary
Our call for pitches for “The Road” was regurgitated back to us by AI writers around the world. We almost fell for one of them.
March 17, 2026
Peripheral Vision: Abby Flanagan Decenters the Visual in an Exhibition that Feels Truly Ecological
How can art plumb the depths of an aquifer? Abby Flanagan’s exhibition design in To Move Through Stone activates the peripheries to visualize the intangible flows of an ecological system.
March 12, 2026
“I’ll Be in Debt”: What it Takes for Artists to Show at International Biennials
Accepting an invitation to a major biennial is one thing, closing gaps in institutional support is another. Three Southwest artists sound off.
March 10, 2026
For Her First Major Museum Solo Show, Cara Romero Does It in Her Own Time
Over six years, artist Cara Romero and curator Jami C. Powell resisted the art world’s rush to capitalize on Native art. Their show just arrived in Phoenix.
March 05, 2026
Southwest Art News: March 2026
Texas university cancels ICE-critical exhibition, History Colorado expands its Borderlands initiative with Ken Salazar, and more top Southwest art news for March 2026.
March 03, 2026
Letter to the Editors: Paula Castillo on Moving Beyond “Hybridity” to Frame Mestizaje
In response to Joshua Ware's critical reflection on her Denver public artworks, Paula Castillo warns against flattening lived inheritance into a “surface mixture.”
March 02, 2026
Gebert Contemporary Returns to Scottsdale Art Week 2026 with a Roster of Strong Talent
Discover Gebert Contemporary at Scottsdale Art Week, March 20-22, 2026. Featuring works by John Randall Nelson, Barbara Rogers, Pascal Piermé, and more.
March 02, 2026
Jesse Littlebird and Chris Pappan Explore Memory, Fire, and Abstraction
New Paintings by Jesse Littlebird and Chris Pappan are on view at Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, February 27–March 12, 2026, bringing together two distinct voices in contemporary Native painting.
March 02, 2026
Lossy Listening: In Defense of Defect and Instability in Itinerant Artmaking
How do we survive distortion in a militarized landscape? Jennifer Seas reflects on land art, lossless technology, and itinerant art practices that respond to the unstable conditions of real life.
February 26, 2026
Kay WalkingStick Takes on American Romanticism Using This Sharp Tactic
In a head-on collision with the Hudson River School at Heard Museum, the Cherokee painter sends Indigenous patterns bristling across the American landscape.
February 24, 2026
Why Scottsdale is the Perfect Art Lover’s Escape
Discover Scottsdale's thriving arts scene—from Old Town galleries and world-class museums to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, weekly ArtWalks, and inspired dining.
February 24, 2026
Adama Delphine Fawundu Brings the Congo (and Beyond) into Conversation with Salt Lake
Adama Delphine Fawundu submerses herself into the Great Salt Lake, activates the UMFA’s African collection, and brings the region into a global dialogue around decolonization.
February 19, 2026
Nevada Artist Residencies: Neon Canyons to Open Skies
Experiences for artists abound in Sin City, but Nevada's remote residencies are just as dazzling. Discover nine programs that match any artist's pace.
February 17, 2026
How Phoenix Art Museum’s First “Local Art” Curator Built a Regional Launchpad
Christian Ramírez's scope is technically local at Phoenix Art Museum, but the assistant curator channels years of Southwest connections from Tucson to El Paso.
February 12, 2026
Real or Replica? On an Obsessive Quest to Immortalize a Forgotten Artist, a Writer Confronts Himself
He was a Marlboro Man from Moab who sold his art to celebrities in Los Angeles, before dying of AIDS. Why did no one have any record of his art?
February 10, 2026
Olafur Eliasson’s symphony of disappearing sounds Calls Attention to the Great Salt Lake’s Fragility
Experience Olafur Eliasson's immersive sound and light installation highlighting the Great Salt Lake's urgent decline March 26–April 4, in Salt Lake City's Memory Grove.
February 10, 2026
Laurie Nye is Awarded the 2026 Frederick Hammersley Visiting Artist Fellowship
Painter Laurie Nye brings her vibrant nature-inspired work to UNM as the 2026 Frederick Hammersley Visiting Artist Fellow. Free public events include an artist talk February 19 and an open studio on April 2.
February 10, 2026
Charlie Chaplin’s Cabin, and Western Mythologies, Teeter on the Edge at Cookie Factory
In the cyclonic installation Rush, Gary Simmons critically blurs history, cinema, and Western propaganda. He also makes space for wishful grief.
February 05, 2026
SITE Santa Fe Taps London-Based Curator Ekow Eshun for 2027 International
The just-announced curator of SITE Santa Fe's next biennial reveals his multi-venue ambitions for a show punctuated by immersive "moments of encounter."
February 03, 2026
Southwest Art News: February 2026
IAIA avoids being federally "zeroed out," historic Native lawmaker and artist Ben Nighthorse Campbell dies, and more top Southwest art news for February 2026.
February 03, 2026
An Artist Who Put His Stamp on the Southwest—and Vice Versa
After Ed Mell’s passing, his Phoenix studio tells the story of a low-key artist whose Southwest images reached the nation on a postage stamp and beyond.
January 29, 2026
Guided by Pueblo Artists, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Unclenches from Foundational Myth
Tewa artists and scholars offer a challenge—along with tea, letters, and a remarkable map—to an institution whose namesake claimed their ancestral lands.
January 27, 2026
In Cedar City, Contemporary Art Finds a Place among Indigenous and LDS Histories
Contemporary art is gaining ground in Cedar City, Utah. Inside the former Mormon frontier town, ten years after the founding of its flagship art museum.
January 22, 2026
An Artist Who Recasts Care as Ceremony, from Kitchen to Nail Salon
Tucson-based artist Anh-Thuy Nguyen declares "rice is mother" in her current solo exhibition. At her studio, a visit begins with a meal.
January 20, 2026
Unpacking the Uneasy Cultural Hybridity of Paula Castillo’s Denver Monoliths
In Paula Castillo's three new public artworks across downtown Denver, cultural fusion is an optimistic and ideologically risky proposition.
January 15, 2026
