Years in the Making, Exploding Native Inevitable is a Portrait of a Movement in Full Bloom
With a nod to Andy Warhol's most raucous series, this Scottsdale show of contemporary Native art explodes expectations of medium and message.
August 08, 2024
Every Artwork is a Cat-and-Mouse Thriller in this Phoenix Exhibition of Eastern Bloc Artists
Even the propaganda is sabotaged in Multiple Realities, a Soviet spy novel of an exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum.
August 06, 2024
Taos Abstract Artist Collective’s Path from Pandemic-Era Instagram Project to Arts Nonprofit
When a socially distanced network of Taos-based abstract artists finally met in real life, they were ready to reform their art community.
August 02, 2024
Southwest Art News: August 2024
City of Lubbock slashes art walk funding over drag performances, and more Southwest art news headlines for August 2024.
August 01, 2024
Here’s What it Costs to Run a Gallery in the Las Vegas Arts District
Priscilla Fowler Fine Art, which has closed after eight years, left its owner in debt—and doubting the viability of the Las Vegas Arts District.
July 26, 2024
Zoë Zimmerman Captures the Elusive Intimacy of Recently Unearthed Fechin House Memorabilia
Zoë Zimmerman's painterly photographs of hair clippings, cigarettes, and other ephemera from a Taos house museum only hint at larger mysteries.
July 25, 2024
Faced with Attributions Controversy, Harwood Museum of Art Publicly Edits Santeros Exhibition
Despite concerns over artwork attributions, the Harwood Museum unveiled its show Unknown Santeros. Now experts are meticulously reshaping it.
July 19, 2024
How International Arts Collective The Place Where Clouds Are Formed is Shifting Borderland Narratives
Artists and poets from Indigenous nation bisected by U.S.-Mexico border join with myriad voices to counter borderland crisis narratives in Tucson.
July 18, 2024
Queer Horticulture: Getting Entangled in JD Pluecker’s Artistic Root System
In this chosen family history from Texas, Xan Murphy asks, “If you’re the only queer person in your family, who will teach you to survive?”
July 12, 2024
Laboratory Conditions: Despite Spring Layoffs, Meow Wolf’s Union Sees Encouraging Progress
Nearly four years into Meow Wolf's unionized era, employees say things are looking up despite a recent round of staff cuts.
July 11, 2024
Jeffrey Gibson’s Rainbow-Wrapped Venice Pavilion Has a Gritty Southwestern Origin Story
Meet the team behind the Santa Fe-based mural project that brought Jeffrey Gibson's Indigenous, queer dreamland to the Venice Biennale.
July 09, 2024
Southwest Art News: July 2024
Barbie mania ends and a new fashion era begins at Phoenix Art Museum, and other recent Southwest art news headlines.
July 03, 2024
Melissa Joseph Reimagines Artpace Residency as Large-Scale “Love Letter” to San Antonio, Texas
On a recent residency, New York-based artist Melissa Joseph fell in love with the "intertwined" community of San Antonio. The feeling is mutual.
July 01, 2024
Taos Is Art: Mabel Dodge Luhan, Tony Lujan, and a Town Slogan that Echoes Its Modernist Tastemakers
A visit to the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos reveals the 20th-century arts patron as an enduring, and conflicting, local center of gravity.
June 28, 2024
Must-See Southwest Art Exhibitions: Southwest Contemporary’s Summer 2024 Art Guide
Don't miss these essential Southwest summer art exhibitions in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and Nevada.
June 27, 2024
How—and Why—a Contemporary Art Museum in Arizona is Amplifying Mormon History and Theology
New exhibition Materializing Mormonism at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum has ties to the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts.
June 24, 2024
The Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe Has Big Ambitions to Match its Formidable Name
Chiara Giovando, founder of the boldly named nonprofit ICA Santa Fe, aims to build a holistic support network for artists in her hometown.
June 21, 2024
Arizona Commission on the Arts Gets a New Director—and a Major Blow to its Budget
Artist Christina You-sun Park becomes executive director of Arizona Commission on the Arts, just as its state funding is slashed by 60%.
June 19, 2024
In Surrealism and Us, Caribbean and Black Surrealism Stands Apart from the European Movement
Inspired by a remarkable 1940s essay, Surrealism and Us in Fort Worth examines Afrosurrealist tools for battling fascism, colonialism, and cultural assimilation.
June 17, 2024
Between Sky and Spirit: Aleya Hoerlein’s Artistic Voyage through Abstract Realms
Raised on art and transcendental meditation, Taos-based artist and collectivist Aleya Hoerlein paints beyond this world.
June 12, 2024
100 Years of the Springville Museum of Art’s Living Archive, the Spring Salon
Growing from the halls of a high school to the walls of its own museum, a storied exhibition series helped transform a small Utah town into "Art City."
June 10, 2024
Drawn in Dust: Museums Across Utah Showcase Art Made in Japanese American Incarceration Camp
While incarcerated in the Utah desert, a circle of World War II-era Japanese American artists founded an art school.
June 07, 2024
Colorado Lawmakers Dedicate Millions to Arts Infrastructure in Post-Pandemic Rebound
At the tail end of a legislative session—and after years of stagnant arts funding—Colorado legislators approve $16 million tax credit and more.
June 05, 2024
Southwest Art News: June 2024
The arts community goes head-to-head with a sports magnate in Salt Lake City, and other recent Southwest art news headlines.
June 03, 2024
Feature2024 New Mexico Field GuideNew Mexico
Maida Branch and Johnny Ortiz-Concha: Life and Art as Sacred Continuum
Maida Branch and Johnny Ortiz-Concha, the New Mexico-based founders of Maida Goods and / shed, reclaim daily life as an artistic practice.
May 24, 2024
Feature2024 New Mexico Field GuideNew Mexico
Trash, Trinkets, and Thingamabobs: Exploring Roadside Attractions in New Mexico
An eclectic guide to New Mexico's so-called outsider art monuments made from all sorts of oddities.
May 24, 2024
The Holland Project Shatters the “White Cube,” Curating Reno’s Skyline with Billboard Initiative
Prolific DIY arts organization the Holland Project takes its community-oriented message to the streets.
May 23, 2024
Southwest Artist and Writer Residencies with Summer 2024 Deadlines
Lavish and rugged residency opportunities abound in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
May 21, 2024
Analyzing Danielle SeeWalker’s G is for Genocide, the Artwork at the Center of a Vail Controversy
The Town of Vail and artist Danielle SeeWalker saw very different messages in her painting G is for Genocide, sparking the cancellation of her long-planned residency.
May 17, 2024
From the EditorInside Southwest ContemporarySouthwest
An Opening Letter from New Southwest Contemporary Editorial Director Jordan Eddy
Our new editorial director, who joined SWC on April 22, looks back on a challenging decade of arts journalism—and ahead with an ambitious editorial vision.
May 17, 2024
