Minimal and sublime yet deeply visceral, Distilled Presence at Pie Projects is a curated selection of work by Dana Newmann, Signe Stuart, and Judy Tuwaletstiwa.
Distilled Presence: Dana Newmann, Signe Stuart, and Judy Tuwaletstiwa
July 2–30, 2022
Pie Projects, Santa Fe
Minimal and sublime yet deeply visceral, Distilled Presence at Pie Projects is a curated selection of work by Dana Newmann, Signe Stuart, and Judy Tuwaletstiwa. The show is an invitation to pause and contemplate the essence of relationships and ideas.
“When intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action, it becomes pure and devotional,” wrote C. Rajagopalachari in a commentary of an 8th-century Vedantic poem. Each of the artists in Distilled Presence has pursued a creative path of human connections, expressing the essence of our deeply human search for meaning, joy, and beauty through their art. Each in her own unique way has pursued a path of technical mastery of medium and metaphysical distillation of content and intention.
Described as one of New Mexico’s cultural treasures, Dana Newmann is well known for her surrealist collages and exquisite cabinets of curiosity. This show presents some of her more abstract work: assemblages made of thorns or recycled antique piano keys. Her compositions play on our perception of form and shadow and the inherent patterns between found and repurposed objects.
Our perception of form is further challenged by Signe Stuart’s mesmerizing paintings. Her work with sewn and acrylic-stained canvases offers subtle shifts of color punctuated by incandescent lines or arcs which, on close inspection, reveal small ridges that have been meticulously stitched and painted. “My making process relies on both intuition and intellect, juggles the uncertainties between concepts of order and chaos, and acknowledges paradox and relativity.” Through her art, Stuart explores the nature of Nature and invites us to reflect on why things are the way they are.
Vessels of transformation, from granular fused silica sand into exquisitely lustrous thin plates, Judy Tuwaletstiwa’s glass-on-canvas pieces are gestural archetypes—deeply personal and sensual yet universally potent. “Where does art come from? How do I tease apart process, a complex spiderweb of relationship that transcends time and space?” Tuwaletstiwa asks. Her minimal glass pieces offer both an affirmation of the question and its sublime resolution.
Distilled Presence is a rare opportunity to see the work of three of New Mexico’s most acclaimed contemporary women artists exhibited together, artists at the pinnacle of their extraordinary careers.
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