As I approached curator Niomi Fawn's new brick-and-mortar space for their gallery Show Pony last weekend, I almost had to rub my eyes in disbelief. There, on the porch, sat Fawn, along with local painters Jared Weiss and Timothy Jason Reed. As far as the Santa Fe arts world goes, these are some of the most exciting curators and creators currently on the scene, and here they sat, eating oranges. A warm breeze blew in lazily, magically.
Weiss, whose work SFR readers may recall as the cover art for last year's Santa Fe Manual, teaches arts classes at the Santa Fe Community College. He had just brought a group of students to visit Show Pony and its inaugural exhibit, Reed's newest series, Vortexing the Muses. The show, colorful acrylics on small glass panels that exist in a vacuum someplace between abstraction and cubism, represents a bit of a departure for Reed. He has been primarily known as a paint-on-canvas artist, but he says it's like the culmination of more than a decade of unconscious thought.
"It's like a plateau," Reed says. "I've been thinking about it for so long, almost a decade, and I've been collecting those pieces of glass, but I don't think I activated the process until I had achieved a certain flow, a new level."
If Reed sounds spiritual, it's because he most definitely is. He's the kind of guy who gave up everything to live on a wolf sanctuary some years back, the kind of guy who studies astrology and gives readings. For Muses, Reed says, he can best liken it to the ebb and flow of his astrological study, but also a willingness to put his feelings of vulnerability on the line.
"I've been on a path of allowing myself to put more and more out there, and this flow of mine is letting things be as they are—it was a form of removing judgment," Reed says. "This allows me to put that flow into paint, and these glass paintings are a further progression; my favorite ones are the most naïve, there … was no attachment."
Reed speaks further on the process at an artist talk this Saturday April 14 at 1 pm. As for Show Pony itself, it's the most natural and obvious evolution for Fawn, a longtime contributor and tastemaker within local arts.
"I don't know if it's the end," they say of Show Pony's previous form as a mobile trailer. "I feel like, as an artist, I can just call that a project, and now I have a new project space. I also have secret dreams to take it to Marfa [Texas] and other places. We'll see."
For now, they'll continue curating shows at ART.i.factory on Baca Street under the Curate Santa Fe brand and putting together exhibits and gatherings at the new physical space. One such event, the Trans Action & Support Gathering, is open to the public this Tuesday April 16 at 5 pm. Fawn, meanwhile, is in the space from 5:30-7:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 1-4 pm on Sundays and Mondays, or by appointment.
Show Pony Gallery
501 Franklin St.
pony@showponygallery.com
