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Urban & air: Harwood to host dual exhibits through June 1
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While many artists portray the beauty of the Sandia Mountains, and the mesas and the cloudscapes of New Mexico, Jordan Caldwell prefers a more urban take.
The artist鈥檚 paintings of bus terminals and old motels are hanging at the Harwood Art Center in 鈥淎 Moment鈥檚 Time鈥� through June 1.
Caldwell captures the everyday hidden beauty of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, the gritty, daily scenes most people would pass over. He finds comfort and contentment in dusty streets and dilapidated buildings; the flotsam and jetsam of city life.
Urban & air: Harwood to host dual exhibits through June 1
Born and raised in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, Caldwell grew up in a trailer park as the middle child of a single parent. Not expecting much from his life, he was content with simplicity and mundanity.
Then he saw Edward Hopper鈥檚 famous 鈥淣ighthawks鈥� painting, a study in American loneliness and isolation. He connected with Hopper鈥檚 study of alienation and the time he grew up in.
He chooses to locate beauty in small moments like leaving for school at dawn, being stuck in traffic, waiting for a bus and coming home at dusk.
鈥淎s a kid, I always imagined being an artist,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 think of doing anything else.鈥�
He won a scholarship to the former Southwest University of Visual Arts. He wanted to create something beautiful that would last and to make something of his own.
鈥淚t鈥檚 to do with how simple I am,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want to paint the things I see around me.鈥�
He takes photographs first before returning to his studio. He even cuts and stretches his own canvases.
When he was attending college, he saw and used the bus system everywhere. The vehicles crop up regularly in his work.
鈥淚 would see them at all hours,鈥� Caldwell said. 鈥淭hey were a big part of my life. I spent up to two hours a night going to school. When I look at my own bus paintings, I imagine who鈥檚 on them.鈥�
鈥�5 Carlisle鈥� shows a bus moving through the rain as puddles glisten and form in the streets.
鈥淚 took that photo on a rainy day when I was still going to college,鈥� Caldwell said.
After he prints the photo, he grids it on the canvas, the free hands the paint strokes. He calls his style 鈥渞omanticized realism.鈥�
He regularly saw the Unser depot on the way to class 鈥渨hen we still had the Rapid Ride before ART,鈥� he said.
鈥淔or people who know sa国际传媒官网网页入口, it鈥檚 sort of a time capsule of the way it used to be,鈥� Caldwell continued.
It鈥檚 one of the few paintings containing people as the crowd boards the bus. Caldwell still feels uncomfortable about photographing strangers.
鈥淔rench Quarter鈥� captures an old motel in its waning days with thick, impasto brushstrokes.
鈥淚鈥檇 pass it every day on my way home,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 want to show what it鈥檚 really like for the people who live here, as opposed to the balloons and green chile.鈥�
Caldwell won a blue ribbon for fine arts painting at last year鈥檚 State Fair. Most recently, he juried into Masterworks of New Mexico.
If your taste runs more toward sunshine and vistas, 鈥淧lein Air Collaborations鈥� in the Harwood Art Center Hall Gallery reveals the inspiration provided by painting outdoors.
The Plein Air Landscapers exhibit includes works by Catherine Alleva, Lisa Avila, Ann Blankenship, Anna Escamilla, Connie Falk, Colleen Gregoire, Risa Taylor and Alice Webb.
鈥淚 was mentoring Risa,鈥� Webb said of her painting 鈥淧lacitas Arroyo.鈥� 鈥淲e talk about each other鈥檚 work all the time. I told her she could make stronger shapes.鈥�
The pair headed to Placitas, one of Webb鈥檚 favorite painting spots. Webb has been painting the Southwest for 45 years after moving here 鈥� first to Taos 鈥� from Texas. She painted outside from two to three days per week for 10 years.
鈥淚 believe the best way to learn is to paint from life,鈥� she said.
Webb also paints abstracted work. She shows her paintings at Old Town鈥檚 Romero Street Gallery and at Magpie in Taos. She also teaches through the New Mexico Art League.
