Philip McCracken is well-known for his highly stylized birds, but in his career, he has embraced an impressive variety of forms and media. His signature birds are important, because they illustrate how he connects the images of several cultures. First, he is an artist out of the European tradition, and he matured as an artist in the mid-century which was a period heavily influenced by Japanese art and architecture. His work as well as many of the artists of that time including his friend Morris Graves reflects that influence. Lastly, his work connects to Pacific Coast Native culture in spirit and in form, and like Guy Anderson, it produces insightful connections to Native imagery.

Realistic art has a relationship to the exterior contours of the depicted object. In McCracken’s new work, which is featured in the enclosed catalog, he takes a different direction; these sculptures are imaginings of interior objects lifted from their context inside those exterior contours.

Featuring animal scupture from four national animal sculptors.

Santa Fe is a crossroads. It is a place to exchange both goods and ideas. Santa Fe is a place where diverse traditions have come together in a dynamic way. Of these mergers, the most prominent is that between the European and native traditions. These two broad avenues of culture are fed by smaller roads and footpaths whose trajectories cross through Santa Fe, so it is place of transitions, intersections, coincidence and even serendipity; each Santa Fe sculptor if this group has treaded a unique and purposeful path.

Showing artists that developed under and alongside sculptore Everett DuPen.

Showing work from all gallery artists.

“Character” is a word that suggests something essential and unique about a living being. That an artist evokes this same living character in non-living materials such as paint and clay is a marvel. The artist’s unique character is also something that we cherish and expect to find evidence of in the art work.

This might suggest a natural conflict between the individuality of the subject and that of the artist, but when it works, the interplay between artist’s character and the subject’s character merge powerfully in the artwork. Out of Character is a celebration of personality and all its charming oddities.