Dixon, New Mexico, on the banks of the Embudo River that flows into the Rio Grande two miles away, was settled by the Spanish under the 1725 Embudo Land Grant. They immediately built a system of acequias to irrigate their crops. Today, the community boasts several wineries and “the largest population of organic farmers in the state.” It also boasts a community of artists.
Cuanto Mas Canta la Urraca, Menos Oye el Burro, oil on canvas panel with hand painted, repurposed antique wood frame (frame in collaboration with Christen Vogel), 24 x 21"
Jim and Christen Vogel have raised their family there. Their son, Sage, lives down the road and, during the quarantine, worked with his father to build a new studio at the family home. Jim and Christen work together again in the same space, their collaborations becoming more and more of a piece.
Jim’s latest paintings in Christen’s frames will be shown in the exhibition Dichos en Nichos at Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, October 30 through November 14.
Talk of the Town, oil on canvas panel with antique lantern frame (frame in collaboration with Christen Vogel), 32½ x 17"
Dichos are two-part pithy sayings. “Something grandma would have said,” Jim explains. The stories are made visual in Jim’s paintings and framed in nichos he and Christen collect and that she repurposes for the paintings. Jim is a born storyteller, a talent he inherited from his grandfather and has passed on to Sage—who has written stories that both derive from and inspire the paintings. Jim notes that Sage has been “inflicted with the creative gene.” The stories take on a life of their own, growing as the family muses.
Talk of the Town, oil on canvas panel with antique lantern frame (frame in collaboration with Christen Vogel), 32½ x 17"
One complex piece is a series of paintings within an antique lantern frame. Talk of the Town depicts events following Sunday Mass in a small village: La comunión del chisme (the Communion of Gossip), as Sage calls it in his accompanying story. Alcarita Durán has hurried home to lean out her window to dispense and receive the latest gossip while the young Elique pokes the drunk Premitivo with a stick as Esposa (who will never be a wife) offers the old man an apple.
Talk of the Town, oil on canvas panel with antique lantern frame (frame in collaboration with Christen Vogel), 32½ x 17"
Cuanto Mas Canta la Urraca, Menos Oye el Burro is mounted in a classic New Mexican nicho that Jim hopes the buyer will actually mount into a wall. An old man comforts his burro which is being harassed by a magpie. The title, The Louder the Magpie, the Deafer the Donkey, could refer to something else altogether if you look back at the house where the man’s wife continues to berate him for spending money on the burro.
The humor in Jim Vogel’s paintings comes from a love for the people he depicts—their triumphs and their tragedies, but especially, their hard work. The distinctive large hands honor the energy behind them. —
Upcoming Show
Up to 12 works
Oct. 30-Nov. 14, 2020
Blue Rain Gallery
544 S. Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 954-9902
www.blueraingallery.com
Powered by Froala Editor
