Gary Niblett was born and raised in Carlsbad, New Mexico. He went off to California to study at the ArtCenter College of Design and worked for Hanna-Barbera as a background artist on Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons and Charlotte’s Web. Meanwhile, he was developing his own style of painting and, in 1973, returned to New Mexico to dedicate his career to painting the American West. As a boy, he had worked on ranches and came to love the life of the cowboy. Local ranchers hired him to paint portraits of their horses. He says, “I had a wonderful boyhood.”
Escape to the Badlands, oil on canvas, 30 x 30”
In 1976, he was invited to join the Cowboy Artists of America, the youngest member in the group’s history. Its mission is “to authentically preserve and perpetuate the culture of Western life in fine art.”
The Carlsbad Museum is honoring its native son with his first retrospective, Gary Niblett: His Life and Art opening November 5 and continuing through February 4, 2023. Some 50 paintings will cover his entire distinguished career from his youth in Carlsbad to his commercial career and on to his fine art paintings produced here and in Europe.
Sweatin’ Bullets, oil on canvas, 34 x 48”
Village Traders, oil on canvas, 24 x 36”
At Hanna-Barbera he developed his sense of design and use of light. Commenting on his painting style Niblett says, “My goal is to paint loosely but accurately. I paint with a brush and it should look that way.”
All the components of his style are evident in his painterly Escape to the Badlands. A curving line of Native American riders in war regalia and horses in war paint descends into a pass with a shaft of light illuminating details and silhouetting them against the mountain. The circle and snake symbols represent speed and stealth, the horseshoe shapes indicate the number of times the horse and rider successfully stolen enemy horses, and the red circle around the horse’s eye encourages keen vision. —
Gary Niblett: His Life & Art
November 5, 2022-February 4, 2023
Carlsbad Museum
418 W. Fox Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220
(575) 887-0276
www.carlsbadmuseum.org
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