Manitou Galleries | July 11-20, 2025 | Santa Fe, NM

Modern Echoes

Manitou Galleries’ upcoming group show features seven big names in Western art.

By Alyssa M. Tidwell

This summer, Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will host a group show featuring the works of celebrated Western artists Kim Wiggins, Jim Vogel, Howard Post, Jerry Jordan, Aaron Hazel, Liz Wolf and William Haskell. The exhibition turns collectors’ attention toward the depth and innovation of present-day Western artwork, an ever-evolving genre simultaneously imbued with echoes of the past. The show will also celebrate the role Manitou has played in this movement.

Jerry Jordan, Village Life, oil, 8 x 10 in. Wiggins’ desert scene Arizona Dusk features brilliant pinks and purples. “In my mind, the heart of any painting begins on the basic level of abstract design,” he says. “In the 1980s while assisting my father on a book on the artist Emil Bisttram, I was introduced to dynamic symmetry. It has become a valuable tool over the years, and I tend to pull from these basic principles to produce a strong abstract design. If you look closely, you can follow the linear path of the clouds and landscape and how they were placed to create balance and symmetry within the design. These principles also help the artist to define certain focal points within the image.”

William Haskell, Skybound, acrylic, 48 x 36 in.

Liz Wolf, Horse Power, bronze, ed. of 25, 20 x 6 x 6 in.

Haskell’s Skybound features the artist’s distinctive geometric style. The star of the painting is a towering saguaro that touches the clouds. “Skybound is both a modernist and surrealistic interpretation of the elegant sparseness of the Southwestern desert landscape as well as the gentle giants that oversee and serve as guardians to this landscape,” says Haskell. “It was my goal in this piece to treat the saguaro as a desert skyscraper and exaggerate the height and presence with overlapping clouds that are swirling around it. The river zigzagging through the parched landscape represents life and the nourishing qualities that only water can bring.”

Jim Vogel, Sueño De Los Animales, oil on canvas with hand-carved mouse, 48 x 25 in.

Kim Wiggins, Arizona Dusk, oil, 18 x 24 in.

Wolf brings to the show a bronze sculpture of a horse-headed man draped in cloth. “This tall, young, lean horse stands proud and noble. He carries the wisdom of the past and honors the legacy of his predecessors, who serve the First People of this land. When horses arrived, they transformed daily life—enhancing hunting, warfare, travel, lifestyle, wealth and prestige. In return, the First People formed a spiritual bond with the horse, embracing him as a brother in spirit,” Wolf says of the piece. “Visions come in artistic daydreams. I see images of animals, each one holding a sacred power within. These beautiful creatures are also messengers, willing to teach us their magic ways, but we must seek them with open hearts and spirits. Life offers many resources of happiness; pay attention and welcome them in.”

“In the process of this painting I explored multiple compositions, which led me to simplify the horses against the stark landscape and sky,” Post says of his oil Moonlit Ridge, a scene of three horses grazing in a pasture at dusk.