For Ray Tigerman’s upcoming solo exhibition at Blue Rain Gallery in Durango, Colorado, the artist debuts a new series of three bronze sculptures alongside his familiar Native American figurative abstract paintings—heavy on the blue.
Leave it to an artist to look at the desert and see blue.
The Watcher, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 in.
“I’ve always been drawn to blue, sometimes so much so that I have to fight to put other colors in there.As a kid, I would look out into these Southwestern landscapes and I was always fascinated looking in the distance and everything was a hue of blue. All these dusty, translucent, ethereal layers,” says Tigerman, who was raised in the high desert of Northern Nevada and now splits his time between Scottsdale and Tubac, Arizona. “My paintings are always going to have some tone of blue.”What they’re not going to have is photorealistic detail.
“I’m one of those people where I have always been about the destination in life, and painting is the only practice that I have—and writing—that is about the journey for me, where I get lost in the nuance, which is a nice relief,” says Tigerman, who also has a novel out later this year. “When I look at the desert, that benefits me because I have a tendency not to get lost in the nuance…I look at the overall picture.”
Summer Spirit, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
The artist’s “overall picture” also typically includes a lone figure as the subject.
“To me, it’s more mysterious,” he explains. “Sometimes when you have multiple figures, you get an idea of what they’re doing or what they’re trying to accomplish. My figures are there to be interpreted. I love mystery in painting.”
Tigerman’s work is further recognized for the multiple layers of paint he builds up on his canvases. His paintings have a rich, almost sculptural surface texture. Abundant acrylic paint put on with palette knife.
About three years ago, he decided to go all the way. “I became obsessed with this idea of having something that would exist in a space not on the wall, where you could view it from all different angles,” Tigerman says.
Stone and Spirit, acrylic on panel, 48 x 36 in.
The three sculptures he’s premiering in Durango continue with themes evident in his paintings: the mystical aspects of Native American culture, particularly Navajo and Hopi.
Tigerman has enjoyed making sculpture and anticipates creating more in the future.
“My painting process is a very singular, focused endeavor. I’m the creator, the originator, the fabricator, and then oftentimes the installer, whereas sculpture is a team endeavor,” he explains. “You come up with the clay and then all of a sudden you’re working with a foundry, and they’re artisans in their own right. Then I work with a patina artist who helps translate my colors from canvas to sculptures.”
Tigerman will be participating in an artist reception at Blue Rain Gallery in Durango in conjunction with the Spring Gallery Walk Friday, May 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. —
Blue Rain Gallery 934 Main Avenue, Unit B » Durango, CO 81301 » (970) 232-2033 » www.blueraingallery.com
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