Vibrating Color

Sean Michael Chavez brings new work to Acosta Strong Fine Art for eighth annual show.

By Michael Clawson

In June, at the Prix de West in Oklahoma City, Sean Michael Chavez found himself staring at a rare feat during the sale portion of the exhibition: all his paintings sold, and all had full bid boxes. Chavez, who is a new artist at the Prix de West,saw it as vindication for the legwork he’s put into his career since his debut nearly a decade ago.

The Pitch, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.

But more than anything, the artist was just enjoying what led him to that point. “The key is experiencing the journey,” he says. “I’ve been fortunate enough to do really well in this art world. It’s something I always want to engage with, which is my audience, and also this evolution that I’ve had with my gallery, my collectors and my studio. We’re all on this journey together. When they see progress with my work, I see that as an investment in me and what I’m doing. Another thing that’s important is the experience. Art is about being there and living in that moment.”

The Mule Way, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.

After Oklahoma and the Prix, Chavez didn’t celebrate too long. He went back to work in his New Mexico studio as he prepared his newest show at Acosta Strong Fine Art. The show, Western Ascent, opens August 1. Acosta Strong has held eight shows for the artist. All eight sold out. He remains loyal to the gallery because it took a chance on him. “They showed a lot of support in me very early, and that’s the relationship that we have,” he says. “We’re a team.”

Ascent in Amber Skies, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20 in.

For Western Ascent, Chavez sees the ascent not as a conclusion to a story, but an origin. “The ascent is not the destination, but the starting place,” he adds. Some of the work features low angles looking slightly up at his subjects, many framed by distant clouds and other features high up in the distance. He continues, “I’ve always liked that perspective, which is used as a POV-style compositional tool. Walter Ufer played with overhead compositions, so this as my way of paying respect and showing reverence.”

While the paintings at the show will look very much like Chavez’s work—vaquero subjects, loosely applied paint, grid marks visible in the underpainting—these new pieces have brighter and more intense color. It’s part of a gradual crawl into fresh color palettes. “In terms of taking my color further, if you go back and look at my first show and follow it through to today, you will see an obvious and intentional lineage of color that has grown continuously over the years. My first paintings were more monochromatic, but then I added more and more,” he says. “I want to show my audience there is a growth in my work, and I want them to get excited about seeing something new. This also allows me opportunities to retreat back to another color palette without surprising anyone too much. I don’t want to paint myself into a box. People should expect the unexpected, and Western Ascentis reaching a peak in the boldness of my color.”

The Slow Hour, oil and acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 in.

In paintings such as The Slow Hour, Ascent in the Amber Skies and In the Charro Sky, Chavez allows the colors to vibrate and shimmer—electric blues, peach-tinted golds and oranges that seem to soak up the energy from the desert floor. The artist is at ease with these shifts in color and intensity, and it shows in his confidence with his brush.

Many of the new pieces feature mules, which was a thematic choice. “The same way the vaquero or Mexican cowboy is underappreciated in the making of the West, so is the mule,” he says. “The horse is this beautiful, strong, elegant ideal in the West. But in the same way, the mule is also a workhorse—no pun intended—and also more intelligent, requires less maintenance and is more independent. You can also have more fun with the caricature of the mule. Like the sombrero, the mule has a shape that tells its own story.”

High Point Watch, oil on canvas, 60 x 40 in.

And while many of the pieces are single figures on horses and mules, Chavez is also branching out to multi-figure paintings that offer more narrative and more history. One of these pieces is The Pitch, which features a Comanchero trader conversing with several Mescalero Apache men on horseback. The scene takes place in a grand valley with cliff faces and dramatic shadows.

Bound for Big Sky, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in.

“I’m an only child so I relate to the single subject in these lonely and dangerous places,” Chavez says. “And yet these grander paintings with more figures and more story are very interesting to me. I want to explore these ideas more in the future, and let the compositions get more complex.”