During their relationship, husband-and-wife artists Tracy and Sushe Felix have developed complementary but unique styles, inspired by the regionalist movement that flourished in Colorado during the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.
“I really appreciated how they approached the landscape, where it was more of a stylized expressionism instead of realism,” Tracy says. That has shaped his own approach to landscape painting. Instead of taking the view from the ground, most of his works position the viewer from the air, looking down and up at the same time. “It’s my way of exaggerating and stylizing the landscape.”
Sushe Felix, Earth Mother’s Power & Beauty, acrylic on panel, 36 x 48 in.
Sushe took a roundabout path to her landscapes. “When I first started showing in Denver, I was doing these wacky pastel self-portraits, and I’d stick sequins and glitter on them,” she says. For a while, she experimented with abstract works, but things clicked into place after gaining more exposure to Colorado’s regionalist and modernist painters. “I realized they were combining the elements of the abstract into these unique expressions of Mother Nature.”
Artwork from both of them will be featured at Manitou Galleries in September for A Weekend with Tracy and Sushe Felix.
Though they both work as artists, the pair tend to keep their artistic processes separate. Sushe has her studio in the downstairs family room while Tracy’s is in an upstairs bedroom, and they tend to stay in their respective studios all day.
“Sometimes, toward the end of the day or when we’re finishing something up, we’ll take a look at each other’s pieces and admire them,” Sushe says. “But mostly, we tend to stick to our own gig.”
Tracy Felix, Flowing Clouds, oil on panel, 36 x 48 in.
“Even though we don’t really collaborate with each other, we’re influenced by many of the same kinds of things, and that’s why our work shows so well together,” Tracy adds.
At the Manitou show, Tracy will feature paintings that play on the drama of the West. In Flowing Clouds, the clouds intermingle with the mountains and the sky, wrapping around and blanketing the landscape. “I love doing clouds. I think I’ve maybe only done one painting in my life that didn’t have a cloud in it,” he says. “I love how the clouds and the sky and the mountains can meld into almost one.”
Sushe also plays with the drama of clouds and mountain landscapes in Earth Mother’s Power and Beauty. The idea of the Earth Mother is one she has returned to time and again, and this painting depicts lightning forking out of the sky into the valley below. “To me, the lighting bolts depict extreme violence but also the power that exists all around us amongst this beautiful landscape,” she explains. “I wanted to combine those two ideas and also combine those sharp edges of the lightning with the more organic shapes.”
Sushe Felix, Exquisite Equine Family, acrylic on panel, 48 x 48 in.
Viewers can meet the artists and hear more of their stories at A Weekend with Tracy and Sushe Felix, which takes place at Manitou Galleries on September 18 and 19, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days. —
Manitou Galleries 123 W. Palace Avenue » Santa Fe, NM 87501 » (505) 986-0440 » www.legacygallery.com
Powered by Froala Editor
