Harwood Museum Annex Exhibition at 203 Fine Art
203 Fine Art presents an annex exhibition featuring five of the artists juried into the Harwood Museum's Contemporary Art / Taos exhibition - a survey of 24 local contemporary artists.
Monique Belitz, Paul O'Connor, Sasha vom Dorp, Afton Love and Dean Pulver present a range of powerful works, from wood sculpture, conceptual photography, and intimate large scale drawings, to storytelling collages and illusionist geometric assemblages. The diverse practices of the artists presented in this show illuminate the inspiration that has attracted artists to the Taos area for centuries.
Designed to benefit the Museum, twenty percent of proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to the museum's collections fund. 203 Fine Art and the artists involved in this exhibition aim to support the Harwood's ongoing mission to bring art and culture to the Taos community by preserving and collecting artworks inspired by Northern New Mexico. By organizing this exhibition, 203 Fine Art is pleased to offer a commercial venue for these artists.
Exhibition Dates: October 10 - November 30, 2020
A rotating artist reception will occur from 11am - 5pm on Saturday, October 10th. In observance of social distancing, the gallery will be open to 6 guests at a time, with an outdoor waiting area.
The gallery will be open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 am - 4 pm for viewing of the exhibition. As always, small groups are welcome to make an appointment here or by calling the gallery.
Monique Belitz
Monique Belitz, born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1959, is a graduate of the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, BFA, and the University of New Mexico, MFA.
Belitz’s current work is exploring the dichotomy of belonging while being a foreigner. These issues are expressed in the visual language of her new surroundings in Lama, north of Taos, NM, both in hybrid paintings and mixed media pieces.
Her work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at the Maryhill Museum, Goldendale, WA, the Las Cruces Museum of Art, Las Cruces, NM, the Pinakothek Hallbergmoos, Hallbergmoos, Germany, and the Delaplaine Art Center, Frederick, MD.
Paul O'Connor
Taos, New Mexico based artist, Paul O’Connor, has been immersed in the arts since discovering his voice with photography at Pepperdine University, Malibu CA. Followed by studies at Pasadena Art Center, where Paul began making B&W portraits of people in the Arts. This became an ongoing series of ‘portraits of artists’ that continues to this day. In 1989, Paul and his wife moved to Taos from Malibu. In the early 90’s Paul was the studio assistant to Ronald Davis who was making a series of sculptural works. This experience set in motion a body of work that incubated in Paul’s mind for fifteen years, with some experimentation in three dimensional forms of these ideas from time to time. In 2011 with the publication of his book titled Taos Portraits, he felt a chapter had closed with photography and completely immersed himself in creating these wall hanging constructions that had captured his imagination.
Drawing on a lifetime of carpentry, furniture making, photography and art appreciation, Paul built a dedicated space to create this new body of work. To put into physical form the expressions of a world view shaped by mediation, music and dreams.
Sasha vom Dorp
Sasha Raphael vom Dorp has been exhibiting his work since 1992. A practice that began with painting in oils has evolved into creating kinetic sculpture, photography and interactive multimedia installations. His current work employs a bespoke machine that he’s created allowing him see sound waves as they interact with sunlight and matter.
His work has been featured on PBS and published in the NY Times. Having lived in Sweden, Mexico, Taiwan, the Philippines and Los Angeles, he’s returned home to Taos, NM where he works and lives with his wife and family.
Afton Love
Afton Love (b. 1984) is a visual artist who works across media, including graphite, beeswax, clay, felt, and resin. Her immersive installation sized drawings and exploratory sculpture aim to call attention to our human condition in connection with the natural world.
Love earned her BFA at the California College of the Arts in 2012 and has participated in residencies at several institutions, including the Vermont Studio Center with a Pollock-Krasner grant, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and most recently, the 2018-2019 Roswell Artist in Residence grant. She is based in Vallecitos, New Mexico and her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Dean Pulver
Dean Pulver is a full-time sculptor and furniture maker working in wood. Growing up in a multi-cultural family of artists in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was influenced by his German and Irish father, a commercial illustrator, art director and painter, and his Japanese mother, a clothing designer and fiber artist.
Pulver graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1987 in sculpture. He has been exhibiting and teaching extensively in the United States and his works are shown in galleries and museum exhibitions and collections including the Fuller Craft Museum, Bellevue Art Museum and The Center for Art in Wood.
Pulver has taught at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Penland School of Crafts, and the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. In 2017 he was awarded the Bob Stocksdale International Award for Creativity from the Center for Art in Wood.
Living in Taos, New Mexico for over 20 years with his wife, ceramic artist Abby Salsbury, Pulver and Salsbury are currently developing “Taos Mesa Arts”, a center for exhibitions, classes, retreats and residencies.