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Michael Bergt, History
Lesson, egg tempera and
acrylic, 30 x 48"
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Matthias Brandes,
Acqua Alta, oil on canvas,
71 x 71"
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John Tarahteeff , Chutes
and Ladders, acrylic on
canvas, 36 x 24"
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Erin Cone, Summer,
acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36"Real Representations
F
iguration is more than the human form; it includes
representations of any real object.
Nüart Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, presents
its annual Figurations Group Exhibition 2019 August
9 through 25 with works by Michael Bergt, Matthias
Brandes, Erin Cone and John Tarahtee .
Brandes paints buildings seemingly without
weight that recall the work of Balthus and Magritte
but represent Brandes’ own kind of magic. He writes,
“I’m interested in the contradictions: my houses seem
to be made of a hard material, stony, heavy. Instead
they can also levitate, fl y or go like birds in the nest.
The painting is a parallel world that leaves freedomto thoughts and imagination. What today is stopped,
yesterday perhaps was moving or fl ying, or will do
so tomorrow. Every state of a airs is temporary and
precarious.”
Tarahtee allows his paintings’ narratives to emerge
from his gut and his subconscious as the paintings
develop. He says, “The prospect of suggesting a story
through imagery is less important to me than the sheer
act of playing with the formal elements of a picture
(shape, color, texture, etc.)...Narrative elements develop.
They surface in a subconscious way. As I’m looking for
a formal resolution something will pop into my head
that will solve it formally but also a lot of other thingsUPCOMING SHOW PREVIEW / NÜART GALLERY
8/9-8/25 Santa Fe, NM12 3