Enchantments: Ode to New Mexico

Carole Eisner, Margaret Fitzgerald & Michael Wright

The Southwest has long been a place of respite and inspiration for artists. New Mexico in particular became home to several thriving artistic communities in cities including Santa Fe, Galisteo, Belen, Albuquerque and Taos. Known as the "Land of Enchantments,” New Mexico energized not only modern artists of the last century and a half, but also thousands of years of Native American Art.

In Enchantments: Ode to New Mexico, SEFA presents three artists with distinctive styles. Carole Eisner, Margaret Fitzgerald and Michael Wright each have a connection to New Mexico and attest to the impact it has on their artistic practice. The three artists, like so many before them, utilize the open skies, light quality, solitude, expansiveness and imaginative landscape to enliven their canvases.

Though the three artists take different stylistic approaches, the paintings are in conversation with one another. Margaret Fitzgerald scrawls patterns and intuitive swaths of color on her canvases depicting an urgency in her gestural abstractions. Michael Wright’s landscapes straddle representation and abstraction with surfaces that undulate between soft blends, bold swaths of impasto and impactful moments of sgraffito that together interpret the extraordinary landscape of Diablo Canyon. Carole Eisner’s calm and airy geometric abstractions create a moment of pause within the gallery and allude to the bright skies and enchanting sunlight of the southwest.

Enchantments: Ode to New Mexico is on view at SEFA LES from February 22 to April 6, 2024. SEFA will host an opening reception on Thursday, February 22 from 6 to 8 PM.