Show Pony Gotique

L to R: Israel Haros Lopez, Anastasio Wrobel, Kathryn M Davis, and Niomi Fawn

Photo credit: Lydia Mercer for ArtBeat Santa Fe

I've been wanting to update this blog with an entry about Show Pony Gallery & Gotique, the brainchild of @CurateSantaFe's Niomi Fawn. Now, she hesitates to take all the credit, laying that at the feet of her artists—as all good curators should—but Niomi is indisputably the driving force behind this new mobile gallery "gotique" and it shows in her selections of whose work she exhibits for sale, at very low prices, may I add.

Niomi is hardly one to shy away from taking on social issues that some may feel are impolitic in the sterile world of "art for art's sake:" an antiquated modernist notion that art should challenge us visually and intellectually, perhaps even emotionally and/or psychologically, but leave politics, class, and socio-economics out of the picture. Literally. In this, our post-postmodern world, we don't make or experience art in a vacuum. Concerns about how our art is consumed are as important as who the artist is individually.

That the work in Show Pony is affordable is no coincidence. The gotique can park anywhere in Santa Fe, so long as they follow parking laws, and that means that Show Pony will be right off the Plaza, in the Railyard, in Frenchy’s Field (where ArtBeat Santa Fe interviewed her on July 27th), down by Meow Wolf and elsewhere in the Siler District, including in front of freeform gallery near the Goodwill store on Cerrillos. Niomi has consciously chosen to promote the work of several artists who don't relate to their world through the lenses of the gendered "norms" of male vs. female, in which a person is either a man or a woman, feminine or masculine. Ever since the 1970s, when Feminist Theory revealed to us that gender is a construct, people have been moving away from the binary absolutes of male or female, and toward a sense of being that is inclusive and non-binary. Artist Anastasio Wrobel has captured this evolution beautfully in their coloring book of the self-descriptive title, available for $20 at Show Pony. The curator related in our broadcast that she’s seen young people glom onto the book, saying “Look, Mom, look.” It’s a beautiful way to share our non-binary sense of self with parents, mainstream tourists, and the cloistered art world alike. Also in coloring-book format, an identity that is neither exclusively white nor male is explored by artist Israel Haros López, whose work addresses his ancestral history within its contemporary setting. We look forward to the unveiling of his murals on Thursday, August 31st at the Siler Yard Arts + Creativity Center, hosted by Creative Santa Fe with Mayor Javier Gonzáles. López coordinated the artists, who include include Niomi Fawn, John Paul Granillo, Juan Lira, the SIB Collaborative, Jared Antonio-Justo Trujillo, and Andrea Isabel Vargas-Mendoza.

Be sure to discover Show Pony on Instagram, Facebook and their website, as well as in person. And don’t miss our interview here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgQOQ2yT-pE.

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