ARruRO CHAVEZ PAINTING·THE ~AGIC

able to make his living doing something he absolutely By Vicki Stavig loves is pure bliss. Growing up in New Mexico, Chavez says he didn't e played classical guitar. He flew airplanes. He do well in math, science, or history but always earned owned a business. But the title to which Arturo Ns in his art classes. He began painting as a young boy, Chavez most aspired was artist It took some thankful today that his parents were supportive of his H efforts. "They always made sure I had plenty of paints, time for him to reach that goal, but that made it all the sweeter. After all, the harder you have to work to achieve brushes, and canvases," he says. "I was winning state- something, the more meaningful it is. For Chavez, being wide awards when [was in junior high school. It was fun

54 ART of the WEST· May/June 2011 Rock of Ages, oil, 80- by 110' for me, and it was easy." "TI,e Grand COllYOl1 is one of tlte Seven Won- When he wasn't painting or playing sports, Chavez was hiking the magnifi- ders of the World, and the grandeur one feels cent landscapes of New Mexico and becoming more captivated by its beauty when encountering the canyon is truly awe as the years went on. But, when it came time to choose a career path, he illspin"ng. 111i5painting exemplifies olle of the canyon's majestic wonders: the Temple of Isis at turned to the guitar, planning to become a concert classical guitarist "I start- sunrise. /11 this view, 19 miles of space separate ed playing guitar when I was 13 or 14," he says. "I took lessons from a Cuban the viewer 011 the South Rim from the distant guitarist named Hector Garcia for about 10 years." North Rim ofttte canyon, with Isis commanding a central place in the composition." Chavez enrolled at the University of New Mexico, where Garcia also taught, and continued to study with the master. In a flash, however, everything

May/June 2011 • ART of the WEST 55 changed. "One day, after six hours Chavez dropped out of college, ment licenses at 24." Over the years, of practicing, I looked at a painting started painting. He also became Chavez did some commercial fly- I had done 10 years before, and it part owner of a label manufacturing ing for private clients and also flew was so beautiful I put down my gui- company and was able to combine for the Civil Air Patrol for 10 years. tar and there was no more music," his love of flying, as he flew to meet A branch of the Ll.S. Air Force, the he says. "I had been at the university with business clients. "I started tak- patrol is made up of civilians who for two years and had just gotten a ing flying lessons when I was 21 or conduct search and rescue missions scholarship for music, but I turned it 22," he says. "I got my private license following airplane crashes. down. I wanted to paint" at 22 and my commercial and instru- "Flying is what gave me the per-

56 ART of the WEST. May/June 2011 ception to paint vast landscapes then one in Albuquerque." and cloudscapes," Chavez says, Chavez started out painting with adding that music also has had watercolors, but later switched to an impact on his art. "Music, in oils. "I was doing a lot of watercol- my opinion, is the highest art or in those days," he says. "It was form, because it's pure emo- so quick, so spontaneous, and I tion. I always paint to music-to loved the look of watercolor. Then Johann Sebastian Bach. I want- I wanted something more durable ed to paint like his music. I try that I could go into deeper. I went to get that same construction to acrylics, but they dried too fast. mechanically and emotionally in I went into oil fulltime in about my paintings." 1986. It's so versatile; you can get In 1980, Chavez was fortunate the biendings and you have time to form a friendship with noted to work it, because it doesn't dry artist Wilson Hurley. When he fast." asked Hurley if he should go Chavez also began to make his back to school and study art, own paints. "It's more work," he Hurley replied, "No; just paint says, "but the effect is so beauti- every day. Get up and paint; treat ful. There's a jewel-like quality to it like a job. Get out on location it I wash linseed oil with a mix and paint" of sand and salt It takes about a After selling his interest in the month. It's like turning lead into label company, Chavez took four gold." months off before diving into Initially painting pueblos-"I painting full-time, taking Hur- love the dilapidated buildings," he ley's advice and painting every says-Chavez, who lives in Santa day. "I saw people waiting until Fe, began to focus on the land. "1 they retired to do what they real- started noticing that rock forma- ly wanted to do, and then they tions were similar to adobes," he were having heart attacks and says. "I was interested in the geol- health problems," he says. "1was ogy of the land, the striations of 33 and decided to do it now." the rock." Chavez was married and had a That love of the land goes back Summer Storm, oil, 46- by 60· young son-he and his wife Jen- to Chavez's childhood, when his "Between Abiquiu and Cuba, New Mexico, lies the nifer would later also have twin parents would load up the car and small Spanish village of Gallina. In and around this girls-so he was taking a great the family would spend a month area are numerous, colorful striated formations of rocks, hills, and faults. I painted this piece from a financial risk, but it was one he visiting national parks and public vantage point looking west at the southern edge of an felt he had to take. "I quit flying lands. "I think it has to do with uplifted fault formation called Cerro Blanco, or White in 1983," he says. "I just wanted the quality that Americans value Ridge, located in the hear! of Gallina. This painting is to paint I started out at street so deeply," he says of his subjects a depiction of a thundercloud that has taken 011 a life of its own and will continue to build with ferocity well shows and, within a year, I got and the appeal they have for col- into the nighttime hours. " into a gallery in Santa Fe and lectors. "1 think it has to do with

May/June 2011 • ART of the WEST 57 Chimayo Winter, oil, 15# by 36#

"My family has resided/or three centuries in Chimayo, New Mexico. I spent my summers, weekends, and holidays there, living with my maternal grandmother Iliad complete freedom to roam wherever I pleased, and I spent many a day hiking over the beautiful hills there. For all 0/ my adult life I have been returning to these hills to paint and marvel at their unique beauty."

Mount Wilson Wit/ter, oil, 56.5# by 90#

"TIle incredible, colorful rock formations ill and around Sedona, Arizona, are a magnet of attraction. I'm awestruck with the beauty and majesty of these rock formations and am compelled to paint them, especially when the weather conditions offset and frame these majestic temples. This painting won the Harrison Eiteljorg Purchase Award at the Eiteljorg Museum in the annual Quest/or the West Art Show in September 2010."

58 ART of the WEST· May/June 2011 Luminous Twilight, oil, 48~by 96· 'The setting/or this painting is ill the Rio Puerco Valley in northern New Mexico. Here Ifind great inspiration. These high desert plains provide a treasure 0/ color and geologic variation to whet the appetite and stimulate the creative juices. I climbed Cabezon Peak, and I must say that the views from the top of this mesa are extraordinary. 0/course, I had to wait out the day after the climb for the usual spectacular sunset thundercloud to develop and then begin to paint the magic. "

freedom. The success of our coun- is painting, however, Chavez says While Chavez's dedication to his try has been bound to our land. I'm the goal is the same. "I want to cre- art hasn't changed over the years, trying to preserve it." ate a sense of illusionary space, his name has-from Arthur Usner Painting outdoors is a labor of which triggers a sense of emotion," to Arturo Antonio Chavez. One rea- love for Chavez. "I go out on location he says. "I'm interested in a three- son for the name change was that a with a box of small canvases and do dimensional illusion on a two-dimen- family of racecar drivers was named color studies," he says. "1 do a little sional plane." Unser, and writers often confused compositional stuff, too. I take pho- Admitting that he has no hobbies, the two names. The second reason tos of the formations I'm interested that he paints every day of the week was much more personal. "When my in, go back to the studio, and draw except Sunday, Chavez says, "1 love father died in 1999, it was a shock the composition in pencil and char- painting so much that every second and woke me up to the fact that we coal, using the photographs but not is about art It's the only thing I like are mortals," Chavez says. "1 had copying them. Then I transfer the to do. Being an artist is the only pro- never acknowledged my mother's drawing to canvas for an intermedi- fession I know of where people will side of the family, who are artisans ate painting and bring it up to large continue even if they don't make a and craftsmen. So I changed my scale." sale. They do it because they're com- name legally to Chavez." Chavez is particularly fond of pelled." Other than his name, Chavez says painting the landscapes of New Mex- Chavez, in fact, admits that at he doesn't envision altering anything ico, Arizona, Wyoming, and south- one point he went two years without else, at least not in the near future. ern Colorado, but he also paints the making a sale, and yet he continued "1 don't see myself changing much California coast "I love the northern to paint He was driven to share his except trying to sharpen my aware- coast of California," he says. "Point love of the land with anyone willing ness of nature," he says. "My job is Lobos is one of my favorite places on to take a look at his work-and the to observe nature, to translate it, and earth." number of people who did so, and to uplift people. That is the core of Asked ifthere is a place he has not who wanted to take those paintings true art." 'x, yet painted but would like to, Chavez home with them, continued to grow. doesn't hesitate before responding, Chavez doesn't take his success for "Denali National Park in Alaska. I granted, however. He continues to want to spend a summer up there." challenge himself and to create the Wherever-and whatever-he best paintings possible. Vicki Stavig is editor of Art of the West.

May/June 2011 • ARToftlze WEST 59