Fritz Scholder

New Mexico #42

Native American artist Fritz Scholder studied and taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He became an instructor in 1964, the same year he began a series of paintings based on the New Mexico landscape. The linear formations represent the rocky topography, and the bright colors reveal his practice of combining abstraction with pop art. In New Mexico #42, the bands of white and dripping blue paint are reminiscent of the state’s snowy winters and imbue the land with a surreal, emotional quality.