2023 - Road Trips: New Landscapes to Discover

“Road Trips: New Landscapes to Discover,” an exhibition of new oil paintings by New Mexican artist Steve Elmore, opens July 7th, 2023 at Elmore Contemporary in Santa Fe. The opening reception with Steve Elmore is Friday, July 7th from 4pm to 7pm.

A native of Carlsbad, New Mexico, Steve Elmore has been painting in Santa Fe for twenty-five years, and his recent canvases continue to express his love of New Mexico. Realism and surrealism together inspire intimate celebrations of the great Southwest. Elmore’s work is defined by bright colors and personal visions of the Southwest. “I’m working in the tradition of many early New Mexican painters,” says Elmore, “mixing Native art, Realism, and Modernism into a personal statement. Nampeyo continues to be a big influence, along with Marsden Hartley, Clyfford Still, John De Puy, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Jerry West.”

Elmore continues: “The paintings are visual fetishes. I enjoy working on them for long periods of time, letting them slowly evolve in their own way. I often think of the paintings as stories for the ancestors, to entertain them as they bask in eternity. I was fortunate to be born in New Mexico and my paintings express that gratitude.”