Steven J. Yazzie 3

"Intrusive Relationships"  oil on canvas  66" x 48"  2011

"Road to Nowhere"  oil on canvas  48" x 65"

"Permeable Paradise"  oil on canvas  60" x 36"

"Colluvial Dream"  oil on canvas  60" x 48"

 

"Modernity's Sunset"  oil on canvas  48" x 60"  2011

This is my third post of Steven Yazzie's work and full disclosure, he is a friend of mine. Previously I only posted his work depicting coyotes in upscale homes (as in the piece directly above) and you can read my thought's on that here. But he also works in abstraction. The latest edition of New American Paintings was just published and these abstracts were included, so I'd just like to to say congratulations Steve. He considers these abstractions to be in a sense a response to landscape, and the deeptime processes of geology. Being a resident of Arizona there is an obvious suggestion of the red rock formations of the southwest. But his referencing of the land is oblique, going more after feeling than analysis. Painting, especially abstract painting when it works, is almost impossible to pin down. Why does it capture our attention and hold it? And yet it can. Just as we might be captivated by the strange beauty of a canyon formed by wind and water and the moving earth over millions of years. And that, my friends, is one hell of a trick.
Go to his website to see more work: www.stevenyazzie.com