In Review roundup: Three must-see exhibitions

DC Allen at Santa Fe Convention Center Community Gallery

The portrait subjects of DC Allen’s pop-influenced paintings stand out against flat backgrounds emblazoned with logos of brands such as Land O’Lakes and WAPAK, which have long relied on stereotyped imagery of Indigenous peoples. Although Allen’s wry humor and bright colors may recall the work of Indigenous pop artists like Douglas Miles, his conceptual and aesthetic rigor probably have more in common with the deadpan autobiographical photo collages of Gilbert & George or the irony-soaked “Great Criticism” paintings of Wang Guangyi.

Land O’Lakes’ notorious “butter maiden” graced its packaging for 92 years until in 2020 when widespread racial justice protests caused the company to rethink its corporate image. The cigarette company Natural American Spirit, by contrast, continues to use a 1970s-era image of the tribal leader of the Blackfeet, John Two Guns White Calf, whose face also inspired the logo for the football team the Washington Redskins, now known as the Washington Commanders.

Allen confronts these troublesome histories head-on, juxtaposing exploitative and caricatured imagery with portraits of contemporary Indigenous activists, artists and educators in self-aware poses. In “Reclaiming Power: Native Americana vs. WAPAK,” for instance, the Diné artist and activist Lyla Begay holds what looks like a miniature tomahawk but is, in fact, a jeweler’s hammer, positioning her family’s art making practice as a form of resistance.

“Faces of Our Land: Decolonizing Urban Identities” by DC Allen runs through Aug. 30 at the Santa Fe Convention Center Community Gallery, 201 W. Marcy St., Santa Fe. For more information, visit santafenm.gov/arts-and-culture-department/community-gallery-1.

Paula Castillo and Terry Mulert at Kouri + Corrao

Paula Castillo, who recently completed three permanent public art installations in Denver, presents a captivating new body of postminimalist sculptures at the gallery Kouri + Corrao. Her exhibition includes floral sculptures made from scrap metal and a selection of miniature carved adobe heads on a low plinth.

The heads could be mistaken, at first glance, for natural stones. One must crouch down to their level to make out the eyes, noses and mouths. Doing so disrupts the typical art-viewing experience, forcing viewers to bodily engage with the work. Is that enough to undo what Castillo calls “the false divides between nature and culture, object and subject, material and meaning”? Probably not. But if it gets us thinking and feeling in new ways, that’s a start.

On the wall above are framed poems by Castillo’s life partner of over 40 years, Terry Mulert. Some of the poems draw comparisons between human breath and natural breezes, and the poetry itself helps breathe life into the mute adobe heads.

Castillo’s steel sculptures in the main gallery resemble blooming cactuses and other prickly plants. Mary Carlson, who exhibited at Kerry Schuss Gallery in New York City last month, also makes metal flower art, and both artists share an interest in spirituality. But Carlson’s work sometimes verges on sentimentality, whereas Castillo’s sculptures have more edge — literally and figuratively. Mindful, yes, but not demure.

The exhibition runs through Sept. 6 at Kouri + Corrao, 3213 Calle Marie, Santa Fe. For more information, visit kouricorrao.com.

‘Voces del Pueblo’ at the National Hispanic Cultural Center

“Voces del Pueblo: Artists of the Levantamiento Chicano in New Mexico” is a historic exhibition of six artist-activists who were instrumental in shaping New Mexico’s Chicana/o art movement from its origins in the early 1970s. Art historian Ray Hernández-Durán and Chicana/o studies scholar Irene Vásquez, who are both University of New Mexico professors, spent seven years curating the show, which is skillfully and sensitively contextualized. It traces the artists’ friendship as fellow students at New Mexico Highlands University, and some of the events, both local and global, that informed their dawning political consciousness. Adelita M. Medina’s photographs of political demonstrations are particularly valuable for the sense of immediacy they provide, bringing the camaraderie and idealism of that era into focus.

Some of the most compelling objects in the show, like Francisco LeFebre’s Aztec-inspired acoustic guitar and Juanita J. Lavadie’s woven and embroidered clothes, were made for everyday use, and their inclusion speaks to the movement’s desire to break down the barriers between art and life. Among the painters, Noel Márquez (1953-2020) is mind-blowingly great. His multilayered works are extraordinarily complex yet executed with lapidary precision. And while Márquez was as trenchantly political as any of his friends — even painting warmongering skeletons — his sophisticated deployment of color theory imbues the work with an uncharacteristic beauty that might even win converts among the anti-woke.

This exhibition is the perfect complement to the “CHICANAO!” exhibition currently on view at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos. It provides the necessary historical context for appreciating the many forking paths that Chicana/o art has taken in the ensuing decades. And three of the artists — Ignacio “Nacho” Jaramillo, Juanita J. Lavadie and Francisco LeFebre — are featured in both shows.

“Voces del Pueblo” runs through Feb. 8, 2026, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 Fourth St. SW. For more information, visit nhccnm.org.

In Review roundup: Three must-see exhibitions