Pride in 'Our Presence': South Broadway Cultural Center exhibit celebrates New Mexico culture

It’s one thing to see New Mexico from personal experience, but at the South Broadway Cultural Center, New Mexico is celebrated from the point of view of four Albuquerque-based artists.

The “Our Presence” exhibition brings New Mexico to the center of the gallery’s focus. Created by three painters and one sculptor, the show connects the natural world to the human form while allowing artists to show visitors what New Mexico represents and looks like to them.

Pride in 'Our Presence': South Broadway Cultural Center exhibit celebrates New Mexico culture

“The exhibit includes various landscapes from New Mexico and the West Coast, like ocean scenes and some local things such as the Rail Yards and surrounding mountains and some of the landscapes we have,” said Augustine Romero, curator of the gallery. “There’s also portraits by Leo Neufeld, who’s also doing landscapes and the sculptor, has some figurative pieces that will be exhibited.”

New Mexico may be the main focus, but the exhibit draws inspiration from each artist’s personal life. Dan Paulos, a folk artist featured at the exhibit, focuses on his depiction of historical people — often creating Catholic or Jewish works of art like his “Cristo De Chimayó” painting.

“The humble, stirring shrine of Chimayó, New Mexico, is one that thousands of New Mexicans and pilgrims from across the country visit every Good Friday,” Paulos said about his work. “Our state capital, Santa Fe, basically sums up our uncountable blessings that stem from it: ‘Holy Faith’ — whatever you conceive it to be.”

Other artists, like Aaron Richardson, focus on painting landscapes of common Albuquerque spots. Visitors can see familiar locations like Teddy Roe’s and the University of New Mexico Arts Library.

The exhibit came together two years ago when Neufeld reached out to the city of Albuquerque Arts and Culture Department, wishing to share his work with other artists. After receiving submissions from other artists, Romero was tasked with finding the right studio and deciding which pieces would be shown.

“All the content behind the show is to focus on what I would call some of the formal aspects of art, which is figurative drawing and painting and sculptures,” Romero said. “There’s a good body of work that reflects that, and the human form is a big part of the show.”

While the exhibit is a reflection on personal views of New Mexico, the exhibition also brings perspectives on things like spirituality and the connection humans have with their surroundings.

“There’s a sense of spirituality that relates to religious beliefs,” Romero said.

“It also represents our presence as reflection to our own human existence within our community or our state and that leads into what some of the landscapes are and other pieces like city scenes that are more descriptive of Albuquerque,” he added.

The gallery also celebrates the art scene in New Mexico and the various perspectives and forms of creativity that come with it.

“I hope what people get from seeing the show is that we do have some very talented and gifted artists here in Albuquerque, and we continue to strive to show them,” Romero said. “What I think anybody’s going to enjoy is the variety of work that is in the show, so there’s something for everybody.”