Beyond black and white

Evoke Contemporary’s newest exhibit, “Monochromatic,” challenges traditional perception.

Kathrine Erickson, gallery director, wrote in an email that the show was broken into distinct parts that were both contrasting and interconnected.

“The first section presents a visual journey through various environments and moods, beginning with vibrant, energetic cityscapes and transitioning into tranquil, quiet rural scenes…” Erickson said. “The second part delves deeper into the human condition.”

Artist Alice Leora Briggs focused many of her images in the gallery on her time in Ciudad Juárez, depicting scenes from the city that was named one of the most violent places outside of a war zone.

“What I got involved in was trying to tell the stories of both the victims of crime and the perpetrators,” Briggs said.

She said she views herself as a historian and said it was important to make a record of what she was seeing.

“I’ve always been interested, and I don’t think it’s in a sort of prurient way, but just trying to understand human frailty in general,” Briggs said.

Mark Spencer also views himself as a historian and said history is the story of human nature.

This is seen in his piece, “Age of Rage,” which was abandoned and then picked back up.

“Back in the ’80s, I started that drawing, but about three years ago, it was either I’m gonna finish it or throw it away,” Spencer said.

He said the image, which depicts political unrest, dates back to around 1987, when he lived in New York. He finished the piece in 2023 but said he sees the same things happening now. He said his work has always been about reflecting human nature.

“My narrative is the conflict between nature and human nature,” Spencer said. “So there is an occasional foray into social realism and that would be the ‘Age of Rage.’”

Where Briggs and Spencer focused on human nature, Esha Chiocchio focused on showcasing tractor systems reforming a watershed system.

She received a grant from National Geographic to document these efforts. She said she finds monochromatic imagery has more subject impact than color.

“I just wanted people to focus on the forms,” Chiocchio said. “As opposed to the nuances of the color of the sand.”

Chiocchio has two collections in the exhibit, one of aerial images and one of cyanotypes from negatives she created while working on land regeneration projects.

She said land is a huge priority and should be a focus of the world. A message she hopes comes through in her images.

“We don’t survive without soil and water and air, and so I feel really strongly that there’s a lot that we can be doing to restore our soils,” Chiocchio said, “and so I’m really drawn to people who are approaching land in a regenerative way, and kind of showing us the way forward.”

Evoke leaned toward a monochromatic theme because of its appealing and refreshing nature, Erickson said.

“The aspects we find fascinating are the simplicity, focus and emotional depth,” Erickson said. “Rather than using color, the artists must emphasize elements like line, shape, texture and contrast.”

Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow from the New Mexico Local News Fellowship program. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.