Tony Soulie Exhibit, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

TONY SOULIE

I often look for specific famous places, huge mega cities like Hong Kong, New York, Lagos, Paris, Los Angeles, etc…trying to find the primitive spirit (the original core) in their architectural buildings of light, as well as tracking the people in their shamanic rituals in Africa, the rain-makers of Australia, the natives in Hawaii etc…

From the footsteps of the voodoo fetishists in Benin and Nigeria to the Caribbean islands, my journeys have guided me, as a painter, into Native American territories and more precisely to the holy mountain, the “Corn Mountain” of the Zunis. The Zuni fetishes represent a strong hierarchy of spirits built on the human model, which fascinate me. A new series of photos/paintings were born, linking the landscapes around Santa Fe to the project. The artist is always looking for the idea, the spark, always trying to confront the material world and the physical substance as well as trying to decipher the signs, the ideograms.

After a series on objects, such as the “Boxing Gloves”, the “Billiard Parlors”, the “Cities of Night”, it was time for me to “tip my hat”. That’s why I’m now also exhibiting a series of American hats, the Stetsons - mountain shaped, conic objects, which are also a part of the history of the conquest of the Indian territories.