Athena LaTocha: Inside the Forces of Nature

This solo exhibition showcases recent drawings and paintings by artist Athena LaTocha (Hunkpapa Lakota and Ojibwe) based on her recent experiences in Santa Fe. Her contemporary landscape paintings focus on the dynamic gesture and atmosphere that recall nature’s powerful forces. 

LaTocha’s unorthodox approach to the subject ‘landscape’ involves personal memories and the use of unusual tools, techniques, and materials, resulting in intense, haunting images of nature scenes on a monumental scale. Her working method is based on indigenous perceptions of land, and the belief that “humans are part of the landscape, not separate from it.” Consequently, the artist is more interested in being “inside the image rather than the outside as an easel painter.” Intuition and chance operations play a major role in LaTocha’s creative process. Her recent drawings and paintings portray vast magnitudes of raw nature and the impact of industrial development upon nature.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.