American Studies

Santa Fe-based artist Richard Sober has intentionally remained on the edges of the art world for almost fifty years, quietly painting and examining the remarkable details in unremarkable places. Sober grew up in an urban-working-class family with a strong work ethic and complicated societal expectations that were instilled in him from a young age. Sober adopted his parents’ work ethic but approached their expectations from a point of observation rather than participation, giving him an awareness of a working-class perspective that continues to inform his painting career and current project, American Studies.

The thirty-two paintings in this exhibition, American Studies, are just that, selected studies of what Sober observed while passing through space, mostly on foot. The scenes are both familiar and surprising, depicting details that most pass by without notice. Sober makes a point to linger on these unappreciated details and draw them out in his small painterly oil-sketches.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.