Artist Portraits in Santa Fe

During what was only my second visit to Santa Fe as an adult, I arrived at the home of artist Max Lehman, a sizeable property just a short drive north of town. Here again, I was struck by visual contradictions found throughout Santa Fe. The artist’s home is a beautiful mid-century… adobe. Two-foot thick mud walls support the clean lines and sharp angels of this period home. Max recently purchased this unique “small farm” with his partner Mark Burton. Standing in the side yard, Max pointed out the large cistern that captures excess rain water and extra runoff from the communal arroyo. At the back end of the property is a very large garden, which seemed to me more like a small farm.

The selling point for Max was the spacious, detached artist studio in the back. Max escorted me to his workshop and I was instantly transported to another galaxy. Working mostly in clay, his vivid creations border on the sublimely perverted. Rows of Smiling Bunnies in human garb march right out of a bad acid trip. His Incan-like creations, many with prominent phallic displays, have a pronounced alien feel. Max started in ceramics as a child. He went on to graduate from Arizona State University in Tempe, and soon landed in the prestigious Elaine Horwich Gallery in Scottsdale. He’s been a professional, working artist in Santa Fe for twenty years now. A few years back, when Max hit 40, he gave his art a rest and went into computer animation and web design. But now it’s easy to see, that Max is back to clay and titillated at the thought of playing with people’s minds through his own imagination.

Work by Max Leahman

As a product of the first, real TV generation, Max sees his work as a commentary on modern life in the United States. With media overload and instant gratification now the norm, he sees his work as “eye-popping vivid eye candy that likes to stand out.” He says his collectors like the “total inundation” they get from his creations. Is this how Max sees himself, his world? Perverted, multi-headed, splintered in abstract, yet… funny?  I ask him about the alien angle to his work. You can see this inter-galactic influence not only in his ceramics, but also in the animation seen on his website.  “I’ve always been an alien,” he says. “I’m of the Star Trek Generation. And the great thing about Santa Fe is, that if you don’t fit in anywhere else, you’ll fit in here.” Then he laughs, “I guess we’re a little like the ‘Island of Misfit Toys’.”  And yet he ruminates about how the city is changing. The once quaint dirt roads in town are now mostly all paved, a good thing, especially during the rainy season. But the local government here can also be seen as either progressive or overly intrusive. Talking on the cell phone while driving will get you pulled over. Smoking a cigarette practically anywhere in town except your home or car will get you a hefty ticket. Driving under the influence is a hot topic around here. Recent crackdowns have many bar and pub owners concerned. And let me tell you from my own experience, these people like their cocktails.

But Max thinks that most “big city” people don’t last in Santa Fe. “They come here and either want to change everything, or expect the city to stop in time.” Max has lasted so long in this remote, high-desert community by maintaining his individuality while at the same time, surrendering to the natural flow of Santa Fe’s idiosyncrasies. “Santa Fe can be a little slow, a little boring at times. That’s why you have to make your own fun. But most important, it’s an environment that supports artists.”

Work by Max Leahman, titled 'Gidget Goes Saturn'

'Time Out' an original work on canvas by Joe Garcia

Later in my visit, I found myself chatting with a handsome guy who ended up being a local artist. When I made mention that I was in town checking out the local art scene, Joe Ramiro Garcia happily escorted me to a nearby gallery where his work was on exhibition. Everyone seems to know everyone in this part of the country,  so it came as no surprise to learn that Joe knew my friends here in town. Chatting over a few beers he told me how he ended up an artist in Santa Fe. “I grew up in Houston, Texas, with a train running through my back yard. For eighteen years I read the words, ‘Santa Fe’. At twenty-years-old I found myself hitchhiking through the area, and decided to check the place out to see what it was like. Once I got here, I felt that the city wanted me here. So i stayed,” Joe says.

“My experience of living in Santa Fe has been wonderful. This is the first place I’ve felt a sense of home. I can relax here in a way I don’t find anywhere else.”  Joe has come a long way from a teenager collecting urban fragments in Texas and turning the findings into art. Now he works in oil and hangs in high-end galleries. But you can still see the trash-collecting teenager in his work. His pop-culture imagery and surreal backdrops are humorous, slightly disturbing, and yet comforting. You can almost hear the train of his youth rolling through his imagination. What you’ll always find in Santa Fe, be they artists or not, are truly independent spirits whom cherish life’s experiences on a daily basis. People who are happily surrounded by rich history, great food, amazing nature and most importantly, surrounded by each other. It is the synergy of the Native American, Hispanic and Anglo cultures that make this a different kind of enchanted city. It is why the art world flourishes here to such a degree. There is also the natural beauty that instills an artist with immeasurable freedom to imagine, express and create.