When the New Mexico Museum of Art opened to the public as the Art Gallery of the Museum of New Mexico on Nov. 24, 1917, its mission was to provide the contemporary artists of the day with a venue for showing their work. Regional artists could put their names on a list and their work would be exhibited in one of several ground-floor niche galleries, or alcoves. The open-door policy persisted for decades until curated shows took over completely in the 1950s. Alcoves 20/20, which opens on Friday, Aug. 9, pays homage to the museum’s original vision by showcasing the work of 30 New Mexico-based artists. (The artists’ work appears in six rotations featuring five artists at a time, spanning a year in total.)

“I really think that this continues the museum’s engagement with living artists,” said Merry Scully, the museum’s head of curatorial affairs and curator of contemporary art. “People forget that we were founded as a contemporary museum.”

Alcoves 20/20 isn’t the first time the museum has revived its alcove shows. They were mounted sporadically in the decades following the 1950s. But a revival in 2012 was the first in 20 years. The idea was brought back again in 2016 as a lead-up to the museum’s 2017 centennial. In its 21st-century revivals, the museum has showcased the work of 80 regional artists. “For each of the artists, it’s a small one-person show that’s part of a group show, that’s part of a really long group show,” Scully said.

The first rotation of Alcoves 20/20, which runs through Oct. 13, includes work by sculptor Stuart Arends, painters Mokha Laget and Diane Marsh, sculptor/painter Dan Namingha, and mixed media artist Emi Ozawa.

Scully’s purview is broad. There is no set theme for the exhibition, but there are correspondences between the work of all five artists this year in their use of a strong, graphic sense of color and the Minimalist quality to their work. Throughout the rotations, Scully includes new and recent work by artists at various stages in their careers. Approximately five works by each artist are included.

“It needs to be good work, not just the kind of work I’m partial to,” she said. “I want to make sure that there’s a variety of media, and I like to be able to show artists who aren’t just from the immediate vicinity. Because of the rapid turnaround, a lot of times I look for artists that have a body of work in progress or already done. We can consider some of them emerging, but they still have to have a substantial body of work and a serious practice.”

DIANE MARSH
Rendered with almost hyper real detail, the figurative paitings of artist Diane Marsh, 65, are dreamlike works that have a narrative qulality.  But they are narratives in which only the rudiments, or the outlines of stories are revealed.  The paintings here, such as  "Circle of Compassion" (2017) and "Child's Prayer" (2006), invite the viewere to fill in the blanks.  In "Circle of Compassion," the tear-streamed face of a young girl against a plain background, eyes downcast, is encircled by a series of ovals, each one containing a different object, person, or animal: a rose, a butterfly, a crane, several small portraits of people with their eyes closed.  Are these figures within her circle of experience that she's come to love and care about?  Or are they representative of a heart that embraces the circle of all life?  Something about the painting-the girl's tears, the closed eyes in the tiny portrits of people, the fact that some of the animals are endangered or threatened with extinction-gives it an overall tone of melancholy.  Marsh, who lives in southeastern New Mexico, paints with a sense of reverence as well as concern for life.  Allusions to chilhood and familial relationships abound.  Marsh's work is accessible becaue in part, it captures moments of tender introspection and life experiences to which everyone can relate.