Jono Tew
 

I came west to rural New Mexico several years ago and was immediately awestruck by my surroundings. Having grown up by the ocean I’d never experienced anything like it. I loved the movement in the environment: the contours of the land, the winding roads, the wind in the clouds and trees. Rural New Mexico has a pastoral solitude unique unto itself. The passage of time doesn’t seem to have the same hold out here. Vintage trucks pass newer models on dusty roads. A tractor sits in the shade of a tree next to an old horse-drawn plow. Nowhere else have I witnessed the same humbling vastness of space coupled with the tiny reminders of human existence. What was originally planned as a few months stay turned into a permanent move.  

After years of portraying this idyllic scenery however, I found myself becoming restless. While rural imagery had dominated my initial experience in the west, I had begun to expand the scope of my exploration. I wanted to be more experimental in my use of form, line and color in a way that I didn’t feel my current landscape style would allow. Changing an established style is not so easy to do, and it wasn’t until my studio burned down that I was truly able to make the break. I returned to a process I had been developing years earlier. A more abstracted style that combined aspects of my favorite movements in art: Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. The selected paintings on this site are the result of photographic excursions I’ve made to some of the great locations of the American West such as Yellowstone, Monument Valley, Arches National Park and Great Sand Dunes to name just a few. I hope you enjoy them.

Education
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, B.A. Painting, Printmaking, 1987-1991
Savannah College of Art and Design, M.F.A. Program, 1991-1993

Exhibitions
2019 Modernist Frontier Gallery, ‘Homecoming’, Solo Show, Santa Fe, NM
2019 Modernist Frontier Gallery, ‘Three Artists’, Group Show, Santa Fe, NM
2018 Modernist Frontier Gallery, Grand Opening, Group Show, Santa Fe, NM
2014-16 Art in Embassies, Malabo Exhibition, Equatorial Guinea, Africa
2013 Abbate Fine Art, ‘Winter’s Walk’, Solo Show, Santa Fe, NM
2012 Beals & Abbate Fine Art, ‘BIG’, Group Show, Santa Fe, NM
2009 Waxlander Gallery, ‘Walking With Cerros’, Solo Show, Santa Fe, NM
2008 Democratic National Convention, Solo Show, Denver, CO
2004 Democratic National Convention, Solo Show, Boston, MA
1999 School Street Gallery, ‘Acrylic Geometry’, Solo Show, Rockport, MA
1999 School Street Gallery, ‘Shrines’, Group Show, Rockport, MA
1998 School Street Gallery, ‘Animals’, Group Show, Rockport, MA
1998 Independent Visual Artists Exhibition, ‘Best In Show’, Atlanta, GA
1997 Centennial Park Mural Competition, Finalist, Atlanta, GA

Publications
2013 Albuquerque Journal, December 20, Feature Article, ‘Time Out of Time’
2012 Western Art Collector, December Issue, Profiled in ‘Western Artist Focus’
2011 Santa Fean Magazine, June/July Issue, Profiled in ‘Masters of Fine Art’
2008 Southwest Art, January Issue, Profiled in ‘Artists to Watch’