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Tony Abeyta (Navajo, b. 1965). "An Old Song .. Remembered" mixed media sand painting with oil paint, ca. late 1980s. Signed on lower right. A striking mixed media sand painting by Tony Abeyta created when the artist lived in Taos, New Mexico during a period when his work focused on ancestral figures rendered in thick impasto paint. Abeyta did the underpainting in sand and then added layers of oil paint on top. The composition features three abstract ancestral visages with stylized rectangular eyes, open circular mouths, and marvelous feathered headdresses - all delineated in beautiful shades of turquoise, russet, amber, rose, black, and gold. In addition, Abeyta rendered the composition in bas relief, creating a tactile effect that is especially pronounced in the feathers. Furthermore, a border comprised of concentric circles and rhythmic gestural marks rendered in gorgeous shades of warm orange and sienna further imbues the artwork with a mesmerizing quality. Finally, all is set in an attractive custom frame embellished with a black reed pattern and a gold fillet band. Size (sight view): 41.625" L x 30.875" W (105.7 cm x 78.4 cm) Size (frame): 47.625" L x 37" W (121 cm x 94 cm)
Artist Biography: "Tony Abeyta is a Dine (Navajo) contemporary artist working in mixed media paintings. A graduate of New York University with an honorary doctorate from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, Tony was the 2012 recipient of the New Mexico Governor's Excellence in the Arts award, and recognized as a Native treasure by the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture.
The youngest of three children, he was born into a distinguished family of Dine artists that includes his late sisters, Pablita and Elizabeth, and his late parents, Narciso and Sylvia Shipley Abeyta. Together, his relatives have excelled in painting, pottery, weaving, and silversmithing. Tony, an artist of international acclaim, works in mediums that include charcoal, oil, acrylic, and silversmithing.
Tony currently works in both Santa Fe, NM and Berkeley, CA. Tony's work is included in the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Boston Fine Arts Museum, Denver Art Museum, Autry Museum in Los Angeles, CA, as well as in many other public & private collections." (artist's website)
Provenance: private Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA collection; ex-Hugh K. Tirrell estate, representative Priscilla T. Bisher
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#175419
Condition
Overall excellent. Signed on lower right. Label for Turquoise Tortoise Gallery of Sedona, Arizona on verso. Fit with suspension wire and ready to display.