Kurt Lomawaima, David A. Naranjo, Manuel Ramirez, Diego Rigales, and A. Thompson
Opening Reception: Friday, June 6, 2025, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
Gallery Hozho at Hotel Chaco - Albuquerque, New Mexico
Join us at Gallery Hozho for the opening reception of Life Abstracted, an exhibition that combines elements of design, technique, and culture. Meet the artists Kurt Lomawaima, David A. Naranjo, Diego Rigales and A. Thompson, all of which work in mixed media creating vibrant, uniquely visual pieces.
Throughout his paintings, Kurt Lomawaima’s artwork captures an array of multiple techniques, which also reflect a strong connection to his Hopi heritage. He continues to incorporate abstract, hard-edge, and realism into his paintings; usually combining both traditional and modern cultural elements to define a style of his own. Each painting is visually unique as he experiments and refines his ideas from his sketches to share a part of his Hopi upbringing with the world.
David A. Naranjo from the Pueblos of Santa Clara, San Juan, and Cochiti reinterprets historic pottery in two dimensions, expressing cultural symbolism through hardline abstraction. Since receiving his BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, he incorporates elements from Tewa patterns and designs as paintings and scarves, often executed in tactile materials such as silk and micaceous paint. For Naranjo, “Symbols and iconography depicted on pottery and embroidery are not only for ornate decorative purposes, but carry great symbolic significance and serve as visual representations of the landscape, natural world, and, if used properly, for prayer.”
Manuel Ramirez is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in themes of identity, community, and cultural movement. A proud alumnus of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), Ramirez holds a BFA in Studio Arts with honors and has been recognized nationally for both his artistic contributions and leadership. His accolades include the IAIA Student of the Year award, participation in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Artist Leadership Program, and numerous leadership roles in academic and community settings.
Inspired by people, travel, and place, Ramirez explores expression through monotypes and works on paper. Ramirez's work has been exhibited in prestigious venues such as the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, and Rainmaker Gallery in the United Kingdom. His pieces are also held in permanent collections at the IAIA Museum and the Museum of International Folk Art. His creative journey has been featured in the Tribal College Journal, multiple public talks, and educational panels that bridge art, heritage, and social change.
Diego Rigales was born from the Oga Po'geh/Tewa/Santa Fe desert and will return to it once again. He received a BA cum laude in Architecture from The University of New Mexico but found sculpture a much more effective medium. Upon employment at a well-known design firm, he immediately quit his job, sold everything, and moved to CDMX to immerse himself in the upcoming art scene. His art practice led him to venture to many other countries in the Americas and Europe while also returning to CDMX to lead an educational art tour for high school students. After returning back to New Mexico he started self-producing art shows and organizing community events - asking the members in his community to eat with and talk to each other. His art practice is based around themes in the communal, time-capsules, and current ethical questions of artificial intelligence.
A. Thompson lives and works in Lukachukai, Arizona. Born and raised on the Navajo Nation, the youngest of four siblings, Thompson left the reservation at the age of 17. Her degree is in Health Care Administration but she discovered painting in 2010. Since then, Thompson has studied abstract art on her own, favoring work by Picasso, Kandinsky, Banksy, Matisse, and Voka. She says, “I am just an individual with a sponge, a bucket of water, a syringe, a spoon, a spray bottle, with bad eyesight. . . . I choose to show what is on my mind and in my heart.”