Released: December 12, 2024
The exhibition of art by Marfa, Texas, artist Julie Speed will continue through Wednesday, February 19
SFCC Visual Arts Gallery, 6401 Richards Avenue
“And His Angels With Him,” 2022 gouache & collage, 60 X 40 inches
Santa Fe Community College’s Visual Arts Gallery will host an opening reception from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, January 23 for “Cain and Abel,” an exhibition featuring nine gouache and collage paintings by artist Julie Speed. The large-scale paintings are 60 by 40 inches. Speed paints surreal scenes in a realistic style with oil and collage. After the opening, the exhibition will continue in the Visual Arts Gallery, 6401 Richards Avenue, through Wednesday, February 19.
Director of Art on Campus Linda Cassel said, “Julie Speed’s art is extraordinary. SFCC is delighted to present this exhibition. I encourage everyone to stop by to see it in person to fully appreciate the fine detail and intricacy of the artwork.” Cassel first saw the artist’s work when she toured Speed’s studio in Marfa, Texas, as part of a fall semester art class taught by John Boyce.
The “Cain and Abel” works were Inspired by a small group of 15th century paintings and ink drawings known as Siyah Qalam (attributed to The Master of the Black Pen), that include a half dozen wrestling demon paintings reminding Speed of photos of American style high school team wrestling.
The three main paper sources for the “Cain and Abel” series were an 1870s Gustav Dore illustrated Bible from Sweden that was wrecked in a Galveston flood, pages from 19th Century woodblock printed issues of The Illustrated London News that she found on eBay, and wormholed Japanese woodblock prints from the same era. Read more about the “Cain and Abel” series at https://www.juliespeed.com/new-page-4.
Speed (born in 1951) is a distinguished American artist. After dropping out of the Rhode Island School of Design at age 19, Speed spent her twenties moving around the U.S. and Canada working pick up jobs (house painter, horse trainer, ad writer, farm worker, etc.) until moving to Texas in 1978 where she settled down and taught herself to paint. She switches back and forth regularly between oil painting, printmaking, collage, gouache and drawing, often combining disciplines. She lives and works in a century-old prison in Marfa, Texas.
Christoper Blay wrote about Speed in Art in America, “There is a kinship between Speed’s paintings and those of Hieronymus Bosch, the Surrealists and the Dadaists. But her work lives in its own realm, where we can point to absurd juxtapositions and put aside the law of physics and nature as torments build. Viewers find themselves in Speed’s own garden of human damnation where her vivid and dark organization delivers our long-delayed comeuppance.”
The SFCC Visual Arts Gallery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except when the college is closed. For more information about the SFCC Visual Arts Gallery, contact Director of Art on Campus Linda Cassel via email at linda.cassel@sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1501.
Santa Fe Community College celebrates its 40th Anniversary as the pathway to success for individuals and the community. SFCC provides affordable, high-quality programs that serve the academic, cultural, and economic needs of the community. The college welcomes over 10,000 students per year in credit, noncredit, workforce training, personal enrichment, and adult programs.
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Visit sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1000.
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