Honoring the Scenic Awe of Nature’s Western Landscape in New Mexico
A Taos artist paints landscapes with reverence for life's fleeting nature
Jivan Lee’s “Northwest (Happy Birthday),” celebrates the New Mexico sky and landscape, along with the artist’s 39th birthday. The oil painting on panel, measuring 60 x 96 inches, is included in Lee’s current exhibition at Denver’s William Havu Gallery. | Photo by Jivan Lee
Jivan Lee is a dreamer. In fact, he trusted his dreams enough to let them guide him toward a successful career as an artist in Taos, New Mexico. Born in Woodstock, New York, Lee grew up in the Catskills and went on to earn a master’s degree in environmental policy. He loved painting, but assumed that art would just remain something he did for pleasure in his spare time while he pursued work as a science and sustainability consultant.
But those plans began to change on a road trip in 2008, when a severe bout of Lyme disease prevented Lee from driving beyond Albuquerque. He stayed there with a friend while he recovered and considered his next steps. “I ended up crash-landing in Albuquerque and then needed to kind of piece my life back together in an unexpected way, and figure out what’s wrong, and then, in that interim, I found my way up to Taos by way of a few dreams,” he says. Within 45 minutes of arriving in Taos, Lee landed a teaching job with the University of New Mexico.
Lee poses with one of his freshly painted creations on a road near Taos. He converted his pickup truck into a mobile art studio, complete with a portable shade for shelter. | Photo by Jivan Lee
When the dreams returned, Lee listened. “I had a series of dreams in 2010 when I was up here in Taos, sort of narrating for me the possibility of being an artist for a living, and having a life that was livable while making work, and that there would be places for my paintings to go, which was an important feeling for me,” he explains. But the dreams continued. “Over the course of the next year, a number of different dreams come and say, ‘Hey, develop a portfolio this way, and check out this artist’s work.’” So, Lee sought out those more experienced artists, struck up friendships, and gathered advice from them. Looking back, he describes the entire process as having a magical feeling of momentum.
Today, Lee is known for his richly textured oil paintings that capture the spirit of the land, sky and water near Taos. He especially loves working outdoors, traveling the backroads of New Mexico in a pickup truck that converts into a portable art studio. As he returns to the same locations over and over, Lee bears witness to the ever-changing world. “In Taos, I’m just regularly moved to a state of awe by the landscape,” he says. “I also end up feeling my own impermanence, and though on some days that’s got a melancholy flavor, a lot of times that’s also got a sense of reverence for the fleeting nature of life that arises.”
“North #2 (Monument #18)” by Jivan Lee (oil on panel, 40 x 30 inches) captures the moody weather and changing colors of the moment. Lee manipulates the painted surface with tools including brushes of various sizes and flexible silicone spatulas. | Photo by Jivan Lee
Examining the land in a way that transcends mere appreciation of beauty, Lee perceives something profound. “I really do think there’s a deep value in just witnessing something far larger, older, wiser and dynamically more in tune than myself,” he says. That immersion in nature affects Lee’s perspective on his artwork. “I feel better when I go out there,” he says. “It’s a form of church or prayer for me, the idea of creating something in a prayerful state that then I can offer in the world with no real motive attached to it, the offering being a sort of gesture of honoring the awe that I’ve experienced in the landscape.”
Photo by Jivan Lee
The artist loves working outdoors. “What I’m looking at is trying to express instantaneous sensation, which means painting quickly is pretty important because nature changes so fast.” | Photo by Jivan Lee
“Southwest (Midday),” oil on panel, 72 x 48 inches. | Photo by Jivan Lee
A detail of “West (Soft Sky),” oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches. “If I can get the colors as big as they can be while feeling like there’s harmony, that’s great,” Lee says. | Photo by Jivan Lee
