Visit our main website to see and order. Meet the Artist Frederick Aragón
As an actor, filmmaker, animator, singer/songwriter, and Native American flute player, I work in many different media—but the act of laying paint on canvas is my first artistic love, and the cultures and landscapes of Northern New Mexico are my inspiration. My paintings combine different cultural and natural elements: In my
“Strong Woman” series, I might paint a woman wrapped in a intricately woven Native blanket—and she might be standing in front of an old Spanish colonial adobe church that looks as if the earth is trying to reclaim it—and yet that church stands, testament to hundreds of years of caretaking by parishioners. Or I might portray a Strong Woman at a celebration of Los Días de los Muertos—I am from Taos, where we celebrate more than one day—or in a library filled with good books and a few good cats. Or against a wall overlooking a newly planted field being raided by crows and irrigated by the runoff rushing through the acequia. What appeals to me about these images is the swirl and blend of traditions. These aren’t near-forgotten old ways, but a vital part of present life in Northern New Mexico. The paintings in the “Taos Dreams” series are more abstract and incorporate dreamlike imagery that draws heavily on my interpretation of my Native heritage. I don’t present any of my artwork—whether a painting, a song, or a film—as historically accurate. Everything is filtered through personal experience, with a lot of consideration given to what will make the most compelling image. One of the things I love best—and something I truly believe in—is the sharing of knowledge. I have created and shared many videos demonstrating how I work: from the priming of a blank canvas to the blocking in, or cartooning, of the basic shapes and images that will be in the final painting. Yet as I work, I frequently think of something else the painting needs, something I didn’t plan on—the grasshopper in the crow’s mouth, the lettering on the spines of the library books, details that may seem minor, but they enrich the painting and give it meaning beyond what I originally envisioned.
