Patrick Harris, Painter_ABOUT THE ARTIST

As a culture, we Americans are very sure of our world, of truth in the way that we see things and I like to poke a little fun at that certainty in my art. Harris’ colorful paintings seem deceptively simple at first glance, but behind his birds, clocks, quilts, maps, grids and other clearly recognizable imagery are clues to a serious commentary. Upon close examination, things are not what they appear to be, Harris points out, and nowhere is this more true than in the world of art. Harris’ huge painting ”A Map of the World”, executed in twelve separate panels, is lush with color and texture, and the viewer may not notice that it is precisely backwards.

An avid researcher and reader, Harris has long been interested in anonymous art. Take for instance, his admiration for cartographers, whose work is clearly functional. A map can be very beautiful, he emphasizes, and I see it as art. With anonymous artists like one who made a 20th century quilt that served as inspiration for another large painting: the mystery of whatever is pushing them to make that artwork is what I admire.

Harris grew up in South Dakota, where a fascination with creatures and critters that populate his art was evident by age five. (His first painting was of a robin.) Harris went on to college with the intention of majoring in Wildlife and Fisheries, but instead earned a degree in art from South Dakota State University. He then went on scholarship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a Masters in Fine Art. Harris has lived in Santa Fe since 1985, where his work has won numerous awards and has been included in exhibitions throughout the country and in the book “Contemporary Art in New Mexico”.

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A STATEMENT FROM THE ARTIST As a culture, we Americans are very sure of our world, of truth in the way that we see things and I like to poke a little fun at that certainty in my art. Harris’ colorful paintings seem deceptively simple at first glance, but behind his birds, clocks, quilts, maps, grids and other clearly recognizable imagery are clues to a serious commentary. Upon close examination, things are not what they appear to be, Harris points out, and nowhere is this more true than in the world of art. Harris’ huge painting ”A Map of the World”, executed in twelve separate panels, is lush with color and texture, and the viewer may not notice that it is precisely backwards. An avid researcher and reader, Harris has long been interested in anonymous art. Take for instance, his admiration for cartographers, whose work is clearly functional. A map can be very beautiful, he emphasizes, and I see it as art. With anonymous artists like one who made a 20th century quilt that served as inspiration for another large painting: the mystery of whatever is pushing them to make that artwork is what I admire. Harris grew up in South Dakota, where a fascination with creatures and critters that populate his art was evident by age five. (His first painting was of a robin.) Harris went on to college with the intention of majoring in Wildlife and Fisheries, but instead earned a degree in art from South Dakota State University. He then went on scholarship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a Masters in Fine Art. Harris has lived in Santa Fe since 1985, where his work has won numerous awards and has been included in exhibitions throughout the country and in the book “Contemporary Art in New Mexico”.