TAOS ABSTRACT ARTIST COLLECTIVE PRESENTS 2024 SPRING EXHIBITION

March 12, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TAOS ABSTRACT ARTIST COLLECTIVE PRESENTS 2024 SPRING EXHIBITION

Taos, New Mexico, March 12, 2024. TAOS ABSTRACT ARTIST COLLECTIVE (TAAC) will hold its Spring Exhibition from April 12th – 20th, 2024, at the Stables Gallery at the Taos Center for the Arts (133 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM, 87571). The opening reception will be held on Friday, April 12th from 4-8pm MDT and the exhibition will close with a reception on Saturday, April 20th from 4-6pm MDT. The Spring Exhibition features work by 64 abstract artists working across diverse media and disciplines. Gallery hours will be held throughout the week. The event is free and open to the public.

The TAAC Spring Exhibition kicks off Taos Spring Arts, in partnership with Taos Arts Council. Taos Spring Arts is an annual event showcasing the best of Taos’ creativity through a dynamic two week-long celebration, featuring a variety of arts & culture events. The TAAC Spring Exhibition opening reception will include a food pop-up by Hungry Ghost, a contemporary American restaurant concept by chef partners Kevin Sousa and Meg Sousa, praised by The New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, TIME Magazine, and featured in Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown.

The Spring Exhibition is part two of TAAC’s double-header, with a successful Fall 2023 exhibition showcasing more than 70 works in painting, drawing, fiber arts, sculpture, digital art, conceptual installation and printmaking. The curatorial decision to split the submitted works into two unique shows came after receiving more than 350 submitted works from 147 artists, more than doubling the number of works exhibited in TAAC’s 2022 Inaugural.

Responding to the Fall 2023 Exhibition, the Taos Tempo claimed, “since their first show in September 2022, the Taos Abstract Artist Collective (TAAC) has diligently supported and unified abstract artists throughout Northern New Mexico.” The Brooklyn Rail summarized the event; “as the autumn sun was setting and people were ecstatically exchanging greetings both indoors and outside, it was a strong reminder that now more than ever, coming together, with art as our vehicle, is truly a radical act for change.”

In 2023, following the acquisition of its non-profit status, TAAC established the Art Fund, an initiative to grant modest awards to artists in the abstract community on a discretionary basis based on both need and merit. The organization continues to expand as co-founders Kari Bell and Lauren Dana Smith are now joined by board members Bianca Goyette, Lynette O’Kane and core volunteers, Paulina Ho and Josh Mishell.

In summer 2024, TAAC and the Couse-Sharp Historic Site will co-produce an exhibition with co-curators/jurors Alexandra Terry, Curator of Contemporary Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art Vladem Contemporary, and Davison Packard Koenig, Executive Director of the Couse-Sharp Historic Site. TAAC will also partner with the Harwood Museum in 2024 and 2025 to develop community programming alongside their upcoming exhibition, Luchita Hurtado: Earth & Sky Interjected, to which TAAC will respond with a curatorial exhibition, presented at the Millicent Rogers Museum.

Since its Inaugural Exhibition, TAAC has presented a host of programming intended to amplify and unify abstract artists in Northern New Mexico. TAAC presented its first juried show “VIEWPOINT: Abstract Minimalism in Taos, New Mexico,” in March 2023; produced eight “TAAC Talks” – its video documentary series that visits artists in their studios to enliven discussion over Zoom, hosted several social mixers and free community events.

TAAC promotes abstract artists living and/or working in Northern New Mexico, toward the exchange of ideas, new aesthetics and creative concepts. With origins in indigenous geometries, transcendental and modernist movements, and conceptual and land art installation, Taos is synonymous with abstract thinking. Once the nexus for westward bound artists, Taos unleashes expansive, abstract thinkers. Represented amongst the artist group are established, mid-career and emerging artists who show in Taos or Northern New Mexico, nationally and internationally. Conceptualized in 2020, the Taos Abstract Artist Collective offers curated and juried exhibitions, artist talks, studio visits and collaborative community concepts. www.taosabstractartistcollective.org

TAAC is an inclusive group that amplifies self-identifying abstract artists living and working in Northern New Mexico, honoring our intersecting identities across race, national origin, ethnicity, culture, size, gender identity and expression, disability, sexuality, age, socioeconomic status, neurotype, religion and/or spiritual practice. All abstract artists are welcome in their pursuit of provocative expression.

TAOS ABSTRACT ARTIST COLLECTIVE SPRING EXHIBITION STABLES GALLERY,
TAOS CENTER FOR THE ARTS:

133 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM 87571

Opening Reception: Friday, April 12th from 4-8pm MDT
Closing Reception: Saturday, April 20th from 4-6pm MDT