INNOVATIVE FINE ART IN SANTA FE AND DURANGO

Erin Currier

original paintings, original works on paper

"My artistic practice has taken me on a lifelong “shoestring” adventure—packed with action and magic—that has variously found me training in Beijing with Kung Fu masters; tango dancing in Buenos Aires; in riots in Chile; eating dinner on dirt floors with Tibetan exiles in Nepal and at the dinner tables of famed filmmakers in Italy; on the couches of Panthers and Weather Underground; in medicinal ceremonies in the Amazonian jungle; at Tahrir Square with a million Egyptians... I am a humanist artist: unapologetically narrative, and for whom art and the social world are inseparable. I use the proceeds of the sales of my art to witness the world firsthand—i.e.-when I sell a painting, I buy a plane ticket and go!

It all began with a natural integration of my sociopolitical beliefs with a sheer joy of art-making, and has since developed into an artistic praxis by which I integrate the human realm- its individuals, cultures, and struggles- with its refuse, in order to address the issues I feel most passionate about. I have been to more than 50 countries, immersing myself, to the best of my abilities, in the daily life of countries like Nepal and Nicaragua, cities such as Istanbul and Caracas, studying languages, getting around on foot or by bus, sketching, making friends, and collecting disinherited commercial “waste”. Inevitably I return to my studio in Santa Fe, NM, to create series of works that are exhibited and collected internationally."

-Erin Currier

Artist Statement

What compels my artistic practice is the desire to convey that which I have found to be true in all of the countries I have traveled to: that our commonalities as human beings far outweigh our differences. Divisions are often either superficial or artificially created based on racial, economic, and national ideologies. Where we are similar is of a more profound metaphysical caliber: the bond between brothers, the love between mother and child, the kinship shared through creative endeavors; these run like threads in the great fabric of generations.

The reasons behind my use of recycled material are multilayered. First, I believe that artists have always used materials close-at-hand. I use what is most readily available to my era—waste from our globalized consumer culture.

Secondly, my use of trash is a spiritual practice in the sense that it is re-transfigured into something of beauty.

Finally, using post-consumer waste is a socio-political act: it is both a form of recycling, and it expresses our interconnectedness and commonalities as human beings—in what we value, share, consume, and cast away.

Artist Resume

Born: 1975, Haverhill, MA

Home: Santa Fe, NM

Education: College of Santa Fe, BFA Theatre Design (magna cum laude)

Solo Exhibitions

2009-2026: Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2024 & 2025: Wildflower Playhouse, Taos, NM

2018: “La Frontera,” Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM

2017: “La Frontera,” University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

2016: “Song of the West,” Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM

2013: “Soldiers, Saints, and Psychos,” Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany

2012: “From California to Cairo,” Hamilton Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2009: “Schoolgirls and Schoolboys” Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2009: “Portenas,” Masottatorres Contemporanea, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2007: “In Solidarity,” Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Embassy, Washington, D.C.

2004: “Selected Works,” TOPS Gallery, Malibu, CA

2003: “Liberation Series,” College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM

2000-2009: Parks Gallery, Taos, NM

Group Exhibitions

2026: “La Acequia: Nuestra Madre,” Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM

2026, 2021, & 2022: La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA

2000-2026: “Arte des Descartes,” Stables Gallery, Taos, NM

2025: Smith Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2024: “Women Artists,” Governors Gallery, Capitol Building, Santa Fe, NM

2023: “Amerika,” Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany

2022-2025: “El Dia de Los Muertos,” Espanola, NM

2022 &2013-2019: LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA

2021: “Here,” Sanitary Tortilla Factory, Albuquerque, NM

2020 & 2022: Palm Springs International Art Fair, Palm Springs, CA

2019: “Open Studio Exhibition,” Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency, Joshua Tree, CA

2019: “Changing Ideals: The Tia Collection,” The Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY

2018-2020: "Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms," The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI; The George Washington University Museum, &The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA

2018-2019: “Because It's Time: Unraveling Race & Place in New Mexico,” National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque, NM

2018-2019: Without Borders/Arte Sin Fronteras, El Pueblo History Museum, Pueblo, CO

2018: “Revolution,” Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany

2016: “Modernist Intersections: The Tia Collection,” University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tuscon, AZ

2016: “The Legacy of Fred Harvey in New Mexico,” SF Community Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2016: “Fahrenheit 451,” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK

2015: “Song of the West,” Kohi Kulturaum, Karlsruhe, Germany

2015: “Lollipop Guild Invitational,” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK

2014: “Uncharted Territory,” Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM

2013: “Fine Folk of New Mexico,” SF Community Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2012: “Finite Passing of an Infinite Passion,” SCA Contemporary, Albuquerque, NM

2011: “100 Years of Women Rockin’ the World,” Artrage Gallery, Syracuse, NY

2011: “18 Days,” Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2010: “TWO,” Rooftops, Berlin, DE

2009: “Vision Shift,” Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM

2009: Arte BA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2009: “Salvo,” Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007-2011: Masottatorres Contemporanea, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2008: “FOCA Show,” Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM

2007-2008: “Originals,” National Museum of Women in the Arts, Harwood Museum, NM

2007: “Lifting the Veil: New Mexico Women and the Tricultural Myth,” Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, NM

2005-08: MJ Higgins Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2005: “Heroes,” Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2005: “La Madre Poderosa,” Harwood Museum, Taos, NM

2003: “FOCA Exhibition,” Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM

1999-2006 Tops Gallery, Malibu, CA

Art in Public Places/Murals

“Pino Casarini Inspired Circus Mural,” Piazza Caffe, Santa Fe, NM 2025

“Tres Graces of New Mexico Mural,” Wildflower Playhouse, Taos, NM 2024

“Double Time Dance Studio Mural,” Double Time Dance Studio, Albuquerque, NM 2023

“Zoe Kravitz Mural,” Fazenda Lenny Kravitz, Brazil 2023

Various Murals, El Monte Sagrado, Taos, NM 1999 & 2000

Save Art Space Billboard, Albuquerque, NM 2024 & 2025

“Tres Homies,” Escondido, Santa Fe, NM

“Carlos Gardel as the Buddha,” Cafecito, Santa Fe, NM

Books & Albums

Last Sketches, Erin Currier, CSF Publishing 2017

Carnet d’Amerika, Erin Currier, CSF Publishing 2016

Carnet d’Asie, Erin Currier, CSF Publishing 2013

The Paintings of Erin Currier, CSF Publishing, 2012

Ordinary Mysticism (cover), Mirabai Starr, Harper Collins 2024

Poderosas (cover) Dr Lisette Garcia, Sunyata 2020

Julian of Norwich (cover), Mirabai Starr, Sounds True, 2019

Wild Mercy (cover), Mirabai Starr, Sounds True, 2018

Modernist Intersections: The Tia Collection, The University of Arizona Press, 2016

Even the Devil Gets the Blues (cover), Cedell Davis, Sunyata Records 2016

Life in Schools (cover), Peter McLaren, Paradigm Publishers, 2015

Singing Earth (cover), Barrett Martin, Sunyata, 2012

Last Words (cover), Screaming Trees, Sunyata, Records 2011

Sketchbook Confidential, North Light Books, 2010

Women Artists Datebook , Syracuse Cultural Workers, 2022, 2016, 2009-2013

Education, and the Struggle for Liberation (cover), Mustafa Yunus Eryman, Hampton, 2009

100 Artists of the Southwest, Douglas Bullis, Schiffer, 2006

Pedagogy & Praxis in the Age of Empire(cover),Nathalia Jaramillo, Rowman & Littlefield, 2006

Capitalists and Conquerors (cover), Peter McLaren, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005

Teaching Against Global Capitalism (cover), Peter McLaren, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005

Press

American Art Collector Magazine 2020-2026, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014 (cover), 2010-2013

Daily News, London UK 2021

Forbes 2021

New York Magazine 2021

Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo 2021, 2016, 2015, 2014 (cover), 2012, 2010,2008,2006,2004

Santa Fe Reporter, 2021-2026,2020 (cover), 2015-2019, 2013(cover), 2012, 2006, 2005

Taos News, 2026 (cover), 2019-2025, 2018 (cover), 2015, 2014 (cover), 2013, 2010, 2009, 2008 (cover), 2005-2007, 2004 (cover), 2001-2003, 2000 (cover)

Art Voices Magazine, 2019 (cover)

LA Weekly, 2019

Santa Fean, 2019 (cover), 2009-2015, 2007, 2004, 2003

New Mexico Magazine, 2017

Western Art & Architecture, 2017

THE Magazine, 2014-2016, 2007-2011, 2004, 2003, 1999

Professional Artist Magazine, 2015

Pasticcio, 2014

Malibu Magazine, 2012, 2005

Southwest Art, 2010

Buenos Aires Herald, 2009

Pagina 12, Argentina, 2009