REBECCA HAINES

One More for Forgiveness (2021), oil on panel

Local artist Rebecca Haines blends elements of realism and abstraction in her reductive imagery of fauna. Her gestural mark-making captures the essence of her subjects: deer, falcons, crows, foxes, and wolves in Santa Fe. “’Tis a long list of fascinating and varied life forms and personalities of the wild kingdom of creatures with which we are blessed to share this planet,” Haines says in a statement. “We may forget from time to time that we are animals too, and convince ourselves to believe we are superior to the other beings who call the Earth their home.” Haines paintings underscore the enigmatic, soulful nature of the species that share our world. Her solo exhibition, One of Us ,is currently on view at the gallery and online and continues through the month of June.

Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Art, 702 Canyon Road, 505-986-1156, giacobbefritz.com

HARRIET YALE RUSSELL

Fragments from the Sky (2019), oil on panel

Nurturing an innate desire to translate subjective experience into paintings, which she’s felt compelled to do since childhood, artist Harriet Yale Russell creates nonobjective abstractions that reflect a strong focus on design, color relationships, and composition. Originally from Rochester, New York, Russell relocated to New Mexico in the mid-1990s after earning an MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. She draws inspiration from conscious thought regarding her life experiences, as well as from dreams, transforming them into emotive abstractions. For the artist, the act of painting is one of continual discovery. She paints without first doing any preliminary drawings or sketches, allowing for an element of spontaneity to enter into her practice. “You either tell the painting where it’s going, or it tells you,” she says. Russell’s exhibition Dark to Light is currently on view and continues through July 24.

Evoke Contemporary, 550 S. Guadalupe St., 505-995-9902, evokecontemporary.com

RYAN VIZZIONS

The Nation’s Capitol, Washington DC, January 13, 2021 (2021), archival pigment print

Photography is among the most essential messaging tools for documenting the extraordinary political, social, and economic events of contemporary times.The group exhibition Present Tense, Monroe Gallery of Photography features images that were all taken in the past few years and that underscore the upheaval and intimate and public dramas occurring in the social spheres as captured by a new wave of independent photojournalists. Images include the 2017 white supremacist tiki-torch rally at the University of Virginia, the protests at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol, the protests that followed the police killings of Michael Brown and George Floyd. Photographers include Ryan Vizzions, David Butow, Ashley Gilbertson, Sanjay Suchak, and Gabriela Campos. The exhibition is currently on view and runs through Aug. 22.

Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar Ave., 505-992-0800, monroegallery.com