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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION Santa Fe artist Jerry Wellman, co-creator of the experimental art space Axle Contemporary, has been developing the Navigator project for more than five years. The work began during residencies at Vital Spaces in Santa Fe and the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming. In 2025, Wellman presented three installments—one each in Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque. Ultimately, he envisions as many as forty distinct iterations appearing in galleries and unexpected sites, accompanied by an artist book of sketches, observations, and reveries.
“Navigators: On the Edges of Becomings” is a spirited, mythopoetic shrine-installation composed of diagrams, language, ceramics, works on paper, sculpture, light, and sound. Spilling across the floor and descending from the ceiling, the installation creates the sensation of stepping into a living book. Through this constellation of objects and signals, Wellman offers visual resources and imaginative tools for orienting ourselves.
At the heart of the project is Wellman’s belief that in all the forms of matter that surround our species, there is an inherent intelligence. It is there for us to interact with, to learn and grow from, to enrich our lives, and support the world around us. Navigators celebrates the dazzling breadth of human capacities. Using lateral, associative, and poetic visual strategies that can unsettle assumptions and spark new possibilities. Each installment playfully suggests that we hold the power to shape our personal and collective futures, in all our timeless becomings. Keys appear throughout—symbolic openings that might lead anywhere, or everywhere. The Navigators extend an invitation out of isolation and separation, and into curiosity, connection, and wonder. This exhibition will include a series of installations as well as mono-prints, which will be available for purchase.
About the Artist:
Wellman’s first “real” job, besides delivering newspapers, was working for Grover Bostwick as a roustabout in a carnival in Northern Wisconsin. His definition of art is expansive; consequently, his work as a carnie, a cab driver, a private investigator, a minister in a cult group, a ceramic tile designer, a videographer, an MFA graduate of CalArts, and co-founder/co-director of Axle Contemporary coalesces into visual and cross-disciplinary art forms. Wellman’s various art and curation projects have been exhibited nationally and internationally.
His work as an artist conceptually explores the realms of being and essences. The work exists on a fragile border between storytelling and poetry, between rational and irrational, between didactic and incomprehensible. He has been working as an artist in diverse ways, including installations, art actions, video, illustrated books, performance work, and through social engagement.
Wellman earned an MFA from CalArts. His paintings, drawings, and videos have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Awards of note include: Art Matters Foundation Grant, LINE Grant, Puffin Grant, Ucross Artist in Residency, and an NEA grant.
More info here: https://www.historicsantafe.org/navigators
Contact: Anne Kelly at [email protected] or call 505.983.2567 for more information.
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