Mark Sublette Modern Grand Opening

 

Mark Sublette Modern is Tucson’s newest addition to the contemporary art scene. Mark Sublette’s Medicine Man Gallery has been a fixture in Tucson’s art community for the last fourteen years. Medicine Man Gallery is primarily known for its early Native American, western art and sculpture, including a museum dedicated to Maynard Dixon.   Sublette’s latest venture is a departure from what he is known for, but not from what he has loved and collected. Always a closet contemporary art enthusiast, Sublette will now share his eye and modern collecting taste with the rest of the world.

                                          

 

Sublette’s tag line for his new gallery is Modern art for the Western Aesthetic. My real interest is in artists who have a sense for what is western and then interpreting those feelings from a nonrealistic viewpoint. This doesn’t mean it can’t be traditional, in fact, I have antique native art incorporated into the modern gallery setting. I have tried to include only those items, whether a basket, pot, or textile which have a unique sensibility; those rare pieces which show great abstract quality, mastered by Native Americans before the true modernist movement in the art world had even begun. I enjoy seeing the reaction by my clients when they see a c.1900 Navajo weaving juxtaposed with an abstract painting done in 2007. Often they are taken back and you can see them trying to discern if the textile is old or a recent interpretation of modern art.”

                                         

 

Mark Sublette Modern is a compellation of all the fields that make up modern art and design. Included in this elite group of artists is LA furniture designer Reze Feiz who is known for his Phase furniture and home designs. Sublette recalls how he was able to include such a well known designer into his stable of Tucson artists. “I went to New York City to see a seventy million dollar Warhol sell at Christies in May and made the furniture connection. I think it helps when you are starting a modern gallery from scratch to see what is happening at the epicenter, New York City.” While in New York, the modern furniture and design show was underway which offered works by the best furniture designers and accessories being made in the world today. “Reze was one of those world class exhibitors, and I fell in love with his sensibilities, using unique material like cork, with a modern aesthetic yet fully functional, something I would use in my own home.” From New York, to LA, and back to Tucson, Mark Sublette Modern now offers world class art, furniture, ceramics, sculpture, and jewelry in a city that is better known for cowboys than cubism.

 

                                         

The grand opening of Mark Sublette Modern in Tucson is November 16^th, with artists represented by the gallery on hand. Included will be such well known artists as Ed Mell and Gary Ernest Smith; both have created a group of select new works for the gallery. Located in Tucson’s newest retail center Plaza Colonial in the Catalina foothills, a high-end group of retail and restaurants make up the mix with Mark Sublette Modern having a prominent location in front of the complex . Mark Sublette Modern is located at 2890 East Skyline Drive in Tucson. The Sublette Modern Collection can be viewed online at www.marksublettemodern.com and the gallery can be reached at 520.299.7798.