Text and Image: Playing with Haiga

 

 

Coinciding with The Haiku North America conference, held this year in Santa Fe, Axle Contemporary will present an exhibition of work by New Mexico artists who pair text and image in their paintings and drawings. This exhibition is inspired by haiga, the traditional Japanese form of illustrated haiku.

 

Text & Image: Playing with Haiga, celebrates contemporary artists who combine poetic language and images to create what are both literary and visual artworks. The traditional Japanese form of Haiga rose to prominence in the 17th century and continues to this day. In western culture, text and image were paired in the early and mid 20th century works  by Surrealists and Dadaists. Today the traditional and contemporary forms inform each other, and many artists draw from both traditions. For this exhibition we will exhibit the work of John Brandi, Juliana Coles, Guy Cross, Luke Dorman, and Jerry Wellman, In addition, students from the New Mexico School for the Arts painted large banners with their own Haiga-inspired words and images, and carried them through the streets of downtown Santa Fe in a public art action done in collaboration with Axle.