New Mexico Artist, Pablo Milan captured the mysticism of the West
The majestic colors of the southwest landscape reside in layers of acrylic paint and the vision of New Mexico Artist, Pablo Antonio Milan.
Milan passed away in 2017 but his impact on southwest contemporary transcends. As a 5th generation New Mexican, he found himself inspired by the sunrises and sunsets of the desert at a young age. The rich, enthralling blends of red, pink, blue and orange and sandstone caught his eye and would remain tied to his style
“The colors in my paintings are those of New Mexico and the Southwest, the early morning sunrises, the sunsets, the high desert, sandstone formations and the tree laden mountains,” he said. “They have nothing to do with the art school color wheel, but the colors I’ve seen all my life. I just embrace them and emphasize them.”
His unique method captured the depth and complexity of the unique southwestern landscape with it’s rotating color schemes and rocky mountain passes. He captures its essence in layers of acrylic paint so much that it leave the paper stiff and you can see the variegated brushstrokes and their intent as they traveled across the paper. Only once the background met expectations, did he add splatters and the finer details.
At Auction Nation, we have a collection of signed Milan originals. To create them, he layered acrylic (often, more than 25 layers) to achieve a background that comes to life. Inspiration came from local Native American Culture and many of his works recreate feelings and moments of different Native cultures like the movement and the colorful tradition of the Pueblo Kachina dancers or the Apache Crown Dancers as well as warriors and riders on the great open plains.
Milan’s style came through in a few different ways but remained grounded vibrant layers and southwestern motifs. The collection we have up for auction includes rare ethereal, spirit paintings with white figures painted over his rich, gradient background. There are abstract, layered amalgamations of thick brushstrokes. And finally, the contemporary south western scenes of horse riders other native scenes on simple, depthful backgrounds that he became known for.
Milan is one of the premier contemporary artists from Santa Fe. He was named “Spanish Artist of the Year,” in 1997 and a featured artist for Pink Floyd among many other honors. His art can be found in the collections of several museums as well as the private collections of Shakira, Nickleback, Marriott Hotels and more.
His work is currently on display and available at the Signature Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. You can bid now at AuctionNation.com and own, for yourself, an original piece of the southwest.
