SFR Picks

SFR Picks—Week of May 18

Odd landscapery, music bux, reggae legends and that one miracle drug

Out in the Open

Painter Will Bruno shows off the new stuff at Smoke the Moon

Abiquiu-based artist Will Bruno doesn’t start his oil paintings with a specific plan in mind. After years spent working in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, he’s learned to let the works sort of channel through him while he explores the great outdoors. During the pandemic, however, when he was relatively new to New Mexico, semi-isolated and digging deeper into a love of experimental comics, a convergence occurred, and now Bruno is prepared to showcase more than 20 works created roughly over the last six months.

“I approach each canvass without having a pre-conceived notice,” Bruno explains, “which makes the process exciting, fun, revelatory. A lot of my work ends up being about the environment I’m living in, and in moving to this area, I took an interest in studying histories; when I moved to California from the Northwest, my color palette became wider and more pastel-y with the light change, and when I moved out here, it changed accordingly with the region.”

The results are stunning. Yes, these are New Mexico landscapes and identifiable as such, but there’s more going on than meets the eye on first glance. You’ll find figurative elements and a sort of magic realism thing going on. Bits of text wend their way into the pieces, as does an almost alchemical feeling of mystery. New Mexico, of course, has its fair share of history shrouded in the passage of time. Bruno somehow encapsulates a sense of intrigue and darkness, though not in the scary sense. However you perceive the new works, though, you’ll notice a vague narrative.

“It’s not all sketched out, which makes it more fun for me, but I think it also makes the work less obvious,” Bruno tells SFR. “It kind of ends up with more of a disjunctive narrative, which I’ve enjoyed in film and literature. You have a landscape that might trigger a figurative element to come to mind, or another scene you can put on the canvas that would relate to that first landscape whether it be in color of form or theme.”

You can look deeper into Bruno’s practice—including his comic-esque series Sick Earth Catalog—on his Instagram (@willbruno), but his show at Smoke the Moon this week is a must-see. (Alex De Vore)

Spherical Influence: New Paintings by Will Bruno Opening: 6-8 pm Friday, May 20. Free. Smoke the Moon, 616 1/2 Canyon Road, smokethemoon.com

Bee Cool

If’n you don’t know about Santa Fe’s Queen Bee Music Association, it is, in a nutshell, an accessible musical learning opportunity for music lovers of all levels and ages. But sometimes these things don’t come cheap, and the folks behind the program understand that. Hence, a scholarship fund—but those coffers won’t fill themselves. Thus, catch the family-friendly Honeypot Hootenanny, at which local act Shiners Club Jazz Band donates live tunes to help raise bucks for the Queen Bee Scholarship Fund. All you have to do show up, drink some beers and stuff and maybe donate when the hat comes your way, figuratively speaking. Boom. You just helped people. (ADV)

Honeypot Hootenanny: 1 pm Saturday, May 21. Free. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808

50 Years and Counting

With nearly 50 albums under its belt across a glorious decades-spanning career, the legendary reggae duo Black Uhuru hits Santa Fe this week as part of its 50th Anniversary Tour, and we’re pretty sure a huge cross-section of the town is about to lose its collective minds. Duckie Simpson and company not only helped bring the dub style into the mainstream, they won the first reggae Grammy ever, plus they’ve sold nearly as many records as Bob Marley—which is honestly kind of insane—and the new album New Day just dropped last week. Find out why alongside Santa Fe reggae act Innastate this week. (ADV)

Black Uhuru with Innastate: 7:30 pm Sunday, May 22. $28. The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Co., 37 Fire Place, (505) 557-6182

You Can

With over 700,000 overdose deaths in America since 2000, and the rising tide of Fentanyl overdoses surging across the country, it’s more important than ever to understand what Narcan is, how it works and how to use it. Santa Fe’s Mountain Center presents the last in a series of training sessions wherein folks can learn all about the frankly miraculous drug which, in emergency situations, can save those suffering from overdoses. According to recent data from the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, roughly 2 million Americans are grappling with an opioid disorder—why wouldn’t we want to know how to help them? (ADV)

Overdose Prevention Training: 2-4 pm Tuesday, May 24. Free. Santa Fe Public Libray LaFarge Branch, 1730 Llano St., (505) 955-4867





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