Like Mike

Friends and family to gather in celebration of late artist/musician Mikey Rae

As we come up on the Nov. 23 anniversary of the death of Santa Fe artist Mikey Rae, who often created under the moniker Legit Concerns, friends and family of the late local icon have Rae’s body of work in mind, according to Rae’s brother Andrew. This weekend, those close to Rae will gather to celebrate his life and art at the Mikey Rae Art Show, a combination live performance, raffle, dance party and archive kick-off event featuring notable locals who knew, created with or otherwise crossed paths with Rae.

“This is sort of in response to the mood of everything with the first [memorial] we did at Meow Wolf, when everyone was still in shock and coming together out of sadness,” Andrew Rae tells SFR. “This is more trying to bring everyone together with levity and in a way where we can think about preserving his legacy as a musician and an artist.”

Friends slated to perform under the name Mikey Rae Family Band include Westin McDowell, John Francis Mustain, Hannie Lyles, Dylan Blanchard, Leo Brown, Maggie O’Knapp, Jaleah Kuehmichel and Rae’s brothers Andrew and Christopher. They’ll play some of Rae’s tunes, Andrew says, and then the night will evolve into a dance party featuring Rae favorites like Orbison and Petty, plus his own dancier jamz. Additionally, anyone who owns artwork created by Rae is encouraged to bring it to the event so it can be photographed and properly archived, then eventually transformed into a more permanently accessible trove.

“We already have a lot of his art, but the idea is that people bring their own to be exhibited and archived,” Andrew explains. “Then it will be returned—you’re not getting rid of it or selling it.”

Andrew also says the raffle will include various Legit Concerns pieces donated by Meow Wolf and other works. And that though the event is free to attend, a $5 suggested donation will go toward the newly established Mikey Rae Scholarship at Santa Fe’s Dragonfly Art Studio.

“That’ll all go to supported under--resourced kids participating in their summer camps,” Andrew says. “Mikey was a participant at some of the figure drawing classes they’d do with [arts educator] Gary Myers.” (Alex De Vore)

Mikey Rae Art Show: 6 pm Saturday, Sept. 16. $5 suggested donation (no one turned away). Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808

Surface/Levels

The SFR art section has featured no shortage of writers who’ve discussed their exhaustion with landscape paintings—especially in Santa Fe, where it almost seems like the galleries think they’ll get in trouble if they don’t constantly show them. But every so often, someone special comes along and makes us feel sincere emotions about landscapes. This time out, it’s James Ayres, whose textured and borderline haunting Scratching the Surface feels both novel and familiar. With a combination of impasto technique, rollers, sprays, palette knives and color mastery, Ayres not only reframes layered and ethereal visions of trees, cactuses, rivers, roadsides and mesas, he captures light in a way few can muster. Yes, these are Southwest landscapes, but through the lens of something strange and ungraspable. (ADV)

James Ayres: Scratching the Surface Opening: 5 pm Friday, Sept. 15. Free. Canyon Road Contemporary Art, 622 Canyon Road, (505) 983-0433

Hydration Nation

You might scoff at the thought of a water sommelier, but we find the whole idea kind of amazing. Although we’ve grown accustomed to a certain level of water quality here in this weird country, folks like water som Marti Mills are on a whole other level. Mills joins the fray at downtown coffeeshop REMIX Audio Bar this week for a fine water tasting featuring numerous waters from around the world such as Aura and Saint Aniol, the latter of which is naturally carbonated. You’ll learn how to discern high quality water and why drinking the good stuff not only tastes better, but can have a tangible effect on your physical and mental health. We should also mention most fine water tastes absolutely delicious, so what have you got to lose outside of your preconceived notions? (ADV)

Fine Water Tasting: High Desert Hydration: 11 am Saturday, Sept. 16. $35. REMIX Audio Bar, 101 W Marcy St., (505) 803-7949.

Indigielicious

Those who pay any attention to broader culinary trends will surely have noticed a resurgence of Indigenous foods and methodologies in recent years. We’ve seen it on the national scale with The Sioux Chef, Sean Sherman, and chef Kimberly Tilsen-Brave Heart (Oglala Lakota) for certain. Now New Mexican artist, filmmaker and food aficionado Natalie Benally (Diné) sets out to contextualize the concept with her new documentary, Indigenize the Plate. In her film, Benally travels to a Quechuan community in Peru to discover both food-based and ceremonial similarities to practices back home, all while broadening the conversations surrounding community, sustainability and sustenance. Benally herself joins her director Ernie Zahn at the CCA for a screening of the film and a conversation about its making and implications. (ADV)

Indigenize the Plate Screening and Conversation: 6:30 pm Monday, Sept. 18. $15. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338