Chiara Giovando

Hunter: Selections from the Personal Collections of Tony Abeyta

2024, Institue of Contemporary Art Santa Fe, August 10 – October 12

HUNTER is an exhibition assembled from the personal collections of Tony Abeyta. A well-known Diné painter and silversmith, Abeyta is also a lifelong collector, appraiser, and expert art consultant specializing in contemporary Indigenous art. The exhibition traverses the terrain of collection-making, examining the idiosyncratic undercurrents present in any collection by delving into the depths of Abeyta’s personal curiosity.

Ranging from the seemingly ordinary to the rare and precious, the things that catch Abeyta’s eye are not valued solely for their monetary worth. Instead, they share an inherent metaphysical appeal that he describes as a “testament to human existence.” There is an equalizing quality to Abeyta’s desire, bringing together the high and the low, the ancient and the modern, the work of art and the child’s toy through his particular devotion.

The breadth of Abeyta’s collection brings many important artists and cultural figures into conversation across generations, geographies, and artistic traditions. Major figures in contemporary Indigenous art appear alongside artists associated with modernism, abstraction, photography, film, conceptual art, craft, and the cultural histories of New Mexico. Established artists are shown beside underrecognized figures whose work Abeyta has collected and advocated for over many years. Artworks are presented alongside photographs, records, cassette tapes, posters, toys, archival materials, and found objects connected to Abeyta’s family, friendships, artistic community, and personal history.

Artists represented in the exhibition include Tony Abeyta, Margeaux Abeyta, Narciso Abeyta, Patrociño Barela, Joe Ben Jr., Larry Bell, T.C. Cannon, Nick Cave, Melissa Cody, Karita Coffey, Grey Cohoe, Constance DeJong, Charles Fréger, Nicholas Galanin, Edgar Heap of Birds, Juan Hamilton, Dennis Hopper, Raymond Jonson, Steven Paul Judd, Debbie Long, Charles Loloma, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Agnes Martin, Kent Monkman, George Morrison, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cara Romero, Diego Romero, Fritz Scholder, Roxanne Swentzell, Vicente Telles, and Joel-Peter Witkin, among others. The collection also includes historic photographs, puppets made by students at the Santa Fe Indian School, Indigenous music recordings, and vernacular materials by unidentified makers.

Together, these works and objects speak to the ways Abeyta has supported artists through his appreciation, mentorship, advocacy, and collecting over many decades. They also reveal the collection as a record of his own life and relationships, joining personal memory to a larger account of Indigenous experience and contemporary art.

The exhibition’s accompanying walkthrough was developed from a series of conversations between Abeyta and Giovando. Edited by Giovando, it brought together curatorial writing, biographical information, and Abeyta’s own memories, insights, and reflections on the objects he has collected.

“The hunt has changed, new rituals are aligned with a new order. Assimilation, colonialism, commerce, and consumerism have created new landscapes, new hunting grounds. The Diné were hunters and gatherers, following animal trails, and moving with the seasons. Now I am a treasure hunter on a quest for meaning and a more comprehensive story of how I exist as a new world Navajo. The animals have become symbolic, and their paths have faded into the obscure wilderness. I buy my meat from a butcher and my cultivated produce from the farmer’s market. Our stories are kept as artifacts, tied with tenuous sinew to a larger story of Indigenous experience. The objects become our language, speaking of both past and present. I am a collector of these objects, memorabilia of my own existence.”

—Tony Abeyta