Abiquiu,Petrales de Santa Fe
Xaverio
Created : 1996
Donated : 1997
Medium : Mixed media/two-dimensional
Dimensions: 43 1/2 inx
Located: 3rd Floor,Northeast Hallway
43 1/2 diameter
“Abiquiú” (1996) from Petrales de Santa Fe series
Petral minerals and earth pigments on wood
Xaverio (b. 1956)
Santa Fe, New Mexico / Granada, Spain
Gift of the Handsel Gallery of Santa Fe and the artist
Xaverio was born near Santa Fe de Granada in 1956. He showed great interest in nature and began to collect minerals as a child. This influenced his development of a personal artistic language and the “petral” technique, in which he uses geological materials that permit him to express his temporary emotions with clarity.
Xaverio traveled to New Mexico for the first time in 1996 and was impressed with “the spirituality of its peoples, the architecture, the dramatic skies, and particularly the magnetism and grandeur of this land.”
He decided to prepare a series of works which would express his impressions of New Mexico. He called these “Petrales de Santa Fe.”
As he traveled to different parts of the state looking for minerals, he participated in Indian ceremonials and studied their sand paintings. “Abiquiú” is one of the works in which he used different colors of the earth and minerals found in the area. Xaverio believes “the circular form represents the holistic aspects of the mind, and the geometrical forms symbolize the ability of a person to structure his own world.”
Xaverio has produced works in other places in the world, including India, Africa, Europe and America, in which he uses mineral elements.
His works are found in the important public and private collections of the Queen of Spain, Baroness Thyssen of Madrid, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, the New Mexico Fine Arts Museum, the Takuva Hirai Collection in Japan and the Art Collection of the National Library in Madrid. Xaverio lives and works part of the year in Europe and part of the year in Santa Fe.
