"Infinite Horizons: Impressions of the Colorado Plateau" by Joe Schafer

Telluride Arts HQ East

March 4 - April 7, 2024

Telluride Arts Presents:

Infinate Horizons: Impressions of the Colorado Plateau

By Joe Schafer

“Nature not only serves as an inspiration for the meaning of my works, but it also serves as a medium. Starting with sheet metal, which allows for a lot of experimentation, I use stains, dyes, and both water-based and solvent-based paints to build colors and textures. I then scrape away paint, sand down the composition, or leave works to freeze or rust in the weather. Painting outside in the elements provides my pieces with unique and organic qualities as the mixed mediums react to heat, cold, snow, and rain, building up various smooth or rough textures and providing a depth of color. The artworks included in Infinite Horizons: Impressions of the Colorado Plateau each began with a vision stamped in my mind after an adventure on the Colorado Plateau. Utilizing solvents, paints, plasters, and more, I form the foreground of my work and then scrape out the horizon line to reveal the composition. After whittling away, I then build up the color and the texture, all the while highlighting that initial feeling I’m aiming to capture—the texture of rock beneath my fingers while climbing in the mountains or the sweep of alpenglow on a deep brown mesa.”

Joe Schafer is a mixed media artist based in Durango, CO. After a successful career as a custom painter, Joe discovered his latent talent for fine art painting through experimenting with various mediums and techniques to create unique faux finishes for high end homes. Following an instinct to explore his creativity, Schafer created his first landscape painting in 2018. Shortly after, Schafer became a full-time fine artist and now works at The Artroom Collective, a diverse, working studio gallery in Durango.

Joe flexes into the skills that he learned in the trades, often incorporating unconventional techniques and mediums like stains and dyes. Inspired by the vastness of the wild landscapes in his own backyard of Southwest Colorado, Joe utilizes the elements to create the rich and unique textures that are signature to his paintings, such as freezing paints using winter temperatures or incorporating sand and soil into his mediums.

For more information contact Telluride Arts at 970-728-3930, info@telluridearts.org, or find us online at www.telluridearts.org.