Esteban Cabeza de Baca & Heidi Howard: Pistil Forms

This summer, David B. Smith Gallery is thrilled to announce Pistil Forms, a pop-up exhibition by New York-based artists Esteban Cabeza de Baca and Heidi Howard. The exhibition will feature new works, to be mounted throughout the Main Gallery and Project Room. On the heels of an artistic pilgrimage to New Mexico, Pistil Forms underscores each artist’s ongoing dialogue with the American Southwest.

New Mexico’s desert landscapes hold special meaning for Howard and Cabeza de Baca, influencing their individual practices in different ways. Similar to Agnes Martin and Georgia O’Keefe, two other artists who drew inspiration from the arts community in New York City and the landscapes and colors of the Southwest, Howard and Cabeza de Baca have an affinity for the timeless qualities of form found through a life spent with paint.

Returning to important places, in Pistil Forms, Heidi Howard and Esteban Cabeza de Baca consider the past while looking to the future. For both artists, the legacy of the Southwest offers visual and conceptual touchpoints, creating expansive new discourses touching on ecofeminism, territorialization, and artistic connections across time and space.