26 September, 2023
Santa Fe:
The
City
Different
After embarking on our combined journey, I had questions. Chad, as always, Thank you for your contagious enthusiasm and raw authenticity.
Q: When you gaze upon 'The City Different,' what thoughts/feelings does it stir within you?
A: When I gaze upon “The City Different,” I first feel a sense of joy and gratitude that you would take on the project in the first place, and that I may now look at whenever I want in my own space.
I'm going into my thoughts, the piece stirs up confusion and cohesion at the same time, a mix of mystery and yet knowing as well, since I have actually been to this place and seen it, but have also been beguiled and overwhelmed by it in its entrancing and sublime beauty.
There is the threat of storms approaching and yet the peaceful and unshakeable nature of the landscape. Therefore, feelings of both apprehension and contentment struggle for dominance in my heart.
The nature of the piece, and the landscape it represents so well, seem to hint at that unattainable “thing” or place I’m still searching for that will fulfill me and make me whole, and yet it also provides such a calming and perfect retreat from the pressures and small-mindedness of the world in which I too often find myself.
— Chad Graeber
Q: How does this work align with your own artistic journey, creative instincts and passions?
A: I’m learning to step out of my comfort zones and be open and vulnerable to all that life and passionate pursuits have to offer me at this stage of my life.
In many ways I have done about all I can accomplish in this area and location of my life, and I feel ready to start pursuing those things that truly inspire me and give me inexpressible joy and meaning to my own creative urges and desires.
This trip to Santa Fe and the picture and artwork that resulted from it express a portion of that overwhelming need I have to branch out and to grab life at its core, as Whitman told us to “seize the day” and to “suck all the marrow out of life” and what it has to offer to the creative pursuit of excellence
In looking at the painting “The City Different” and all of the incredible colors fighting for supremacy in it (rather like all the fifty different responsibilities and duties pulling me in so many directions right now), I am that lone turquoise hue in the lower middle portion of the painting attempting to rise up between the two spires and ascend to the gloriously scary but ultimately fulfilling firmament of glory! The journey there will be hard, but it will definitely be worth the toil and sacrifice to get there! I’m ready to fly there now.
Q: 'The City Different' connects with your own unique story and narrative. How does it capture a piece of your personal history or evoke memories that hold a special place in your heart?
A: The painting captures a period in my life when, after about eight months after my father died taking dialysis, I was finally on my own out in the beautiful landscape of Ghost Ranch, which proved such a haven to Georgia O’Keefe and other artistic prodigies.
There, looking upon the amazingly gorgeous colts and infinite hues of nature, I was finally, in a strange way, able to grieve my father as I had not been able to do up until now. Immediately after his death, I was ordained to the ministry (literally one day after we buried him) and then on Monday went straight back to work, I never felt as if I had time to take in the loss I had experienced or to process it with teaching, church, and other responsibilities beckoning.
Here at Ghost Ranch I had the time and freedom to let my spirit meditate not only upon how his death had affected me, but also to plan a course of life from here on out that would take nothing for granted.