This summer, the New Mexico Museum of Art invites visitors into the colorful and outlandish world of Patrick Nagatani. The Albuquerque-based photographer, a long-time University of New Mexico professor of art who passed away last year, was known for constructing and staging dreamlike tableaux for his camera. The Santa Fe exhibit, Invented Realities, runs through the summer.
"Patrick was someone who really did invent worlds for us to visit and enjoy," says Katherine Ware, the Museum's Curator of Photography. "And he was interested in breaking the fallacy that photography tells the truth. So that's what the title, 'Invented Realities,' is about, letting people in on the joke and showing them how photographs are constructed."
More from Kate about Patrick Nagatani and his work in this longer version of the interview. Kate also explains why the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and the UNM Art Museum all have exhibits about Nagatani on display this summer. "I know that artists don't really like the idea that we only pay attention until after they die, but one can really take a different view when the work is finished. This is going to be an interesting time, with the three shows, to take a hard look at his work and find some new meaning."