VISUAL ART | March 1–31 | By Appointment | FREE
Triple Take Art Group Presents “Go Big or Stay Home” Exhibit
Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, at 5–9 PM as part of The ABQ Artwalk
This exhibit can be viewed during public FUSION events or by appointment. To schedule a visit, email FUSION.
Local abstract painters, Janet Bothne, Joseph Riggs and Bill Sabatini, a.k.a. Triple-take Art Group, combine their latest, large-format works for a bold exhibition at FUSION Gallery during the month of March with an Opening Reception on Friday March 8th from 5-9pm. Featuring live music from 3 on a Match from 7–9 PM.
JANET BOTHNE
Janet Bothne has been ‘weaving’ color in her vibrant works for over three decades.
Her focus on the paint itself being the subject matter has taken this former realist into a new practice that balances gut vs. brain, chaos vs. organization and a zen-like approach which results in works that straddle the familiar and the enigmatic.
Bothne began her creative journey in Massachusetts, studying art from grade school through a short stint at the University Of Massachusetts at Amherst. Disillusioned at what the art curriculum had to offer at the time, she set out to make her mark outside of the academic world. She went on to restore antiques, paint murals for businesses and draw portraits in pastel for numerous clients.
She relocated to Los Angeles in 1997 and worked as a graphic designer for a novelty company until 2001 when she felt compelled to quit her ‘day job’ and focus on her art. Renting studio space in an art studio complex that housed over thirty artists, she was often the first to arrive each morning. When her colleagues would comment on her work ethic, she would simply say, “I need to make up for lost time.”
Eight years at the Santa Monica Art Studios led to multiple series of works and numerous exhibitions in venues such as The Santa Monica Art Museum, The Brand Library and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Sales Gallery. With the help of reps and galleries, her paintings were added to private & corporate collections throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Eleven years ago, she moved to New Mexico, opened “Studio J” in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque and began teaching abstract painting to great response. She learned that offering guidance to new and emerging artists was an immensely rewarding endeavor.
Needing to end the classes during covid, and consequently downsizing her space, she returned to focusing on her own work and stretching her imagination with more experimentation and new materials.
“Sometimes life throws you a curve ball, and while you might not realize it at the time, it’s the universe telling you it’s time to start a fresh chapter,” she says. “For me, it has also been an opportunity to find more balance in my life.”
Janet Bothne: “Dual At Sunset” 36” x 78” acrylic on canvas - diptych
BILL SABATINI, FAIA
After 40 years of successful architectural practice, I am resuming a life-long dream as a fine artist. I am inspired and influenced by the pure light, strong form, varied textures, vibrant color and most importantly by the dramatic contrasts of the southwestern landscape--blue and orange skies, green and red earth, yellow vegetation and purple shadows. I revel in color and its ability to elicit emotion. I strive to create simple, memorable and emotionally charged imagery.
Previous Exhibitions: Mariposa Gallery, Sumner and Dene, the Gallery with a Cause, Rio Grande Art Association Encantada, 4th Street Arts Center , the City of Albuquerque Open Space Gallery. Galleries: Currently at Moon and Dove Gallery in Corrales, previously at the Taos Artist Collective, the Main Street Gallery in Kansas City, and Gallery One in Montgomery AL.
My work, The Journey, was selected by the City of Albuquerque Arts Division for the permanent collection on display at City Hall.
Bill Sabatini: “Summer Garden” 48” x 60” acrylic on canvas - diptych
JOSEPH RIGGS
While continuing my profession as a criminal defense lawyer in Albuquerque in the early 2000’s, I began to exhibit my realistic watercolors, and enter shows. Beginning with the New Mexico Watercolor Society juried shows, Masterworks and the New Mexico State Fair Fine Art juried shows, I began to perfect my craft and hone my skills, but realistic watercolors became boring. I decided “no more adobes; no more hollyhocks; no more cactus and no more southwestern imagery in watercolor” and I began to experiment with abstract watercolor, in a style all my own.
With shows in Taos and Santa Fe, and gallery representation in both cities, my processes became unique to me, and distinct within watercolor. I called it Southwest Modernism. By the 2020’s, my paintings were Cubist and Geometric Abstraction. While living in Tesuque, north of Santa Fe, during the beginning of the pandemic, I led the Santa Fe Artists’ Medical Fund creating the FLOWERS FOR SANTA FE PROJECT to paint flower paintings given free to hospital patients. Of course, I painted cubist flowers in watercolor.
Moving to Corrales in 2121, and joining in the creation of the abstract group Triple-Take along with Janet Bothne and Bill Sabatini, we began to showcase abstract art in the Albuquerque area with shows like ROCK-PAPER-CANVAS at North Fourth Art Center and LAND-SKY-WATER at the Open Space Gallery.
In 2023, I showed my Minimalist Painting Series for the first time. In 2024, I am showing my Wild Seeds Project along with more minimalist, cubist and geometric abstract pieces.
Joseph Riggs: “Nightwing” 38” x 62” watercolor on paper - diptych