The summer heat arrived early this year and the west Texas cactus are in full bloom. It’s the perfect time to introduce you to artist James Malone and one of my collection faves.
Malone was born in 1943 in Savannah, New York. He studied first at the State University of New York, and then later received his graduate degree from TCU in Ft. Worth in the early 70s. As you might imagine- with an art career that spans half a century, Malone has now worked in a wide variety of media: Graphite, watercolor pen, pen and charcoal, collage, opaque acrylic paint, and wax.
The two mediums that grabbed my attention were his use of thread and fire! As a child, the artist’s mother taught him how to sew so he could craft his own holsters for his toy guns. And in his work today, he will often create an image with graphite or paint, then embellish the finished work with colorful hand stitches. Malone has also been known to create images by burning lines into paper with a magnifying glass!
Now of all his subject matter, Malone is probably most well known for his landscapes of the Big Bend Region of West Texas. Many of his works include recurring western imagery, patterns, and metaphor. His work is extremely detail-focused, and when you observe a piece from a distance, you might mistake it for a photograph! I know I did when I first saw this work from our permanent collection, entitled “Cactus Land.”
This drawing of prickly pear on a rocky ledge was made with graphite- except for the blossoms of the cactus, which were created with red crayons! (That fun fact, by the way, makes this piece a tour favorite with our youngest visitors who are always surprised to discover wax crayon used in artwork on exhibit at a museum!)
That red wax feels so important to this work- the blossoms absolutely POP in contrast to the stark and rocky scene, rendered in monotone detail.
Now as detailed and realistically rendered as many of his works may be, the artist has expressed that his work is often more reflective of his memories of the feelings these places invoked.
And in observing his work, I think many of us can relate.
I know his pieces definitely remind me of my own:
-Family trips to Big Bend as a child.
-The first time I saw a flowering cactus in the wild- shocked to discover that they actually bloomed!
-Looking up at the West Texas sky to see constellations spread out in every direction.
-Even Malone’s historical marker series takes me back to long Texas road trips–stopping every 2 miles on the highway to learn about the area.
So many of his works feel like a communal, visual record– reflecting emotions and experiences that so many of us share of our State.
Kirsten Hahn
Family & Public Programs Coordinator