Doug Coffin, The Ceremonial Sun, and Moon

Doug Coffin is a living legend. Whether you have spent two weeks or several decades in our beautiful city, you are bound to encounter one of his artworks — Coffin and the region are synonymous. Santa Fe has been home to this career-artist since the 1970’s. Remarkably, when traveling abroad it is equally common to encounter Coffin’s work in Ecuador, Italy, Africa, and so on across the globe. 

As an innovator he consistently treads a deep, new path, which fellow artists acknowl- edge. Recognized not only for his strides as a Native American artist (Potawatomi/Creek heritage), but also as a contemporary artist with global acclaim, Coffin in- spires greatness regionally and internationally.

Coffin is a master of mixed media, working in scale from intimate to monumental and incorporating an unending menagerie of materials, includ- ing bones, paint, feathers, steel, wood, concrete, gold-leaf, and aluminum.
After forty-plus-years of art making, creative disci- pline finds the artist working in his Abiquiu studio six days a week. If day seven does not find Coffin in Santa Fe, ones only option is to head up north for an afternoon visit to “The World Headquarters”, as the artist refers to his mesa-top studio overlooking a breathtaking slice of Georgia O’Keeffe country. This rammed, earth fortress houses an artist’s dream be- hind its 2-foot-thick, indigenous soil walls. A life’s work; a durable shrine in which to harbor this whirling dervish, this creative ex- traordinaire.

After receiving a BFA from the Uni- versity of Kansas and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Coffin’s career has wound his artwork through forty public collections, boasting four global placements through Art in Embassies. His monumen- tal sculpture has stood regally in the White House Sculpture Garden amongst global master works. The Grand Palais in Paris and the National Museum of the American In- dian in New York City have both featured his creations. Coffin has received the Ford Foun- dation Grant, National Teaching Fellowships and honorary status in Who’s Who in American Art. Currently, Coffin continues a residency project on the island of Pantelleria, Italy, intermittently traveling to the country over the past five years.

The recent outlet for his creative drive is the ongoing investigation of balance:  male and female, dark and light, the ceremonial sun and moon. Also motivated by his up- coming inaugural exhibition with Patricia Carlisle Fine Art, Coffin is creating his most dynamic works to date. The artist says of this new gallery affiliation, “It had been over two years since my work was represented in a Santa Fe gallery.  I was so pleased with the way this came about, through a longstand- ing friendship, in a natural way. I can see this valuable relationship continuing to grow.” One glimpse of the new works in the gallery and one has to agree: absolute harmony. Through these paintings Coffin brings forth symbolism from past bodiesof work. Add to this his passionate study of balance, and you find a presence of energy in its most simplified form. The artist is able to create dynamic images that are at once medita- tive and vibrant. His use of metallic paints in The Ceremonial Sun and Moon Series instills drama and intensity within the paintings. Each work is entirely different depend- ing on the ambient light. Therefore, the sun and the moon not only inspire these pieces conceptually, but also directly affect them mechanically.

In Red Vision Series, Coffin incorporates a multitude of esoteric symbols throughout afathomless field of deep red. The artist knows no boundaries; hence his works speak to the in- herent understanding, which we all possess. Red Vision #8 is rich with symbolism, thefour phases of life, mankind asking for en- lightenment, the cosmos, the acknowledgement of mystery, to which, the artist adds, “I have in- cluded imagery from ceremonial Ghost Dance attire, which has been stamped on my memory since I was a child.”

Three fluid “X’s” form a line down the side of the painting, “This represents the crossroads of life: in past, pres- ent and future,” explains the artist. Through all three stages, Coffin seems to stay his course, always choosing the path of integrity. En- couraged by his diligence, grace and good fortune the global public continues to em- brace his creativity.

by Samantha Paige Furgason
Focus | Santa Fe, August/September 2007