Dick Mason
1951-1993
Santa Fe artist Dick Mason charmed a generation of collectors and gallery goers with his astonishing paintings or viewpoints from which to watch the wonders of the New Mexico landscape. Still today, people know whom you mean when you refer to the Indian window guy or the Dalmatian painter.
Mason was born in Wichita, Kansas. He came to fine art very naturally even as a child by imitating the architectural drawings of his father. His education led him first to the Wichita Art Association and then to Wichita State University and to the University of Iowa.
When he finished his schooling, Mason moved to Santa Fe. Here he began to experience the living vitality of the broad New Mexico sky and terrain. He soon began to paint (using his chosen medium of acrylic on various supports). In 1980, he visited New Mexico's Chaco Canyon. Viewing the land and sky through the masonry of the Ancient Ones, Mason hit upon his major insight. Viewing the terrain from a singular viewpoint would only enhance the view. He began to do series of terrain-scapes, from the viewpoint of an ancient window, or an ancient grave or a languid, sleeping Dalmatian.
Mason's career was cut short by his early death, but his work remains and keeps his legacy alive.
