Some of Joaquin Salazar’s black-and-white landscapes are on display in his new Substratum Fine Art Gallery, located downstairs at 1021½ Main Ave. Salazar will host a reception for an exhibit of his work Fri., Nov. 29./Photo by Jaime Becktel

Bending the shadows

The evolution of fine art photographer Joaquin Salazar

by Jaime Becktel

Locating the Substratum Fine Art Gallery is a tad elusive, like hunting a speak-easy door, whereupon entering you feel as though you’ve come across something between an opium den and a boom-town bordello. You are greeted at the bottom of the stairs by two onyx lamps, variegated sentinels that illuminate a subterranean catacomb occupied by large, hypnotic photographs. Standing before a triad of his work is Joaquin Salazar – aptly attired for a Saturday morning interview in flannel pajama pants.

There are two instantly striking things about this 39-year-old: He is devoutly passionate when it comes to raising his 11-year-old son, and he is equally committed to the task of living true to himself as an artist. This sense of passion and commitment is interwoven throughout his parenting and art-making process, one informing and inspiring the other in a seamless and reflexive waltz.

Just the facts

What: Substratum Fine Art Gallery Opening Night reception for “Consonance of Earth & Sky,” featuring the work of Joaquin Salazar featuring music by Hello Dollface

When: Fri., Nov. 29, 5-7 p.m.

Where: 1021 1/2 Main Ave., Durango

Info: substratumgallery.com or 435-225-3650

An appreciation for art and music were factory installed into Salazar having been born in Santa Fe and raised in southern Louisiana. Jazz music was the soundtrack, and as a young man he was drawn to street corners where performers wailed their shiny brass horns into the southern sky. The “mathematical cacophony” of jazz, as he calls it, impacted him deeply and he would go on to study and perform it on the piano with the reverence of a monk.

The bulk of Salazar’s adult life was spent in Seattle, where in 2005 he suffered a traumatic spinal injury that would catalyze his creative evolution into photography. His desire to return to work and normal life following his injury was thwarted by six months of immobilized recovery time, so he moved to the Utah desert –  Bluff to be exact – where the sandstone canyons slowly helped him heal.

A prisoner of his injured body and subject to the wilderness of his thoughts, Salazar sought a creative outlet to regain equilibrium. He met a professional photographer, J.R. Lancaster, who became his mentor, and for the next three winters, he immersed himself in learning the science and art of the camera in the dynamic landscape of the Southwest.

The photographer stands in front of the lens for a change at his new gallery, Substratum. Of his medium Salazar says "The shadows bend toward the light. People often want to see life in color because it’s immediate and comfortable to them. Black and white demands that you look longer.”/Photo by Jaime Becktel

It was being forced to pay closer attention to the little things – the details and the pixels of life – that called Salazar home to photography. He found himself attuned to the craft on a surprisingly deep level, able to communicate thoughts and feelings, philosophies and passions through the medium while enjoying the sensation of truly loving what he was doing. To Joaquin, “Having a greater understanding of myself while simultaneously loving what I’m doing is the deepest possible bass note for me.” Of his chosen black-and-white medium, he says, “The shadows bend toward the light. People often want to see life in color because it’s immediate and comfortable to them. Black and white demands that you look longer.”

He credits girlfriend Kristen McKinnon as an integral player in his recovery from spinal surgery and the development of his career as a fine art photographer. “Kristen was the piece. She would take me to the desert so that I could watch shadows move up and down the canyons. She taught me to go to nature, to sit on the canyon rims. I had never seen anyone be so graceful, and because of her I began to implement grace.”

Salazar is quick to also acknowledge 11-year-old son, Benjamin, as the driving force behind his creativity. “Parenting has required every bit of my creative instincts to teach my child curiosity and to have him explore his own creative potential. I want to equip my son with excellent skills and tools before he hits the wall of adulthood.”

According to Salazar, there are intersections between parenting and art making. “Art is an opportunity to ask why and to push past the barriers of ‘Because I said so.’ It’s easy to be average in this life and it takes understanding to touch people’s curiosity and to tap into their natural abilities.”

As a champion of community art, Salazar says that for-profit art cannot live without nonprofit art. “Build up community art and see what happens,” he challenges.

He credits the Durango Art Center and exhibit director Mary Puller for supporting him as a photographer in the Durango community. “For a whopping 50 bucks a year, I became a member of the DAC, and I would not be the photographer I am today without the center’s support and the opportunity to display my work in the gallery,” he said. “I want to go up to local artists and say, ‘why aren’t you showing at your community art center? These galleries are made up of us, and people look up to us. The up-and-comings look at our work and see that we shared ourselves. This gives them permission to share themselves too.’”

A collection of Salazar’s work now resides in the permanent collection of Taos Pueblo, archived alongside Georgia O’Keefe and Ansel Adams. Says Joaquin, “I have yet to see something in a fine art museum that truly intimidated me. Did it move me to tears and inspire me? Yes. But I often ask myself, ‘Do I have the capacity to share myself at that level?’ The answer is ‘yes,’ and I have always been driven to move beyond my own intimidation.”

This brings us to Substratum, his new gallery, where he’ll battle the “Politicians of the art world” and “The Mediocracy,” as he calls them. “I created Substratum as a platform to showcase the quality and diversity of fine art and to celebrate my mentors. Substratum is an allowance that represents the foundation upon which layers are built. My hope is that I can create a solid foundation upon which I can continuously investigate and explore. Ultimately, I want to be moved. I want to be inspired, and for no other reason than to know that people are still paying attention.” n

For more on Substratum Gallery or to see Salazar’s work, go to www.substratumgallery.com

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