Obsession: Dennis Blagg & JC Pace III

Dennis Blagg’s obsession with Big Bend National Park has been the force behind his oil paintings since his early career. In his current series, his obsession has narrowed to one desert mountain from the park, Pulliam Peak, which transforms in each of his new paintings as the seasons alter the Chisos Mountains. JC Pace III’s characteristic bronze sculptures have faithfully interwoven the organic and inorganic, chronicling his obsession with the natural form and representing their perfection and fragility with indestructible materials. Together the artists are displayed in the latest exhibition at Artspace111,Obsession, open October 11 – December 1, 2018 with an opening reception from 5 – 8pm on October 11. 

Exhibition Statement from Dennis Blagg on his current paintings:

"Alsate was an Apache chief and a fierce warrior who took refuge in the Chisos Mountains to escape the threat of nearby Comanches. Legend has it that when Alsate died in battle at Big Bend, a great earthquake happened forcing up a huge face of shear wall known as Pulliam Peak. Alsate's killers fled in shear terror when they saw the mountain take the shape of the dead Apache chief's haunting profile lying in repose, facing towards the sky. There are other stories that say Alsate's ghost haunted the Chisos Mountains for many years. Pulliam Peak looms in the distance as you drive towards the road to the basin; the mountain morphs into the profile of Alsate. The mountain's face is a shear drop of rock, like a Big Bend version of Half Dome. I painted this mountain once many years ago. I began to obsess about the mountain and the legend of Alsate and set out to create a series of paintings of Pulliam Peak as Alsate Mountain."