Gary van Zals
New Mexico Philharmonic’s
Featured Painter of the Season
The New Mexico Philharmonic is inaugurating a new and exciting tradition by reaching out to the visual arts. As a special fundraising concept celebrating our second season, we invited Albuquerque’s well-known artist, Gary van Zals, to create an original oil painting for the Philharmonic. Soloists and conductors performing that season have signed one of Gary’s preliminary drawings for his painting; and, together, those pieces are being offered at an online auction throughout the current New Mexico Philharmonic season. You may call (505) 323-4343 or email crancier@nmphil.org to place a bid.
In addition, an exhibition and sale of paintings by van Zals to further benefit the New Mexico Philharmonic will take place at the end of the season. Anyone bidding on the auction art will gain free admission to that event. Meanwhile, posters of Gary’s Philharmonic painting will be available for sale at all New Mexico Philharmonic concerts.
Gary van Zals is a native of Albuquerque and a recipient of the prestigious Best of Show award at the New Mexico State Fair Professional Fine Arts Exhibition. His works appear in permanent collections across the country from federal courthouses in Albuquerque to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The painting he created for the New Mexico Philharmonic speaks eloquently for itself, but to satisfy any curiosity about its subject matter, the artist has this to say:
My painting, Reaching the Pinnacle, is not meant to represent any particular place, but rather the ubiquitous grandeur that can be found in the mountains of New Mexico. Knowing that the sublime words “New Mexico Philharmonic” would appear on my canvas, I tried to intone that feeling in a way that might be in keeping with another kind of grandeur—symphonic music.
The monolith emerging through clouds expresses my optimism that the New Mexico Philharmonic has the potential of Reaching the Pinnacle among performing arts organizations in the Southwest.
To learn more about Gary van Zals, please visit his website at www.garyvanzals.com. Artists performing with the New Mexico Philharmonic during the 2012-2013 season and who have signed the pencil drawing by Gary van Zals available at auction include: Rachel Barton Pine, Dante Anzolini, Ann Hampton Calloway, IIya Kaler, Victor Yampolsky, Uriel Segal, and Grant Cooper.
