While rotating between painting the Southwest landscape, old signage, cars, trains and motorcycles, artist Tony De Luz rediscovered his love of painting city scenes. For his upcoming show at Blue Rain Gallery’s Santa Fe location, De Luz features a mix of subject matter while paying homage to the iconic spirit of Route 66—“the storied highway that bridged east and west, and shaped American mobility, culture and imagination,” says gallery marketing director, Leah Garcia.
Lindy’s Corner, acrylic on canvas board, 16 x 20 in.
The new show draws from De Luz’s travels through the Southwest, “including his experiences in Durango, Albuquerque and Flagstaff, where he documented historic storefronts, motels and railways—imagery that becomes both personal and universal in his paintings,” Garcia continues. “His precise, clean style, paired with witty and thoughtful storytelling, continues to set him apart as a fresh voice in contemporary Americana.”
Fur, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 in.
When it comes to creating his signage pieces, De Luz focuses on cropping in tight, using only part of the original subject to form its own message. “In these fleeting glimpses of scenery, incomplete messages become complete,” says De Luz. “They have their own identities, frozen in paint, wanting you to look at them more closely as they are—as fully formed pieces of art.”
For example, his piece Fur was inspired by a furniture store in a strip mall in Flagstaff. “I chose to paint the metal letters ‘FUR’ because the verbal message was, to me, delightfully incongruous with the scene itself,” De Luz notes. “There was, of course, no fur. No animals were harmed in the creation of this painting.”
West, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 in.
As for city scenery, we see Lindy’s Corner, referenced from Lindy’s Diner in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “For years I’d been wanting to create some pieces of art based on downtown Albuquerque, a picturesque collection of old motels with great neon signs, ornate theaters, eateries and some art deco buildings,” says De Luz. “Lindy’s is this soft sculpture of a building at Fifth and Central, a lively section of Route 66. Its color scheme of turquoise and purple distinguishes it from pretty much anywhere else on that section of Central. It was a quiet Sunday morning when I shot the scene that would become the painting, [which] shows a couple guys walking past the restaurant carrying bags of food. From the way they are walking, they didn’t get their food at Lindy’s...”
Combining bits from all of De Luz’s influences, we find a tranquil scene in A Place in the Pines.De Luz explains, “In early 2025, I had a show at Blue Rain Gallery’s Durango location. While there, I stayed in a really cool Airstream trailer on the property of a lovely woman named Velinda Gibbs, a member of Durango’s thriving art community. It was a nice, cozy setting in a clearing on the property. I’d been wanting to paint an Airstream for a while, and this was my chance. The two chairs suggest a welcoming scene…”
A Place in the Pines, acrylic on canvas board, 20 x 16 in.
Blue Rain gallery and De Luz invite viewers to revisit the golden era of the open road when new freedoms, leisure and westward dreams shaped an entire generation, and to see Route 66 not only as a map, but as a symbol of adventure, identity and the enduring spirit of the West.
The show New Paintings: 66 and Beyond, opens with an artist reception on January 30 from 5 to 7 p.m., and closes on February 12. —
Blue Rain Gallery 544 S. Guadalupe Street • Santa Fe, NM 87501 • (505) 954-9902 • www.blueraingallery.com
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