SHONTO BEGAY / JULY 1-SEPTEMBER 30
Shonto Begay’s expressive and meditative paintings weave together the striking imagery of a traditional Navajo upbringing with the realities of modern reservation life. Through his impressionist visual aesthetic and reverence for the land, Begay personifies the harmony found within humankind and the earth in his compositions.
Begay's process is influenced by his connection to nature and his Navajo identity. His loose, rhythmic brushstrokes are manifested through the representational desert vistas, fading skies and portraits of close family and friends. He likens his artistic process to a “visual chant,” with each of his strokes embodying a syllable of a word that contributes to the overall prayer of the composition.
My paintings are expressions of the purity of the Shonto Plateau I still call home. Beauty in the truth, beauty in the sacred and beauty in the mysteries. I paint to share colors as an expression of having been.
– Shonto Begay
Shonto Begay, 'Gaagi Visitation,' 2022, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48", $12,000
Shonto Begay, 'Night Thirst,' 2022, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24", $6,500
Shonto Begay, 'Winter Rides In,' 2022, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30", $8,500
Shonto Begay, 'Tree In Ring Lights,' 2024, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24", SOLD
Shonto Begay, 'Emergence,' 2024, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 24", $6,600
Shonto Begay, 'Pieces of Promises,' 2016, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 48", $7,000
Shonto Begay, 'Divine Connecting,' 2022 acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48", $12,000
Shonto Begay, 'Stands with Light,' 2022, acrylic on canvas, 82 x 50", $34,000
Shonto Begay, 'A Dusty Return to School,' 2022, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18", $4200
Shonto Begay, 'Road to Skeleton Mesa,' 2016, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48", $12,000
Shonto Begay grew up herding sheep in the Kletha Valley of Shonto, Arizona. One of 16 children, his mother was a traditional Navajo rug weaver from the Bitter Water Clan, and his father was a medicine man born to the Salt Clan. Begay knew he was meant to be a storyteller from a young age – he began professionally writing, illustrating and painting in the 80s, and hasn’t looked back since.
Begay received his Associate degree in Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts. His work is featured in numerous private and public collections, and has been featured in multiple exhibitions at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Arizona State Museum, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the American Indian Contemporary Arts Museum, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Phoenix Art Museum among others.
For more information on the artist and acquisition inquiries, please contact us at info@modernwestfineart.com.