Trekking into the mountainous San Rafael Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest north of Santa Barbara, photographer Robert Frear encountered Central California’s earliest art and “galleries.” Supported by the US Forest Service and an Artist in Residency grant from The James Irvine Foundation, Frear had the rare honor of standing in Pre-Conquest sites long revered by the Chumash peoples and gazing upon ceremonial paintings on rocks, boulders and caves as jet black condors circled overhead.

Guided by an archeologist from the US Forest Service and a representative of the Regional Tribal Relations Program to minimize impact on Native American sites, Frear evocatively photographed the mythic creatures and peoples painted from the rich trove of Chumash lore. Rejecting the documentary approach, the artist brings a poetic and spiritual sensibility to his series. Moreover, the distinctiveness of his vision lies in Frear’s sensitivity to the place - the greater “gallery of nature” - for which the paintings were made. The result is this compelling exhibition, Chumash Visions: California’s First Artists.

To show the rich beauty of paintings that are fading away with time and exposure, the artist uses a special photographic method to saturate the colors of the fragile imagery. Frear’s photographs conserve Central California’s first art, ensuring future generations have the opportunity to experience these rare cultural treasures from the Golden State.

Chumash Visions: California’s First Artists is organized by the Central California Museum of Art and is jointly curated by Robert Frear and Gordon Fuglie, Director and Head of Curatorial Affairs, CCMA.

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