Tasanaiyo (Walpi), A Chief Kachina from First Mesa c. 1920

Fred Kabotie made this watercolor of Tasanaiyo, a Chief Kachina from First Mesa, on paper without a date. The colour palette is light, airy, and dreamlike, almost as if you could reach out and touch this figure, who comes from a different world. The paint is applied very thinly and evenly, almost like a wash or a dye. If you look closely, you can see the texture of the paper underneath, which gives the painting a delicate, fragile feel. It is as if Kabotie wanted to create a window into another world, a world of spirits and ancestors, but also wanted to remind us that this world is not so far away, that it is always present, just beneath the surface of our own. I am drawn to the area around the figure's waist, where there is a belt and fringing on the clothing. The eye follows these details, wanting to read the code. Kabotie's work reminds me of Agnes Pelton and her spiritualist paintings, these artists have a vision of another world, a better world.