Michael Wright, Diablo Canyon IV (2018), Oil on board, 19.75 x 16 inches Celebrating Michael Wright
SEFA celebrates the life of Michael Wright who passed away in 2025. Wright was an amazing painter with a sensitivity to his surroundings and the natural world, as well as a talent for using abstraction to capture feeling. The Gallery had the opportunity to exhibit Wright’s work twice. The first collaboration with the artist was the show Refracted Wilderness at SEFA Hudson in Spring 2023. The exhibition Enchantments: Ode to New Mexico was on view at SEFA NYC in 2024; the paintings are a veritable love letter to Wright’s home in Santa Fe. We send our thoughts to his family, friends and creative communities—especially Christina who continues to work to share his art with the world.
In Refracted Wilderness, Wright presented large horizontal paintings from the late 1960s that abound with verdant green tones. The “Amagansett Fields” series were created in the Hamptons when Wright was residing there—first arriving as a studio assistant to Willem de Kooning. Wright was always inspired by the natural views around him. Yet, he was never content to simply depict it exactly as it appeared. Abstraction was his language. Indeed, he had extensive training in this visual style. He associated with many of the great Abstract Expressionist artists of the period during his time in New York and later in the Hamptons.
The “Diablo Canyon” series was also on view at SEFA Hudson. This rocky area just outside of Santa Fe was a constant allure for the artist. He appreciated how the colors change with each day, and he visited it often for inspiration. While technically a “desert,” Diablo Canyon is enlivened by the light and its changing patterns. Wright was a prolific creator and kept his works in his barn studio in New Mexico, a veritable archive of places and of visions.
Susan Eley had the great pleasure to visit him at his home and studio in New Mexico. She remembers his entertaining stories about the NY art world, his vibrant personality and sharp wit. When Wright came to visit SEFA Hudson, he was full of pep and fun, and he charmed all of the visitors at his opening.
Susan Eley Writes of the “Diablo Canyon” works: “He paints the landscape with thick, impasto brushstrokes in warm red, orange, terracotta, and green. Wright captures craggy outcrops, canyons and hilltops using a rich and substantial application of oil paint. The imagery is abstracted, yet as entirely identifiable as specific locations in this unique part of the American Southwest…Wright has painted for many decades and has been influenced by a myriad of mid-century abstractionists. It would be difficult to assert that his practice was not influenced by some aspects of every major art movement of the latter half of the 20th century…These works capture Wright’s particular story to tell about a few of the places where he has lived and loved.”
Born in New Rochelle, New York in 1931, Michael Fitzhugh Wright studied art at the Yale Music and Art School, Albright Art School, and the Brooklyn Museum School. Wright lived and worked in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was initially drawn to the area by his family ties there, and also its pure natural beauty. He primarily painted abstract works with swooping forms and vibrant colors.
