Satifying His Soul: Native American Artist Speaks Out Through His Work

Story and Photos by Giles Clasen

Painter Jerry Rael has something to say, and he uses his painting as his platform to share his thoughts.

Rael paints abstract images of Native men and women. They are often on horseback in beautiful landscapes. He said he sees his work as a celebration of his Indigenous and Chicano heritage.

“I’ve always been pretty fascinated with the Native American culture, even as a young kid. We used to play a lot of Cowboys and Indians, and I used to always want to be the Indian,” Rael said.

At face value, Rael’s paintings display a lost era of the American West. His work often utilizes Native or Western forms riding on horses through Southwestern scenes. Rael uses positive and negative space in his images to explore the mysticism of the natural world. The faces of his subjects are indistinguishable and are often facing away from the viewer and walking into the unknown. His images invite the viewer to explore meaning beyond their beauty. Rael said that he intentionally leaves his paintings open to interpretation. To Rael, his work is a protest of the past and present treatment of the Native community.“There’s a lot of messages in [my paintings] that are kind of subliminal,” Rael said. “Certain people are able to grasp the meaning. Some others, they see just the beauty of the image, and that’s okay. But other people, they can read a little bit deeper into it and see the story behind the painting.”

Rael’s style and art grew out of a series of coincidences. He studied art at the University of New Mexico, but painting became more of a hobby while he taught in Denver Public Schools and raised a family. When Rael retired, his wife pushed him to start painting again.

A chance encounter with a friend led Rael to join the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1. This isn’t a smoke-filled drinking establishment many associate with the VFW. Instead, the Post, located on Santa Fe Blvd., is dedicated to healing and is a place for military veterans to develop as artists and sell their art. Rael has thrived with the support he receives at the VFW by winning local and national awards. He sells many paintings each month, and institutions like the Children’s Hospital in Colorado Springs have purchased his work.

According to Rael, he tries to make his work accessible to any collector creating small pieces that sell for $200 and larger works that sell for $2,000.

“I paint, foremost, to satisfy my spirit, my soul,” Rael said. “I know I can’t satisfy everybody. I don’t try to. I do this for me, to share my visions and thoughts. But I am always thinking about what is likely to be received well and sell.”

When younger, Rael painted much more intricately detailed images. As Rael aged his hands became crippled by arthritis making it impossible for Rael to focus on detailed imagery.

 “Abstract Expressionism is what I call my work now,” Rael said. “My hands are starting to hurt; the arthritis is pretty bad in them now. I can’t do the real small stuff like I used to. I can’t do the fine detail. So now, it’s a little bit more of a loose approach in form.”

Today, Rael holds the brush loosely, moving in swooping gestures to create representational forms. He uses a kaleidoscope of colors and Native designs to depict the historical Southwest. Some paintings include Native men and women beside white cowboys moving together.

The paintings never depict violence. They are about community, even communities at odds with one another. Rael said he seeks to depict communal suffering tied to hope.

“You could pretty much say that my work is about the relationship between a conqueror and the conquered. We’re all caught up between those two dualities. My artwork speaks to that in some way, and sometimes, I don’t know the answer,” Rael said.

Rael finds inspiration in his grandfather, the Colorado land rights advocate Apolinar Rael, who participated in the lawsuits against the Taylor Ranch in the San Luis Valley. The nearly 80,000 acres of land had been promised as a communal and economic resource to the Native and Chicano farmers and ranchers when the land was granted to the United States from Mexico in 1844. In 1960, Jack Taylor bought the land and closed it to those who had been guaranteed access. The Colorado Supreme Court restored access to the ranch following nearly 40 years of lawsuits.

“My grandfather took Jack Taylor to the Supreme Court. And so on his gravestone, there are a couple of horses and it says something to the effect that, ‘He dared to dream and that his dream, someday, would come true.’ That means so much to me and I think about it often,” Rael said.

Dreaming is an important aspect of understanding the broader world for Rael. It helps him connect to something bigger.

“I do get a lot of visions. And a lot of my dreams are about pain in that culture, in my people, and pain today. And so, it’s only fitting that I do this kind of work,” Rael said.

According to Rael, he does not see his work as divisive. He hears from people of all backgrounds how meaningful they find his art, and he tries to make it inviting and open to all. Rael hopes his paintings bring people to see that suffering is communal and that suffering in one community predicts suffering for other communities.

“We aren’t the only people suffering,” Rael said. “White people, all people are suffering. The same greedy powers that took from the Native community are taking from all people and hurting us all today. It’s all about standing up and speaking for the people through the artwork.”

But Rael is pleased if someone looks at his art and sees a beautiful painting of Native Americans and cowboys traversing the landscape of his people.