ARTISTS AND GALLERISTS have made themselves at home on Canyon Road since the early 1900s. By 1962, the city designated the road a residential arts-and-crafts zone, and the ’80s art boom set the tone for the famous stretch of galleries we know today. Still, as much as Canyon Road and the surrounding streets of downtown Santa Fe remain a mecca for visual arts, several galleries are moving into other parts of the city.

KEEP Contemporary, run by gallerist Jared Antonio-Justo Trujillo, is housed in a former residence on the busy St. Francis Drive thoroughfare. Trujillo’s gallery held a Plaza-adjacent space for roughly six years, though changing habits for collectors during- and post-pandemic caused him to rethink how he does business. “The demographics changed, tourism changed—how we buy art is different now,” Trujillo says, adding that his commitment to pop outsider, lowbrow, local, and contemporary themes has held strong.

Meanwhile, gallerists Alina Borsa and Devendra Contractor’s Pie Projects gallery showcases artists from near and far in an airy space in the burgeoning Baca Railyard district. There, you’ll often find the work of holographist August Muth, photography by Janet Russek, multimedia works by Judy Tuwaletstiwa, and much more. According to curator-director Borsa, there’s an allure to having a Santa Fe address that makes filling the space simpler than one might think. “The gallery is a bit of a destination,” Borsa says. “New Mexico has incredible artists, but we show artists from New York, San Francisco—big cities, and they choose New Mexico because it can be like a light. It’s such a hub.”

Pie Projects occupies a modern space in Santa Fe's Baca Railyard. Photograph by Kate Russell.

At 5. Gallery, in a warehouse on the cusp of Midtown and the Southside, Max Baseman has built a reputation since 2016 as a curator with an eye for beauty—and for showing both expected and unexpected artists. This summer’s The Smell of Buckwheat group show juxtaposed the likes of Brandon Behning, Kate Joyce, Harmony Hammond, and Utako Shindo; a combination of watercolors and strange sculptures; plus eerie lithographs, archival prints, and stoneware vessels. “I just try to show what I think is important,” he says. 

In the industrial Siler-Rufina District, just behind Meow Wolf, Kouri + Corrao Gallery’s Justin Kouri and Takeo Royer recently celebrated their space’s fifth year with a special group show dubbed Kill the Fatted Calf, which found participating artists writing about their fellow creators. Though not minimalist, Kouri + Corrao presents a clean and organized aesthetic, allowing the art to shine rather than its environs. 

Kouri says the years have flown by. “I’m extremely proud of this [anniversary], though, and we’re still going to push the boundaries of the shows, although, of course, the idea is to become more sustainable.” Royer echoes those sentiments. “We realized that in those years, we had mounted almost 40 shows,” he says—giving people more opportunities than ever to see new artists in Santa Fe.