ARTWORKS BY JIM VOGEL

Learn About the Artist - JIM VOGEL

Jim Vogel is a regionalist painter whose vibrant, emotive work celebrates the people, culture, and stories of rural New Mexico. Born and raised in Roswell, New Mexico, one of twelve children in a small-town community of miners, ranchers, and farmers Vogel draws deep inspiration from the land and the traditions passed down through generations.

Vogel’s paintings are instantly recognizable for their bold use of color, dynamic forms, and a unique visual tension that seems to pull toward a central gravity within each composition. His style has drawn comparisons to both Thomas Hart Benton and Salvador Dalí, melding the expressive distortion of form with deep narrative content.

A graduate of the Art Institute of Denver (1985), Vogel began his creative career in advertising and graphic design. He later returned to New Mexico to pursue fine art full time, dedicating himself to painting and storytelling through visual media. Now based in Dixon, New Mexico, he remains rooted in a northern New Mexican community of farmers, artisans, and traditionalists.

At the heart of Vogel’s work is storytelling. He credits his mother, grandfather, village elders, and the land itself as his earliest teachers instilling in him a deep respect for oral history and cultural heritage. His paintings often depict everyday laborers and life in the rural Southwest, elevating the “salt of the earth” to heroic, almost mythic stature, in the spirit of Diego Rivera and other social realist painters.

With an eye for detail, innovative canvas shapes, and a deep emotional resonance, Vogel’s work explores themes that are both regional and universal. He continues to give voice to New Mexico’s folklore, myths, and people preserving a cultural legacy in the face of a rapidly changing world.