Hoodoo You Think You Are
Annie Varnot | Oil on linen | 30 × 40 in. | 2025
I’m honored to share that Hoodoo You Think You Are has been acquired by the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts & Culture as part of its commitment to supporting the arts and encouraging private and public programs that further the development and appreciation of the fine arts.
The hoodoo anchoring the right side of this painting is drawn from life. It stands on the property I manage in Coyote, New Mexico, where I’ve spent countless hours wandering, exploring, and paying attention to the landscape. In the distance is Pedernal, the mountain Georgia O’Keeffe painted again and again. She famously called it her “private mountain,” saying, “God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it.” After her death, her ashes were scattered from its summit.
I hike these places—on trail and off trail. I’ve climbed to the top of Pedernal, explored around this hoodoo, and spent years moving through this landscape. Over time, these remarkable geologic formations have begun to feel like characters to me. I’m drawn to the idea of personifying these monumental landforms, and in this painting I’m playing with questions of identity, ownership, borders, and boundaries.
The title, Hoodoo You Think You Are, approaches those questions with a little humor. Who belongs to the land? Can anyone really claim it? Or are we all simply passing through?
The abstracted grid forms refer to the fences that cross the property. They divide the landscape into parcels. For me, this land is a playground—a place to explore, get lost, and slow down enough to notice what is there.
Color is the emotional engine of my work. I’m addicted to color. I use bold, saturated hues to capture the energy I feel in the landscape rather than describe it literally. The painting is built with brushes, masking tape, and palette knives, with each tool leaving its own edge, line, and mark. The resulting layers of crisp geometry and expressive gesture echo the experience of being in the landscape itself: part mapped, part wild, and always inviting another walk.
Having this work enter Albuquerque’s public art collection is especially meaningful to me. I hope Hoodoo You Think You Are encourages viewers to look closely, ask questions, and consider their own relationship to the landscapes they inhabit. I’m grateful that this painting will have an opportunity to become part of a larger conversation about art, place, identity, and the importance of making space for the arts in our public life.