About This Website

While our connection to individual works of art is important, I felt like most websites were attractive only for the art they sold.  Or for the design of the website.  

I wanted to create something different. Something more holistic. I wanted to create a community of people interested not only in art,  but in exploring their own connection to art and the art market. So I did.  

Check it out.

Why I Love Art

My love of art comes from my parents and from my earliest memories of growing up in Los Angeles. At home I was surrounded by the artworks of Romare Bearden, David Hammons, Jacob Lawrence, John Outterbridge, Suzanne Jackson, Betye Saar and other contemporary African-American artists.

As a child I went to many gallery openings, and a lot of these artists were friends of my family and guests in our home. Some of my best memories from childhood are visits to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) with my mother.  

For me, art has always been a space where I can connect with my own inner life in a way that is not dictated by anyone. When you are with an artwork, there are no rules, no expectations. All we have to do is listen.

I love art because is represents Courage. I love art because it is something that any person can engage with in their own way. It brings together people from every demographic, nationality and background in a way that nothing else can. Anyone and everyone can have their own relationship with art.

About Aaron

Aaron Payne was born and raised in Los Angeles. After earning a degree in History & Literature from Harvard he decided to do the obvious things…working first in documentary film, and then moving to New York to pursue a career as an art dealer.

Aaron has specialized in American Art since joining Sid Deutsch Gallery on 57^th Street in New York in 1989.  In 1991, Aaron became the director of the gallery and participated in the sale and exhibition of important works by American Modernists.

For the last 25 years, aaron payne FINE ART  has specialized in the work of Twentieth Century American masters, focusing primarily on the American Modernists, Stieglitz Circle, American Abstract Artists, African-American Art, Postwar & Contemporary art.  aaron payne FINE ART works with both new and experienced collectors, individuals and institutions, to provide the highest level of quality, scholarship, and service.

In 2006 aaron payne FINE ART opened on Marcy Street in Santa Fe.

Many of the artists the gallery features traveled between New York and Santa Fe, trading techniques and experiences with the artists they met in these cities.  Some of these artists were not in either place, but knew of each other through exhibitions at galleries, museums or the various salons, which featured the art of their day.  I see a connection between all of them.  We are always seeking to highlight the relationships between these artists.

To further this mission the gallery has begun exhibiting the works of the Santa Fe Art Colony, Taos Moderns, and Postwar art.  We have also organized significant exhibitions of these artists, most notably our 2011 exhibition of the modernist painter Cady Wells.

More recently, the gallery has focused on the Washington Color School artists such as Kenneth Noland, Alma Thomas, and Sam Gilliam.

Over the years we have worked as advisors to private, corporate and public collections.  We are also pleased to provide appraisal services as well as consultation and referral services for framing and conservation of fine art.

We are always actively looking to purchase quality artwork.  Your inquiries are welcome.