Friday, August 14, 2026

Carrier Wave

Artists Randy L. Barton (Diné) and Cloudface (Diné/Hopi) paint live at Webster Collection, Santa Fe, during the 2026 Indian Market.
Carrier Wave opens Friday, August 14

Carrier Wave exhibition logo fusing Southwestern and Indigenous motifs with a graffiti spray-rig and paintbrush, in black and white.

A live exhibition by Randy L. Barton and Cloudface. Opening Friday, August 14, 2026.

At a Glance

  • What: Carrier Wave, a live exhibition by Randy L. Barton and Cloudface.
  • Where: Webster Collection, 54½ Lincoln Avenue, The Plaza (above the Plaza Café), Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  • Opening reception: Friday, August 14, 2026, 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Live painting and DJ sets.
  • Rooftop live painting: Saturday, August 15, 2026, from 8:00 am. Large-scale work created in view of the public.
  • Presented with: the 2026 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market.
  • Admission: Free and open to the public.

Some traditions are kept behind glass. Others are carried forward in the hand, in the voice, in the beat under a room. Carrier Wave belongs to the second kind. Opening at Webster Collection on Friday, August 14, and unfolding across the weekend of the 2026 Santa Fe Indian Market, the exhibition brings together two artists, Randy L. Barton and Cloudface, whose work treats Indigenous creativity not as an inheritance to preserve but as a signal still being broadcast.

A carrier wave is the steady frequency that carries a transmission; the message rides on it. Barton and Cloudface frame tradition and contemporary culture as exactly that: interconnected frequencies, one carrying the other, neither complete alone. Contemporary Indigenous visual language meets street art, hip hop, and live performance here. What looks like the newest idea is often the oldest impulse wearing a new form.

We have spent more than fifty years at Webster Collection watching how the enduring and the immediate speak to each other. Carrier Wave is that conversation made loud, and made live.

The gallery becomes a working studio.

On opening evening, Barton and Cloudface will create a painted work and a soundtrack, alternating between canvas and turntables, one painting while the other DJs. On Saturday, August 15, the artists move to the rooftop to create a large-scale live painting, and the public is invited to witness the piece take shape over the course of the day.

Carrier Wave exhibition painting by Randy L. Barton and Cloudface: a figure with blue hair-wraps and a vivid multicolor face on a black-and-white patterned ground, at Webster Collection, Santa Fe.
A work from Carrier Wave.

Randy L. Barton works at the seam where Indigenous tradition meets the language of the street: spray, line, rhythm, and the visual grammar of hip hop culture. His practice treats heritage as something to be extended rather than quoted. A Diné artist born in Tuba City, Arizona and raised in Winslow, he works between Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Santa Fe in acrylic and aerosol, and is known for live painting. His work is held in collections including the Autry Museum of the American West and the Navajo Nation Museum.

Cloudface is a Diné and Hopi painter, musician, dancer, and DJ whose multidisciplinary practice moves fluidly between visual art and performance. Working in the b-boy tradition that shaped him, he brings mark-making and live creation together.

Carrier Wave is a celebration of Indigenous creativity as a living, evolving practice. As Santa Fe fills for Indian Market, the exhibition offers a reminder that this city has always been a place where tradition is not looked back on but lived forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Carrier Wave? A live exhibition by Randy L. Barton and Cloudface at Webster Collection in Santa Fe, where contemporary Indigenous visual language meets street art, hip hop, and live performance. The work is made in the room rather than presented after the fact.

When does Carrier Wave open? Friday, August 14, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, with an opening reception featuring live painting and DJ sets.

What happens on Saturday, August 15? Barton and Cloudface move to the rooftop for a large-scale live painting, beginning at 8:00 am and created in view of the public over the course of the day.

Is Carrier Wave connected to Santa Fe Indian Market? Yes. It is presented in conjunction with the 2026 Santa Fe Indian Market, held on the Santa Fe Plaza that same weekend.

Where is Webster Collection? Webster Collection is a fine art gallery at 54½ Lincoln Avenue on the Plaza, above the Plaza Café, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, established in 1972.

Is admission free? Yes. Carrier Wave is free and open to the public.

Continue Exploring

Visitor Information

  • Exhibition: Carrier Wave
  • Artists: Randy L. Barton and Cloudface
  • Presented by: Webster Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • In conjunction with: the 2026 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market
  • Opening reception: Friday, August 14, 2026, 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Live painting and DJ sets.
  • Rooftop live painting: Saturday, August 15, 2026, from 8:00 am. Large-scale work created in view of the public.
  • Location: Webster Collection, 54½ Lincoln Avenue, The Plaza (above the Plaza Café), Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Admission: Free and open to the public
  • Inquiries: Christopher Webster, Webster Collection, 505-660-3398
  • Planning your visit: see our Santa Fe visitor guide.
  • More from The Dispatch: Richard Rhodes: Stone at the CCA.

Previous Exhibitions