Image: Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque
Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque has opened ‘Particle and the Wave: Oracles and Symbols for Living and Dying,’ a solo exhibition by Osage artist Alex Ponca Stock. On view from August 26 through October 17, 2026, the exhibition brings together eight abstract works made with glass beads and traditional broadcloth associated with Osage regalia.
The presentation examines the relationship between contemporary scientific and technological knowledge and ancestral knowledge. According to the gallery, Ponca Stock’s works draw on references that range from color-field painting and early Christian heresies to ancient mound-builders and quantum physics. The exhibition reflects the artist’s experiments with larger-scale work and her sustained interest in the visual structures of contemporary life.
Ponca Stock’s textile compositions often suggest the appearance of technological systems, including motherboards, logic gates and three-dimensional renderings. Yet the gallery describes the works as retaining the beauty and integrity of their beaded and textile materials. Her practice combines extensive research with the slow, meditative process of beadwork, producing objects marked by carefully ordered compositions.
Color is also central to the artist’s approach. The gallery states that Ponca Stock considers both the symbolic and emotional associations of color and its physiological effects. In this context, the beaded broadcloth functions not simply as a surface for abstract design but as a material connecting inherited forms of making with systems of knowledge associated with modern science and technology.
Works identified in the exhibition materials include ‘Beaded Burial, Mound 72’ (2026), made from glass beads on broadcloth wool and measuring 38 by 34 inches, and ‘American Odalisque / Shifting Model’ (2026), also made from glass beads on broadcloth wool and measuring 32 by 52 inches. The titles and imagery point to the range of historical, cultural and visual references brought together in the exhibition.
Alex Ponca Stock, born in 1986, is a painter and beadworker from the Gray Horse District of the Osage Nation. She is the third generation of her family to graduate from the Kansas City Art Institute. Her work has been exhibited at the Denver Art Museum, the First Americans Museum and the Osage Nation Museum. It is held in the Fidelity Art Collection, the New Mexico Arts Collection and private collections.
The artist has received Best in Category at the Santa Fe Indian Market for three consecutive years and additionally received Best in Division in 2025, according to the gallery. She divides her time between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Fairfax, Oklahoma. Richard Levy Gallery will host an artist reception on Friday, October 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. The gallery is located at 514 Central Avenue SW and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment.
