In his 1961 book The Forest People, anthropologist Colin Turnbull told the story of a day when he led his Pygmy friend Kenge to his first vista of the plains. Accustomed only to the close views of the forest interior, Kenge could not believe distant water buffaloes were anything but insects.

Conditioning can dramatically modify perception and perspective. And for roofer/artist Brian McPartlon, it's natural to expect that his paintings will somehow reflect four decades or so of elevated views.

"Yeah, I've been on rooftops for more than 40 years; I started doing roofing in New York with my dad," he said during a talk at Goldleaf Gallery, where a show of his paintings opens on Friday, July 10.

McPartlon's abstract landscapes and minimalist pieces also relate to the technician-like aspect of his work as a roofer. "There's a discipline you learn in construction about doing things right, so I have that kind of technical background, and I build all my own frames," he said. "But what I do in my work is an exploration process. I let the paint kind of dictate the direction."

He starts most paintings with water and thinned-out acrylic paints. To prevent the pigments from running in unwanted directions, he stretches his canvases on a plywood armature flat on the floor. "I'll build up layers like that, and then eventually I'll stand the painting up, and I go in with brushes and then I fine-tune it, sometimes with oil crayon," he said.

His technical facility was acquired during studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the San Francisco Art Institute, where he earned his bachelor of fine arts degree.

His early aspirations toward a career in art — and away from roofing — he recalls as "famous last words." The idea began well, but then his landlord in San Francisco noticed how well he fixed a leaking studio roof. The man owned properties all over the Bay Area, and they all had roofs.

McPartlon soon had a going business in roofing, but his other hours were spent creating art and in the company of artists. His roofing business was headquartered in a big warehouse that had room to spare. "We were young, a bunch of us, trying to get our work shown, and we put up a show in the warehouse and we had a party and like 2,000 people came," he said, still incredulous at the turnout.

He managed that "alternative gallery" for three years. Later in the 1970s, he and David McClay organized the South of Market open-studio tour. "It was one of the first in the country, with about 10 locations," he said. "We made little maps and we gave one to the art critic Thomas Albright from the [San Francisco] Chronicle. He loved the concept and the work."

McPartlon did well. Over and above his income from roofing, he sold $10,000 worth of paintings during those years in the '70s. He laments now that the open-studio tour grew too big and the quality of the artwork got watered-down.

"We're keeping it small here. We're keeping it on edge," said artist Marty Horowitz, McPartlon's friend and the owner of Goldleaf Gallery. "Look at that work," McPartlon said, pointing to a show of mixed-media paintings by Richard Kurtz that feature gloved boxers and graffiti-like text. "Who's going to show that on Canyon Road? That's the link between my work and what Marty's doing." Horowitz (who is best-known for his picture-framing business and for his big, golden sculpture of a hand grenade) and McPartlon are both New York natives and were classmates at the School of Visual Arts.

Once a year, Horowitz has a Superstars exhibition, with work by artists who have donated to and participated in local charity auctions. For this "benefit to benefit all the artists who give to benefits every year," he reduces the gallery's take from the usual 50 percent to 10 percent. "This is an alternative gallery," he said. "It's set up to give people a chance. The point is to bring stuff out that nobody else is really willing to show."

In 1985, McPartlon married artist/author Marcy Heller; the two had known each other since 1970. The following year, they moved to Santa Fe. "Most people come here to become a painter, but I came to Santa Fe to get away from painting," he said. "I took like 10 years off; then I met Agnes Martin, and she inspired me to get it going again."

McPartlon, who has been involved for many years with the Santa Fe Rotary Foundation of the Arts, was chairman of a 1999 Rotary Foundation ceremony in which Martin was named Distinguished Artist of the Year. "I saw Agnes once a week for several months to talk about the event, but I was in her studio a lot, and she really inspired me, and she pushed me to continue painting," he recalled.

"What Agnes did was that she was able to paint something, and then the feeling that she put into it — like love — you could read. It was transcendental. You see one, and it's so minimal, and some people don't get it. You have to have the emotion that she put into it come back to you."

McPartlon discovered the Rotary Foundation through his impetus toward volunteer work. "I used to think these guys wore funny hats and sang songs, but their mission actually is world peace," he said. "Our club here in Santa Fe is unique, because we have the Distinguished Artist award, and the proceeds all go for art education for children."

A longtime recipient of Rotary grants is Fine Arts for Children and Teens, a nonprofit started in 1990 by Juliet Myers and Rosanne Kadis. "That group got its start in my building. When I moved here, my brother, Kevin, and I took over Arden Kellogg's roofing company in the old railyard. Arden gave us his building on a handshake. We didn't need all the space for roofing, so we put in partitions and we rented out art studios. We had 50 artists come through, and Juliet and Rosanne had space there. My dream was to open a gallery in the front, but then friggin' Catellus [Development Corp.] came along and bought the railyard, and my rent went up and we left."

The artist's abstractions at Goldleaf Gallery represent approaches to Martin's lofty plane. What you won't see are recognizable figures from the ordinary world, but he has done that. "I was classically trained," he affirmed. "I did a lot of portraits and landscapes in my teens and early 20s. I remember in art school each of us had to render a model, life-size, in perfect detail. We were there every day for three months, holding a hard-lead pencil, maybe a No. 6, sideways and rendering that model.

"I was so frustrated after it was over that I tore it up and burned it. I thought it was such a ridiculous waste of time, but later I knew I'd learned so much from doing that. I wish I still had it."

details
Brian McPartlon: Romantic Abstraction, paintings on canvas & paper
Reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, July 10; through Aug. 10
Goldleaf Gallery, 627 W. Alameda St., 988-5005