Amado M. Peña, Jr. is an artist who was fabulously popular in the 1980s. His paintings, imbedded within the Pascua Yaqui tribe of southwestern Native American life, were stern, dry and visually compelling. Sometimes we think popular artists who are able to sell thousands of prints are commercially successful, but not the 'real thing'. Yet, I would attest he created works that reached deep and drew the eye over and over.  To me, that is the real thing. There was something new to discover each time you gazed at his paintings and yet they bore the same imprint; he touched upon a tribal archetype within each work. Though his subject matter had complexity and detail, his instinct for balance and composition was not sacrificed. The paintings were complex, but easy on the eye.

Were I to have lunch with Mr. Peña, and were encouraged to ask him one question, my question would be about the hats his subjects wore. The arcs of their brims are simple, yet often seem to shelter a small world of their own. Tell me about those hats, I'd say. How did you come to repeat that specific arc again and again?