Chris Navarro with Mustang Pride­ Bronze, 12'2" x 9' edition of 12. Also available in 16" bronze.

Chris Navarro - Integrating Sculpture with Life - by Sarah Crampton

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Nearly every boy dreams of being a cowboy and riding a bronc in a rodeo. Chris Navarro experienced that thrill at age 16 when he entered the bareback riding competition at the Rota Naval base in Spain, where his father was stationed. After high school he went to college in Wyoming where he could continue to compete in rodeos on the weekends, and eventually rodeoed professionally.

The thrill of the rodeo is still with Navarro. His real-life scenarios are integrated within his sculpture. Navarro's sculpture captures the action, freezing an instant, giving the viewer a glimpse of the danger, the horse's power, and the addictive adrenalin rush felt by the cowboy during a rodeo event.

Chris Navarro's first monumental sculpture was created in 1993 to honor a champion rodeo rider named Lane Frost who died tragically while competing in a bull riding competition. Navarro felt compelled to create this monument and took charge of the fundraising himself. The completed 15-foot sculpture was placed in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where Frost died. Navarro explained, "I did it for him and for all the people who struggle and achieve despite odds against them."

Navarro has since specialized in monumental sculpture. He commented, "Monuments are time consuming efforts. They take months and months to design and create, but the personal satisfaction completion brings is very rewarding. To know they will be standing in the sun long after I'm gone for future generations to experience and enjoy is thrilling."

He sculpts other subjects, but the horse is a major presence in his artwork. He started bonding with horses years ago as a young boy of 11, back in Ohio, riding ponies bareback with his friends. They took the ponies fishing and swimming. In his book, Chasing the Wind, Navarro begins by introducing a horse sculpture of the same title and includes this poem he wrote:

Racing across the ground in all his might,
A heaving chest and pounding heart,
He's given all that is within,
In this chase to try and catch the wind.

The horse in Navarro's sculpture celebrates the feeling of freedom that we are drawn to as riders and human beings. Navarro remarks, "Your experiences have everything to do with your beliefs and how you see the world."

There are two Navarro Galleries in Sedona, Arizona, and Taos, New Mexico, that display sculptures by Chris Navarro and fine artwork from over 20 other artists.

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