Charley Singer
Charley Singer, whose own life is as filled with history as his paintings are filled with elements of traditional Navajo culture. He lives a simple life in a hogan on the Navajo reservation without electricity and speaks little English. Raised by Little Singer, a prominent medicine man for which Little Singer School outside of Leupp is named, Singer gained an expansive knowledge of his culture.
“He’s a poor man, but a rich man,” says Steve Kay, a friend and marketer for Singer. “Financially he’s poor, but in so many ways he’s so rich and so talented and so full of information. Even though we have a language barrier, I learn so much from him, especially about the Navajo and Native American ways.”
Singer uses cooler colors, often a background of black, blue or gray, and loves horses and features them in many of his works. The Four Horses and the Four Sacred Peaks of Navajo lore are frequently featured, their colors representing the four directions. “I think that it’s so wonderful,” says Kay. “Just to see it and realize what the four horses mean, they’re all different colors and stand for different life cycles, and the four peaks … everybody should have a chance to at least see Charley’s art.”
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