Route 66 Centennial Exhibitions

Richard Levy Gallery is pleased to present two solo shows celebrating the centennial of Route 66: a selection of photos by Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli entitled Seventh and Central, and five paintings by Jeffrey L. Neumann from his Route 66 Centennial Collection. Both artists create work that documents in anthropological detail the regional, car-based culture of the Southwest and specifically highlights the significance of Route 66. These exhibitions are a Route 66 Centennial Certified Project and part of a national effort to commemorate the living legacy of the road.

Since 2017, Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli has been photographing the weekly lowrider cruises in downtown Albuquerque. The result of this project, now published by University of New Mexico Press as Seventh and Central: Lowriders, presents the lowrider community through portraits that highlight the congruity of human and machine. Visually, the immaculate jewel-tone paint jobs and gleaming chrome hydraulics echo the tattooed skin, acrylic nails, and gold jewelry of their owners. Families and car club members dote on and rejoice in their vehicles as beloved relations or even extensions of themselves, making a portrait of them incomplete without the metal chassis. Paolinelli’s photographs are boldly lit and gritty, but shot through with moments of tenderness: a father holding his sleeping infant, a child dressed for the Day of the Dead, or a pit bull panting happily on the asphalt beside its owners.

Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli (b. 1976) is a documentary photographer of Japanese and Italian heritage based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work is in the collection of the Albuquerque Museum and has been shown at 516 ARTS, the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, and Black Box Gallery in Portland, among others.

Jeffrey L. Neumann’s realist paintings of neon signs and roadside stops are inspired by the formative years he spent as a child traveling along Route 66. The specificity with which Neumann renders these vestiges of mid-century car culture against the moody desert atmosphere inspires a deeply felt nostalgia: no long-time denizen of the Southwest could fail to recognize the emotional effect of neon green against a blanket of warm, orange-gray evening clouds. Reminiscent of Ed Ruscha’s Twentysix Gasoline Stations, which also took Route 66 commercial architecture as its genesis, Neumann’s paintings are a devoted record of an America quickly vanishing in the rear-view mirror.

Jeffrey L. Neumann (b. 1953) is based in upstate New York but has spent much of his life living in or visiting the Southwest. He earned a B.S. in Art and Urban Life and an M.Ed. in Art Education from Springfield College in Massachusetts. Following a career in the fine art papers industry, as a high school and college art instructor, and as an art dealer, Neumann turned to painting full time. He is a member of the Society for Commercial Archeology, an organization dedicated to honoring and preserving the roadside culture of North America. Neumann’s work is in numerous corporate and private collections including Alexandria Museum of Art, Mass Mutual Life Insurance Co., Fleet Bank, Baystate Medical Center, U.S. Congressional Offices, and the City of Springfield, MA.

Exhibition Dates: October 28–December 5, 2026

Reception: Friday, November 6, 5–7pm

Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli Book Signing: Friday, December 4, 6–8 pm

Gallery Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 11 am–4 pm or by appointment

Location: 514 Central Avenue SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

Contact: 505.766.9888, info@levygallery.com, www.levygallery.com

High-resolution images are available upon request. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @levygallery #richardlevygallery @nathanielpaolinelli @jeffreylneumann @usroute66centennial

These exhibitions are presented in partnership with the Route 66 Centennial Celebration.