About Tularosa

Tularosa began in 2017 as a visual arts gallery and performing art space located in the Logan Heights neighborhood of San Diego. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we decided to keep the show going by moving our gallery online. All of our framed artworks continue to be meticulously printed, mounted and framed in our studio. In addition to producing work ordered via the Tularosa site, founder John Raymond Mireles continues to produce original art and commissioned prints for gallery and museum exihibitions nationwide.

Tularosa gets its name from the small town in central New Mexico where John’s father, grandmother and great-grandparents were born and his great-great grandparents Perfecto and Feliciana Telles helped to found.

A Wrinkle in the Art Market

We’re going to share a little secret about the art market that even many artists aren’t aware of. The way the traditional market for premium art functions is that established artist and photographers make art that they then deliver to galleries for sale. The galleries then set the work at a high price so that they can sell it to buyers looking to decorate their homes with collectable art. The problem however is that photographers especially create a lot of amazing photos - far more than galleries can sell.

Galleries have limited wall space which means that they can only carry a few works by an artist at any given time. Photographers would love to sell their other work to buyers, but they can’t access the collectors who go to galleries. Collectors are typically relatively wealthy individuals who have relationships - formed over years - with the galleries. Photographers have neither the time nor ability to form these relationships. (If they did, they’d be in the gallery business.) The net result is they can’t sell their work at the high prices commanded by galleries and dealers

Photographer’s Dilemma
Photographers however are stuck in a dilemma: they can’t lower their prices to sell to non-collectors either - because if they do, they’ll kill their relationships with galleries. This means that established art photographers are often stuck with countless great images that will never sell just because they have no way to get them out into the world without sacrificing their gallery sales.

Here’s where Tularosa comes in: Through our relationships with world class photographers, we’ve arranged to sell their non-gallery work through our site at prices that everyone can afford. You don’t have to be rich to shop with us! The catch is that, in order to maintain our artist’s relationships with collectors, galleries and museums, they remain anonymous. The work you will hang on the wall is likely made by a photographic artist whose work has been lauded with awards and sells for many thousands of dollars in a commercial gallery. Just like their gallery hung work, it’s printed and framed to museum standards of quality and archivability.

The difference is that you get a lifetime’s enjoyment without having to save for a lifetime. Whether you’re shopping for yourself, a friend or a client, we hope you’ll agree that what matters is not the price tag on the front or the name on the back but the stunning imagery you bring into your life and enjoy day after day.