18 Sep In praise of those who endure

Source Credit:  Content and images from Wall Street International Magazine by .  Read the original article - https://www.meer.com/en/82977-in-praise-of-those-who-endure

A profound storyteller of intimate moments saturated in vibrant colors and
sculpted by golden light, Santa Fe-based figurative artist Elias Rivera (1937-2019) was best known
for his rich narrative paintings that celebrated the dignity of daily life in various Latin American
cultures. His paintings were widely acclaimed for their visual eloquence in portraying Indigenous
communities who retained their cultural traditions despite a rapidly changing contemporary
world.

Rivera’s works are notable for imparting nobility and
dignity to his subjects and honoring their humanity. As
the exclusive representative of his estate, LewAllen
Galleries is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Elias
Rivera’s majestic work spanning his storied career. The
exhibition entitled, In praise of those who endure
opens September 27 and will be on view through
November 2, 2024.

Rivera’s unique facility with bold and bright colors,
masterful skill in the use of light, strong composition, and
a powerful, fresh focus on the primacy of the individuals
portrayed, produced works that allow viewers to
experience the aliveness of his subjects. Rivera’s unique
artistic sensibility has often been likened to Old Masters
such as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Veronese,
all of whom he intensely studied. Rivera’s use of an
unusual painting medium, maroger, which was popular
during the Renaissance, deepens this
connection to art historical tradition. Like the
Venetian masters Titian and Tintoretto, Rivera
was a genius of the colorito technique, which
uses the juxtaposition of colors rather than
lines to define a composition.

Before relocating to Santa Fe in 1982 and
developing the body of lush works for which he
became celebrated locally and beyond, Rivera
spent decades of grinding dedication to his
practice in New York. Born in the Bronx in 1937
to Puerto Rican parents, at age 18 he began
study at the Arts Students League under Frank
Mason. For years, he painted life on the streets of New York and developed a keen power of
observation. A visit to Mexico in 1986 with his wife, artist Susan Contreras, completely changed
his worldview. His paintings from this era onward demonstrate a confident artist who had found
his heart inspiration. He is best known for his larger-than-life paintings of the people in the
highlands of Guatemala from the 1990s and 2000s. “When I finally started visiting Guatemala”,
he said, “that’s where I found the true heart connection my work needed”. Combined with his
aptitude for the theatrical, the sheer scale of his Guatemala paintings burst with a colorful
aliveness. Works from all these eras of his career are presented in this exhibition.

The exhibition presents Rivera’s truly
exceptional abilities as a painter. He was
inspired by life in New York and New Mexico, as
well as his journeys through countries like
Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and Bhutan, always
working with a deep empathy for the human
soul. In 2004, Rivera received the prestigious
New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in
the Arts. In 2005, he was named the Artist of the
Year by the Santa Fe Rotary Foundation. A major
monograph entitled Elias Rivera was published
in 2006 with an essay by well-known art critic
and writer Edward Lucie-Smith. Rivera passed
away in 2019 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Source Credit:  Content and images from Wall Street International Magazine by .  Read the original article - https://www.meer.com/en/82977-in-praise-of-those-who-endure