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.