A celebrated artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico speaks about his work as a santero, or saint maker, and how he has brought that traditional art form up to date so that it reflects and comments upon the religious, political, and social issues in today’s world.
For forty-five years, Luis Tapia has taken the art of polychrome wood sculpture to new levels of craftsmanship while utilizing it as a medium for social and political commentary.
He has reconceptualized one of the oldest traditions of Latino and American regional art—the santero’s craft devotional sculpture—in a way that is both strikingly original and deeply respectful of its origins. In the process, Tapia has not only redeemed this powerful but narrow Latino Catholic tradition from the
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For forty-five years, Luis Tapia has taken the art of polychrome wood sculpture to new levels of craftsmanship while utilizing it as a medium for social and political commentary.
He has reconceptualized one of the oldest traditions of Latino and American regional art—the santero’s craft devotional sculpture—in a way that is both strikingly original and deeply respectful of its origins. In the process, Tapia has not only redeemed this powerful but narrow Latino Catholic tradition from the weight of its own past; he has given his personal revision of it an international presence, thereby elevating the distinctively Hispanic form of sculpture beyond its folkloric identity.
Without losing his personal connection with the past, Tapia has transformed the restrictive roles of the santero and the santo into something meaningfully new—more fluent, contemporary, and expansive.
At once an artist and activist, Tapia’s innovative sculptures speak to contemporary culture. While rooted in a folk art tradition established in seventeenth-century New Mexico, Tapia’s work both honors and transcends its origins, re-interpreting traditional subject matter and revitalizing age-old techniques to reflect his modern Chicano experience.
Tapia eloquently expresses the urgent political or religious issues of the day, depicting the joy and humor of daily life. His sculptures compel viewers of all backgrounds to search their own hearts about the issues he conveys, while offering certain shared truths.
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