Luis Tapia (artist)

Luis E. Tapia is a self-taught artist living in New Mexico best known for his innovative wood carvings that blend the local bulto tradition with contemporary culture and co-founding La Cofradia de Artes y Artesanos Hispanicos with artist Frederico Vigil. He has also done major restoration work at churches, including the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church in Ranchos de Taos. Tapia's awards include an NEA grant in 1980 and a New Mexico Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts in 1996.[1]

Luis E. Tapia
Born (1950-07-06) July 6, 1950
Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.
Known forsantos, sculpture, furniture
MovementLa Cofradia de Artes y Artesanos Hispanicos
Websiteluistapia.com

Art and exhibitions

Along with conventional santero religious imagery, Tapia incorporates prostitutes, gangs and lowriders.[2] His santos are often noted for their use of color paint, including commercial watercolors, egg tempera and acrylics.[3] Tapia began exhibiting his work at various fiestas in New Mexico around 1972.[4] Since the mid-1980s his works have been exclusively sold through The Owings Gallery in Santa Fe where he has had several solo exhibitions. In 1986 Tapia was one of several artists in the Houston Fine Arts Center's traveling exhibition Hispanic Art in the United States : Thirty Contemporary Painters and Sculptors.[5] In 2017 Tapia had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California and National Museum of Mexican American Art in Chicago, and was the subject of the book Borderless: The Art of Luis Tapia.[6] In 1992 Tapia and the artist, Bernadette Vigil had a two-person exhibition at the Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico.[7][8]

La Cofradía de Artes y Artesanos Hispánicos

Tapia, along with fellow artists such as Frederico Vigil, Juanita Jaramillo Lavadie, and Teresa ArchuletaSagel, played an important role in La Cofradía de Artes y Artesanos Hispánicos or simply La Cofradía.[9][10]

Public collections

Awards and honors

In 2021, Tapia was awarded the Joan Mitchell Fellowship from the Joan Mitchell Foundation.[11]

He is a recipient of a 2023 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[12]

References
  1. Hagerty, Donald (1997). Leading the West : one hundred contemporary painters and sculptors. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 087358600X.
  2. Rosenak, Chuck and Jan (1998). The Saint Makers : Contemporary Santeras y Santeros. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing. p. 127. ISBN 0873587189.
  3. Montaño, Mary (2001). Tradiciones Nuevomexicanas : Hispano Arts and Culture of New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 53. ISBN 0826321372.
  4. Beardsley, John; Livingston, Jane (1987). Hispanic Art in the United States : Thirty Contemporary Painters and Sculptors. New York: Cross River Press. p. 244. ISBN 0896596885.
  5. Kalb, Laurie Beth (1994). Crafting Devotions : Tradition in Contemporary New Mexico Santos. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0826315502.
  6. Gomez, Adrian (September 24, 2017). "Sculptor Luis Tapia's works speak to historic and modern Hispanic experience". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  7. "Past Exhibitions at Albuquerque Museum". Albuquerque Museum. City of Albuquerque. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  8. "Artist Stands Back to Watch Art Happen". Albuquerque Journal. September 12, 1992. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  9. Lewthwaite, Stephanie (2015). A Contested Art: Modernism and Mestizaje in New Mexico. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0806148649. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  10. Mercedes Everett, Ethel (2019). "La Cofradía de Artes y Artesanos Hispánicos: Redefining Tradition in the New Mexican Art Market". The City College of New York. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  11. "Joan Mitchell Foundation Announces Inaugural Fellows". www.artforum.com. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  12. "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2023". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
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